May 12th-16th, 2014

Hi 4th Grade Parents!

It has been a few weeks! Here is what we are working on this week:

Language Arts: This week is the last week of the Houghton Mifflin Curriculum. We will be reading a long article, a short article, and poems all about snakes and other animals. Our essential question is "How can exploring nature help people draw conclusions?" We will also be finishing up our novel units and starting to take notes and begin our State research.

Spelling: It is time for the last spelling test of the year!!! I am urging students to finish strong. Last week, 65% of the class got a PERFECT score. We are aiming higher this week. The pattern are difficult/unusual spellings.
1. meant
2. routine
3. style
4. flood
5. month
6. pleasant
7. guess
8. women
9. either
10. against
11. disguise
12. sweat
13. magazine
14. guard
15. receive
16. wonder
17. league
18. type
19. ceiling
20. money

CHALLENGE
1. plaid
2. onion
3. guarantee
4. rhyme
5. sumbarine

Math: Students took the Unit 9 Assessment this past Friday. Receiving test scores may be delayed due to priority of end-of-year assessment and district score reporting. Students will be receiving the Unit 10 Family letter home today. This letter should be kept with you, not your child. The family letter's purpose is to aid families in support with their child's math homework- Homework answers are in the back of the packet. Please ask your child about the letter so that you can keep it in a safe place for them. Unit 10 will be a short unit on symmetry.

Science: Our Wisconsin Fast Plants are finally growing! They are blooming and we will be pollinating them this week with actual (dead) bees. We will start our social studies unit on the Midwest late this week or early next week.

Only a few weeks left! :)

-Ms. Shapleigh

April 21st-25th, 2014

Hello parents! Here is a quick curriculum update of what we will be covering in class this week:

Language Arts: Our essential question is, "What are the most important ideas about amphibians?" We will be discussing and reading various non-fiction texts about amphibians and figuring out the main idea behind a piece of writing. We will also be discussing what makes a good journal entry in writing. Students are continuing to read their chapter books for the novel unit.

Spelling: This week's pattern has to do with words that end in the "el" sound, spelled "el" "al" or "le"
1. title
2. towel
3. battle
4. pedal
5. metal
6. simple
7. eagle
8. special
9. total
10. trouble
11. nickel
12. gentle
13. barrel
14. model
15. tangle
16. ankle
17. marvel
18. juggle
19. squirrel
20. riddle

Math: This week we continue our work in Chapter 9 with fractions, decimals, and percentages. Tonight's homework involves converting fractions into decimals and percentages with a calculator!

Science: Today we observed soaked lima beans and identified the parts of a seed. Tomorrow we will be creating our very own planters and planting seeds to observe the growing process! Graded social studies tests will be sent home this week.

Other items/events:
-Wednesday is an all school photo! Students are encouraged to wear Lemme gear and/or colors.

-Students should be continuing to read at least 10-15 minutes a night and be recording it in their reading log.

More updates coming soon!
-Ms. Shapleigh

April 14th-18th, 2014

Hello parents! Wow- we are already halfway through April! This next month is going to fly by with a lot of end of the year assessments, assemblies, and other fun activities! Here is a quick overview of what we will cover in class this week:

Language Arts: We are starting a new unit this week with a new big idea: Exploration leads people to discovery. Our essential question is, "How does exploring nature build story events?" This week we will be focusing on story structure such as setting, plot, characters, and events. In small groups we are starting our novel unit, which will be small group discussion centered around a chapter book, spanning over a few weeks. In writing this week we will be dissecting and creating our own poems!

Spelling: The spelling words are getting longer and trickier! This week's words focus on words that end with the "r" sound.
1. enter
2. banner
3. sugar
4. shower
5. motor
6. collar
7. labor
8. finger
9. mirror
10. beggar
11. favor
12. bother
13. fever
14. doctor
15. temper
16. actor
17. polar
18. sweater
19. traitor
20. whenever

Math: We will be finishing up the teacher-created unit on measurement and conversions this week and starting Unit 9 on fractions, decimals, and percentages. The conversion unit has been difficult but the students are working hard! A family letter about Unit 9 will be sent home during the week.

Social Studies: This past week we have been learning all about government! We have reviewed various concepts such as local, state, and federal government and learned all about the three branches of government. (We even watched School House Rock a few times- I watched those when I was in school!) We have covered discussions on how a bill becomes a law and will be finishing up discussion by writing local leaders about passing new laws. I will be absent on Tuesday because of jury duty and we spent a whole day talking about that and civic duties! The students were very intrigued. :) We will begin our science unit on plant life later on in the week.

What a storm last night- April showers bring May flowers! Have a good week everyone!
-Ms. Shapleigh

April 7th- April 11th, 2014

Hello 4th Grade Parents! Here is a quick overview of what we will be doing in class this week:

Language Arts: Our essential question this week is "Why might an author write about change?" Our main selection, The Fun They Had: from Isaac Asimov will help us in discussing an author's purpose for writing a text.

Spelling: This week's pattern focuses on words that have two vowels in a row. Here is a friendly reminder that students should be studying their words a few times a week! Also, I grade the tests on Friday or over the weekend and usually have the students bring them home the following Monday or later in the week. If you are curious on your student's score check their Leopard Book! :) They should be coming home every week.

1. idea
2. lion
3. usual
4. radio
5. liar
6. poem
7. India
8. piano
9. January
10. poet
11. quiet
12. science
13. diary
14. period
15. violin
16. February
17. cereal
18. video
19. meteor
20. rodeo

Social Studies: This past week we finished up Chapter 13 on various types of Western Cities! Students were put into groups and had to present a commercial to the class persuading people to come visit their city. The students had a blast with it! We will be starting Chapter 17 this week, which focuses all on state government.

Math: We finished up Unit 8 last week and tests should be signed and returned tomorrow. Keep in mind that the Profile of Progress sheet is more crucial than the student's score on the test. The past few days we have been reviewing concepts of data such as range, median, and mode. On Tuesday we will have a quick assessment and then begin a 5-day review unit on measurement conversions. Unit 9 will resume next week.

Other items: Tomorrow we have visitors from Opera Iowa coming to complete class workshops with all 4th-6th graders. After the workshops they will perform for students. We are so excited and lucky to have these guests!

We had the Optimist Good Reader Program Award ceremony! Students did a fabulous job and were rewarded for all of their hard work. Pictures can be seen at here.

Students worked all week before spring break to complete a biography research paper and then record their work! To see the videos from the presentations, click here.

Thanks everyone and have a great week!
-Ms. Shapleigh

March 10th-March 14th, 2014

Hello 4th grade parents! I am so glad that the weather is calming down for us! Here is a quick overview of what we'll be doing in class this week:

Language Arts: We will not be doing Houghton Mifflin reading curriculum this week, so this means no small group books or spelling to study. This week we will be working on research biographies, taking the students through the writing process, and recording them on video!

Health: Hopefully you all received the note home on Friday about Human Growth and Development this week! Instead of science and social studies, we will be doing a week-long health unit. Monday-Wednesday we will be discussing safety and nutrition, and Thursday and Friday we will be discussing changes in anatomy and development with the use of videos. These videos are optional- If you do not want your child to participate or view these they have the option of going to the library while the classes are taking place. Students who will miss these due to being out of town will make these up in class at a later time.

Math: Unit 8 Family Letters were sent home today with students. We went over the Unit 7 test today in class and it will be sent home with the students tomorrow for you to sign and return. Unit 8 will begin tomorrow, which discusses area and perimeter.

Other:
Book orders are due this Friday, March 14th. I have two check orders and one online order ready to go! Students will receive their books after spring break.

We are in need of Clorox wipes, ziplocs, and pre-sharpened pencils if you care to donate some to the classroom!

Thanks and have a great week and a fabulous spring break!

-Ms. Shapleigh

March 3rd-March 7th, 2014

Hello everyone! Can you believe it is March already? It sure doesn't feel like it with all of this snow and cold weather. I am hoping for warm weather soon! Here is an update on what we are planning for class this week (hoping that we are in school ALL 5 DAYS!)

Language Arts: Our essential question this week is: What causes change in a community? Our main selection, I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote, talks all about the women's suffrage movement! We will be working with the comprehension strategy of cause and effect.

Spelling: We are continuing to work with VCCV and VCV patterns (Vowel-consonant-vowel). Make sure that your child is studying the words out of order! I started testing them out of order again and scores dropped. It is fabulous that students are studying, but we don't want it to be ALL memorization of the order of words! :) Here is this week's list:
1. dentist
2. recent
3. final
4. silver
5. finish
6. capture
7. narrow
8. cabin
9. shelter
10. dinner
11. ahead
12. minus
13. corner
14. minute
15. hollow
16. value
17. divide
18. reward
19. famous
20. broken

Math: We will be finishing up Unit 7 this week with probability and multiplying fractions, with review on Wednesday and Thursday. The Unit 7 Test will be this Friday, March 7th!

Science: We will also be finishing up our science unit on the Human Body! We will continue to discuss muscles this week and have a quick formative assessment on Friday (Nothing to study for, however).

Other items:
-Tomorrow your child will be sent home with book orders for the month of March. I didn't put a due date on them, but I will put in the order next Friday, March 14th. They will also be receiving their March reading log. The goal for March is 300 minutes. We skipped last month due to Optimist Good Reader, so they might need some reminders to be keeping track of their minutes! We are also doing an optional "READ-O" for the month of March. I'm told the students did this in January, but they will be getting READ-O activities to do for extra rewards in the classroom- The handout will be in their Leopard Book tomorrow. If you have any questions about these items please email!

-Last week was Mrs. Wieskamp's last day! The students and I are very sad to see her go, but wish her luck at her new job! Though this transition might have been a change for everyone, I think it was a good learning experience- and the students got 2 TEACHERS who care about them a ton and want them to do well! Thank you to all who have been patient and supportive through this transition and know that Mrs. Wieskamp and I worked very hard to ensure that the student's were taken care of. Thank you to all who attended parent-teacher conferences as well! For me personally it was difficult to not be present at the first round of conferences, so I enjoyed meeting and seeing all of you again.

-Ms. Shapleigh

Monday, February 24th- Friday, February 28th

Hello 4th Grade Parents!

The blog is up and running again! This week is another unconventional week with parent teacher conferences so I'd like to give you a little update on what we'll be accomplishing in class this week:

Language Arts- There will be no scheduled Houghton Mifflin reading curriculum this week. That means no spelling words! We will be working on some writing this week, but do not expect spelling lists to come home!

Science- We will be catching up on science a lot this week to make up for all of the snow days and late starts! I will be teaching the students about muscles in the morning and Mrs. Wieskamp will be finishing up with learning about joints in the afternoon. We are scheduled to start health lessons soon so we want to ensure the students get their fill of Human Body curriculum!

Math- Mrs. Wieskamp will still be working on fractions with the students. Thank you for all of your support with math homework, fractions can be tough!

Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. For those of you that I had the chance to attend last week, thank you for being flexible this year with everything that has gone on. I will be teaching full-time again starting next week, Mrs. Wieskamp's last day with the students is Wednesday, and she will be attending conferences with me on Thursday. On Friday I will be conducting conferences because Mrs. Wieskamp already has a new job lined up!! :)

If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to email me. Otherwise I will see some of you this week!

I leave you with just a few pictures of the ice cream party! Way to go on learning multiplication facts!

We have some really camera-shy students in the class.....

Hope you all have a great week!
-Ms. Shapleigh