Ms. Tovey's Blog

English
This week in English we will be finishing up the chapter on verbs. The test is scheduled for Thursday. On Wednesday the children will be given a review sheet. Please remind your child to bring this home.

Writing
The children did not get the chance to begin the Sports Reporter paper last week so it will be assigned this week on Monday. It will be due on Thursday.

Science
This week the Respiratory system will be introduced and a couple more body parts will be added to Herman. The notes are really piling up so any extra review would help your child tremendously.

Have a great holiday!

English
This week the section on irregular verbs will be covered. This is not a difficult section but does require some memorization. All twenty irregular verbs on pages 162 and 164 will be on the English test which is tentatively scheduled for early next week.

Writing
There was not enough time to begin the alliteration project last week so the kids will start working on it Monday. If all goes as planned, by Thursday I will be assigning the next writing assignment. This is a creative writing assignment that has the kids taking on the role of a sport's reporter. The paper will consist of four paragraphs: a catchy introduction, paragraph one will be a brief summary of the game, paragraph 2 will be an interview with their favorite athlete and the conclusion.

Science
There will be a quiz on Friday on the Nervous, Digestive and Circulatory Systems. To date your child should have notes on the Nervous and Digestive Systems. I will begin the Circulatory System on Monday. I will also be adding a few more parts to Herman this week. To date your child should have 11 parts in his/her notebook under the heading Herman.

English
We will continue our study of verbs this week. For the most part the chapter is relatively easy, except for the section on helping verbs. Please review this section with your child if you get a chance.

Writing
There will not be a formal writing assignment this week. Instead we will take a short break from writing and the children will be introduced to alliteration. The children will have two alliteration based assignments this week: first, they will write a short poem about an animal using alliteration (this is very guided) and second they will work in a group to design a new shopping mall, just in time for the holidays. Their mall will have to be named using alliteration and each group will have twenty-six stores in their mall (one for each letter of the alphabet) and each store will be named using alliteration.

Science
We will continue our study of the human body this week. A few new parts will be added to "Herman" and the Digestive System will be introduced. The notes for this unit tend to pile up, so please review them with your child as often as possible.

English
I was unable to begin the next chapter in the English book last week. So we will begin the chapter on Action Verbs this week. I am hoping to cover pages 152 - 155.

Writing
Last week the kids started their Veterans' Day papers and continued working on the body paragraphs throughout the week. They are putting so much effort into these papers that we did not get near as far as I thought we would. The children will finish their papers this week and begin typing them in computer class on Wednesday and finish typing them on Friday. Please be sure to ask your child to read their paper. As a whole they are outstanding! There are definitely some budding authors and journalists in this forth grade class.
The kids will also be introduced to alliteration this week.

Science
This week we will continue our study of The Human Body. To date your child should have four parts of the human body in their notebook under Herman and notes on cells in their notebook under Cells to Systems. Also, they should have notes on tissues and the three types of tissues in the human body

I would like to begin with an apology for the inconsistency of the blog over the last few weeks. We have been experiencing many technical difficulties here at school. However, at this point most of the problems have been solved and hopefully the blog will be much more consistent in the future.

English
The test on Nouns is Tuesday. On Monday each child will receive a review sheet that we will go over in class. The children should then bring this home to study from. On Wednesday, we will begin the next chapter in the English book. This chapter is on Action Verbs. I will probably only get to p. 152 and 153 this week.

Writing
On Friday, we wrote the introduction paragraph for The Veterans' Day paper as a class. This week the children will work on the two body paragraphs in class. We will write the conclusion together on Thursday and on Friday the children will type their papers in the computer lab.

Science
This week we will continue our study of The Human Body. I was unable to begin the unit until last Friday. On Friday we talked about cells complex they are. In fourth grade the children will only need to know four parts of the animal cell: nucleus - controls the cell, nuclear membrane - protects the nucleus, cytoplasm - gel substance that gives the cell its shape, and cell membrane - protects the cell.
This week I hope to begin our study of Herman as well as continue with the Human Body booklet.

English
We will definitely be finishing up the chapter on nouns this week. The test is scheduled for Tuesday, November 11th. On Monday we will continue with plural possessive nouns which I am finding does confuse some of the kids. If you can, please review this section of the chapter with your child. The rest of the week we will cover abbreviations and compound words.

Writing
The children will write their good copies for the Endangered Species report on Monday and also create their slogans to hang around school. These slogans will encourage people to help save their animal.
On Tuesday we will begin researching the History of Verterans’ Day together. Each child will be given a research sheet and a blank timeline. As a class we will fill in the timeline with the important events and dates throughout history that led up to Veterans’ Day being recognized as a legal and federal holiday.
The rest of the week will be spent writing the paper on The History of Veterans’ Day. We will write this paper together as a class and then next week the children will type their good copies and present them to a Veteran that they know.

Science
We will be beginning the unit on the Human Body this week. This is a very long unit with a tremendous amount of notes. I do encourage the children to bring their notebooks home a couple of time a week to look them over. The unit begins with cells and then works it way through six of the body’s systems.
The children will also be studying “Herman” who is an anatomically correct person. They will be learning the organs of the body, their placement in the body, and one job that each organ performs. These notes will be found in their notebook under the heading “Herman.”
To help make this unit easier I will give a few quizzes before the test. I suggest saving the quizzes to use along with the notes as study guides.

English
I hope to finish up the chapter on nouns this week. The test is scheduled for next week sometime.

Writing
The children will be working on an Endangered Species project this week. On Tuesday the children will partner up and research an animal that has been placed on the Endangered Species list. The rest of the week they will use to complete the two part project: Part one is a short report on the animal. Part two is a slogan. The children will be given a coloring page of their animal which they will color and then create a slogan that encourages people to save their animal.

Science
The science test on the Animal Kingdom is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28th. I will also begin the next unit in Science this week. Unit three is on The Human Body.

English
This week I will be covering pages 84 – 87 in the English book. The two sections cover common and proper nouns and singular possessive nouns.

Writing
The children will continue working on their rough draft for their candidate biography paper. On Thursday, they will type their good copies in the computer lab.

Science
We will be finishing up The Animal Kingdom this week and the test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28th. Please review all notes in your child’s notebook with him/her.

English
To date we have covered pages 76 – 79 of the chapter on nouns. This week I hope to cover pages 80 – 83. These pages, like last weeks pages, are also on the correct spellings for some plural nouns. If you get a chance, can you please review the spelling rules with your child?

Writing
This week the children will begin writing a short biography on the presidential or vice presidential candidate that they researched two weeks ago. As a class we will write the introduction and conclusion paragraph. The children will write the two body paragraphs by themselves.
With access to the internet being so readily available and the temptation to copy another writer’s words becoming more and more of a problem in schools across our country, I have begun teaching the concept of plagiarism in fourth grade. Please know that I have discussed with the children how important it is to reword any information that comes from an outside source. I have also stressed how important it is to ask for help if they are unable to reword anything. It would be very helpful if you too can discuss the importance of this concept with your child.

Science
This week we will continue our study of The Animal Kingdom. I hope to cover reptiles and birds this week. To date your child should have notes in his/her notebook on invertebrates, vertebrates, body temperature, fish, and amphibians. Please review these notes when you get a chance with your child.

English
To date we have covered pages 76 – 79 of the chapter on nouns. This week I hope to cover pages 80 – 83. These pages, like last weeks pages, are also on the correct spellings for some plural nouns. If you get a chance, can you please review the spelling rules with your child?

Writing
This week the children will begin writing a short biography on the presidential or vice presidential candidate that they researched two weeks ago. As a class we will write the introduction and conclusion paragraph. The children will write the two body paragraphs by themselves.
With access to the internet being so readily available and the temptation to copy another writer’s words becoming more and more of a problem in schools across our country, I have begun teaching the concept of plagiarism in fourth grade. Please know that I have discussed with the children how important it is to reword any information that comes from an outside source. I have also stressed how important it is to ask for help if they are unable to reword anything. It would be very helpful if you too can discuss the importance of this concept with your child.

Science
This week we will continue our study of The Animal Kingdom. I hope to cover reptiles and birds this week. To date your child should have notes in his/her notebook on invertebrates, vertebrates, body temperature, fish, and amphibians. Please review these notes when you get a chance with your child.