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.
