Ms. Tovey's Blog

English
To date we have covered pages 2 – 5 in the English book. This week the children will be introduced to exclamatory and imperative sentences. (In the past I have found imperative sentences to be a little difficult for the children because the subject is implied.) Later in the week we will begin discussing complete subjects and predicates. If you would like to review with your child the material is found on pages 6 – 9 in the English book.

Writing
This week I will continue to review: writing good sentences. We have been discussing that a good sentence, when writing will have some detail in it so that the reader gets a picture in their head. The children will also begin their first writing assignment on Wednesday: a comic strip that tells a short story but only uses one declarative, one interrogative, one imperative, and one exclamatory sentence.

Science
To date the children have notes in their notebooks on the 3 types of graphs and a short definition for each. They have also learned how to make a bar graph and read a bar graph. This week the children will finish up their last bar graph and be introduced to making and reading line graphs. They will also be given their last set of notes for this unit which is the parts of a graph. There will be a test on graphing sometime next week.

English
This week will be spent on complete subjects and predicates and simple subjects and predicates. (pages 8 – 11 in the English book)

Writing
Tuesday the children will finish up their comics. On Wednesday the children will begin writing their first paper: a creative writing assignment. A detailed direction sheet with graphic organizer will be given to each child. Please ask your child to show you the direction sheet. The topic of the paper is Superheroes. Each child will have to come up with a Superhero name and then follow the directions to write their story. We will also be spending a good amount of time on topic sentences and how important it is for each paragraph to have one. For the first couple of writing assignments I will be providing the children with the introductory and concluding paragraph.

Science
There will be a test on graphing on Wednesday. Please ask your child to look over the one page of notes that he/she has in their science notebook. All of the notes will be on the test and each child will have to make one bar and one line graph. The test will be worth 31 points.
On Thursday we will begin our study of the Animal Kingdom. I spent the summer putting together booklets for each major unit in science because of the difficulty level of the fourth grade science book. We will use the book as supplemental; however the notes will come from the booklets. Each child will receive a booklet that will be theirs to keep. Your child may bring it home any time you feel it necessary. Otherwise, I will be keeping the booklets in the room to limit the chances of them being misplaced.
The focus of the unit is vertebrates and invertebrates as well as the five vertebrate groups.

English
This week we will review simple subjects and begin simple predicates. Also, we will cover compound subjects and compound predicates. To date we have covered pages 2 -11 in the English book. I am planning on finishing the first chapter next week and giving the first English test on Tuesday, Sept. 25th or Wednesday, Sept 26th. Each child will receive a review sheet the day before the test. We will go over the review sheet as a class and the test will look very similar to the review. Please remind your child the day before the test to bring home the review to study.

Writing
The children have begun writing their Superhero stories. The stories will be finished on Monday and typed in the O’Neill lab on Tuesday. I do dedicate a good amount of time to proper set up for a paper: double spacing, inserting page number, underlining titles, and off course using spell check. The children will also be drawing and coloring a cover page for their stories.

Science
We will continue our study of the Animal Kingdom. The children will be taking notes as we go through the booklet. (minimal amount) The test will come only from the notes, so please remind your child how important it is to copy the notes from the board and also to get the notes from a friend if they are absent. You may ask your child to bring the booklet home to look at but please remember that it must come back to school the next day.
This week we will also start a project, where the children will work in partners, on Endangered Species. Each group will be assigned an Endangered Animal and they will have to fill out a questionnaire about their animal and then write a short report. Also, the groups will come up with a slogan that encourages people to help save their Endangered Animal.

English

We will be wrapping up Chapter 1 this week. The test will be on Wednesday. On Tuesday a review sheet will be passed out and corrected in class. Please be sure to remind your child to bring it home Tuesday night to study from. The test will be set up just like the review. However, the sentences will be different. On Thursday we will begin chapter 2 in the book which covers nouns.

Writing
The children will continue to work on their Endangered Species report and slogan. (Each child was given a direction sheet for this project) At the end of the week I will assign the second creative writing assignment. The children will take on the role of sports reporter and create an interview with their favorite athlete.

Science
We will continue our study of the Animal Kingdom. Please remind your child to bring his/her notebook home periodically and review any notes given to date.

English
We have begun Chapter 3 in the English book. The topic is nouns. This should be a relatively easy chapter for the children because they all seem to have a good grasp of what a noun is. However, the chapter also focuses on correct spelling for certain nouns. This may give some of the children difficulty. If you think your child will need extra help please review pages 78 – 83 with them.

Writing
The children have completed their endangered species report. They were very well written. Please be sure to ask your child to read his/hers. This week we will continue working on creative writing. The assignment for this week will have the children playing the role of a sports reporter. Each child will make up an interview with an athlete of their choice. They will then be expected to write a three paragraph report on their interview. Each report will have to have an introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion. The children were given direction sheets for this assignment. Please ask your child to look it over.

Science
We will continue our study of the Animal Kingdom. To date your child should have notes about: invertebrates, vertebrates, body temperature, fish and amphibians in their notebook.
Friday I did give a short quiz on the first part of the unit. I apologize for not stating this in my blog last week. Please save all science quizzes and use them as study guides for the test.