Announcements:
The class Christmas party is on Thursday! If you are still looking to sign up, the link is down below a few posts. Reading: Because finding the main idea and supporting details is so important, we spent another week on it. I've been very impressed at how well the class picked it up, I have seen everyone do a great job in our reading groups. Writing: I spent ANOTHER week conferencing one on one with the kids about their narrative writing while they continued working on their snow globe story. They are finishing that up this week and will bring it home on Thursday. Math: This super hard working class finished division early enough that we had some extra time before break! Way to go! We don't stop this train for anything, though, and we barreled right into some geometry. Angles, triangles, and quadrilaterals, that's been our focus this week. Social Studies: What is geography, and what are the five major themes? We started a new unit this week! We'll have a short quiz on Monday where the kids will be asked to name the five themes of geography. Science: So we know how the electrical system works, but hold on, where does the energy come from? What is an energy source? What does it mean to be an energy source? We investigated all week long. Announcements:
The class Christmas party is coming up! Scroll down to find the information and signup links. We participated in the national Hour of Code on Thursday, and the kids made some neat stuff, ask them to show you! Reading: One of the key reading skills that 4th grade readers need is the ability to find the main idea of a piece of text. That's what we worked on this week! The kids read nonfiction books and picked out the main ideas and supporting details. Writing: I have spent the week conferencing with the kids about their big narrative paper, and it's been great. While I did that, the class has been working on a story about being trapped in a snow globe. Math: Division is over! The test will be on Monday, and they can review with the study guide I sent home on Thursday. Social Studies: How can citizens of our country make a difference? Ask your students, it's what we focused on this week. Science: How does the electrical system work with electrical devices to make so many different forms of energy? That was the focus question of science this week and we explored the idea of inputs, outputs and energy converters. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
The class will be having a Christmas breakfast on Thursday the 22nd from 8:30 to 9:30 or so. We will be doing a pancake and fruit breakfast and making an ornament. Parents are welcome to join their students, but just one per student please, my room isn't very big! I am looking for volunteers to help with a few things. First, I'm looking for two pancake chefs. If you have an electric skillet or hot plate and would like to join us to make pancakes for the kiddos, we'd love to have you! Second, if you have an idea for an ornament that the kids could make and want to coordinate that, I have a sign up slot for that open. I will have a craft for the kids if nobody signs up, but if you'd like to come in and run that with the kids, it's a great way to interact with the class. You can sign up here: Mr. Gillespie 4th Grade: Christmas Breakfast 2022 (signupgenius.com) Lastly, on Wednesday the 21st we'll be watching The Polar Express, and we have a tradition of making a 'Dry Hot Chocolate' to pass out when the hot chocolate scene comes, and I'm looking for volunteers to send in some ingredients. You can sign up for that here: Mr. Gillespie 4th Grade: Polar Express Munch (signupgenius.com) Announcements:
The class Christmas party is coming up! We will be having a Christmas breakfast on Thursday the 22nd from 8:30 to 9:30. I will be sending home a sign up link soon, look out for it! Reading: We have moved on from general "how do I think while reading" skills to the meat and potatoes 4th grade skills. Last week it was looking through text to figure out the answers to questions. The kids did well, their thinking skills are improving greatly! Writing: The class learned how to group information together in a logical way so that their writing is easy to read and understand, and then they wrote a paragraph about a problem facing the school and how they would solve it. Math: We are still dividing! The class is ironing out the last few kinks and then we'll be ready to move on to word problems and wrap up with a test on Friday. Social Studies: What are the responsibilities of a citizen and how can we work together to make our communities better? That was the focus of this week. Science: Energy comes in all different forms, and it can change! We spent the week looking at electrical devices and how they convert energy from one form into another. We even got to go outside and make our own electrical systems using a solar panel! Announcements:
The kids have done so much math fact fluency that Moby Max has given them a party! We will be having a popcorn and movie party after recess tomorrow. Because of the weird schedule, our spelling test is tomorrow, November 22nd. We did not do it on Friday. Reading: The class has finally come to the end of our metacognition unit where they have been practicing thinking like a good reader. We ended with synthesizing, which means changing and growing your thoughts based on what you read. Writing: We finished typing our final drafts this week, and then learned how to do a spelling and grammar check, and how to make paragraphs. We'll be printing and sharing tomorrow. Math: Division is here! The kids learned all about remainders and dividing this week, and we'll be dividing numbers in the hundreds before break. We'll pick up where we left off when they get back. Social Studies: What are the responsibilities of a citizen and how can we work together to make our communities better? That was the focus of this week. Science: How do electrical systems work and what are the parts? The kids explored that question this week as they built their own systems and investigated others in a computer simulation. Announcements:
We had a really nice assembly today for Veteran's Day, ask your student about it! I FINALLY got the fact fluency certificates printed, so you can see where your student is on the progress from adding to division fluency. Reading: This week we worked on making our minds like a noodle strainer. Books contain a lot of information, so much that we can't possibly hope to remember every word. We want to strain out all the noodles, the important bits of information, and get those to stick in our heads. Writing: Most of this week was spent getting with a partner and proofreading/revising the rough draft of our narrative writing piece. When that was done, we started typing our rough drafts. Math: We were all about multiplicative comparisons this week! The class did a great job and we ended by taking one final test on multiplication. Check in the Friday Folder next week for their grades. Social Studies: We continued to analyze Michigan's government this week, and then we got into the idea of citizenship. What does it mean to be a citizen, and how did we all become citizens? That was our central question this week. Science: We started a brand new unit this week all about energy. We'll be specifically trying to solve the problems of a fictional town's blackouts as we learn all about energy in all its forms. Announcements:
Don't forget that next Tuesday is election day, which means no school for the kids. Reading: People have to make inferences all the time. Inferences are guesses we make based on what we see and the things we already know. It happens automatically, but not when we read! This week the class practiced making inferences while reading. It's hard, and we'll come back to it, but they did a good job. Writing: We wrote a rough draft this week and have started the process of looking for errors. Next week we'll move on to revising and then publishing. You'll see a copy come home when it's done! Math: The class did great on our first multiplication quiz, I was blown away! Next up is multiplication word problems, which are hard. I'm confident that the class is ready to tackle them, however. Social Studies: What sort of government does Michigan have, and how does it work? This is the question we have been answering this week, and I've had some great discussions with my small groups about how our system is better than the one we came from, a monarchy. Science: Our paper airplane experiment went very well, and then we started learning about force and momentum, which we will continue into next week. Announcements:
It's almost Halloween! Monday is our party, and the kids are welcome to wear costumes and send in candy. We are a nut free classroom so please send in candy without nuts. Reading: Good readers have a movie that plays in their head, and that was the focus this week. Seeing that mind movie and using it to follow along with a story. Writing: Our first big writing piece has been started! We planned it out and started a rough draft this week. It's all about the first time they did something, and the kids have had a lot to write about. We'll be publishing it next week. Math: These kids are great multipliers! We started with little problems like 54 x 8, but now we're all the way up to big ones like 4,822 x 7! Next week we'll introduce double digits times double digits and word problems! Social Studies: What is the Bill of Rights, and what freedoms does it give American citizens? We learned all about it this week. Science: We looked at what an experiment is this week, a series of tests and measurements to answer a question. This week's question: How can we make a great paper airplane? The kids will use what they learned to have a competition next Tuesday. Announcements:
It was another great week in fourth grade! There are a ton of announcements in the Friday Folder so make sure you check those out. Reading: Good readers don't learn unless they are thinking about what they're reading, and this week we focused on asking questions about what we read. Writing: The kids wrote an autobiography this week, with a specific focus on using transition words and putting things in a sequence that their reader can follow. Look for it next week. Math: Multiplication is upon us! The first of the major fourth grade skills is multiplying big numbers, and we're starting it already. Next week you might see some funny looking math come home, but it's all in service of teaching them to be math thinkers, not just answer makers. In any case, everything we learn will tie in to 5th grade when they learn the traditional way of multiplying. So if you want to show them how we did it back in school, that's awesome! More math understanding is the goal, and being involved at home is great. Social Studies: Where did our government come from, and who made it? That was the focus this week as we learned about the Founding Fathers and the documents they created: The Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Announcements:
The students are really getting into the groove of the year, and I'm seeing some great learning happening. They are starting to come together as a team to help each other along, and that's great! The Boo Bash is an after school Halloween party that will be on Friday the 28th. Look for a flier to come home soon. Our classroom Halloween party will be on Monday the 31st from 1:15 - 2:15ish. I'm hoping to have cider and donuts, a craft for the kids to do, and the kids are welcome to wear their costumes and bring candy to school. I'll be sending out a Sign Up Genius link soon to ask for volunteers. Reading: We are still working on the foundational reading skills that need to be happening automatically in our heads. This week the kids worked on making connections to their schema - the web of things they already know. Writing: Young writers tend to ramble and get off topic, so this week we looked at pieces of writing and critiqued them, looking for things that were unfocused or didn't belong. We then thought about sensory details and how we can use them to write a good description of a favorite place of ours. Math: Last week we were adding into the millions, and now it's subtraction, whoa! The kids are done learning strategies to subtract and will be practicing the algorithm - the traditional way to subtract. There's no good way to iron out the kinks besides brute force repetition, and that's what we've been doing - in other words, practice, practice, practice. This week will wrap up our addition and subtraction unit, and there will be a test on everything we've done so far next week. There is a practice test in the Friday Folder that the kids can use to get ready. It is optional, but it can be a great help! Social Studies: We explored what the government does and how people can work together to solve civil problems like litter, traffic, and bumpy roads. |
Old Newsletters
June 2023
Non-Discrimination Statement
In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education amendments of 1972, Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title II of the Americans with Disability Act of 1990, and Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1977, it is the policy of the Richmond Community School District that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, religion, military status, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual orientation), disability, age (except as authorized by law), height, weight, or marital status be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to, discrimination during any program, activity, service or employment. Inquiries related to any nondiscrimination policies should be directed to the Superintendent, 35276 Division Road, Richmond, MI 48062, (586) 727-3565. |