Our Latest Updates

I just saw how long it's been since I last posted. I am so sorry!

Here are some updates from our classroom:


  1. We have a social studies quiz on Wednesday. It will be covering our explorers unit and the Columbian Exchange. We discussed the quiz today, and students took notes on the vocabulary words, essay questions that will be asked, and the matching questions. We will spend time in Tuesday studying for the quiz. If you want to see what needs to be studied, ask to see your child's social studies journal.
  2. Friday is our zoo trip. I will be sending out an additional email with information on the trip.
  3. Our next gathering will be the week of December 17. Yep, that is the last week before Christmas Break!
  4. Dr. Whitecotton and I are working on doing an evening trip to the Melton Observatory in lieu of a Curriculum Night. This evening should be Monday, November 26th at 7:00 pm. Once the evening is finalized I will send an additional email.

Math - You probably noticed we have moved from studying geometry to place value. Much of what we're doing builds on what your child learned in 3rd grade except the place value we are working with goes up to the millions. We are learning about writing numbers in unit form, expanded form, and standard form. 

Science - We will finish up our weather unit before Thanksgiving. Each day we watch the WIS TV weather report and use our knowledge of low and high pressure, cold fronts, high fronts, stationary fronts, and cloud types to predict the weather. After Thanksgiving we will move into our astronomy unit.

Reading - Today, a small group of students started a literature study. This will serve as an introduction into our first whole-class literature study of The Jacket by Andrew Clements. We are also reading Blood on the River. This book tells the story of Jamestown, the first successful English colony in the Americas.

Writing - Several times a year we do what's called a DBQ. It stands for Document Based Question. It's a writing assignment in which we analyze several primary documents, form an opinion, and write an essay. While writing the essay, students learn the formalities of writing an essay. This includes an introduction and conclusion, topic sentences, and using transitionary words and phrases. 

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