Quarter 3 Week 3

Dear 4C families,

I added USA Test Prep daily practice on the right side of the blog. I will pass out a worksheet for the students to fill out the answers tomorrow. I will give your student extra credit for filling out the worksheet each day.

We have class pictures on the 25th. The picture form went home last week.

Academics

Math

In math this week, we will expand our knowledge of decimals by introducing the hundredths place. We will be playing some fun games to cement these key place value concepts.

ELA

We will finish Robin Hood this week by comparing and contrasting the book with other media. The final assessment will be a written assignment that we will begin on Tuesday and end on Wednesday. The students will be given a graphic organizer and rubric to help facilitate the assignment. On Thursday and Friday, we will learn about the common elements of a fairy tale and introduce The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Please make sure your child has the version of the book that is shown in the Current Literature section in the left margin of this blog.

History

This week in history we will finish our study of African Kingdoms during the Middle Ages. We will focus on the Songhai Empire and the travels of  Ibn Battuta. At the end of the week will begin our review for the quiz on Monday 1/29. 

Science

We will review for our quiz about rocks, weathering, and erosion on Tuesday. We will begin our next unit on the cardiovascular system (CVS). We will be able to identify the parts and functions of the CVS including the heart, blood, and blood vessels. We will see what happens to our heart rate when we exercise. 

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJzJKvkWWDc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2OIaXZZI0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWti317qb_w&t=52s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-wilmN80XE&index=13&list=PL0iks935nI25_nbrBFamA8Y4f3zwDfRl8

Quarter 3 Week 2

Dear 4C Families,

I hope you had a nice weekend! 

Our field trip to the Musical Instrument Museum is on February 2nd. Please look out for an email about it later this week.

Academics
In math this week, we will be starting a new unit on decimals. We will introduce the tenths place this week and do a lot of practice with manipulatives as we approach this new topic.

We will finish Robin Hood this week. On Monday, January 22, we will have a culminating activity and on Tuesday, January 23 we will have the final test on Robin Hood. Our next book will be The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. Please make sure your child has this version.  The ISBN number is 978-1593082215. Link to Amazon.

This week in science, we will conclude our study of meteorology with a quiz on 1/16. We will study the three types of rocks, how they form, the rock cycle, and weathering.

This week in history we will continue our study of African Kingdoms. We will focus on the Trans-Sahara Trade and how trade helped to spread ideas across Africa. We will also study several important Kingdoms including Ghana and Mali, as well the impact of Mali's Mansa Musa and his pilgrimage to Mecca. 

Quarter 3 Week 1

Dear 4C Families,

Welcome back to the second half of the school year! New on the blog is a subscription by email and the class schedule on the right hand side of the blog. On Fridays, we will continue to send home the black folders and an email from Jupiter will be sent out with any missing assignments. Next weekend is a 3-day weekend for MLK day. There is no school on 01/15.



Academics

This week in math, we will review the concepts we covered in the first semester, including place value, the operations of whole numbers, fractions, operations of fractions, and measurement.

In ELA this week, we will learn about Point of View and begin working on informative and explanatory texts. We will continue to read and discuss Robin Hood, as well as, recite Paul Revere. 

This week in history we will begin our study of African Kingdoms. We will focus on the geography of Africa including the countries of Africa as well as major mountains, rivers and other geographic features. We will then begin studying the Kingdoms of the Kush and the Aksum and how these kingdoms impacted Africa. 

In science, we will learn about forecasting and climate. We will compare weather and climate. There is a quiz on Tuesday, January 16th.

Welcome Back!

Dear 4C Families,

I hope your break was relaxing, full of family, fun, and tons of food!

I stayed in Arizona and visited my family and ate and ate and ate. My garden finally had ripe tomatoes! I renovated my laundry room. I was pretty busy but,  I am excited to start the next quarter!

Also, I want to say thank you to all of you for the sweet holiday cards and generous holiday gifts. I am giving thank you notes to the students on Monday.


Parent-Teacher Conferences are tomorrow and Friday. I look forward to discussing your students with you. Please sign up for a conference at this link (http://signup.com/go/rnkMBBb). I got a few emails asking if the conferences are mandatory and they are not mandatory.

In science, we are going to be studying types of rocks the second week of school. I was wondering if anyone has rocks I can show the students? I have a few small sets of the types of rocks but, I wish I had more.

Missing Assignments Quarter 3
I will be using Jupiter to notify parents of missing assignments. The notification goes out on Fridays. Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Mrs. Sarnataro

Quarter 2 Week 10

Dear 4C Families,

Wow! I can't believe it is the end of the quarter. It has been a blessing to have your students in my class and I look forward to the rest of the school year. I hope you all have a fun and safe winter break full of family and friends.

Mrs. Sarnataro



4th grade project:

Paul Revere's Ride is the fourth grade project for Project Week. It will be recited the first two days back from Winter Break (January 8th and 9th). Parents are welcome to watch their child recite the poem. Just email me if you would like to come and I'll give you an approximate time for your child's turn.  

Conferences

Please sign up for winter conferences here. The conferences will be held on Thursday, January 4th and Friday, January 5th.  I look forward to discussing your students performance with you.

Academics

This week in Math, we will conclude our unit on measurement with a unit test. This test will be structured like the previous one on fractions. On Monday, the students will take the test and after that, I will go through them, highlighting incorrect answers and work. It is most beneficial for the students’ learning if they show all their work, so I can highlight exactly where they started to go wrong. On Wednesday, I will hand back the test and the students will be able to correct the highlighted problems for full credit.

In history this week, we will finish our unit on Islamic Empires. We will study the Crusades, why they occurred and the impact they had on Islamic and Christian Empires as well as the world around them. We will take a quiz on Wednesday. Students will have a study guide to use to prepare for this quiz. 

In ELA, we will continue learning about author's purpose and theme this week. There will be an activity with idioms and we will also have time to work on the poem.

Paul Revere's Ride is the fourth grade project for Project Week. It will be recited the first two days back from Winter Break (January 8th and 9th). Parents are welcome to watch their child recite the poem. Just email me if you would like to come and I'll give you an approximate time for your child's turn. 

In science, we will continue learning about weather. We will focus on thunderstorms and lightning.

Quarter 2 Week 9

Dear 4C Parents,
Our Winter Break is fast approaching. As the quarter winds down, we still have a lot of interesting things to learn. I hope these next few weeks will be an enjoyable time of learning for your children.

Important dates:

• Dec 12 - Birthday Book Club
• AM Kinder (Jul-Dec) @ 11:30 a.m.
• Full Day Kinder - 2nd @ 2:30 p.m.
• 3rd - 5th @ 2:45 p.m.
• Dec 18 - last day to contribute for Tax Credit Drive and be entered in raffle for gift basket
• December 18-20 are early release days.
• December 19 is our Middle Ages celebration. More information to come soon.
• Winter Break starts on Thursday, December 21st. The 3rd quarter starts on Monday, January 8th. 
• Parent/Teacher Conferences for 2nd quarter are January 4-5 (Thursday and Friday). There will be a sign-up for this in the coming weeks. 

Academics this week:

In ELA, we will continue to practice writing comparing/contrasting paragraphs through the week. The emphasis will be on writing strong introductory and concluding sentences, and using effective transitions. In literature, we will learn about author's purpose and theme. In grammar, we will learn how to write possessive nouns. 

Please continue to help your child memorize Paul Revere's Ride.

This week in math, we will conclude our unit on measurement by applying what we’ve learned about fractions to measurement. We will practice expressing measurements as proper fractions and mixed numbers. The measurement unit test will be next week.

In history, we finished our Middle Ages unit last week. This week we will start our unit on Islam. We will study the Five Pillars of Islam, Muhammad, the spread of Islam and Islamic culture. We will also focus on important contributions to mathematics, science and art/architecture.

In science, we will finish learning about tornadoes and hurricanes. There is a quiz on tornadoes and hurricanes on Tuesday 12/12. The cumulative test is on Thursday 12/14 which covers the atmosphere, solar radiation, atmospheric heating, hurricanes, and tornadoes. There is a “jeopardy” review game available at this web address http://www.superteachertools.us/jeopardyx/jeopardy-review-game.php?gamefile=2347356#.Wi2Q-FQ-eRs.  On Friday, we will about air masses and fronts. 

____________________________________

Mrs. Rockmaker, our music teacher wanted us to pass on this information:

Now that the November concert has passed students will return to the use of their notebooks (for grades 3,4 and 5) and Theory Time books (for grades 4 and 5 only).  I would also like students to bring a folder and a pencil to music.  Students who have left materials in the music room can retrieve them outside of class time.  New 4th and 5th grade students can purchase Theory Time books to be purchased from Barnes & Noble at the Chandler Fashion Mall from the school book list. I have attached a copy of the list.
http://archwaylincoln.greatheartsacademies.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/04/Consumable-List-17-18.4.28.17.FINAL_.pdf

Quarter 2 Week 8

Dear 4C Parents,
Our Winter Break is fast approaching. As the quarter winds down, we still have a lot of interesting things to learn. I hope these next few weeks will be an enjoyable time of learning for your children.

Important dates:

• Dec 12 - Birthday Book Club
• AM Kinder (Jul-Dec) @ 11:30 a.m.
• Full Day Kinder - 2nd @ 2:30 p.m.
• 3rd - 5th @ 2:45 p.m.
• Dec 18 - last day to contribute for Tax Credit Drive and be entered in raffle for gift basket
• December 18-20 are early release days.
• Winter Break starts on Thursday, December 21st. The 3rd quarter starts on Monday, January 8th. 
• Parent/Teacher Conferences for 2nd quarter are January 4-5 (Thursday and Friday). There will be a sign-up for this in the coming weeks. 

Academics this week:

This week in ELA, we will continue our focus on comparing and contrasting. We will use 2 characters in Robin Hood and some other passages to hone this skill. In grammar, our focus will be on defining and using similes and metaphors and classifying and diagramming possessive pronouns.

In math this week, we will continue studying measurement. We will practice adding and subtracting measurements and learn how to multiply and divide as well. These skills will mirror the skills our students already learned when we studied the operations of fractions.

We will continue our study of hurricanes and then go on to tornadoes, in science this week.

In history we will finish our study of Europe during the Middle Ages. We will learn about Joan of Arc, and the plague that swept through Europe in the 1300s. 
____________________________________

Mrs. Rockmaker, our music teacher wanted us to pass on this information:

Now that the November concert has passed students will return to the use of their notebooks (for grades 3,4 and 5) and Theory Time books (for grades 4 and 5 only).  I would also like students to bring a folder and a pencil to music.  Students who have left materials in the music room can retrieve them outside of class time.  New 4th and 5th grade students can purchase Theory Time books to be purchased from Barnes & Noble at the Chandler Fashion Mall from the school book list. I have attached a copy of the list.
http://archwaylincoln.greatheartsacademies.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2017/04/Consumable-List-17-18.4.28.17.FINAL_.pdf

Needed this week:
Clear 2-liter bottles to make tornadoes!