Thundercake!

Hi Parents,

Today was a day were I decided it would be a good idea to take a detour from my original reading lesson plan! What a storm! Thunder, Lightning, Wind, Hail, and a Downpour! All that combined with the metal roof that tops our school, well, it was quite a distraction!

We read the book Thundercake by Patricia Polacco. The story takes place when the author was a child living in Michigan. The Grandma helps Patricia overcome her fear of thunder by making a Thunder Cake. Grandma teaches Patricia how to watch for lightning and count slowly until she hears the thunder to know the distance of the incoming storm. As the storm approaches, all of the ingredients are gathered for the cake, and the two mix and prepare and get the pans in the oven just in time.  As they wait for the cake to bake, Grandma tells Patricia how brave she is for helping gather the ingredients from around the farm. They enjoy their Thundercake with tea as the storm rolls in. Patricia realizes that she is no longer afraid of the sound of thunder. Hopefully my students have learned this lesson as well!

The recipe for Thundercake is included at the end of the book.

Thunder Cake

*1 cup shortening   *1 ¾ cup sugar.  *1 tsp vanilla.  *3 eggs, separated.  *1 cup cold water.  *1/3 cup of pureed tomatoes.  *2 ½ cups cake flour.  *½ cup dry cocoa.  *1 ½ tsp baking soda.  *1 tsp salt.  *Chocolate Frosting.  *Strawberries

Cream together one at a time shortening, sugar, vanilla, eggs, water, and tomatoes. (For the eggs, blend the yolks in. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the creamy mixture). Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry mixture into the creamy mixture. Bake in two greased and floured 8 ½ inch round pans at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting and top with strawberries.

Looks great, doesn’t it?

 

 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hi Parents,
In addition to continuing the Getting to Know Each Other process, here is what we’re up to in the first two weeks of 4th grade!
Our first unit of study in Reading lays the groundwork for good reading habits. Students are taught how to set reading goals, choose a Just Right book, read actively, and build reading stamina.
As we dig into writing Personal Narratives, we are learning to generate ideas of what to write by thinking about Special People, Special Places, and Strong Emotions. We also are learning to add sensory details to help the reader experience the story.
We are tackling numbers up to 1 Million in math this first unit! Students are learning how to model and read and write numbers in standard form (24), word form (twenty-four), and expanded form (20 + 4). We are also rounding numbers!
The first unit of Social Studies is all about the Geography of the United States. Questions to answer are- Were is it? What’s it like there? How is it connected to other places?
As you can see, we are digging in!
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions!
Enjoy your week!

Tomorrow’s the Day! Monday, August 23

Hello All!

It was awesome to see you all at our Georgetown Open House! What a GREAT group of new fourth graders! I am so excited to start a new school year with your child (and you)!!

Each of you received an envelope at Open House with important papers from the school office. Please return these on the first day or at your earliest convenience.

Just a reminder, your child may bring supplies on the first day of school if they haven’t already done so. Don’t forget those gym shoes! Speaking of supplies, I would like to thank you for your generous donations to our classroom! 

It looks like it will be warm for the coming school days. Please send a water bottle and a snack, and dress your child in cool, comfy clothes!

Incase your child is wondering, when getting off the bus in the morning, the BIG kids walk around (behind) school to the 4th/5th grade doors. There will be plenty of adult helpers to help your child along.

No worries! It’s going to be GREAT!!

Thanks for sharing your precious child/children with me! I’m anxious to see them tomorrow! 

Take Care!!

Mrs. H.

Compliment Party Fun!

Hi Parents,

It was a fun morning in fourth grade! The kids did a great job with their Show and Tell! It was fun to get to know them even better through the objects that were shared.

Now, let’s talk FORTS! We had a Boys Fort and a Girls Fort. I enjoyed sitting back, watching the construction of the two forts, and was impressed with how well each team worked together. After the forts were assembled, the girls spent time telling scary stories to each other, and the boys just goofed off and kept commenting on how bad their fort smelled (haha)!

Only 70 more tallies to earn another Compliment Party!!

We’ve Been Busy!

Hi Parents,

We’ve been busy in 4th grade! Here’s what we’ve been up to!

Math- we are digging into Unit 6 and learning about fractions! Our focus is on fractions with like denominators, mixed numbers with like denominators, and multiplying fractions and whole numbers.

Reading- the students are grouped into Historical Fiction Book Clubs! We are gaining knowledge on the subject of World War 2, learning about D-Day, Pearl Harbor, and Nazi Invasions. Our current read aloud is Number the Stars.

Writing- after wrapping up Personal Essay, we press on to tackle Literary Essay. Using a BIG Idea, we will prove our point by gathering evidence from lessons that authors teach us within the books we read in class.

Language Arts- we continue to work on capital letters, end punctuation, punctuating dialogue, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and long vowel patterns.

Black History- we are learning about the important contributions of brave pioneers (Ruby Bridges, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks…), Sports Figures (Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens…), Artists (Maya Angelou, Ella Fitzgerald…) and others!

 

Math Facts-Going UP!

mathsymbolsHi Parents!

I’m happy to say that our class math fluency scores in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are going UP!! We have been working so hard in our classroom on improving our speed and accuracy on the math facts using Moby Max!

Thank you for encouraging your child to practice at home! It’s really paying off, not only on their fluency scores, but during computation on math problems in class! If you want to take a peek to see how your child is doing, have him/her help you get onto Moby Max through Clever. Otherwise, I’m happy to let you know!

Why are the facts important? Check out this article.

 

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