Language Arts

Students continue to work hard at making meaningful writing with figurative language.  Ask your child about how a writing piece can be made better by using HYPERBOLE, similes/metaphors, and vivid verbs.  We continued to practice writing interesting paragraphs to ‘Magnify the Moment’, and trying to edit our work to show and not tell.   Lastly, we have been practicing our letter writing this week.  Have your child write a letter to a relative this weekend!

Our class continued to read the Newbery novel,  The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.   Ask your child about the hardships the main character, Karana, has suffered in the first few chapters of the book.  Thank you Cindie O’Donnell for reading with the class this week!                                                                        ***VOLUNTEERS NEEDED*************

Please sign up on our lotsahelpinghands.com webpage to supervise reading groups.

  Username: Sanchezcats Password:  Catscountry       THANK YOU!

We began a new read aloud book this week called The Watsons go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis.  This Newbery book illustrates the struggles and civil unrest of the 1960’s in the South.

Math

This week students have learned how to add and subtract using mixed numbers and improper fractions.  We have also been reviewing equivalent fractions and simplifying/reducing fractions.  Please continue to help and encourage your child to memorize all multiplication facts.  Thank you!

**The 4th grade teachers have developed a monthly math challenge project available to your child on-line.  Please see the class website for more information and/or ask your child about it!  *******

Social Studies 

Missions!  Missions!  Missions!  Your child has been ‘assigned’ a specific mission to study.  This week each student wrote a letter to his/her mission requesting information.  Hopefully we will get letters back.  It’s always fun to receive mail! 

 Science

This week students began studying the earth science unit of Rocks and Minerals with Dr. Artis.   Your child measured and weighed ‘mock’ rocks, and learned about identifying properties of rocks.  Ask your child about the 3 different rocks found on earth.  

Miscellaneous:

*Mark your calendars!  Missions Museum field trip is Monday, January 28th.  Students will be seeing a true scale model of all 21 missions, as well as the crops and a few animals that would have been seen in during the mission era of the late 1700’s. 

*There will be no school on Monday, January 21st in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

*THANK YOU to all who signed up to help in our mission building in February.  It will be very fun!

Happy 2013 Everyone! I hope this year brings you great happiness.

Language Arts

This year has started off strong with figurative language and narrative writing.  Students have been using their writing skills to ‘show, not tell’, and hopefully this skill will be a permanent change as to how your child approaches writing.  Ask your child to show you what this looks like!  We have also begin to explore how to ‘Magnify the Moment’, which is to take a boring sentence and create a detailed writing piece to make the moment come to life.  Ask your child to tell you about how we have jigsawed the class together to create a meaningful story!

Our class has begun a new novel, The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.   This book will illustrate how the Native Americans were affected by European colonization.

Math

This week we have begun another chapter in our fractions unit.  Students have learned how to identify equivalent fractions and are now learning how to add improper fractions and mixed numbers.

The 4th grade teachers have developed a monthly math challenge project available to your child on-line.  Please see the class website for more information and/or ask your child about it! 

Social Studies 

Missions!  Missions!  Missions!  Students have learned about how the Spanish colonized the California coast with missions and presidios.  Ask your child to explain the three G’s that motivated the Spaniards, led by Father Junipero Serra, to inhabit the land to help ‘convert’ the Natives to Catholicism. 

 Science

Next week students will begin the earth science rotation with Dr. Artis.  The unit of study will focus on rocks and minerals.

Miscellaneous:

*Please sign and return the attached field trip permission slip for our day at the Cline Winery.  Students will be seeing a true scale model of all 21 missions, as well as the crops and a few animals that would have been seen in during the mission era of the late 1700’s. 

*There will be no school on Monday, January 21st in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

* Please see the attached letter regarding the 4th grade mission building project.