Weekly Update - March 23

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone is ready and excited for Spring Break.  If you would like to send pictures of your adventures, I would love to put them on the blog!  Please send them to cnagy@parkwayschools.net.

Math
This week we wrapped up our Ration Numbers unit.  We spent time reviewing major concepts, and students looked at their data in order to make responsible choices for their math workshop time.  We assessed our learning, and we will be beginning our Patterns and Measurement unit coming back from break.

Please remember to practice math facts nightly!

Geometry
This week ends our flipped geometry lessons.  Thank you so much for your support and helping your child.  We will be reviewing geometry concepts after break and leading up to the MAP test.

Science
The Ninjas are loving the Electricity unit!  This week we investigated how to make a light bulb light with just one wire, one battery, and one light bulb.  Not only are they practicing and learning electricity concepts, but they are also learning how to cooperate and problem solve with others.

Reading
It was all about theme this week in our Historical Fiction unit.  We focused on how we can find big ideas within small details (ex. the Star of David impression in Annemarie's hand in Number the Stars).  We also talked about how to deepen our ideas about theme and characters.

Please remember to continue to read 30 minutes nightly, even over break!

Writing
The Ninjas worked to test their claims for their literary essays this week.  Many students have claims about their books, and they began to find, cite, and collect evidence from their books in order to develop reasons to support their claims.  When we come back from break, we will be reviewing the essay structure and begin to draft essays.

Upcoming Dates

• 3/26-3/30: Spring Break
• 4/3: Spring Pictures
• 4/4: Late start; 11:05 start
• 4/10: Mrs. Nagy out
• 4/27: No School
• 5/4: Fishing Day
• Volunteers are needed!  Please consider signing up here!

Weekly Update - March 16

Good morning!  Thank you all for the birthday wishes and generous gifts.  The Ninjas helped to make be feel special and appreciated today!  Check out what we've been up to this week...

Rational Numbers
This week in our Rational Numbers unit, we focused on solving word problems involving money, decimals, and fractions.  We will be assessing our Rational Numbers unit on Wednesday, March 21 of next week.

Geometry
This week in Geometry we focused on identifying lines of symmetry and symmetric shapes.  Week 10 is now assigned in your child's Google Classroom.  Next week we will focus on drawing shapes with line symmetry.

Science
We began our Electricity unit this week!  This time the Ninjas will stay with me for science!  This week we reviewed safety rules for electricity and discussed static electricity.

Reading
Our historical fiction book clubs are well underway! This week students focused on understanding how the setting can impact characters and plot.  We also started to think about how we can determine themes of a text.

Writing
In our Literary Essay unit, writers focused on reading a text "like a writer" to pull out evidence and state claims about a character.  We then wrote to grow our ideas about the characters in our texts.  Be sure to ask your child which book they chose to write their first literary essay over!

Upcoming Dates

• 3/19: Library Checkout
• 3/26-3/30: Spring Break
• 4/4: Late Start; 11:05 start
• 4/10: Mrs. Nagy out
• 4/27: No school
• 5/4: Fishing Day

Weekly Update - March 9

Good morning!  Take a look at what we've been up to this week...

Rational Numbers
In our Rational Numbers unit, mathematicians focused on...

• fractions written as decimals
• decimals on a number line
• comparing decimals
• adding fractions with denominators of 100 and 10

Please remember to practice math facts nightly!

Geometry
In our Geometry unit, students worked on classifying quadrilaterals based on their attributes.  Week 9 is now assigned in Google Classroom.  Next week students will learn about line symmetry.

Reading
Our Historical Fiction unit began this week!  Students were eager to get started in their book clubs based in a time period they had researched.  This week we focused on how to read intensely at the start of a text and read closely for details about the characters and setting.

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
We began our Literary Essay unit this week!  Students will be writing an essay about a favorite book of theirs by stating a claim and supporting their claim with reasons and evidence.  This week we reviewed how to structure an essay and practiced pulling claims for texts.

Fishing Day Note

Hello Fourth Grade Parents,
Our fourth grade students will be enjoying a Fishing Day Field trip on Friday, May 4th.

We will be going to the August A. Busch Memorial Conservation Area in St. Charles, MO. 

The students will leave Barrett’s shortly after school starts and return around 2pm that afternoon.  

Please look for more information in the coming weeks including an email with plenty of volunteer opportunities.  

This is going to be a fun event but will take lots of folks lending a hand to make the day a huge success.

Thanks and look forward to getting out and enjoying Missouri’s outdoors together.

Regards,
Dusty Wright

Upcoming Dates

• 3/12-3/15: Book Fair
• 3/13: Mrs. Nagy out
• 3/13 & 3/15: Student-led conferences
• sign up here
• 3/26-3/30: Spring Break

Weekly Update - March 2

Welcome to March!  Here is what The Ninjas have been up to this week...

Rational Numbers
This week was all about line plots!  Mathematicians learned how to...

• read line plots
• make line plots
• solve problems involving line plots

Please remember to practice math facts nightly!

Geometry
This week in geometry, mathematicians learned how to classify triangles.
Week 8 is now assigned in Google Classroom.  This next week students will be learning how to classify quadrilaterals.

Conference Prep
All this week the Ninjas have been working hard to prepare for their student-led conferences.  If you have not yet had a chance to sign up, please sign up here.

Reading
This week we are wrapping up our nonfiction writing unit and focused heavily on identifying the main idea of a text.  Students also learned how to interact with a text by annotating it.  Be sure to ask them about their new skill!

Next week will mark the start of our next reading unit, Historical Fiction.

Please remember to read 30 minutes nightly!

Writing
This week we also wrapped up our informational writing unit.  We spent time practicing our note taking skills and organization.

Next week we will begin our next writing unit, Literary Essay.

Upcoming Dates

• 3/7: Late start; 11:05 start
• 3/8 & 3/13: Mrs. Nagy out
• 3/13 & 3/15: Student-led Conferences
• sign up here
• 3/12-3/15: Book Fair
• 3/26-3/30: Spring Break