Mr. Blanc's Class

I can't believe we are down to the last two weeks of school! It has been so much fun to work with the students in this class. The end of the year is always crazy, but I've made a goal for myself to make sure I really appreciate the last two weeks I get to spend with this great group of children. Field Trip We are starting the week off with our field trip to the Cedar Mill wetlands. We will leave the school at 9:30 and expect to return at 11:20. There is no need to pack a lunch as we will be back by then. We will be outside and working near the creek so students will want to make sure they are wearing clothing they are okay with getting a little dirty. I was out of the building on Friday, but as of Thursday, we still had a few students who hadn't returned their permission slip. If you haven't sent the permission slip back with your student, please make sure they bring it with them on Monday. Inquiry Our field trip is supporting our sharing the planet inquiry with t...

Memorial Day There will be no school in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, 5/27. Math Next week will be our final week of state testing! The students will be working on the math performance task (PT). This test has less questions than the computer adaptive test (CAT) they took last week, but the questions will involve multi-steps and explaining the thinking behind answers. In class students will continue to work on solving problems with customary units. Give them some items and have them tell you which units a person would use to measure them.  Reading This week students selected their "last chance to read as a 4th grader" book. The book could be any genre. Each child will read that book and complete a written response on the book when they are done. Ask your student which book they picked. Idiom of the week: behind the eight ball    Writing Just like in reading, students will get a chance to select a "last chance piece as a 4th grade writer". ...

Math  Next week our study of measurement will switch gears to customary units. While students will be more familiar with these units, they'll find that it was much easier to convert between metric units because they are all base 10, while US customary varies. You probably noticed the Seesaw activities last week in math were review from earlier in the year. Many students had trouble remembering how to mutliply two by two digit numbers and using long division. Get in with your student and see how well they remember those to skills. Reading Logs/Vocab Last Tuesday, only 10 out of 23 students turned their reading log in. Only 3 students got perfect scores on their vocab test. Please give your student the expectation to read three hours outside of school and study their vocab words each week. Idiom of the week: roll with the punches Inquiry On Thursday, students were sent home with information about our last field trip of the year. It will take place at Cedar Mill Wetlands, ...

Reading The state tests have thrown our historical fiction book groups out of wack a little bit. On Monday, we will spend some time getting organized and figuring out which groups need to select new books and which groups need to get themselves back on track. Check in with your student and ask if they have been keeping up with their pages in their historical fiction book.  Idiom of the week: gray area Math Last week we wrapped up our geometry unit. Next week we will begin a study of measurement. This unit will involve both metric and US customary units. We'll begin with metric units. A strong understanding of place value will be essential for students to convert between between units. By the end of next week your student should be able to tell you what centi, milli, and kilo mean. Also, they should know in which situation a person would use liters, meters, and grams as units of measurement. Inquiry The final drafts of our migration papers were due Friday, 5/10. They su...

State Testing We will begin state testing next Tuesday 5/7. The first test students will take is the English language arts computer adaptive test. Students will work on the test on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The best way you can help your student prepare is by making sure they get plenty of rest and get a good breakfast on test days. Encourage them to think of the tests as an opportunity to show what they know. Also, if you haven't sent back a letter of encouragement for your student, please send it to school on Monday, 5/6. Math  Our study of geometry will focus on finding unknown angle measures and identifying two dimensional figures. A great way to help your student in math right now is to help them study their vocabulary words. Our vocabulary words this week are geometry terms. Writing Students have been working hard on their migration informational papers. Hopefully by the end of this week they are getting close to having their first draft complete. The final dra...