Greetings Families,
I hope you are enjoying your extended weekend, or at least your child's extended weekend. It seems like every week I am surprised by the progress we have made into the new year. It has been a joy to be your child's teacher. I love how each of my students are uniquely special, with each child having their own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. As much as I love teaching them the beautiful curriculum we have been gifted with, it is a greater joy getting to know my students as persons worthy of love and respect. Thank you for the privilege of being your child's teacher.
Language Arts: This week, in grammar, students will deepen their understanding of sentence classification and sentence diagramming. Students will be able to use adverbs and adjectives properly in sentences. In literature, the plot thickens, as Curdie discovers the plot that has been hatched by the Cobs. Will Princess Irene be safe? In Spalding, students will do more words, with more markings.
History: This week in history, students will complete their Europe maps. Students should continue to review their maps nightly as they will be expected to know all of the countries of Europe and their location. If students try to memorize all of these the night or two before an assessment, their success rate will be very low. We will also begin a brief two-week unit on the Eastern Romance Empire. We will study the Byzantine Empire, Justinian and Theodora, and the Hagia Sophia.
Science: After enjoying the R&R weekend, students will take some of what they learned in Friday's lab and apply it to a new lab on Tuesday, with the goal that they come to understand the differences between insulators and conductors. By the end of the week, students should grasp series circuits and the flow of electrons.
I have also figured out that I can create a Quizlet and then go back and add more cards along the way. Thus, I have already started "Electricity Quizlet" if you would like to start reviewing those with your child now.
If you have any questions regarding math facts memorization, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Best,
I hope you are enjoying your extended weekend, or at least your child's extended weekend. It seems like every week I am surprised by the progress we have made into the new year. It has been a joy to be your child's teacher. I love how each of my students are uniquely special, with each child having their own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. As much as I love teaching them the beautiful curriculum we have been gifted with, it is a greater joy getting to know my students as persons worthy of love and respect. Thank you for the privilege of being your child's teacher.
Below are the lessons for the week.
Lessons
Language Arts: This week, in grammar, students will deepen their understanding of sentence classification and sentence diagramming. Students will be able to use adverbs and adjectives properly in sentences. In literature, the plot thickens, as Curdie discovers the plot that has been hatched by the Cobs. Will Princess Irene be safe? In Spalding, students will do more words, with more markings.
History: This week in history, students will complete their Europe maps. Students should continue to review their maps nightly as they will be expected to know all of the countries of Europe and their location. If students try to memorize all of these the night or two before an assessment, their success rate will be very low. We will also begin a brief two-week unit on the Eastern Romance Empire. We will study the Byzantine Empire, Justinian and Theodora, and the Hagia Sophia.
Science: After enjoying the R&R weekend, students will take some of what they learned in Friday's lab and apply it to a new lab on Tuesday, with the goal that they come to understand the differences between insulators and conductors. By the end of the week, students should grasp series circuits and the flow of electrons.
I have also figured out that I can create a Quizlet and then go back and add more cards along the way. Thus, I have already started "Electricity Quizlet" if you would like to start reviewing those with your child now.
Math: This week in math, students will begin to their study of the order of operations. We will continue to review and work towards mastery of multiplication facts with Rocket Math. However, mastery of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts is expected in fourth grade.
If your child is still deficient in this category, please have your child review their facts daily. I recommend that you do this sort of review during transitional times in your day, such as on the drive to school or home, or during commercials if your family watches TV together. The reason I say this is because long term memorization is more likely to happen if there is space in between each session. If students study their math facts for ten minutes a day, two and a half minutes at a time, I believe you will see great progress. There are a number of apps you can use to do this, such as this one. Of course, note cards are also just as practical. It is also best if your child reviews multiple kinds of facts at once.
If you have any questions regarding math facts memorization, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren