Week 33

Dear Parents and Students,

I would first like to thank all parents for taking time out of your busy schedules to come in to see me. Communication is integral to the healthy development of your children, and it is good to be able to discuss the progress of your kids, and share viewpoints of how to support and encourage the students of Grade 4.

In the Classroom:

We have had a fairly regular week, with the exception being the number of practice Iowa tests we did. As you know, the Iowa tests will take place throughout next week.

Maths

We  began a new topic about data and graphs, and we have started looking at how to calculate averages.   We will continue with averages next week. We will review the topic on the following Monday, and the topic test will take place on Wednesday, 20^th May.

Literacy Workshop

We have just completed a grammar unit dedicated to pronouns, and are beginning our final grammar unit for the year, which is all about adverbs and prepositions. We have also started work on or next writing assignment, Writing an Opinion. We have planned and drafted our essays, and we will revise and proofread them next week, and then publish them next Thursday.

Science

We have begun our final unit for the year – Life Science. We have started with categorizing plants and animals, and will continue next week, although less frequently, to accommodate the Iowa tests. We are also in the final stages of our Science Fair preparations, and will spend some time next Friday setting up our displays for the presentations the following week.

Social Studies

We are still learning about the American Midwest. This week we were focused on the Great Lakes States, and we took another look at the Plains States. We will review the entire chapter after the completion of the Iowa tests.

Extra

The schedule for the Iowa tests is included at the end of this post. The best way to prepare is to get plenty of rest, and eat healthy meals and snacks. There will be no homework assigned next week, so there should be plenty of opportunity to get to bed early each night and be well rested at the beginning of each day.

I hope you all have a restful weekend, and I will see you all on Monday!

Dates to remember:

Mon-Fri. May 11-15:  Iowa Tests

Mon.    May 18:          Science Fair in-class presentations

Tue.      May 19:         Science Fair

Thu.     May 28           Art Exhibition

Fri.       May 29:          Monthly Assembly