The Week Ahead 11/18 - 11/22

Innovation Fair
On Thursday, students were sent home with information about the 4th Grade Innovation Fair. This will be our culminating activity for our How We Express Ourselves inquiry unit with the central idea that people innovate using creativity and knowledge of energy. It will take place on Thursday, November 21st, from 1:40-2:20 in the school Library. Students have been given a design map and been put in charge of coming up with a creative idea that they can share at the Innovation Fair. This idea will solve a problem by improving an existing object, or by inventing a new one. If your child needs anything other than their Chromebook, Micro:Bits (a computer coding device), or basic school supplies, it is their responsibility to bring those items to school.

Reading 
A big focus for our class going forward will be having each student select books at their just right reading level. This is so important, because in order to grow big ideas about the books they are reading, students need to be reading books at their independent reading level. We know that the best way to get better at reading is to read, but if students are reading books that are too easy or too hard, they won't make as much progress.

Writing
Our next writing unit will focus on informational writing. The first part of our unit will help students organize their writing in a way that makes sense. They'll make decisions about what subtopics they want to include within their big topic. They'll decide whether they want to structure the writing chronologically or by categories.

Idiom of the week: out of the blue

Continent Club
Our first Continent Club check day will be Thursday, November 21st. This is a PTC supported program that brings focus to geography around the globe. Each month there is a different geographical focus. The focus for November is North America. The study documents for North America are linked below.

  1. Study Guide
  2. Labeled Map
  3. Blank Study Map
  4. Challenge Map

Upcoming Dates
  • Tuesday, November 19th - Reading Log Due/Vocab Test
  • Thursday, November 21st - Continent Club - Innovation Fair 1:40-2:20 
  • Wednesday, November 27th -No School - Thanksgiving Break
  • Thursday, November 28th - No School - Thanksgiving Break
  • Friday, November 29th - No School - Thanksgiving Break
  • Monday, December 2nd - No School - Staff Development




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