Miss Hewitt's 4th Grade Blog: November 2015

Monday, November 30, 2015

Newsletter November 30th- December 4th

Ms. Hewitt’s Fourth Grade Class Newsletter

Monday, November 30th, 2015

Good Morning Guardians and Students,

It was such a joy to sit with each of you during conferences to discuss your child’s growth throughout the first trimester of the fourth grade. Thank you for all of your support!

Only 13 days left until our next break so be sure to read through our class newsletter for important dates and assignments!

Age of Sail Update

Have you order your Age of Sail sweatshirt yet? This TUESDAY is the DEADLINE to ordered our class sweatshirt! The PayPal link for our Age of Sail class hoodies has been removed because the deadline was today, but I asked for a 2 day extension! Click Here to order your sweatshirts as a STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP option instead. Be sure to include your child’s name, your name, and the SIZE when you order.

Thank you Tyler Mott’s family for offering to clean the pie tins for our fourth graders! Thank you Gina Bell for offering to sew our class ensign! Students voted for William’s design and I am sure it going to turn out amazing. Thanks you all for your support in this incredible adventure!

Be sure to read over the Age of Sail permission slips and paperwork carefully that was sent home 2 weeks ago. Return all the paperwork together by December 12th. Thank you to the families who have already turned it in!

Thank you Brad Mott for offering to come into our classroom to teach the students how to tie knots. The students are really looking forward to it!

Language Arts

Spelling City List #28 Suffixes- words include: hopeless, careless, homeless, tireless, hopeful, fearful, cheerful, etc. Students will complete assigned activities at home and will take the test in class Friday on their Chromebooks.
Spelling City Vocabulary List- Greek Allusions- words include: Herculean, Pandora’s Box, Fate, Echo, etc. Students will complete assigned activities at home and will take the test in class Friday on their Chromebooks. Here is a link to a google slides presentation on the words students will use for reference to study as well.

Grammar: DLR review, prefixes, and suffixes.

Writing- Continuing informational writing and paraphrasing.
Nonfiction Text Features: sequencing and compare and contrast in reading.

Traditional Literature: We will conclude our Mythology unit with the Odyssey. Students presentations were amazing and so much fun!

Math

IXL Strands- Complete IXL strands 30 minutes a week is the minimum requirement. Division Strands- E.1, E.2, E.26, E.18, E.17, E.13, E. 14, E.4, E.5, E.7, E.8, E.9,

Extra Challenge: E.20, E.21, E.22, E.23, E.24

Chapter 6: -

Monday- No School- review past IXL strands assigned

Tuesday- Lesson 9 Divide Greater Numbers- E.11

Wednesday- Quiz Lesson 7-9 and Lesson 10 Quotients with Zeros- E.13

Thursday- Lesson 11 Solve Multi-Step Word Problems

Friday- Review Chapter 6

Monday- Test on Chapter 6 long division/ Pre-test for chapter 7 on patterns and sequencing

Tuesday- Lesson 1 & 2: Nonnumeric and numeric patterns

Wednesday- Lesson 3 & 4: Sequences and looking for a pattern

Thursday- Quiz Lesson 1-4 and Lesson 5 Addition and Subtraction Rules

Friday- Lesson 6: Multiplication and Division Rules

Go on XtraMath daily to become fluent in their math facts. Utilize Mangahigh to practice math facts using the game titled, Sundae Times. Our school ID is 67993. Students have also been working on Base Ten and Counting and Operations on Front Row. Please encourage them to continue to use this adaptive, valuable resource!

Social Studies/ Science

Life Science Unit: We have studied skin, bones, heart, lungs, and muscles. Now we will work on NGSS standard 4-LS1-1. Constructing an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction
Introduce study on the interactions among the California Indians and the Europeans. We will study Spanish exploration and colonization of California, including the relationships among soldiers, missionaries, and Indians.

Reminders/Mark Your Calendars-

Tuesday, December 1st, I will be submitting Scholastic Book Orders.
This Friday, December 4 is the Final Day to turn in Olympic Triathlon Donations.
Spelling Bee is scheduled for Tuesday, December 8th. Congratulations to Toby and Megan for being our class representatives. We will be there rooting you on!
Barnes and Noble Family Night - Friday, December 11
Holidays around the World will be celebrated on Thursday, December 16th
No School for Winter Break: Friday 18th- Friday, January 1st.
Age of Sail Field Lesson Tuesday, January 5th- Wednesday, 6th
Sign up online and a 4th grader’s family will then get a voucher that grants entrance to the student and a carload of passengers to federal recreation areas. The Every Kid in a Park pass is good for the 2015-2016 school year, until August 31, 2016. The page is hyperlinked above in the words ‘sign up online’. Here’s the link separately, for convenience:http://www.nationalparks.org/ook/ekiap-signup
Morning Study Hall has been a great success! If you want to come please remember to sign up by CLICKING HERE

Monday, November 16, 2015

Newsletter November 16th-20th

Ms. Hewitt’s Fourth Grade Class Newsletter

Monday, November 16th, 2015

Good Morning Guardians and Students,

I would like to start by saying a huge THANK YOU to each and everyone of you. On both Tuesday and Thursday the students were showing me with birthday cards, gifts, and hugs. Thank you for making my birthday week so incredibly special!

This week is one of the most important weeks of the year, student led parent teacher conferences! Thank you EVERYONE for signing up! I look forward to discussing your child’s growth. They have worked so hard and it is truly a joy to see them share that with you!

4th Grade Awards Assembly: The 4th-grade academic awards assembly will be held on Friday, November 20th from 8:20 AM - 8:45 AM. 4th grade will meet on the blacktop for morning line up, then head to the cafeteria for the assembly at the start of Morning Line Up.

Thank you so much to all the families who helped volunteer at WCS Olympic Triathlon on Friday. The students had a wonderful time creating asian inspired artwork, playing go fish in espanol, and participating in relay races. WCS has until December 4th to hit our Olympic Triathlon fundraising goal. Keep collecting and donating for our school. Thanks for all that you do!

Congratulations Megan and Toby for representing the Hewittians at our school spelling Bee December 9th 6-7 in our cafeteria. I look forward to seeing you all there to root these amazing students on!

Please send up the white envelopes that were sent home on Thursday. Free & Reduced Lunch Forms: For several reasons, it is very important that each of our families is accounted for when we calculate how many of our students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals at school. First, Westlake feels very strongly that having access to healthy food is incredibly important to student health and learning. Furthermore, as we are quickly approaching our Charter Renewal hearing with the Natomas Unified School District, it is important to report to our authorizers the number of families who have applied for this program. Our school is credited for each family that applies, so please, even if you are not sure your family qualifies, we encourage you to apply.

It has come to our attention that not every family has had the opportunity to complete a Free & Reduced Lunch Application. To ensure we have a 100% response rate, we are asking every family to take one of the following actions:

Complete the application and turn it in at next week’s parent conference.

Sign and return the cover letter stating that either:

Your family prefers to decline the opportunity to complete the form
Your family has already filled out the form this school year

When every family takes one of the above actions, we can ensure that our school will have the most accurate account possible of this information. Thank you for your support. This information will help our students, as well as our school.

Age of Sail Update

Who would like to earn some parent volunteer hours by cleaning our new pie tins? There are a few stickers that need to be picked off and we would just like them cleaned before students use them for their meals. Thank you for volunteering!

This week 4th grade will be sending home Age of Sail permission slips. Please read over the paperwork carefully and return all the paperwork at once. This field lesson is an exceptional, unforgettable experience. I can not wait for it!

I am looking for a parent who would be willing to sew our class ensign. Our class is coming up with a design and it will need to be ready before Winter Break. Thank you for your consideration!

The PayPal link for our Age of Sail class hoodies is on our school website! Click Here to order your sweatshirts. Be sure to include your child’s name when you order.

Thank You!

Thank you Donna McDonald and Anthony’s mother for helping with all of the Age of Sail copies and conference paperwork. You ladies are amazing!

Language Arts

Spelling City List #12- words include: anyone, however, everything, himself, etc. Students will complete assigned activities at home and will take the test in class Friday on their Chromebooks.

Grammar: Scootpad individual learning path.

Writing- Continuing informational writing and paraphrasing.

Traditional Literature: We will continue our Mythology unit. Students will present their allusions they have been researching with their partner. We will be studying allusions, good vs. evil, and plot elements.

Math

IXL Strands- Complete IXL strands 30 minutes a week is the minimum requirement. Division Strands- E.1, E.2, E.26, E.18, E.17, E.13

Chapter 6: -

Monday- Lesson 6: Interpret Remainders

Tuesday- Quiz Lesson 1-6

Wednesday- Lesson 7: Place the first digit

Thursday-Lesson 8: Distributive Property and Partial Quotients

Friday- Lesson 9 Divide Greater Numbers

Social Studies/ Science

We will continue our Life Science Unit on the human body! We started with our skin, bones, and next week we will be learning about our heart, lungs, muscles and more!

Reminders/Mark Your Calendars-

Picture Retake Day- Thursday, November 19th
4-8th Grade Academic Awards Ceremonies- Friday, November 20th
Silly Sock Day- Friday, November 20th
Olympic Triathlon goal is for each student is to bring in $180 total. Some ideas are to have a yard sale, hold a lemonade stand, have a bake sale, ask dear family members, in order to support your child’s school.
Student-Led Conferences- November 18th- 20th
No School for November Break: Monday 23rd- Monday 30th.
No School for Winter Break: Friday 18th- Friday, January 1st.
Age of Sail Field Lesson Tuesday, January 5th- Wednesday, 6th

Morning Study Hall has been a great success! If you want to come please remember to sign up by CLICKING HERE

Friday, November 6, 2015

Newsletter for November 6th-13th

Ms. Hewitt’s Fourth Grade Class Newsletter

Friday, November 6th, 2015

Good Morning Guardians and Students,

Age of Sail Update

Thank you Donna McDonald for copying and binding our Age of Sail songbooks. Thank you Hope for purchasing the metal pie tins and the forks. Thank you Alicia for purchasing the spoons. Your contribution means so much to the entire fourth grade team! Now all we need is 40 empty clean cans for students to drink out of.

I am looking for a parent who would be willing to sew our class ensign. Our class is coming up with a design and it will need to be ready before Winter Break. Thank you for your consideration!

Alicia told me there is a sale at Costco for long underwear for only $10. It is going to be pretty chilly in January. Be on a look out for paperwork regarding Age of Sail this week!

I have had some questions regarding sweatshirt sizes. Our philosophy is the bigger the better because they will be wearing lots of layers. Also students can then wear it for years to come. The PayPal link for our Age of Sail class hoodies is on our school website! Click Here to order your sweatshirts. Be sure to include your child’s name when you order.

Conferences

Be sure to schedule your student led conferences at Canyon Creek by Clicking Here! I look forward to meeting with you all!

Google Expedition

Tuesday, November 10th students will have the opportunity to explore landforms all over the world! Can’t wait for this amazing adventure of a lifetime!

Olympic Triathlon

We earned the honor of winning the Olympic torch two weeks in a row! Our students are so proud. Thank you to the families who donated this week. Thanks for doing all you can to raise money for our amazing school! Olympic Triathlon Schedule: Friday, November 13th is the Olympic Triathlon! Please see the schedule for the day's events. Opening Ceremonies will begin on the blacktop at 12:50PM with classes lined up proudly waving their flags.

KCRA Kids Can Food Drive

We are collecting non-perishable food items for the KCRA Kids Can Food Drive from October 26th-November 6th. We will be donating all of our food items to Joey’s Food Locker, which goes directly to families who reside in the Natomas Unified School District. Donate one thing from your pantries this week.

Thank You!

Thank you Jessica Bradbury for helping making copies every week AND purchasing our class two boxes of paper. You are amazing. Also thank you Lanie Holmer, Maria Flor, and Alicia Teater for helping math groups each and every week. We are so grateful for you all.

Language Arts

Spelling City List #6- words include: strong, wrong, copy, cloth, problem, etc. Students will complete assigned activities at home and will take the test in class Friday on their Chromebooks.

Grammar: We will take the subject and predicate test on Wednesday this week.

Writing- Continuing informational writing and paraphrasing.

Traditional Literature: We will continue our Mythology unit. We will be studying allusions, good vs. evil, and plot elements.
AR point goals are due this week, Friday, November 13th.

Math

IXL Strands- Complete IXL strands 30 minutes a week is the minimum requirement. Division Strands- E.1, E.2, E.26, E.18, E.17, E.13

Chapter 6: -

Monday- Lesson 3: Place Value to Divide

Tuesday- Lesson 4: Problem Solving: Make a Model

Wednesday- NO SCHOOL!

Thursday- Lesson 5: Divide with Remainders: E.4, E.5,

Friday- Lesson 6: Interpret Remainders