4th Grade Newsletter December

P.S. 238

The Anne Sullivan School 1633 East 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11223 December 2008 Vo l u m e 1 , I s s u e 3

Greetings Parents After a fabulous fall, we are now approaching

Reader’s Workshop We are continuing our small group instruction

winter. Winter recess begins December 24. Since the 4th grade ELA test is January 13 15, this time off is a great opportunity for your child to practice their ELA skills at home. Students are expected to continue to complete their reading logs and read at least 15 minutes a night. It would be most beneficial to have your child read out loud to you or another family member. This way, students will not overlook unknown words. Any new word found during reading should be looked up in the dictionary and definitions should be written in their Reader’s Notebook. Also, students need to continue to work toward their goal of reading 25 books this year. Please be sure your students are writing letters about the books they read, Thanks this wayParents! they will get credit for reading them.

during Reader’s Workshop, making changes to groups as individual needs change. This month we are working on the following skills/strategies; predicting/eliminating, understanding difficult language, clarifying and summarizing. Acquiring these skills encourage students to think as they are reading. Good readers see a movie in their mind as they are reading. These skills allow students to “see” what they are reading more clearly, therefore, improving their

This Month’s Events Talent Show/Grade 4 Ballroom Dancing Recital – 12/22/08 Winter Recess – 12/24/08 – 1/2/09

Science

Writer’s Workshop After a lot of hard work and standard based

lessons, we will be publishing our Legends. They will be proudly displayed in the 3rd floor hallway and in our classroom. We will be moving on to our next writing genre, writing narrative procedures. Students will be creating “How to” books, by selecting something they know how to do. They will use step by step directions and illustrations in order to teach their skill to the rest of the class.

Everyday Mathematics

This month, students will be working on This month in Science…we are continuing units 4 and 5 in our Everyday Math our unit study of animals and plants in their Program. The topics that will be covered environment. We will be learning about are estimating and computing large lifecycles, ecosystems and animal numbers, division, constructing angles, and adaptation. measuring angles. Since we are building on previously learned skills such as rounding and knowledge of basic By looking through primary resources and class multiplication and division facts, it is Discussions we will be exploring how life was important that your children have already For Native Americans, Africans and Europeans in mastered these skills. They need to Colonial New York. continue to practice their multiplication/division fact triangles at home.

Social Studies