Let's Use Our Fantastic Resource!

Please use these IXL practice/extension logs to help focus your IXL work for the next few weeks.

Unit 2 IXL Practice Links

Math Concept	IXL Focus:	Score (Must be Above 90%)
Make arrays	E7 (3rd)
Area	BB3
Find factors	D4
Find multiples	D3
Prime and Composite Numbers	A5
Converting units of time	O1
Triangles	X1, X2, X3
Quadrilaterals	X4
Symmetry	Y1, Y2
Solve a “What’s My Rule Story	D30

Unit 2 IXL Extension Links

Math Concept	IXL Focus:	Score (Must be Above 90%)
Area of complex figures	BB4
Greatest common factor	F6 (5th)
Find multiples of fractions	M3 (5th)
Prime and Composite Numbers	F1 (5th)
Converting units of time	O1
Properties of triangles and quadrilaterals	X5
Rotational symmetry	Y4
Inequalities with multiplication	D28

Week 6 Update

As the weather turns colder, our focus and workload is increasing.  We are going to really work the next few weeks on timely and efficient work and study habits!

Math: This week was a full week of multiplication.  We began the week with factors and multiples and then ended with prime and composite numbers.  There are SO many vocabulary words in this unit and it is so important for students to be able to manage those.  We spent much of Friday catching up on unfinished pages.  If this habit continues, we may begin bringing our math books home.  We have so much work to do and we have to make sure we are keeping up.  We now have 5 students totally finished with fact fluency skill practice!

Reading: Our guided groups continued this week and we really focused on our reading response letters.  Every week students will write a reading response letter to me about a book they are reading.  At some point, we may share these letters with you.   

Writing: We are almost finished with our first drafts of our letter to Governor Snyder.  Next week, we will offer a rebuttal to a counterargument and then wrap up those letters.  The next step will be to publish those and get them sent off.  It was sad for many of us to know that our persuasive letters had turned to opinion letters, but we talked about how relevant PBL topics sometime don't work out in the perfect way.  :)

PBL: We left our government unit behind (mostly) and began a new and exciting unit on the brain.  We began with a fun entry event where students attempted to save Mr. Egghead from a wild ride.  We then spent the next three days rotating between the 4th grade teachers who expertly shared some new information with us on the brain.

Forms to Return: DTE Energy Forms - We need ALL 24 back to get our 100 grant for classroom supplies and fun!

Upcoming:  Please let me know if you are a coach or an athlete that would be willing to make a short video.  If you are interested, please contact me at bertelson@aaps.k12.mi.us

I’m looking forward to another great week!  Please ask your child what they are learning about the brain this week.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

It's time to use our brains. :)

October 2016

Dear 4th Grade A2 STEAM Families,

This week we began an exciting new unit in our classrooms! As you might know, in our school we use the teaching method of Project Based Learning, or PBL, to help students learn better. A project motivates students to gain knowledge, and they remember it longer. Projects give students the chance to apply the skills they learn in school to personally relevant and real-world situations. Your child also learns skills in PBL such as how to think critically, solve problems, work in teams, and make presentations. These skills will help students succeed in the future, both in school and in today’s work world.

Our project is based off of the Project Lead the Way curriculum, and is called “Human Brain:  Input and Output”  This project will last through the middle of November.

In this unit, students will learn about:

• Regions of the brain
• Sensory input to the brain
• Impacts of trauma or injury to the brain
• Raising awareness about concussions in everyday life

Our driving question for this project is, “How can we, as students at A2 STEAM, raise awareness and prevent concussions in school aged children?”  They will spend extensive time learning about the brain, the impact of concussions, and ways to raise awareness in both parents and students.  The end result will be three-fold.  They will create a PSA to a specific audience around preventing or determining the symptoms of concussions, a physical model of brain, and a persuasive writing piece about an activity that could lead to a concussion.  All of these will be shown off at our EXPO on November 18th.  

More details will be sent home as we get closer to Expo. We hope you will be able to attend!

As parents, you can support the project by:

• Sending in a video about your prior experience with concussions.  Please email Mrs. Bertelson at bertelson@aaps.k12.mi.us for more information
• Talking with your student about how they can stay safe in their everyday life
• Reading articles about the brain/concussions with your student

E-mails, websites, and newsletters will keep you updated throughout the unit.  If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s project, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bertelson, Ms. Culver, and Ms. Huntley

4th Grade Teachers at A2 STEAM

Need Help Choosing Books?

Here are a few places to find great, 4th grade appropriate books!

Great Schools List

GoodReads List

Imagination Soup List

The Reading Nook List

Week 5 Update

Can you believe that it is Week 5 already?  Where did the time go?

Math: This week we took our Post test for Unit 1 and the kiddos did fantastic!  We also spent a few days learning/reviewing how to make arrays and how to find the area of a rectangle.  They also took Unit 2 pretest, which came home in their Friday folders.  If you noticed that your son/daughter struggled with any of concepts on the pretest, these would be great things to practice on either IXL or the home links.  These are on top of the math fact fluency practice that they should be doing.  There are now 4 students completely finished with fact fluency!

Reading: Our guided groups went swimmingly this week.  We created names for our groups and read several articles about the branches of government.  We focused on the strategies of prediction, using prior knowledge, previewing a text, and asking questions of texts.  We did this with both our informational texts AND our independent reading books.  

Writing: We published our personal narratives and finished publishing our Bio Poems.  These will be up in the hallway outside of our room so stop by and check them out.  This week will begin writing our letters to Governor Snyder about HR Bill 4822.

PBL: We spent this week diving into a unit on the government.  Our driving question is, "How can we as students make sure our voices are heard at A2STEAM?  We are learning about a House Bill that is being sent to Governor Snyder that states that those who are not reading by 3rd grade do not move to 4th.  We are having some very interesting discussions around this.

Forms to Return: None at this time.  :)

Upcoming:  Our next unit on the Human Brain will be starting next week.  Please let me know if you are a coach or an athlete that would be willing to make a short video.  If you are interested, please contact me at bertelson@aaps.k12.mi.us

I’m looking forward to another great week!  Please ask your child what they are learning about the brain this week.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Let's Play Some Games!

The kids are super excited about a fun website we are using called icivics!  Please follow the link below to play.  You don't need to make an account.  When you get to the homepage, just press play!

iCivics!

Week 4 Update

We accomplished a lot this week!

Math: This week we had a full week of five math lessons. We focused on subtraction, converting lengths, some geometric concepts around lines, and perimeter.  Whew!  It was a lot.  If you noticed that your son/daughter struggled with any of these concepts on the pretest, these would be great things to practice on either IXL or the home links.  These are on top of the math fact fluency practice that they should be doing.  We want to work on everyone getting 90 percent or better on their first math assessment that we will take on Tuesday.  

Reading: We know have our reading block time down. Last week, every group met and discussed our goals as a group.  This week we will begin reading together articles about the US government.    

Writing: This week we continued our personal narratives.  We wrote for an extended period of time, added description and details, and wrapped up our stories with great conclusions.  We are beginning to publish these and will have them available for you at conferences.

PBL: We spent this week diving into a unit on the government.  Our driving question is, "How can we as students make sure our voices are heard at A2STEAM?  We are learning about a House Bill that is being sent to Governor Snyder that states that those who are not reading by 3rd grade do not move to 4th.  We are having some very interesting discussions around this.

Forms to Return: Recorder Form and money, Blue DTE Form ONLY if you wan to OPT out.

Upcoming:  Our next unit on the Human Brain will be starting next week.  Please let me know if you are a coach or an athlete that would be willing to make a short video.  If you are interested, please contact me at bertelson@aaps.k12.mi.us

I’m looking forward to another great month! Its hard to believe that we are already a month in!

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.