Weekly 4th Grade Update (8.28.20.)

Week Three!

(8.24 - 8.28)

Good afternoon!

Here are our announcements for the week:

MAP Testing

We’ve all made it through another week of school! Thank you so much for your patience and work this week, especially with our MAP testing. We’re really proud of how our scholars persevered through their tests. In case you missed either or both of our MAP tests, there is make-up testing scheduled for September 2nd, 3rd, and 4th next week. These tests provide us really helpful information on how to best support your scholars, so please ensure you are set up and ready to go for these make-up tests.

Specials

In case you missed this before, you should all also have access to the Specials Google Classroom. Lessons for Music, Art, Spanish, and P.E. all exist in a separate Google Classroom from your homeroom and have separate assignments to be submitted. No worries if you were not aware of this before, but please ensure that your scholars are also completing their work for these courses. You can find the classroom using the class code “pnmf6iy”.

Late Work

Also, please ensure that your scholars have all of their missing assignments in for their homeroom class. Across all of our sections, there are still assignments that are missing and incomplete. Please take a moment to talk to your scholars and ensure that they have followed all directions and uploaded all necessary attachments when completing work, including for past work as far back as our first week of school. There should be a section in your Google Classroom that helps highlight missing assignments. 

If you are experiencing issues with particular attachments or Google Forms, please reach out to your homeroom teacher. While we are distance learning, it is also important that your scholars view comments on their returned assignments to help them improve and make corrections. When you click on most assignments, there should be a section of private comments and/or comments directly on pictures of their work to review.

Thank you for all you are doing to support your scholars at home. We know that our Spartan families are incredibly busy, and we truly appreciate all of your efforts. In some of our morning Zooms today, we had crazy hair or virtual field trips as a reward for great behavior and a tiring week. We hope you all get to let loose a bit and enjoy this weekend! 

Please read on for our subject overviews.

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ELA

This week, our scholars honed their poetry memorization skills in preparation for their recitation of “The Violet” by Jane Taylor. In addition to practicing their oration, scholars continue to read Prince Caspian and, as its end approaches, they prepare to write their first essay as 4th Graders. Secure in their recent knowledge about the parts of a sentence and what makes a strong narrative summary, there is no doubt that our scholars will craft beautiful essays in the upcoming weeks!

Math

This past week in Math, scholars honed their skills in rounding and began to learn about factors. We have also invited scholars to start practicing their math facts by using flashcards. Feel free to have your child use the set provided via Quizlet, or they can make their own! We worked on twos this week, and in the coming week we will provide a set for threes. We encourage scholars to practice these for about 5 minutes each day. Next week, scholars will continue learning about factors and multiples. We will have a short quiz on Friday to check their progress on this skill!

History

This past week, we wrapped up our discussion on maps and mountains! I have loved everyone’s mountain stores and I am really loving that scholars are so invested in history. Next week we will be moving into medieval history and starting our first big unit for history! We will start by discussing how the Roman empire came to an end and how that will impact our future discussions on medieval history. We will, then, get an introduction to the Middle Ages, and students will get to decide if the Middle Ages were deserving of the nickname “The Dark Ages.” 

Science

In Science this week, scholars finished learning about how rock layers in our earth can provide evidence for how the Earth has changed. Geologists have studied these layers to even theorize about how and when the dinosaurs went extinct! We finished up with a review and quiz. Next week, we will look at several natural hazards in more detail, learn about what causes them, and continue practicing our scientific thinking as we consider how we might protect people from their destructive effects.

If you'd like to see what your scholars are learning and doing in their specials classes CLICK HERE !

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! Please reach out to your teachers with any questions, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.👋

 

- The 4th Grade Team

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Contact Information:

4A

Lead Teacher - Carolyn Conlon: carolyn.conlon@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Ashley Poritz: ashley.poritz@greatheartswesternhills.org

4B

Lead Teacher - Aaron Cho: aaron.cho@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Gabriellina Pedrotti: gabriellina.pedrotti@greatheartswesternhills.org

4C

Lead Teacher - Vania Vasquez: vania.vasquez@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Saranya Sundararaman: saranya.sundararaman@greatheartswesternhills.org

4D

Lead Teacher - Gwen Cunningham: gwen.cunningham@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Joe Evans: joe.evans@greatheartswesternhills.org

Second Week Update (8.21.20.)

Week Two in Review

(8.17 - 8.21)

 
Good afternoon!

Thank you for another great week of school! Here are some announcements for the upcoming week:

 

Daily Agenda

Each morning, please see the stream of your scholars' Google Classroom for an updated agenda for the day. This will help guide your scholar as they work to ensure everything is being done and turned in. It will also help you when you are checking your scholars' work to make sure that nothing was forgotten about or missed. Please ensure that if an assignment requires a photo to be uploaded or Google Form to be submitted that this is complete.

 

Grades

We are working very hard to provide your scholar with feedback to all of the work being turned in. In order to see how your student is doing on submitted assignments, follow the steps provided below:

1. In Google Classroom on the web, available classes display after you sign in. Click on or tap a class, then Classwork (from the top menu), then View My Work. When you see a small speech bubble next to an assignment that means a teacher has left a comment for your scholar. Please review all comments even if an assignment received full credit.

2. In the Google Classroom app on iOS or Android, tap a class, tap Classwork, then tap the student work icon in the upper-right hand corner of the screen.

3. Each assignment is listed with its status (e.g., Assigned, Turned In, or Missing) and due date, if added. If available, grades also display on this screen, although not all assignments will have a score associated with it.

Please note that starting next week, assignments are expected to be completed and turned in by the end of the day they are assigned. If an assignment needs to be turned in late, please notify your teacher. Please take time this weekend or on Monday to ensure that any missing work is accounted for inside of the Google Classroom.

 

MAP Testing

You should have received an email from your section teacher regarding MAP testing next week on Wednesday and Thursday (8/26-8/27). As a reminder, please run through the procedure with your scholars before the day of testing. Note that your scholar will enter a Zoom call so your section teacher can monitor students, but the Zoom can be minimized while your scholar is working.

 

The testing times for each section are listed below:

4A: 8:00-9:30am

4B: 10:00-11:30am

4C: 12:20-1:50pm

4D: 2:15-3:45pm

 

Please reach out to your teachers with any questions regarding MAP testing.

 

Highlights

A couple of the 4th Grade sections went on virtual field trips this morning as a reward for meeting expectations with excellence. Across the grade level, we have been so proud of your scholars and the resiliency they have shown applying good "netiquette" in Zoom and engaging with the material in this new and unfamiliar form. Scholars' models of the Earth's layers this week were exceptional!

 

That's it for our announcements this week! Read on to get an overview of what your scholars are learning in each subject.

 

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ELA:

This week our scholars continued their reading of Prince Caspian--many of our scholars even claimed it as their new favorite book! This week, our scholars were also introduced to their first poetry assignment as 4th Graders: "The Violet" by Jane Taylor. This poem will become a literary focal point for scholars in the upcoming weeks as they prepare to recite it from memory in September. In addition to engaging with new literature as a part of the Great Hearts ELA program, our scholars have continued to finesse their skills in grammar and rhetoric. This week, scholars created their own instructions for completing a task--all in the form of imperative sentences! Our 4th Grade scholars will build upon their refined sentence knowledge next week when they begin to identify subjects and predicates.

 

Math:

This past week, scholars deepened their understanding of place value and they took their very first quiz! We are so proud of their hard work and the growth we have already seen from them. There were numerous times throughout the week when we saw visible signs of perseverance. Next week, we will be discussing rounding, approximation, and factors. We will not have any math on Thursday due to MAP testing! 

History:

This week, we wrapped up our conversation on maps and we have officially transitioned to mountains! Tuesday, we learned how and why time zones were created, while also exploring the function of physical maps. Our scholars never cease to amaze me; they excelled on our time zone worksheets and I am happy to see they are understanding the concepts. Thursday, we started learning about mountains and how they are formed. Next week we will build on this conversation, by learning about how mountains work as barriers and how people have used resources from mountains!  

 

Science:

We loved the great participation we saw with our scholars in science this week. We discussed and learned about our earth and its long-term changes, including Continental Drift, the layers of the earth, and different types of rocks. Scholars were so enthusiastic about sharing the models they made of the earth’s layers in small group, and the quality of these models was outstanding! We finished out today with your scholars recording observations on their own outdoor investigations of nearby rocks and soil! Next week, we’ll finish talking about evidence that our Earth has changed and take a quiz over our topics so far.

 

 

If you'd like to see what your scholars are learning and doing in their specials classes CLICK HERE !

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend! Please reach out to your teachers with any questions, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.👋

 

- The 4th Grade Team

______________

Contact Information:

4A

Lead Teacher - Carolyn Conlon: carolyn.conlon@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Ashley Poritz: ashley.poritz@greatheartswesternhills.org

4B

Lead Teacher - Aaron Cho: aaron.cho@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Gabriellina Pedrotti: gabriellina.pedrotti@greatheartswesternhills.org

4C

Lead Teacher - Vania Vasquez: vania.vasquez@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Saranya Sundararaman: saranya.sundararaman@greatheartswesternhills.org

4D

Lead Teacher - Gwen Cunningham: gwen.cunningham@greatheartswesternhills.org

Assistant Teacher - Joe Evans: joe.evans@greatheartswesternhills.org

First 4th Grade Blog Update! (8.14.20.)

First Week of 4th Grade 

(8.12 - 8.14)

Hello 4th Grade Spartan Families! 😀

We know that distance learning requires a lot of adjustments, adapting to changes, and technical difficulties, so thank you for your patience this first week of school. This blog will serve as a place to get an overview of what your scholars are covering each week, as well as a peek into the material for the week to come. We’ll also have some general and grade level information updates in here, so be sure to check this every week. This blog should update every Friday by 5PM.

Thank you for helping your scholars join us for our morning meetings and small group times. We know that things come up and your scholars may miss a time occasionally, but we’d love to have them join us so we can check-in and help them review concepts. As a note on this, we ask that you would give a little space for your scholar and distance yourself during our morning check-in to respect the privacy of the other students. This time is meant for emotional learning and sharing, and we want to build a comfortable and safe space for students to be open. During our small group sessions, feel free to be close by in case your scholar needs help with materials or their technology.

As a reminder, please ensure that your scholars are uploading pictures of their work when their assignments ask for it. After work is uploaded or any relevant forms are submitted, you can mark the assignment as complete and turned in. Please do not turn in an assignment without its needed attachments.There is a video in the materials section of the Google Classroom that can help review that process. We are also fixing our future forms to allow them to be edited after submission so you will be able to verify that the form is finished. Once you have submitted you can mark the assignment as complete. Even if an assignment is marked as late, please ensure your scholars are still submitting their work and keeping up with the lessons. Our grading this first week has been more focused on completion as we all familiarize ourselves with the online format. One last note on assignments: while we encourage you to support and help your scholars as needed, please empower your scholars to take ownership of their own work. We want your scholars to succeed, but it is important for us to know if there are gaps in your scholars' understanding so we can re-visit and re-teach topics as needed.

As we adjust to the rhythm of teaching online and preparing materials for scholars, we are going to specify times in which we will be replying to emails. If you email your child’s classroom teacher throughout the day, we will be responding to those emails before our morning meeting, then from 3-4PM. Feel free to send your questions as they arise, but know that, unless there is an emergency, these are the times we will prioritize communicating with you. Thank you!

Read on to get an overview of what your scholars are learning in each subject.

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ELA:

Our 4th Grade scholars began their 2020-21 ELA by reading the first three chapters of Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis. Scholars were given guided reading exercises to help them think critically about the book and to help engage with its material. The guided reading exercises for the first week focussed on reading with comprehension and appreciating sensory details. In addition to studying literature this week, our 4th Grade scholars also started their lessons in Grammar and Writing. Parts of speech, sentence types, and narrative passages--these are all topics that our scholars have started to master as fourth-graders. Next week, scholars will have the chance to finesse their grammar knowledge as they transition from simply identifying sentence types to creating their own!

History:

Hello scholars and families! Our fourth graders have been working hard on understanding maps and how we use them. We started with a lesson introducing maps and discovering why they are so important to us and to explorers from history. We were incredibly impressed with everyone’s DIY maps, and loved hearing about them in our small group discussions! Next, we spent some time learning how we can use latitude and longitude to find points on our maps! Latitude and longitude can be a confusing topic, but not for our scholars! They were like sponges, soaking in all the information and then identifying and labeling coordinates, themselves! Next week, we will finish our discussion on maps with a short lesson on time zones and physical maps, and then we will start learning about mountains and how people can use them! 

Science:

In Science, we discussed how scientists ask themselves good questions to learn more about the world! For the coming weeks, we will be talking about Processes that Shape the Earth. This week, our focus was on introducing geology as a field of science and considering the application science and geology can have in our lives. Your scholars learned about natural hazards, and practiced thinking like scientists to figure out ways to respond to the damage natural hazards can cause and help keep people safe. Next week, we will start reading in our Core Knowledge Science Readers which will be attached in PDF format in your Google Classrooms. We’re excited to think about how our earth has changed, learn about its layers, and get to do some of our own investigations outside!  

Math:

This past week in Math, we explored the place value of whole numbers. Scholars got a chance to create their own place value discs and discuss the value of each digit in the number. Next week, scholars will be learning about the “Millions” place, number lines, and comparing/ordering whole numbers. We will be reviewing these concepts on Thursday. Then on Friday, we will be taking our first quiz of the year! We want to do everything we can to help students have a calm, positive attitude towards test-taking. At home, please feel free to help us frame assessments in a positive way! 

If you'd like to see what your scholars are learning and doing in their specials classes CLICK HERE !

Thank you so much for a successful first week of school and for working with us as we distance learn! Have a wonderful weekend! 👋

- The 4th Grade Team