Miss Snapp's 4th Grade 2011-2012: January 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

School Wide Reading Challenge

The school wide reading challenge begins on February 1^st! Fourth graders need to read 2 and ½ hours each week to reach their goal. This year there is a component for the adults, as well. Look for details arriving soon.

Any of the elementary students who meet their goal will be treated to a trip to the movie theater to see the new movie, The Lorax!

Seeker of Knowledge

This week we are reading “Seeker of Knowledge” by James Rumford. 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
ancient	of times long past
link	anything that joins or connects, as a loop of a chain does
scholars	learned people; people having much knowledge
seeker	one who tries to find; one who searches
temple	building used for the service or worship of God or gods
translate	to change from one language into another
triumph	victory; success
uncover	to make known; reveal; expose

Here are our spelling words for the week. The words in italics are our challenge spelling words.

Spelling Words: village, except, explain, quick, charge, bridge, knowledge, question, equal, queen, excited, expect, Texas, fudge, excellent, exercise, quart, liquid, quilt, expert, expedition, aquarium, inquire, frequent, advantage

NWEA MAP Testing

NWEA MAP winter testing is arriving! Our class has been scheduled to test on Tuesday- February 7^th, Wednesday -February 8^th, Thursday- February 9^th and Monday- February 13^th. Please help your child prepare to do his or her best by encouraging an early bedtime the night before, as well as a good breakfast the morning of each testing session. Thank you for your help in this matter!

These scores will be given to you at an upcoming meeting for parents in early March.

Science

We have concluded learning about the habitats of Utah: Deserts, Forests and Wetlands. We have been studying about basic animal needs and adaptations. We will be studying vertebrates and invertebrates for the next several weeks.

Math

This week will be more with circles, especially finding radius and diameter. We will then continue on working with polygons – similar, congruent and symmetry!

Help Needed With Survey

Mrs. Goodrich, along with the School Community Council, would like some feedback from you on how our school is doing. The results will guide the development of the school improvement plan. A survey on pink paper is being sent home today. Please feel this out and return it to school by February 2^nd.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Learning About Lines

We have been working with lines, rays and line segments. We know there are parallel lines, intersecting lines and perpendicular lines. Here are here creating the different types of lines with our licorice strips! Yum!

One More Biography

Monday, January 23, 2012

Chinese New Year is between 23 January and 9 February this year. This is the Year of the (Water) Dragon.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Award Book Reports

The next book report needs to be from an award winning book. If you

read a few minutes every night, the book should be finished in plenty of time.

Students have three choices for the type of report this time. They each get to choose the one project that most interests him/her. 1. Book jacket Cover 2. Book Float and/or 3. Scrapbook page.

Book jacket cover

Design a new, original book jacket cover for the book. Paper for this is available in our classroom.

Front cover: Illustrate the book setting and some of the happenings of the book on the front cover. Do NOT copy the original book cover.

Inside front and back flap: Write a summary of the book including characters, conflicts, complications, and resolution. This should take up most of both flaps.

You may add information about the author on the back inside flap if you have space.

Back Cover: Create “quotes” from book critics to praise the book. We can poll other students at our school for this. You can ask teachers of the school if they have read the book, etc.

Book Float

The students may design and decorate an upside down shoebox to correspond with the Award winning book they read. The students need to visualize this as a “float” in a parade.

1. Cover the entire shoebox with paper or paint. No advertisements or words should be showing from the original box.

2. The title should be written in correct form with theproper words capitalized and the whole title underlined. The author’s name should be written after the title.

3. The Newbery medal or other award medal can be placed on the front of the ”float.” If there is not a medal, neatly indicate what award this book was given.

4. A neat and brief summary of the book should be on the other side of the “float.”

5. The student’s name should be on the back of the "float.”

6. Decorations should be used to build the scene on the shoebox. The scene needs to clearly indicate something specific about the book.

Scrapbook page

Two sample direction pages were sent home. Examples of past students’ projects can be found on previous year

Glue Sticks

Glue sticks are needed!

King in the Kitchen

This coming week we will be reading “The King in the Kitchen” by Margaret Slattery. We will focus on these 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
duke	nobleman of the highest title, ranking just below a prince
dungeon	a dark underground room or cell to hold prisoners
furiously	with unrestrained energy, speed, etc.
genius	person having very great natural power of mind
majesty	title used in speaking to or of a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc.
noble	high or great by birth, rank, or title
peasant	farmer of the working class in Europe, Asia, and Latin America
porridge	food made of oatmeal or other grain boiled in water or milk until it thickens

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

Spelling Words: brother, together, dinner, popular, center, calendar, similar, regular, summer, clever, supper, pitcher, filter, hangar, never, shelter, cellar, caterpillar, theater, deliver, character, singular, receiver, spectacular, binocular

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Encantado

This coming week we are reading “Encantado: Pink Dolphin of the Amazon” by Sy Mongomery. 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
aquarium	building used for showing collections of live fish, water animals, and water plants
dolphins	any of numerous sea mammals related to the whale, but smaller. Dolphins have beaklike snouts and remarkable intelligence.
enchanted	delighted greatly; charmed
flexible	easily bent; not stiff; bending without breaking
glimpses	short, quick views or looks
pulses	regular, measured beats
surface	the top of the ground or soil, or of a body of water or other liquid

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

Spelling Words: chicken, eleven, given, jungle, national, several, natural, needle, single, citizen, threaten, diagonal, paddle, animal, spiral, marble, oval, mumble, tangle, frighten, strengthen, knuckle, individual, cubicle, three-dimensional

Martin Luther King Day

There is no school for all students on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

On Friday we read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and watched a video explaining what he did for the American people. Authentic historical footage is blended with animation so it was fun to see this video.

One of my favorite quotes is, " We must meet hate with love. It will take time, but somebody's got to start."

Enjoy your day off!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Night Wax Museum

Tuesday, January 10^th, the multi-purpose room at Altamont Elementary was transformed into a Wax Museum filled with historical figures.

The event was well attended. Some of the comments heard as parents exited the room were:

“I love how each student became a star. How fun to see them shine.” and “I learned things that I didn’t know tonight. The students did an amazing job!”

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Biography Wax Museum

Each student began this project by choosing a historical figure to learn about. A biography was read and other research completed about the chosen figure. Each student then drew a picture of their historical figure, wrote a poem, developed a timeline of their life, wrote notes, and then became that person during the afternoon for other students and for the night of the wax museum. They each were frozen until someone pushed a button on their hand. At that time, each came to life with their speech educating the listener of aspects of their life.