Coming Up....A Really Busy Month

Here's a brief description of new projects and units of study.

We will be reading and studying the challenging but worthwhile classic "Phantom Tollbooth." This modern allegory/fantasy's vocabulary is a real workout for fourth graders. We will be using many of the words found in the novel for our next three vocabulary/spelling lists. Much of the reading will be done in class. I expect students to stay with the daily assignments and not read ahead, no matter how tempting.

In History we continue to read and take notes on the origins of the 13 colonies. We have finished New England and are taking on the middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Our history research project, the "Foods of Colonial America," is under way. Students are deciding on what food topic they will pursue. These range from the history and social influence of codfish, deer, turkey, sugar, tea, corn etc. Guidelines, due dates and all sorts of how-to information will be distributed. Basically, students develop a series of questions to be researched. They each produce a written report and, time permitting, another version of their findings using a technology application.

In Math we are finishing unit 5 about multiplying with two digit numbers. The unit assessment will be next Wednesday. Unit 6 takes on all aspects of division. Keep practicing the times and division facts.

Science this trimester is all about the effects of water on land. We have already been out inspecting our campus for signs of erosion etc. The unit involves a model of the land contained in a plastic bin. We run streams of water across the land in many controlled investigations changing one variable each time. Pictures of the results will be posted and discussed on the blog.

We are putting the final illustrations in our books of collected writings. Everyone will soon be invited to an author share and celebration. Later this month we will practice writing another short story under timed conditions to prepare for the standardized assessments we administer annually.

We will be doing the second reading comprehension level assessment for each student in the next few weeks. The results will be available at February's parent conferences.

In addition to all the above...we're putting on a big show later this month. Rehearsals are getting underway. More about that later.