Memory Bag and Box It Book Reports

Book reports started this week. Here are photos of the first of the presentations:

"Upchuck and Rotten Willy Running Scared"

By Bruce Wallace

 

"Junie B Jones and the Big Fat Mouth"

By Barbara  Park

Pony Pals   by Jeanne Betancourt

 

"Dairy of a Wimpy Kid"by Jeff Kinney

Frankly, Frannie 

by AJ Stern

Ghost of Fossil Glen

3rd novel read to class:

"An imaginative and adventurous sixth grader makes a connection with the ghost of the victim of an unsolved murder and puts her own life in jeopardy to find the killer. Strange events begin when a calm, unknown voice prevents Allie from panicking and falling from a dangerous cliff while fossil hunting. Then, an old journal mysteriously appears in her mailbox. Allie often feels a presence nearby and dreams of a girl falling from the cliff. She then discovers the grave marker of an 11-year-old girl who was missing and presumed dead in 1994. Because of her reputation for telling stories, Allie cannot convince anyone to believe her except her longtime friend and fellow fossil hunter, Dub. Driven to pursue the mystery, Allie finds an old diary that provides her with facts about the girl's death. Foolishly, she reveals what she knows and endangers her own life."

Testing Continues

We will be taking the NWEA MAP tests in Math and Science during the next two days of school. Each test takes approximately one hour to complete. We will use this data to guide the needs of each student.

Our scheduled times are

Monday, 26^th: 8:30

Tuesday, 27^th: 9:30

Letter Home

This week we are reading “Letters Home from Yosemite” by Lisa Halvorsen. We will focus on the following vocabulary words from this story. It would be helpful if you will reinforce the meaning of these words at home with your child.

Vocabulary Word	Meaning
wilderness	place that is in a natural state
naturalist	person who studies living things
preserve	save
impressive	amazing
species	type of animal or plant
slopes	sides of a mountain
glacier	huge sheet of ice

Here are our spelling words for the week. Please practice these words at home as well.

Spelling Words: usual, huge, flute, mood, smooth, threw, afternoon, scooter, juice, cruise, truth, bruise, cruel, excuse, pupil, groove, confuse, humor, duty, curfew

Running Out of Time

This is the 2nd class novel that I read and discussed with the class:

"Jessie Keyser, 13, believes that the year is 1840. In truth, she and her family, along with a small group of others, live in a reconstructed village viewed by unseen modern tourists and used as an experimental site by unethical scientists. Jessie discovers the truth when her mother asks her to leave the village and seek medical help for the diptheria epidemic that has struck the children of the community. Jessie must cope with the shock of her discovery; her unfamiliarity with everyday phenomena such as cars, telephones, and television; and the unscrupulous men who are manipulating the villagers."

The Horned Toad Prince

This week we are reading “The Horned Toad Prince” by Jackie Mims Hopkins. We will focus on the following vocabulary words from this story. It would be helpful if you will reinforce the meaning of these words at home with your child. Also, on this newsletter you will find our spelling words for the week. Please practice these words at home as well.

Vocabulary Word	Meaning
prairie	plain
lassoed	caught with ropes
riverbed	channel for water
favor	kind act
offended	upset
shrieked	screamed
bargain	deal

Spelling Words: prairie, calorie, honey, valley, money, finally, movie, country, empty, city, rookie, hockey, collie, breezy, jury, balcony, steady, alley, trolley, misty

Writing Homework

Please help your 4^th grader find out about a journey someone in your family took. This can be your immediate family and/or beyond. The following questions can help guide the investigation and then the journal entry. Y

our child needs to write a 2-3 paragraph journal entry about this journey.

This is the gathering ideas - first draft assignment, so it okay if there are errors at this time. Again, since it is a first draft, complete sentences, etc. won’t be graded on yet. The assignment is due back to school by Thursday the 15th. We will then begin turning the entry into a polished journal page.

Thank you!

Questions to Guide You:

1. Who is the person you are writing about?

2. What journey did this person take?

3. How did he/she travel?

4. What did he/she bring on the trip?

5. What did this person like best about the place he/she went to?

6. What did this person miss most about home?

Grandfather's Journey

This week we are reading “Grandfather’s Journey” by Allen Say. We will focus on the following vocabulary words in this story. It would be helpful if you will reinforce the meaning of these words at home with your child.

Vocabulary Word	Meaning
amazed	surprised; awe-inspired
bewildered	confused
homeland	native country
longed	wanted
towering	high
sculptures	statues

Here are our spelling words for the week. Please practice these words at home as well.

Spelling Words: sweet, each, three, least, freedom, below, throat, float, foam, flown, greet, season, croak, shallow, eagle, indeed, rainbow, grown, seaweed, hollow

Picture Day

Picture Day is coming up this week. They will be Thursday, September 8th. Information packets were sent home today.

Lewis and Clark and Me

This week we will be reading “Lewis and Clark and Me” by Laurie Myers. These are the vocabulary words we will focus from this story. It would be helpful if you will reinforce the meaning of these words at home with your child.

Vocabulary Word	Meaning
docks	platforms
yearned	longed for
scent	odor; smell
scan	examine quickly
migrating	traveling
wharf	dock; platform

Here are our spelling words for next week!

Spelling Words: sigh, right, weigh, eight, detail, height, spray, braid, bait, grain, slight, thigh, tight, raisin, trait, highway, frighten, dismay, freight, sleigh

Someone Was Watching

The first read aloud this year was Someone Was Watching by David Patneaude!

In one fleeting, sickening moment, the Bartons' precious 3-year-old girl, Molly, disappears, and judging from the coloring book floating down by the dock, she is lost forever to the river. One evening, about three months after "the Incident," 13-year-old Chris Barton watches the family-vacation video he made in the last hours of Molly's life. Clues in the background--including the appearance of a white ice-cream truck--don't add up, and Chris becomes convinced his sister is still alive. With the help of his best friend, Pat, he sets out to track her down, despite his parents' grief-weary refusal to even consider the possibility that little Molly is anywhere but in the river. What follows is a riveting journey, where the boys are on their own in a heroic, terrifying, nail-biting adventure. The events that unfold in this suspenseful mystery.

This is an excellent book that we enjoyed together. It has also been made into a movie which we also saw. We then discussed the differences between the book and the movie.

Teacher note: Other books by David Patneaude that 4th graders may be interested in can be found on the author's page. I have only read three other titles of his books: The Last Man's Reward, Haunting at Home Plate, and Deadly Drive. Someone is Watching is my favorite.

Scholastic Online Ordering

Web address: http://scholastic.com/bookclubs

Class Activation Code: H84F6

Now it is easier than ever to find the perfect books for your child - with the new online book clubs website. Choose from a wider selection than the printed flyer that comes home. You can send your orders directly to me online and use your credit card to pay.

Best of all, we earn a free book for the classroom every time a parent places an order online!

It's so simple! Here's how it works:

• On the parent page, click the "Register" button in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me.
  
  
• SELECT the books you'd like to order -- choose from thousands of titles -- many more than in our monthly flyers.
  
  
• SEND your order to me online by the due date and your child's books will be delivered directly to my classroom.

Ordering online is fast, easy, and secure.

Of course, you can still order using the form from the printed flyer, if that is your choice!

The deadline for the current book order is September 18th. Ordering will be closed after that date!

Labor Day

I hope you are all enjoying your school day off!