Mrs. Thompson's News

December News

Season’s Greetings!  Yes, that time of year has quietly snuck up on my family and me as we are getting ready for Christmas.  In our classroom, we have been busily preparing for the end of the second nine weeks of school.  Your child has been working hard to get ready for this week’s benchmark tests in Language Arts and in Math.  These tests are administered to all elementary students in Cobb County.   Please review the information that I plan to cover through the next few weeks. 

Math – This week we will review for the benchmark test which will be given this Wednesday, Dec. 9^th.  Upon completion of the benchmark test, an in class Math project will be assigned where my Math students will become architects and create their own geometric cities.   In my homeroom, we will take the Third Quarter Math IMI pretest before Winter break.  

Language Arts- The boys and girls finished taking their Language Arts benchmark test today.  Thanks to all of you who reviewed the information that was sent home over the weekend to help prepare for this test.  In writing, we will conclude our discussion on how to effectively write a response to literature.  The children will take their post writing prompt at the end of the week.  Additionally, the children will learn how to give a book talk on a book of their choice. Oral, in-class presentations of this book talk will be conducted next week.  I am looking forward to hearing everyone’s presentations.

In Reading, I will read aloud a popular book and the children will review how to make a connection to the text.

The boys and girls will also design snowflake similes which will be on display in January.  Please come by to see them!

Science – We have been discussing Simple Machines.  The class needs to describe six simple machines and explain their use.  These include lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, pulley, wedge, and screw.  We will make flip charts to aid in remembering their uses.  We will also study how force affects speed and motion.

Health – We have concluded our study of fire safety and will resume Health after the holiday break.  We especially want to thank firefighter Chingwa for his wonderful tour of the Cobb Fire Safety village.

Our class is looking forward to attending the field trip to the Cobb County Youth Museum this Friday.  Please send in your permission form soon so that your son or daughter will be able to attend this great, no cost trip.

Finally, congratulations go to Chase for being named our class’s character education winner for compassion. Chase is a great role model for other students in our classroom and we are so proud of him!

December Calendar

Dec. 11^th                     Family Movie Night

                             Hanukkah begins

Dec. 14^th                Character education lunch

Dec. 15^th                Kincaid night at Chic-fil-A

Dec. 17^th                Class Holiday Party 1-2 P.M.

Dec. 18^th                Cougar Pride Day

Dec. 21-Jan. 5^th     Winter Holiday – NO SCHOOL

I want to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and a very blessed and happy New Year!                            

Class News in November

     November is a time to celebrate our appreciation of our family and friends, and I am really thankful that our classroom continues to “work hard, do the right thing, and learn something new every day.”  Please take a few minute to review the curriculum notes that we will be working on in class over the next several weeks.

 

Math – We are continuing to focus our attention on Geometry.  Specifically, we will study the different kinds of triangles.  A triangle can be classified according to its angle.  For example, a triangle with three equal angles is called an equilateral triangle.  We will also study the components of a right and scalene triangle. We will also examine the different kinds of polygons and we will look at two-dimensional as well as three dimensional figures.

 

Language Arts –We will continue to try to answer the essential question, “How do I Write a Response to What I Read.”  The children will learn to use a story map to write a summary.  I will model an example from Aesop’s Fables for each student to create their individual summary. (The class has already written several group summaries.) 

     The children will also look at several examples of book reviews from students around the country. The students will be reminded that it is our job as writers to stick to the topic and not include any information or details that could confuse the reader.  After looking at these samples, the class will edit them for details that are extraneous and or inappropriate.  This should help them as they write their own response to stories they read.

     In Grammar, the students will review what are fragments and run-on sentences. 

Health   The Fire Department will speak to the class about fire safety.  We are all excited about the upcoming field trip to the Cobb County Fire Safety Village on November 19th. Please remember to ask your child to return the permission slip which is necessary to attend.

Social Studies - We will finish our discussion  on explorers and test this Wednesday.  Please use the visual organizer sent home last week as a study guide.  If you would like some additional practice, try this interactive power point on explorers:

Download EUROPEAN EXPLORATION JEOPARDY_2

We will then begin to study the thirteen colonies.  The colonies are divided into three categories.  They are the New England colonies, the Mid-Atlantic colonies, and the Southern colonies.  The children will learn to compare and contrast these early settlements of our country.

November Calendar

We welcome the month of November with a cornucopia of activities here at Kincaid.  Please post this calendar to serve as a handy reference for you and your family.

November Calendar

Nov. 3^rd                  Student Holiday/Teacher workday

Nov. 5^th                  school store

Nov. 6^th                  Donuts with Dad/Relay for life fundraiser

Nov. 10^th                Kincaid Night @ Domino’s Pizza

Nov. 11^th                Honoring Our Heroes Essay Contest Kickoff

Nov. 16^th                Character Education Lunch – Citizenship

Nov. 17^th                Kincaid Night @ Rita’s

Nov. 20^th                Cougar Pride Day

Nov. 23^rd-27^th         Thanksgiving Holidays-No school this week         

Nov. 30^th                Kincaid Night @ Texas Roadhouse           

October Wrap-Up

The month of October has been the busiest month to date.  As we look ahead, our hard-working class has been very busy.  Please read over the information that your child is currently studying.  This post also includes upcoming details on what we will be covering in class during the beginning of November.

Language Arts – Our class has begun the study of Traditional Literature.   The elements of traditional literature that we focus on include tall tales, folk tales, and fables.  We examine how the plot, setting, and characters help you make an inference when you read a story.  When you can draw a conclusion about a story, you have made an inference about what the story is about.  Hence, throughout this study of traditional literature, the children will learn how to draw a conclusion about books they read.   

Writing –The students have begun to learn how to write a response to literature.  The class will continue to learn how to write a summary about a story, (which is a component of writing a response to literature.) The children will also learn how to write a judgment they then can include in their response to literature.  This will be accomplished using supporting evidence from the text, looking at the writing of other authors, and your child’s own personal background knowledge (connections.)  

Math –My Math class has done a FANTASTIC job dividing two digit divisors into three and four digit dividends!  We will wrap up division this week and move on to Geometry.  I will need protractors soon so if you have any extra available, I would appreciate them. The class will work on how to use a protractor to measure angles.  We will also study rotations.  A rotation can be measured as 360, 270, 180, or 90 degrees.  

If you would like some additional practice using a protractor please look at the link below.

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/protractor.html

Social Studies- We have begun learning about early European explorers and their settlement of areas in North America.  Balboa, Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ponce de Leon, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Hernando Cortez, and Henry Hudson are the primary explorers that we will discuss over the next several weeks!   The children will have a visual organizer to help them distinguish the various accomplishments, areas explored, and discoveries made of each explorer. 

Congratulations goes to Bayley who is our character education winner for responsibility.  Bayley is a great role model in our classroom.  We are so proud of her efforts!

Hope you are all staying healthy!  Thanks to everyone who brought in a bottle of hand sanitizer after I sent out the word!  We will diligently try to keep hands clean!

If you have any treasures you can donate to our class treasure box, I would appreciate them.

Please let me know if I can be of any additional assistance.

October News

Here's a look at the news in October.

As we approach the middle of the month of October, our class is prepared for the start of the Second nine weeks of school.  On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone who sent a kind word of encouragement before I went to assist my mother with her medical needs.  She loved the notes the class wrote; they really lifted her spirits.  I would like to thank Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Milford, our room moms, for their support.  I also want to give a big shout out to Yoomi Ahn, who made copies for me.  You guys are great!

Congratulations to our student council representatives Gabriel and Nicole.  I am sure they will represent our class well at the Student Council meetings this year! In the last blog I did not mention our character education winner for integrity.  Way to go Chak!  We are so proud of you!

Please review the following curriculum information for the next couple of weeks. 

Math:  In Math we will continue to work on Multiplication.  It is essential that all Fourth grade students know their basic multiplication facts.  One way to ensure success is through the use of the My Skills Tutor program.  Please remember that each student must practice once a week.  This Math practice takes the place of one day in the Reading log.   I see gradual progress with practice.  After we conclude the different ways to multiply, we will work on dividing numbers.  We will work on long division skills using the formula DMSCB.  This stands for divide, multiply, subtract, compare, and bring down.  Your child will learn to divide 2-digit divisors into three and four digit dividends.  Please remember to look over your student’s Math journals for information/guides to assist them.  As always, I really appreciate your support with homework!

Writing:  How do I write a response to what I read? How do I write a realistic short story? These questions will be addressed these nine weeks in writing. 
Response to Reading/Response to Literature components include:
 (1) Summarizing (2) Theme and lessons in folktales, tall tales, and fables (Traditional Literature is always fun and enjoyable to explore.) (3) Writing a response to literature and making and supporting judgments.  (4) Beginnings and endings (Mrs. Doherty has already introduced our class to bold beginnings in writing.)

 Reading:  How Do I Use What I Know to Understand How Stories Work?
Great readers use what they know through development of:
Shared Reading - This includes an examination of root words, prefixes, and words with multiple meanings.  Students will learn to make inferences through drawing conclusions, understanding context clues, understanding the theme (plot) of a story, and making a connection to the author.

Social Studies:  Students will describe how early Native American cultures developed in North America. The class will locate where the American Indians settled with emphasis on Arctic (Inuit), Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plateau (Nez Perce), Southwest (Hopi), Plains (Pawnee), and Southeastern (Seminole). They will also describe how the American Indians used their environment to obtain food, clothing, and shelter. Upon completion of early Native American cultures, we will begin a study of early European explorers.

 

October Calendar

Oct. 12 – 16                           Book Fair Preview Week

Oct. 13                                   Dominoes Family Night

Oct. 16                                   Cougar Pride Day, Box Tops & Labels due,

                                               Report cards go home today

Oct. 19-23                             Book Fair

Oct. 20                                  Picnic Day-Sack lunch at school/Kincaid Night at Rita’s

Oct. 21                                  Early Release 12:20/Bus Driver Appreciation Day

Oct. 22                                  Reflections Brunch

Oct. 26                                  Character Education Lunch

Oct. 27                                  Picture Retake Day

Oct. 30                                  Last Day to order the yearbook  at a discount

                                             rate

Here Comes Fall!

Curriculum Focus for the coming weeks which include the last week in September and the first week in October.

  Reading:  Review on how we make connections to what we read.

       Here are some tips for making meaningful connections- We make meaningful   text-to-self connections when we read about a character or event in a text, and it reminds us of something in our own life. Text-to Text connections help us use what we learned from other books to understand what we are reading now.  Text –to- World connections gives us a “big picture” of the world that we can use to better understand a book.  This text- to -world connections help us to better understand places or other things we know about, but haven’t experienced yet.

Language Arts: How can we revise, edit and publish our personal narrative?

     In grammar, we will work on simple and compound sentences.  After the students can identify and write their own sentences, we will begin a new focus on using quotation marks when writing a narrative.  We will then look at the run-on sentence and edit sentences to make them complete.

Math:  How can we use the distributive property of multiplication to multiply?  Please look for the models that will be going home this week for practice.  Also, we will learn how to multiply 2 digits by 2 digit numbers and 2 digits by 3 digit numbers.  Daily multiplication practice is needed for those children who have not yet mastered their multiplication tables. Thank you so much for your support! 

   Science: complete the watercycle/weather unit.  Please look for the study guide to go home this week for the test Friday. Here is a weather and water powerpoint that you can review with your child at home.

 

Download WEATHERANDWATERJEOPARDY_7

Health:  The class will learn how to make healthy goals and choices.  Please look for a daily journal that will go home this week.

September News

September is a month chock full of activities here at Kincaid.  We will kick off the Boosterthon fundraiser Monday afternoon, September 14^th.  This exciting fundraiser promotes positive character traits that fit in well with our character education program.  I want to thank you in advance for your support for this very worthwhile event. 

Additionally, I enjoyed seeing you at Open House and want to thank you for bringing in the additional items needed for our classroom this year.  Please do not hesitate to reach me at Kincaid if you have any questions about your child’s agenda, Thursday folder, reading log, etc. 

Speaking of reading logs, most of the children are doing a beautiful job turning them accurately and in a timely manner.  Please remember that logs are to be turned in each Monday morning signed by a parent or guardian. 

Here is an update of the curriculum I plan on covering over the next several weeks:

Reading:  In Reading we are working on building the use of discussion to clarify.  The children will reflect and discuss this strategy after I model it for them.  They will then apply this strategy in their reading.  I will also use the strategies rereading and activating prior knowledge to clarify.  Frequent use of modeling these techniques will help my students use these techniques in their everyday reading.  The children will read Dancing around the World  independently to apply their knowledge.

Spelling:  We will review long vowel sound patterns.  The class will practice sorting the sounds into these patterns and apply their new working knowledge with a partner. Each student will also sort these new spelling words independently as well. 

Grammar:  We will do a brief review of complete subjects and complete predicates (this concept was discussed earlier in the year.)  The children will begin to identify simple and compound sentences this week.  Please look over these websites for additional practice.  My daughter and I played the  sentence game and it was a great review for her!

       http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/whatisasentence/game.shtml

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/sntpurps.html

 

Math:  We will complete rounding to the nearest hundred and nearest thousand .  The children will also finish adding and subtracting numbers using their learned rounding strategies.  We will also focus on problem solving skills. 

Science:  Before the children begin to investigate the unit on the water cycle, I will introduce them to the steps of the Scientific method.  Terms all students should learn include: observing, communicating, comparing, ordering, and categorizing.  After my students apply the Scientific method , we will focus our attention on the Water cycle.  This unit of study should  take approximately three weeks to complete.  We will use the textbooks, investigative logs, experiment, and Science journals for support of this unit’s concepts. 

A Good Start

Hello Parents,

I am pleased to let you know that we have had a very successful start to the school year as the class has been “settling in” the first couple of weeks. 

It can be difficult to transition to a new school and or a new teacher, so please let me know if there is any way I can assist your child if he or she is still having difficulty.  Please remember to sign the agenda each evening so you can see if any homework has been assigned for that evening or if there are any upcoming tests/quizzes. 

The information below is what I hope to cover over the next few weeks of school. 

Math:  We will finish comparing numbers through the use of a number line.  If your child is successful, please ask this essential question:”How can a number line help you compare numbers?” (Hint- You can see where each number is located in relation to zero and to one another.)

The students will then learn to round whole numbers to a given place value.  I will distribute a poem for the children to identify when to round a number up or down.  It goes like this, Five or more, raise the score, four or less, give it a rest.  By successfully learning to round numbers, your child will begin to estimate sums and differences.  In a real life example of when it is appropriate to estimate a sum or difference, you can reinforce this idea when you decide to go to the grocery store, say “ How  much money should I take?”

Reading/Writing:  In Reading, we have been making connections to the text.  This strategy will be used throughout the year in both Reading and writing.  I use “think alouds” thoughout many of my Reading lessons.  A think-aloud simply means that I as a reader or writer demonstrate how I made a connection to the book.  I model to my students how I use my prior knowledge (background/experience) to help me understand.  This is a particularly important strategy in Reading when rereading alone doesn’t help.

We will also examine nonfiction text features in Reading.  Over the next few weeks, look for these terms: bold  bullet  diagram  font  Title  subtitle

Social Studies:  The children have been busily learning about scarcity (although they were glad there was not a scarcity of candy during this lesson!) capital resources, human resources, productive resources, goods and services.  We will finish up this unit by talking about  opportunity cost (a decision you have to make when you give up one choice for another,) and interdependence (I depend upon you, and you depend on me.)

I look forward to seeing you at Open House Thursday evening September 3^rd.  Please remember that there is no school  Labor Day – September 7^th.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Thompson