STRYDER & CADAN

 February Fun

            We just finished our coastal range scenery & split up into three groups , rivers & ocean, trees & animals & sky & mountains.  The sky & mountains are made up by either construction paper or tissue paper. To create the suns raise we used a light color of orange tissue paper. On Monday we started making a person that we thought would look like a thousand years ago in the Coastal Range.  We read a packet about Indians & what they wear. Then we started to clothes on them using materials such as fabric, seashells and feathers.
       For calendar we have an input number that is the day of the month & the output number which is the input number multiplied by three plus one. We have been recording observations & predictions about what has been happening with are calendar.  On Wednesday we had a math switch. Instead  of most kids going to a different classroom half the kids would stay in their own classroom.
       We had tri-star basketball on Wednesday which is when we use three different skills to try to get the highest score as we can,  the three skills are passings, shooting and dribbling.

        In reading street we are reading about a man who travels to Florida to take pictures of Hurricane Andrew.Then we did a vocabulary sheet and wrote a business letter to someone to tell about a hurricane that you experienced & possibly might need help with something.   
        On Thursday we went on a field trip to OMSI, & watched a video about Lewis & Clark & their journey across America.  It was an informative video and showed how hard it was to finally discover the Western part of the United States of America.
        On Friday we had passport. I hope you remembered to study with your map that we sent home at the beginning of the month. Also on Friday we had to sing the songs we have been learning through the past two months. To sum it up we had a very busy week.

Check your child's folder!

Today several important papers went home with your child:
1) Math Unit 4 letter (see below). Please read this letter as this switch differs from pervious math switches.
2) Oregon Trail overnight field trip forms


Dear Fourth Grade Families,

We will be starting our fourth math unit on Wednesday, February 26th. This short unit will cover Geometry concepts. Please reference the attachment. Students have completed a pre-assessment on the skills that will be presented in this unit. Our team has used this data to create two pacing levels, organized so that each student can work successfully at their rate and level. All five classes will be covering the fourth grade standards for this unit. Our roles and pacing as teachers has changed based on the results of the pre-assessments. In contrast from previous math switches, there will be two different pacing levels.

Both Ms. Brown and Mrs. Caton’s classes will continue to work at an accelerated pace. Both classes will experience compacted Bridges curriculum and offer extensions as needed. M3 (Mentoring Mathematical Minds) curriculum will be used to extend students’ geometrical skills and understanding.

Mrs. Hunting-Knight, Mrs. Largo and Mrs. Hirata’s classes will be working at a standard 4th grade level pace. Students will explore the Bridges content through use of manipulatives and sketches. Extensions and modifications will be provided as needed, based on classroom performance.

In an effort to simplify the math transitions, students whose pacing needs would be met by their homeroom teacher, will remain in their classroom.

The purpose of organizing math classes in this manner is to best meet each student’s needs in regards to the concepts and skills in each unit. Please feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher with any specific questions or concerns you may have. Below you will find all fourth grade teachers’ email addresses for your convenience throughout the unit.

Sincerely,
The Fourth Grade Team

Kimberly Hunting-Knight    khunting@pps.net
Abby Largo    alargo@pps.net
Marisa Hirata    mhirata@pps.net
Christy Caton    ccaton@pps.net
Julie Brown    jbrown5@pps.net

Week of February 10-14

                                 This week is Valentine's Day! 

  We are going to have a party at 2:00 pm- 2:45 pm in case any parents want to come and help or party! Also Valentine's are optional. Like any other Valentine's party you're allowed to bring candy! We are going to be making Valentine's heart pockets to keep our Valentine's in.                                          

    Speaking of hearts we are almost done with our Oregon heart haikus! It's basically a outline of Oregon, and it has a big heart in the middle. We write haikus to go with them, you color in the Oregon hearts with a pattern and in the end they end up looking pretty good. 

    

        In our new math unit -geometry- we took a pre-test.

   We are close to  finishing the freeze of the Coastal range, we still have to place the animals on.The sky is up top,the mountains reach up high,the tree's are right below the mountains, with rivers flowing into the ocean.

By Molly and Pippa 

  

Week of Feb 3-7

This week we are working on Oregon hearts. We take the outline of Oregon and color it in. It also has a heart in the middle of it. We are also doing haikus with our Oregon hearts.

   This week we will also be welcoming a new student, Maddie  to our classroom. 

         Ms.Brown is reading us a book called Hugo Cabaret in class.

   Today the new student came to our class. It is her first day so we are trying to make her feel welcome. The new students name is Maddie. Today it was also very windy and cold, it was about 27 degrees. 

     This week we are learning about whales in reading. We are mostly learning about Gray Whales. 

     On Friday we have a music concert. Our music teacher is teaching us the songs we need to know about for the concert. We are singing: Iko, Iko, It Don't Mean a Thing, Sleepy Time Down South, Summertime, I Got Rhythm, Rockin Robin, You Can Get it if You Really Want and more. Today there is supposed to be at least 6 in. of snow and its sticking! Because of the snow we are allowed to go home at 1:00 pm!
 We changed desks on Tuesday and the desks are either put in 2's or 3's.  Today in class In math we are learning about remainders. They are actually quite simple. like 13 divided by 6 is 2 with a remainder of 1.

By Ben and Molly