Greetings Families,
I hope you are enjoying your three-day weekend and that your child is enjoying the R&R aspect of it. I am looking forward to seeing your child tomorrow as we get back to business. Here is what you can expect your child to learn next week.
Lessons
Grammar/Writing: In grammar/writing this week, students will learn about the last four of the six traits of writing. By the end of the week, they should know the six traits. Here is what they will have for their notes.
Poem: Students should we working on the memorization of "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Recitations of this poem are next week. I've placed a video of it being read below the order of operations videos.
Greek and Latin Roots: The students will take a review check on Wednesday over roots 11-13 and will be taught the next three this week.
Science: Students will continue their study of electricity with a focus on series circuits, parallel circuits, and electromagnetism. They will have the opportunity to work with wires, light bulbs, batteries, and switches as they come to understand how electrons flow through circuits. If you want to refresh your understanding of electricity for conversations at home, check out the videos I've linked here. Just scroll down to the electricity videos. There are two science quizzes this week. One on Wednesday and one on Thursday. We are reviewing these things regularly in class, but you may want to review them at home.
I hope you have a great week. Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren
I hope you are enjoying your three-day weekend and that your child is enjoying the R&R aspect of it. I am looking forward to seeing your child tomorrow as we get back to business. Here is what you can expect your child to learn next week.
Lessons
Grammar/Writing: In grammar/writing this week, students will learn about the last four of the six traits of writing. By the end of the week, they should know the six traits. Here is what they will have for their notes.
- Ideas
- develop a single topic to convey a clear message
- ideas should be important, accurate, and clear
- Organization
- reveal ideas in a logical order--include a beginning, middle, and end
- keep like topics together
- Voice
- increase reader engagement with intentional writer feelings, attitude, and emotion
- Word Choice
- use the right word in the right place to convey the right meaning
- strong verbs, specific nouns, and colorful adjectives
- Sentence Fluency
- improve the readability of writing with complete thoughts and sentence variety (sentence lengths and sentence beginnings)
- Conventions
- make writing more correct by following rules of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar
History: 4B has moved ahead of the plans in history because we spent an extra day in history while another class was using the lab supplies for science. Therefore, this week, 4B will look at Charlemagne (Charles the Great) and the birth of the Holy Roman Empire, what a feudal society looked like, and the role of the manor. Students will take the open-book, open-notes test on the Byzantine Empire on Friday.
Literature: Students will read chapters 15-19 in The Princess and the Goblin this week. Please remember to have your child read any chapters they miss due to absences during his/her 20 minutes of reading time each night. A copy of the book can be found here.
Math: During math this week, students will learn the order of operations. As I noted during Curriculum Night, the Singapore Math text says to not teach students the mnemonic devices PEMDAS or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." However, I will use the PEMDAS mnemonic because I believe it is helpful and aligns its self with the Make It Stick approach we use at Arete. However, the way I write it is very important. I write it like this.
P (parenthesis)
E (exponents)
MD --> (multiplication and division)
AS --> (addition and subtraction)
The reason I write it like this is that the most common mistake students make is thinking that addition comes before subtraction and multiplication should come before division. Students wrongly think this because M comes before D and A comes before S in the mnemonic--the reason Singapore Math says not to use it. That is why I require students to write it with the arrows following the MD level and the AS level. Because, when there are multiplication and division on the same level (all parenthesis and exponents have been dealt with), you solve them right to left. You do not do the multiplication and then the division problems. The same is true for addition. Now, if this is confusing you, and it has just been too long since you did this in school, I've placed two Khan Academy videos below. One other note, in fourth grade, students will not deal with exponents. They will learn that during week three of fifth grade--unless they are overly ambitious and ask me. I will usually tell them if they inquire. However, they won't be tested on that information. There is a review quiz on Thursday and a test over the order of operations on Friday.
Poem: Students should we working on the memorization of "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Recitations of this poem are next week. I've placed a video of it being read below the order of operations videos.
Greek and Latin Roots: The students will take a review check on Wednesday over roots 11-13 and will be taught the next three this week.
Science: Students will continue their study of electricity with a focus on series circuits, parallel circuits, and electromagnetism. They will have the opportunity to work with wires, light bulbs, batteries, and switches as they come to understand how electrons flow through circuits. If you want to refresh your understanding of electricity for conversations at home, check out the videos I've linked here. Just scroll down to the electricity videos. There are two science quizzes this week. One on Wednesday and one on Thursday. We are reviewing these things regularly in class, but you may want to review them at home.
- Tuesday's Quiz
- 1. __________________________ is the amount of electricity caused by having too few or too many electrons.
- 2. Opposite charges ____________________________.
- 3. The build up of electric charge is known as _______________________ electricity.
- 4. _____________________________ is an example of static electricity.
- 5. What particle is responsible for the build-up of a charge?
- 6. _____________________________ allow for electric current to flow.
- Thursday's Quiz
- 1. Charge is an amount of electricity caused by having too few or too many __________.
- 2. A build up of electric charge is called ______________.
- 3. An everyday example of static electricity is ______________.
- 4. A material that allows electric current to flow is called a(an) ______________.
- 5. True or False- Electrons : Electric Current :: Water : River
- 6. Draw an example of a series circuit below.
Schedule - 4B Google Calendar
Wednesday: Greek and Latin Roots Review Check - Roots 11-13
Wednesday: Science Quiz
Thursday: Science Quiz
Thursday: Math Review Quiz
Friday: History Test - Byzantine Empire (Open-Book, Open-Notes)
Friday: Spalding Test
Friday: Math Test - Order of Operations
Wednesday, September 11th: Curriculum Q&A Workshop from 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday: Science Quiz
Thursday: Science Quiz
Thursday: Math Review Quiz
Friday: History Test - Byzantine Empire (Open-Book, Open-Notes)
Friday: Spalding Test
Friday: Math Test - Order of Operations
Wednesday, September 11th: Curriculum Q&A Workshop from 6:00-7:00 p.m.
I hope you have a great week. Don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren