Mrs. Spakausky's 4th Grade December 2021 Blog

 

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A Look Ahead:

Tuesday, December 7--Fall Picture Retakes

Tuesday, December 14--CCSD66 Board of Ed Meeting 7:00 PM

Monday, December 13-17-SPIRIT WEEK

Monday - Have an “Attitude of Gratitude” Day

Tuesday - Beat the chill with your favorite Hawaiian/Tropical shirt

Wednesday - Winter Hat/Flannel Day

Thursday - Cozy up to winter with your PJ’s and slippers

Friday - National Ugly Sweater Day

Friday, December 17-Holiday Parties

Monday, December 20-Friday, December 31--Winter Break

Monday, January 3--School Resumes

Monday, January 17--Martin Luther King Jr. Day--NO SCHOOL

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) - Emotion Management

During December we will continue to discuss emotion management. We will discuss that when you have strong feelings, it's hard to think clearly and how unmanaged, strong emotions can lead to negative behavior and consequences. The objective is for students to be able to describe what triggers their own strong emotions and what happens in their brains and bodies when they experience strong emotions. In addition, we will learn about how to calm down when you are experiencing strong feelings.

Reading - Unit 1 - "Courage"

We have been learning about how Lou Gehrig has shown Courage. While studying this text, we will continue to hone our close reading skills and focus on identifying statements that are facts and statements that are opinions. Students will work in small groups to respond to text-dependent questions and there will also be vocabulary work. We have been practicing our extended responses (R.A.C.E.S.) with information from the text.  Students have to answer questions and cite evidence from the text to support their answer.

Students will complete the Lou Gehrig assessment with a RACES response in Formative.  They will be tested on vocabulary and comprehension.  This will be on Tuesday, Nov. 30th!

Students will also be learning about the skill of identifying text structure.  Writers use different structures to build their ideas. Each text structure communicates ideas in a different way.  Types of text structure are:

*Chronological order to explain how things happen in order.

*Compare and contrast

*Causes and effects-authors use words like cause, effect, as a result, consequently, and so

*Problem-Solution-   Sometimes, an author will want to explain a problem, and then show one or more solutions.

*Description-This text structure is used to describe a location, idea, or event.

.Social Studies - Midwest Region of the U.S.A.

We are leaving the Southeast and traveling to the central part of the United States.  The students will learn the states of the Midwest.  We will study chapter 8, "Water and Land of the Midwest"  in our social studies book.  The 3 lessons are as follows:

Lesson 1: "A Route to the Sea"

*We will learn about the Great Lakes and how they link the Midwest Region to the Gulf of Mexico and to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lesson 2: "The Badlands of South Dakota"

*We will focus on how erosion has shaped the South Dakota Badlands.

Lesson 3: "Bountiful Midwest Farms"

*The main idea in this lesson will be about how the Midwest is one of the world's leading farming regions.

Science - Energy Conversions

We are still doing our deep study of Blackouts and Ergstown.  We are interpreting weather reports to see what the best alternate energy source might be (solar panels or wind turbines) based on certain criteria.  

We will continue to gather evidence from our resource books and develop good arguments based on that evidence.

We will learn about system failures and reasons that failures may happen.  Students will make a functioning system and then find a way to cause it to fail.

We will finally be discussing solutions to Ergstown's Blackout problem.  We’ll consider possible solutions and how well each meets the criteria. We’ll also refer to the System Improvements Report.

Mrs. Spakausky's Math Class: Unit 2:  Multi-Digit Multiplication & Early Division

THE UNIT 2 TEST will be on WED. 12/1!

Module 1

Building Multiplication Arrays

Session 1 The Great Wall of Base Ten

Session 2 Unit 2 Pre-Assessment

Session 3 Metric Units of Linear & Area Measurement

Session 4 Multiplying by Ten

Session 5 Building Multiplication Arrays

Module 2

Arrays & Ratio Tables

Session 1 Sketching Multiplication Arrays

Session 2 Quick Sketches & Strategies

Session 3 Multiplying by Ten, One Hundred & One Thousand

Session 4 Building Ratio Tables

Session 5 Multiplying Single Digits by Multiples of Ten

Module 3

Multiplication Stories & Strategies

Session 1 Multiplication Story Problems

Session 2 Multiplication Story Problems

Session 3 Doubling & Halving

Session 4 Multiplying with Money& Units of Metric Measure

Session 5 Another Look at Multiplication Strategies

Module 4

Early Division with Remainders

Session 1 A Remainder of One

Session 2 What Can You Do with the Remainder?

Session 3 Remainders Win

Session 4 Multiplication & Division

Session 5 Unit 2 Post-Assessment

Unit 3 will be next!  Here is an overview of this unit!

Fractions & Decimals

In this unit your child will:

❚ Compare fractions with like and unlike

denominators

❚ Locate fractions on a number line

❚ Add and subtract fractions with like

and unlike denominators

❚ Identify equivalent fractions and decimals

❚ Compare decimal numbers

November BLOG- 2021

Halloween Party Pictures

10/29

Thanks to all of our volunteers!!!

 

Art Class-Day of the Dead Artwork

Storybook Pumpkins

Working Hard in Class

Halloween Candy Collected for the Troops

Congrats, Dominic for being our October PRIDE! Winner!

A Look Ahead:

November 22-26--Thanksgiving Break

Thursday, November 25--HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tuesday, December 7--Fall Picture Retakes

Tuesday, December 14--CCSD66 Board of Ed Meeting 7:00 PM

Monday, December 20-Friday, December 31--Winter Break

Monday, January 3--School Resumes

Monday, January 17--Martin Luther King Jr. Day--NO SCHOOL

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) - Emotion Management

This week we will continue to discuss emotion management. We will discuss that when you have strong feelings, it's hard to think clearly and how unmanaged, strong emotions can lead to negative behavior and consequences. The objective is for students to be able to describe what triggers their own strong emotions and what happens in their brains and bodies when they experience strong emotions.  We will also be watching Inside Out and discuss how this relates to our topic of STRONG EMOTIONS!

Reading - Unit 1 - "Courage"
The next story that we will read in the Courage unit is a biographical piece about baseball player Lou Gehrig. While studying this text, we will continue to hone our close reading skills and focus on identifying statements that are facts and statements that are opinions. Students will work in small groups to respond to text-dependent questions and there will also be vocabulary work.

Social Studies - "The Cherokee"
We will continue our study of the Native Americans of the Southeast, The Cherokee. We will take a look at how their culture and traditions began and how they continue to keep them alive in modern times.

The Chapter 6, Lessons 1, 2, 3 and Chapter 7, Lesson 1 TEST will be on Friday, 11/19!  Students may use their book and notes for this TEST!

Science - Energy Conversions

We will study of how to design a wind turbine.  The students will use criteria to build and design and then redesign their wind turbines.  They will go through a "design cycle" with their creation.  In the cycle we will talk about Learning, Planning, Designing and Testing.  

Mrs. Spakausky's Math Class: Unit 2:  Multi-Digit Multiplication & Early Division

Here is an overview of Unit 2.  The highlighted areas are the focus of the week!

Module 1
Building Multiplication Arrays
Session 1 The Great Wall of Base Ten
Session 2 Unit 2 Pre-Assessment
Session 3 Metric Units of Linear & Area Measurement
Session 4 Multiplying by Ten
Session 5 Building Multiplication Arrays

Module 2
Arrays & Ratio Tables
Session 1 Sketching Multiplication Arrays
Session 2 Quick Sketches & Strategies
Session 3 Multiplying by Ten, One Hundred & One Thousand
Session 4 Building Ratio Tables
Session 5 Multiplying Single Digits by Multiples of Ten

Module 3
Multiplication Stories & Strategies
Session 1 Multiplication Story Problems
Session 2 Multiplication Story Problems
Session 3 Doubling & Halving
Session 4 Multiplying with Money& Units of Metric Measure
Session 5 Another Look at Multiplication Strategies

Module 4
Early Division with Remainders
Session 1 A Remainder of One
Session 2 What Can You Do with the Remainder?
Session 3 Remainders Win
Session 4 Multiplication & Division
Session 5 Unit 2 Post-Assessment

Oct. 4-8, 2021

 

• Coming up:

  Important Dates:                                    
  
  
  Monday, October 11--NO SCHOOL-Columbus Day/Indigenous People Day Tuesday, October 12--NO SCHOOL--P/T Conference Wednesday, October 13--EARLY DISMISSAL 11:30 AM--SIP Day

SEL:  Lesson 5: Understanding Complex Feelings
Concepts Objectives--
It is possible to have more than one feeling at the same time.
Being able to understand that others might have complex feelings is an important part of empathy.

Students will be able to:
Identify multiple feelings in a given scenario.(10/21)

Reading - Unit 1 - "Courage"
Students will finish their close read of the story, Happy Birthday Dr. King.  Look for a  comprehension/vocabulary quiz to be scheduled next week.

At the end of the week, we will spend time looking at the text structure of cause and effect. Text structured as cause and effect explains the reasons why something happened or the effects of something. An effect is what happens. To determine the effect, students should ask “What happened?”. A cause is why something happens. To determine the cause, students should ask “Why did it happen?”

Once we have reviewed this concept students will revisit the story of Happy Birthday Dr. King to discover how cause and effect is used throughout the text.

Social Studies  - Chapter 4-"Land and Water in the Northeast"

There will be a Chapter 4 (lesson 1, 2, 3) and Chapter 5 (lesson 1 only) TEST Wed., 10/6!

Lesson 1-The Beautiful Northeast-incredible scenery and magnificent natural formations

Lesson 2-Resources of the Northeast-products for the world

Lesson 3-The Plentiful Sea-Chesapeake Bay and other bays in the NE

The TEST on these chapters will be a week from Wed.----Oct. 6th!  This test will be on the computer.  Students may use their social studies book.

Science:  Energy and Electrical Systems

This week we will continue to study about energy: past and present and try to figure out why electrical devices stop converting energy in Ergstown during the blackout?

Mrs. Spakausky's Math Class: Unit 2:  Multi-Digit Multiplication & Early Division

Here is an overview of Unit 2.  The highlighted areas are the focus of the week!

Module 1
Building Multiplication Arrays
Session 1 The Great Wall of Base Ten
Session 2 Unit 2 Pre-Assessment
Session 3 Metric Units of Linear & Area Measurement
Session 4 Multiplying by Ten
Session 5 Building Multiplication Arrays

Module 2
Arrays & Ratio Tables
Session 1 Sketching Multiplication Arrays
Session 2 Quick Sketches & Strategies
Session 3 Multiplying by Ten, One Hundred & One Thousand
Session 4 Building Ratio Tables
Session 5 Multiplying Single Digits by Multiples of Ten

Module 3
Multiplication Stories & Strategies
Session 1 Multiplication Story Problems
Session 2 Multiplication Story Problems
Session 3 Doubling & Halving
Session 4 Multiplying with Money& Units of Metric Measure
Session 5 Another Look at Multiplication Strategies

Module 4
Early Division with Remainders
Session 1 A Remainder of One
Session 2 What Can You Do with the Remainder?
Session 3 Remainders Win
Session 4 Multiplication & Division
Session 5 Unit 2 Post-Assessment

Mon. 9/27-Fri. 10/1, 2021

 

Coming up:

Important Dates:                                    

Monday, October 11--NO SCHOOL-Columbus Day/Indigenous People Day Tuesday, October 12--NO SCHOOL--P/T Conference Wednesday, October 13--EARLY DISMISSAL 11:30 AM--SIP Day

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
The topic for the week of 10/7 will be respecting similarities and differences. The concepts of this lesson will include the idea that people can have similar or different feelings about the same situation and that being able to notice and understand others' feelings is an important part of empathy. Our goal is that students will be able to identify clues that help them recognize other people's feelings and also be able to identify similarities and differences between how two people feel.

SEL: Lesson 4: Respecting Similarities and Differences
Objectives:
People can have similar or different feelings about the same situation.
Being able to notice and then understand others’ feelings is an important part of empathy.

Students will be able to:
Identify clues that help them recognize other people’s feelings
Identify similarities and differences between how two people feel (10/7)

Mrs. Spakausky's Math Class

We will finish our 3rd module for unit 1.  The UNIT 1 TEST will be over Module 1-3.  The TEST will be on THURSDAY, 9/30. This will be paper and pencil.

Module 1-Models for Multiplication and Division-T

Module 2-Primes and Composites

Module 3-Multiplicative Comparisons and Equations

Social Studies  - Chapter 4-"Land and Water in the Northeast"

We will continue our study of the Northeast.  This week we will finish talking about Chesapeake Bay and begin talking about the first people to settle in this area: the Narragansett.

There will be a Chapter 4 (lesson 1, 2, 3) and Chapter 5 (lesson 1 only) TEST by the end of this week or beginning of next.

Lesson 1-The Beautiful Northeast-incredible scenery and magnificent natural formations

Lesson 2-Resources of the Northeast-products for the world

Lesson 3-The Plentiful Sea-Chesapeake Bay and other bays in the NE

The TEST on these chapters will be a week from Monday----Oct. 4th!  This test will be on the computer.  Students may use their social studies book.

Science:  Energy and Electrical Systems

This week we will learn about energy in an electrical system.  We will be using our simulation on the computer for this. We will review the electrical energy outputs. We will also study about energy: past and present.