Poetry

Here they are…our published poems! Can you tell what emotion we were feeling?

Aidan: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Kaden: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Colin: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Sarah: be sure to listen for my repeating line.

Hayden: be sure to listen for my repeating line.

Cecelia: be sure to listen for my repeating line and rhyme.

Justin: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Emily: be sure to listen for my repeating line.

Matthew: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Saylor: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Bailey: be sure to listen for my repeating line.

Cameron: be sure to listen for my examples of repeating line.

Nick: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia

Jack: be sure to listen for my examples of rhyme and repeating line.

Holly: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia and my repeating line.

Ella: be sure to listen for my examples of rhyme.

Reagan: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Aubrey: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Emma: be sure to listen for my examples of rhyme.

Payton: be sure to listen for my examples of repeating line.

Margaret: be sure to listen for my examples of onomatopoeia.

Naomi: be sure to listen for my examples of rhyme.

Sam: be sure to listen for my examples of rhyme.

Jake: be sure to listen for my examples of repeating line.

The Adventures of the Rock Cycle

Last week we each wrote our own comic strip of different adventures a rock my face on the rock cycle. Click here to see our class book of these comics!
(double click on the page to zoom in and better read each comic!)

Science Weekly Week 4 Word Bank

atom
magnifying glass
magnify
field of view
comparison
microscope
microscopic
molecule
analysis
observation

 

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Conferences will be Thursday, October 8th and Tuesday, October 14th (two morning times will also be available on Monday and Wednesday, the 13th and 15th)

Please follow the directions below to sign up for a conference:

Please sign up for Parent-Teacher Conferences - here's how it works in 3 easy steps:    

1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/iBzbti 

2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot) 

3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!
Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Poetry

We have been reading and writing poetry focused on different emotions all week. Today we analyzed several different poems and had to determine the theme of each.

Be sure to check back at the end of the week. We are working on writing one final poem that focuses on an emotion we have felt. We will record ourselves reading these poems and share them with you!

Three Types of Rocks

Today we learned that there are 3 types of rocks: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. Be sure to ask your child how each rock is formed. Tomorrow we will study how rocks change through the rock cycle!

Sediments stack up over time, pushing down on one another:

Over time, pressure and water cements the sediments together to form a sedimentary rock:

Heat and pressure turn them into metamorphic rock:

Magma that reaches the earth's crust cools and solidifies to become an igneoue rock:

Weathering vs Erosion

All week we have been studying weathering and erosion. While these two often go together, they are still two different processes. It is important to understand the differences between them.

Weathering is the breaking down of rock and mineral.

Erosion then carries away those broken down pieces of rock and mineral. Erosion can happen either by wind, rain, glaciers, or even because of gravity.

Here is one picture from an experiment this week.

The picture on the left is our stream table after a typical rain storm. The stream has not changed much, but some sand has eroded away.

The picture on the right is what would happen after a flood. The stream has widened and much of the sand has begun to erode away.

We learned that flooding definitely speeds up the erosion process and erodes more materials away.

Ask your child what happened when we changed the slope of our stream table and which caused the sand to erode more!

Drip Paintings

Did you see the link Mrs. Connell and Mrs. Anderson sent out? Our abstract drip paintings are online in the school’s virtual gallery. These all look so cool! Be sure to check out our artwork here.

Parent Orientation

It was great to see those of you who came out tonight. For those of you who missed, here are the slides we discussed:

 

 

Also, some handouts were given out at orientation - if you were unable to attend, these forms are in your child's take home folder. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask.

Finally, for more detailed info on the fourth grade, please click here to see our Fourth Grade Handbook (this can also be found on the right of my blog, titled "Important Info for Parents"). Again, thanks to those who came out tonight.

Mad Minutes

Dear Families,

We have now begun Mad Minutes! Please check your child’s Wednesday Folder to see which level they are currently on. In order to pass, they can only miss two or three problems. If they have a smiley face on their mad minute, they passed and will be on the next level.  Whichever level they are currently on, those are the facts they should be practicing nightly as part of their math facts homework.

It is critical that your child practice nightly. We will begin more challenging math this year that involves multiple steps. If your child is struggling to find the solution to the basic facts, then the multi-step math problems will be even more challenging.

Below is the sequence of Mad Minutes. If your child passes a level, please use the list below to see which facts they should begin practicing next!

Thank you for your support and help in your child’s education!

Science Studies Weekly Homework

Okay families, beginning tonight, kiddos will be given their copy of Science Studies Weekly. They will be responsible for reading their newspaper by the following Friday. There are 3 parts they will need to complete each week:

1. Read the entire newspaper
2. Complete the puzzle on the back page
3. Take the quiz online

They do not need to wait until Friday to turn it in -- once completed, please return to school! They can use the reading done for the newspaper for TWO of their reading logs each week.

To take the quiz online, we will go over this process step-by-step in class, but you can use this page as a reference at home as well! If students finish their morning routine early, they are more than welcome to use my computers at school. However, some may need to take these at home / prefer to take them at home. Whichever they choose (and it may vary week to week, quizzes need to be completed by the following Friday morning - one week to do this!)

How to do this:

1. Go to http://www.estudiesweekly.com/ 

2. Log in

• username: ocsfirstnamelastname (no spaces, no capital letters!) (same as most of their edmodo accounts!)
• For example my username would be: ocscourtneycurran
• password: husky77 (no spaces, no capital letters!)

3.  Once you are in, you can listen to the articles being read aloud to you (so neat!) while you follow along! If you want, you can listen to every article in the paper, or you can read yourself, or you can do a variety of both. Whatever works for you!

4. Once you have read the article, it's time to take the quiz. You have one week to take the quiz (by the following Friday morning, all quizzes must be submitted). Once you submit, you cannot make any changes.

5. Bonus: Gain points to decorate your rat cage!