In the Know

We have an exciting few weeks ahead of us! Here are some important dates to remember:

September 28: Book Report Due (Fiction)

September 30: Field trip (9:15-2:45)

October 1: Picture Day

October 6: Walk to School Day

October 8: Reflections entries due!!

This is what we are studying in class right now:

Science: We began a water cycle science unit today. We'll be learning all about water during the next few weeks. We set up a water cycle chamber in our classroom today and are excited to see what happens! Here are some great science words you can use with your children as the weather starts to change:

          -evaporation          -condensation          -precipitation          

         -vapor                     -states of water        -temperature         

         -water cycle            -dew                          -clouds

Math: We'll be reviewing subtraction and then moving on in the middle of next week. I've noticed that all of our students have a good foundational understanding of addition, subtraction, and place value. You can remind them to pay attention so they can avoid making those little mistakes.

Spelling: Students have individualized spelling lists. Every Monday the fourth grade teachers each teach a group of students. We're really focusing on word patterns and rules so that spelling isn't just about memorizing, but about being able to apply a spelling pattern to words they haven't memorized. If your child's words don't seem very challenging to him/her, encourage him/her to focus on learning the pattern.

Reading: We just started reading Fudge-A-Mania as a class. We're learning comprehension strategies like making connections, predicting, inferring, questioning, and summarizing. We'll start guided reading in October!

Writing: If your students come home talking about a crime scene, don't worry! It is only a mock crime scene. We are working on learning about the writing process this week. Next week we'll learn more about the 6 traits of writing. (Ideas, conventions, voice, organization, word choice, and sentence fluency)

Other: Your children should be bringing home their homework notebook Monday-Thursday. They should have a reading calendar attached inside the front cover and a bag with their weekly spelling words attached inside the back cover.

We have had a wonderful month. I can tell these students have great parents and guardians working on their side! Thank you for all you do.

Mrs. Knighton

Utah Symphony Field Trip

The day before we went to the symphony, Miss Johnson's class met with ours to learn about conductors and the different kinds of instruments we would see during the performance. We practiced being conductors and saw some really interesting percussion instruments.

The next day, everyone came in their fancy clothes. What a good looking group of fourth graders! We heard some really great songs including "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and a song from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here are some pictures from the bus ride home:

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Word Choice Wonders

Today we learned about how we can use words to make our writing more interesting. We revised a "boring" story and made it come alive and much more interesting to read.

Before (the boring story):

The big bear stood by the water. He looked at his shadow in the big lake. He thought that he looked nice. He went to take a drink of water. A fish went by. The bear wanted to eat the big fish. He ate up the fish and went away. He was very happy.

After (our story):

The huge bear walked by. He stared at his shadow in the humongous lake by the end of the rainbow! He bent down to take a slurp of ice cold water. He looked very hungry. A big, fat, colorful rainbow fish swam by the edge. The bear wanted to gobble up the tasty fish. He scarfed it up and stomped away back to his den. He was delighted to eat the big, delicious fish.

We Are Poets!

Today we learned about Labor Day--including why we celebrate it and some of its traditions. To show what we know, we wrote this acrostic poem:

Labor Day is a day of laughs and fun,
A sleeping day!
Barbeque, pie, pancakes, icecream galore!
Out of the house--and into the fun!
Remember, don't wear white! A

Day to remember those who work for us.
A day of family and friends.
Years: 128 full of tradition.

Tonight we are writing acrostic poems about ourselves using our names.

Have a great night.

-Mrs. Knighton's class