October 22 - 25

We had a very busy week in 4A. Thank you so much to those of you who were able to attend parent teacher meetings on Wednesday and Thursday night. It was great to meet with all of you. Your support with your child's academic goal setting and learning is greatly appreciated.

The book fair was a huge success and one of the students from 4A was lucky enough to win a $25.00 gift voucher. I was so touched when he chose to donate two books from his $25.00 to our classroom library. It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture. The class was so happy and proud of their friend.

Christmas Cards

The students worked very hard on creating a one-of-a-kind Christmas card for the fundraiser. I've taken pictures of each student with their original card. I will be sending out an email with more information shortly.

Curriculum Update

Language Arts

We began a really fun writing project this week, using "I'm Not Afraid of This Haunted House" by Laurie Friedman as a mentor text. 

After reading the book, we brainstormed a list of nouns that we would find inside, as well as outside, a haunted house. Next we thought of many great adjectives that could be used to describe the nouns. Next week we will use these nouns and adjectives to write a descriptive paragraph, or a "For Sale" ad, for the haunted houses.

Math

We began our Place Value - Numbers to 10,000 unit this week. The goal was to identify place value of digits in two-, three-, and four-digit numbers. The students really enjoyed learning the Egyptian system for writing numerals, to help review the concept of place value. 

Science

We started the week by sorting our garbage into Foil Waste, Organic Waste, Plastic Waste and Paper Waste. The students were very conscious of getting their waste into the proper bags. Next week the students are challenging themselves to reduce the amount of waste brought in their lunches. We discussed many ways to help reduce waste, such as using reusable plastic containers.

By the end of the week, we had a clearer picture of the amount of garbage brought into our classroom

We also learned about the Garbage Cycle and the different types of waste. Some of these include: garbage that goes to the landfill, household hazardous waste, compostable waste and recyclable waste. We discussed the importance of sorting our waste so that it can go where it belongs and that the Town of Devon takes care of our waste in the most efficient way possible. But what happens to our garbage after it leaves our homes? Each type of waste has a different destination. Some items will be reused and may even show up in our homes again. But some wastes cannot be reused and will end up at a landfill or will be disposed of safely at the eco-station.

Then the students used an organizer "Where Does My Garbage Go" to choose an item that they have recycled recently. They were asked to find out what their item is made of, new items that can be made from their item, and where their item belongs (in the landfill etc).

PE

The students loved spending the week trying to "beat" the Mission Impossible maze set up in the gym.