ELA Test and Philadelphia Field Trip Information

The ELA State Test is on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please note the following important information:

Children should be at school no later than 8:20. It is extremely important that no one is late to school.

If possible, please do not send your child with a cell phone or any electronic devices, including Fitbits or Smartwatches. If that is not possible, we will collect all the devices before the test begins and will return them after the test is completed.

Children are not allowed to get up from their seat to get water. Children should bring in a bottle of water to school for each day of the test.

Make sure your child eats a healthy, low-sugar breakfast the morning of the test.

If your child is sick with a fever, please do not send them to school. We prefer your child take the test on the scheduled makeup days when they are feeling healthy.

On Monday, April 1, the permission form for the 4th grade Philadelphia field trip will be distributed. Please read the information letter and keep it at home for your records. The permission form and money should be returned to school.

In addition to the information that will be sent home, we want to fill you in on some more details for the trip.

Where we are going: We will visit the Museum of American Revolution and Independence Hall.

Transportation: The grade will be taking coach buses and there will be a bathroom on each bus.

Food: Children must bring lunch and carry their own lunch in a backpack. We will provide snacks for the bus rides. Children may not bring money to purchase food or drinks for lunch.

Pictures: Laura and Robyn will be taking pictures throughout the day and will share the photos with the families.

Technology: Children are not allowed to bring cell phones or iPads.  

Candy: Gum and other candy is not allowed on the trip.

Gift Shop: We will visit a gift shop in Philadelphia. Please talk to your child about ways to keep their money safe while traveling and how to manage money in a store (specifically not putting cash on shelving, and remembering to get change). If you are not interested in your child purchasing anything, please let Laura and Robyn know ahead of time.

Car Sickness: If your child suffers from car sickness and needs to take medication, please send a note to school.

Chaperones: Parents will not chaperone this trip.

Stamp Act Simulation

Today in class, we experienced a Stamp Act simulation. Monica Berry came to our class and told the children that beginning on March 31st, students will need to pay 5 cents for items like bathroom visits, copy paper, pencils, and nurse passes. After Monica left, the children shared their feelings and what actions they would take based on their feelings. We then connected their responses to the start of the American Revolution where British Parliament created and enforced the Stamp Act.

Please know this was a simulation, and students do not need to pay for any school materials.

We encourage you to speak with your child tonight about this activity and the thoughts, concerns, and feelings they had.

Area/Perimeter Test Reflection

Today the students are bringing home the Area/Perimeter Unit Assessment. Below please find two examples of word problems we completed in class. We encourage the children to underline important information, draw a picture, and show all work. If your child needs to redo a problem, please use the following examples to remind them of the strategies we practiced in class.

Next Read Aloud!

Our next read aloud will be Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Just like our past read alouds, students will have reading comprehension assignments and quizzes throughout the read aloud. Students may bring in a copy of the book to follow along while reading in class. The book can be found in the public library, the local bookstore, and on Amazon.

Please feel free to get a copy of the book if you would like to follow along at home with the class.

Weekend Homework Due Monday, February 4

Tonight your child is coming home with the weekend homework due on February 4. The packet is broken up into two sections: Excerpt from Wheels of Change and Excerpt from Wolf Stalker. Your child is responsible for reading Wheels of Change and answering three short response questions. The second passage, Wolf Stalker, was completed in class. The following is a list of strategies the children used in class to help answer the questions:

1. Read the questions first. Underline what the question is asking you to prepare yourself for reading.
2. Chunk and retell while reading. If you find the answer to a question, mark it in the passage and then continue reading.
3. Answer each question using Restate Answer Detail Detail
4. Reread the answer checking for RADD and for correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

When answering short response questions, there are many acceptable variations of answers. Please read your child's answers from the classwork as well as two examples of model answers attached to the packet.

Below please find the rubric that will be used to score the short response answers.

Test Prep and Weekend Homework

Testing season has quickly arrived, which will change a few elements to our regular class day and homework assignments.

Since September, we have been completing writing assignments that are similar to what will be on the English Language Arts state exam. For example, your child has read many passages from NY Studies Weekly, as well as other social studies-based readings, and then answered text-based questions. Those writing assignments are formatted similarly to the constructed response questions that will be on the ELA exam in the beginning of April. 

As the weeks progress, we will continue to practice both constructed responses (short responses) and essays (extended responses). These responses will be kept in the classroom so that we can refer to them often and use them as a responsive assessment tool. If you are interested in receiving a copy of any of the writing assignments, please send a note to school and we will send home a copy for you to keep.

We will also practice answering multiple choice questions two to three times throughout the week, in addition to giving homework assignments that mirror this work.

In regards to math, we are progressing at a steady pace through the curriculum. The main focus of the math state exam will be multiplication, division, fractions, and word problems. This week we began Topic 12: Adding and Subtracting Fractions and Mixed Numbers with Like Denominators.  

As of this weekend, the entire fourth grade will begin weekend testing homework. The 4-312 students will receive the weekend assignment every Thursday, and the assignment will be due the following Monday. Each week, we will send home explicit directions on how to complete the homework and how to set up a productive work space. Please review the directions carefully with your child, but allow them to complete the assignment independently.

Please note the state testing dates:

ELA: April 2-4*

Math: May 1-3*

*The state has listed three testing dates; however, the exam should span over two days. We will confirm the dates with you once we get the finalized dates from the city. 

Lastly, if your child is working with a tutor, please let us know. We want to make sure the tutor does not use the same reading passages we use in class. Additionally, we are happy to speak with your child's tutor to let them know the specific areas on which to focus with your child. 

Thank you!

January Curriculum Update

Happy New Year!

Please read below to see how Class 4-312 is hitting the ground and running in 2019.

Math
We kicked off the New Year by beginning Topic 11 of our math program. During this unit, students will learn about factors, prime and composite numbers, multiples, equivalent fractions, and ordering and comparing fractions. We are using our knowledge of multiplication and division to build on these more complex concepts. After our introduction to fractions in Topic 11, we will continue to develop our understanding of fractions in Topic 12 when we learn how to add and subtract fractions and work with mixed numbers and improper fractions.

Writing and Social Studies
We are continuing to learn about the theme and essential question of what it means to be free by studying the European migration to the New York area. In this interdisciplinary unit that blends social studies and writing, students are learning about the development of the 13 Colonies and what life was like during this time for Native Americans, colonists, and slaves. Students are strengthening their non-fiction reading skills by determining the main idea and supporting details and understanding how non-fiction text features support comprehension. Additionally, students have been learning note-taking strategies and how to pull out the most important information and respond to it with deeper inferences and wonderings. Over the next few days, students will choose a sub-topic they are interested in learning more about, and then they will begin a research report.

Reading
This week, we launched our realistic fiction book clubs. Students have been divided into small-group literature circles to allow for greater discussion, engagement, and individualized support. Each group meets twice a week to discuss the assigned reading while a teacher acts as a facilitator. The objective of each meeting is to practice reading strategies, which include monitoring literal comprehension, making inferences, tracking character change, determining character motivation, identifying theme and important life lessons, and considering author’s purpose. A dual objective of book clubs is for students to improve their listening and speaking skills by engaging in rich discussion with their peers. We encourage you to have conversations with your child about his/her book club text and any assignments that go along with it.

Last week, we started our read-aloud book, Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. Please find the synopsis of this wonderful book below:

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people--her teachers and doctors included--don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind--that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

Best,

R & L