Thank You!

On this especially frigid day, our thanks go out to Mr. Carmody, Mrs. Spezio, Ms. Decoteau and Mrs. Tortorelli for chaperoning our trip to the Prospect Park Zoo. We had a great time and got to see many friendly animals!

Grade Level P.E has Been Moved.

Due to a mid year change in schedules to accommodate CCD , the fourth grade level Phys. Ed class has been moved to Wednesday instead of our usual Friday slot. That means we will have two periods of gym on alternating weeks starting with next week :)

January book order

Scholastic book orders are due tomorrow if you and your child are interested in purchasing books.

Prospect Park Zoo

Tomorrow is our trip to the Prospect Park Zoo. The weather forecast indicates that it will be very cold so please dress your child warmly. We will be in a classroom at the zoo most of the time but we will also take a tour around the outdoors.
We have six chaperones coming. We will leave the school at 9:30 and arrive back by 12:15 so the class will have lunch at school.

Last Week's Poll Answer

The answer to last week's poll is all of the above.

Math Test

We have finished the work in Unit 5 in Everyday Math and the unit test will take place on Wednesday. It will contain questions on multiplication and decimals. There will be a study sheet and review session in tomorrow's math class.

Birthday Celebrations

If your child has a birthday coming up and you would like to share a treat with the class, please send a note a couple of days in advance so that we can find a time when this can take place. It is not always possible find even five minutes in our academic/ enrichment schedule to do so and often requires planning. This is a fun event to share and we want to acknowledge the occasion, Thank you for your cooperation.

First Place!

Congratulations to our entire class for finishing first in the Physical Education Aerobic Stair Challenge! This was a school wide activity for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. They were challenged by Ms. Ussery to run up to the top floor twice (without skipping steps) as quickly as possible. Our class finished with a time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Thank You!

Thank you to Mrs. McGouran, Mrs. Carmody, Mrs. McClintock and Ms. Johnson for their help on today's trip to the Brooklyn Museum. The children got to explore a Colonial House in groups and imagine what life was like back in the early days of our city.

Looking Ahead this Week

Our second visit to the Brooklyn Museum is coming this Thursday. We have six chaperones set for the trip. Please remember that the trip will take place from 9:35-12:00. Our class will be back in time for lunch.

We will also have grade level PE this Friday.

The answer is...

In order from greatest to least, the second series of numbers (9.1; 1.9; .19; .019) is correct!

Final Call for Test Prep

Tomorrow is the deadline for test prep permission slips. If you are interested in having your child attend the Saturday program and have not yet returned the slip, please do so tomorrow. If you do not have the slip, you may write a note giving your child permission to attend. The eight sessions are Feb. 27; March 6, 13, and 20; April 10, 17 and 24; and May 1. Please indicate on your note whether your child will be picked up or if your child may walk home. Also include a phone number where you may be reached on Saturdays. Please disregard this if you have already turned in the form.

The answer is...

63,000 divided by 90 is equal to 700 :)

Saturday Test Prep

Your child received a letter yesterday with a sign up form for Saturday test prep. Please review the letter and turn in your responses at your earliest convenience. There are eight sessions starting on February 27th.

New Website

Please check out the new addition to the our Websites list. This website contains many games designed in a series to help kids with a variety of math skills such as Multiplication, Division and Fractions. Some games are more challenging than others. It is a free site and does not require any downloads. Please enjoy!

Parents as Enrichment Partners

We will have Enrichments Partners this Friday @ 8:45. There are no scheduled presenters, so if anyone is interested in leading an activity, please send a note in with your child tomorrow. Thank you!

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you've had an excellent recess. Thanks to the generosity of our families, we were able to add some exciting new books to our Fantasy book club sets.

This week, we will have Grade level Phys. Ed this Friday. Please make sure to consider the temperature and dress your child accordingly.

January Units of Study

Reading Workshop
Our class will dive into the Fantasy reading unit that was introduced right before the holidays. Fantasy stories are narratives that contain events that can only be explained by magic. In this exciting unit, students will read several fantasy books and they will build on previous reading work done in the beginning of the year to make generalizations about how fantasy books tend to go and what fantasy has to say about our real world. Students will be reading and discussing fantasy books in partnerships and in book clubs.

Writing Workshop
After finishing up essays, 4th graders will begin a new writing unit. They will study and emulate writing craft and structure in a short fantasy. This study builds upon the narrative work that students did in the fall. At the end of the unit, your child will create a fantasy story including common archetypes of the genres, such as a hero going on a quest, and magical elements.

Math Workshop
Fourth graders will work on Estimation and computations with large numbers and Multiplication and Division Algorithms. The objectives for the month include the following: to practice estimating products; to review, learn and practice various multiplication methods such as the partial-products algorithm and lattice multiplication; and to practice reading, writing and comparing large numbers.
Decimals were a challenging subject to learn and you may want your child to continue practicing comparing decimals and identifying how decimals are used in give many names in metric measurements (for example: 65 cm = 0.65m or 650 mm). Many children have played the interactive games on the website www.decimalsquares.com and have been very positive in their response.


Social Studies
This month 4th graders will continue to learn about early New Amsterdam, the Dutch, English and French influences on New York, and the interactions between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Students will explore what daily life was like in colonial New York. Our second visit to the Brooklyn Museum will enhance the learning we are doing in class.