Dear Parents and Families,
The students of 4H have made tremendous progress thus far this school year.
I am excited to say that we are well on our way to having twenty "published"
authors, who are excitedly working to complete their very own personal
narratives. We are currently focusing upon the craft of writing, and
creating details that enable the reader to feel as though he or she is
actually there, experiencing the small moment with the author. After we
complete the Personal Narrative Unit, we will be moving on to fiction and non-
fiction writing. Students will be allowed to open their imaginations, and
create their own characters and plot, learning from some of our most
celebrated authors such as Roald Dahl, Kate DiCamillo, Jeanne DuPrau, and
many more!
Also, we are integrating our reading and writing programs so that the
knowledge students learn by diving into characters in their independent
reading books, can be used in helping them develop their own fictional
characters to write about. Therefore, we are currently exploring how authors
select characters, the setting, problems, and solutions, and how these four
critical story elements are all connected and influence each other. After
which, we will soon be moving on to inferring, to help us learn more about
the author’s intent of writing.
In math, we are continually reviewing our number sense skills, and engage in
daily activators that enable students to continually practice skills acquired
throughout the year. Some days we engage in “Flipping for Math,” where
students are given spatulas, and are given math problems or definitions that
they have to illustrate on their spatulas using dry erase markers. After our
daily activators, we progress through a unit of study. We will soon be
exploring geometry, with special focus on geometric shapes, 3-dimensional
shapes, and concepts such as similar, congruent, and symmetry. Upon
completion of this unit, students will begin a unit on Multiplication and
Division Strategies to help them gain confidence in performing more complex
algorithms, with multi-digit numbers.
In science we are finishing up our landform investigations, uncovering how
landforms are made, and how weathering and erosion can impact their
development. Next we are moving on to our weather unit! I am looking
forward to watching them progress through the science curriculum, and begin
to see how all the concepts are related.
This has been an exciting year so far, and I expect students will continue to
surprise me with their insight and willingness to learn!
Keep up the good work!
-Mrs. H.
