Weeks of August 26th and August 31st
Welcome Back!
My name is Carolyn Tovey and I will be teaching your child English/Writing and Science this year. Please be sure to carefully read the Parent Letter that will be coming home on Wednesday so as to get a better understanding of each of the Fourth Grade Teacher's expectations for your child.
English
This week and next week I hope to cover pages 2 - 7 in the English book. The first chapter is on sentences. The children have been introduced to the four types of sentences in the past, but i have found that the new terminology (declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory) can be quite difficult for some fourth graders. Any extra review you can give your child will be greatly appreciated.
Writing
The first two weeks we will work on topic sentences and paragraph structure. We will also review how important it is for paragraphs to be written in a time order that makes sense.
The first assignment will have the kids coloring either a boy or a girl who is wearing sunglasses. They will then draw into the sunglasses their two favorite memories from this summer. As a class we will then set up an outline where each child will have to write four additional facts to go with each picture. Finally, as a class we will come up with some good topic sentences and the children will then write their two paragraphs.
The final paper will also have a teacher guided introduction and conclusion.
Science
I like to begin each year teaching the children how to interpret and draw graphs. The two types of graphs we will focus on in science are bar and line graphs. The children will have a short set of notes in their science notebook for this unit. These notes, as well as drawing a bar and line graph will be on the test. Please emphasize with your child how important it is to take the notes that are provided in science class.
This short unit usually takes about two and a half to three weeks and then we will move onto The Animal Kingdom.