Room 204 Update January 19, 2014 Spring Street School Mrs.

Liportos class

General Information Please note that there has been a slight change in the ELA MCAS dates. We will begin on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday. The dates are Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26. I will be talking to the kids about the Curiosity Challenge that was passed along to the fourth grade. It is a contest where the kids can either write or create a piece of original artwork about something in the world that they are curious about. I would really like to encourage all of the students to give it a try. I have posted a flyer about it to the classroom blog and will send the flyer home in the folders, as well. Entries should be returned to me no later than Thursday, January 30th, and I will send them all in to the Cambridge Science Festival. In the past, we have had a number of winners in our classroom! All of the information about this contest, as well as copies of the forms I sent home, can be found on the Cambridge Science Festival website: http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2 014Festival/CuriosityChallenge.aspx Now that we are about half way through the year, I have reminded the students to check through their desk to make sure they still have the appropriate

tools that they need to do their work. Some students no longer have glue sticks, colored pencils, scissors, etc. that they brought in at the beginning of the year. If you get a moment, can you please check in with your fourth grader to see if they need to restock any of their supplies? Also, as a class we could use some rolls of Scotch Tape. Thank you! From the Student Council: Do you have any gently used childrens books that others might enjoy? We would like to encourage reading during the cold, winter months by having a Spring Street School Book Swap on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014. Book donations will be accepted during the week of January 21, 2014. Help us reach our goal of 1,000 books! Every child at SSS will have the opportunity to visit our schools Book Swap and choose one book for his/her own home library. Books will be sorted by age/grade level to assist children in their book decision-making. Please consider donating one book or a box of books towards our book swap and encourage the life-long love of learning! Even if you are not able to donate, your child will be able to select a book. After the Book Swap, any books leftover will be donated to classrooms, local hospitals, and Friendly House. The Valentines Day party is going to be on Friday, February 14th from 1:45-2:15.

All are welcome to attend. I will be sending home a class list for those students that would like to pass out Valentines cards. IMPORTANT DATES *MLK Jr. Day, No School Monday, January 20 *Valentines Day Party- Friday, Feb. 14, 1:00-2:15 *MCAS Long Composition Tuesday, Mar. 18 *MCAS English Language Arts Tuesday, Mar. 25 and Wednesday, Mar. 26 *MCAS Math Tuesday, May 13Wednesday, May 14 Homework This weeks ELA homework will be an MCAS passage. Students will need to read the story, answer the multiple choice questions, and write the open response. They will have all week to do this and it will be due on Friday. I suggest that they spend Tuesday night reading and completing the multiple choice questions, Wednesday night reading and organizing their ideas for their open response and Thursday night writing the open response. (Students, the secret number is 7/24, for July 24th, the date Graham will become a big brother, when Mr. and Mrs. Liporto have another baby!) Reading logs are due this Friday. Please remind students that they should be reading a minimum of 40 minutes a week (10 minutes a night, Monday through Thursday) but I am hoping that they will read at least 100 minutes a week. Language Arts This week in class we will be working on our text coding and open response skills.

The students will be working in groups on an MCAS passage. At the end of the week they will use their knowledge of what needs to be in a well-written open response to become the teachers to pretend to score each others work. Writing Continuing with informational writing, the students will be brainstorming and organizing for their own informational writing piece. I will not be giving them a specific topic to write about, but will help them brainstorm appropriate topics. Then they will be able to organize their ideas in groups before setting out to write their masterpieces. Math We will still be working on unit 6 in math. Well begin the week by introducing division with 2 digit divisors. This is not a skill that fourth graders are expected to master, but will simply be an introduction. Then well review multiplication and division number stories before reviewing the unit on Friday. Our assessment will be at the beginning of next week. Math Club Tuesday morning will be focusing on the unit 6 skills, especially division and number stories. Students are always welcome to come prepared with a specific topic they would like to review, as well. It will begin promptly at 8AM on Wednesday morning. All are welcome! EVERYDAY MATH FAMILY LETTERS on-line address:
http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/4 th-grade/view-family-letters/

If you cannot access them, please let me know.

If your student forgets to bring home the Study Link for homework, they can be printed from the following site: http://www.mrnale.com/StudyLinks_Grade _4.htm They can also print the Study Links from the Everyday Math Online site: www.everydaymathonline.com Social Studies !The Bill of Rights, the Bill of Rights! The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. This week, we will examine these amendments which were added to the Constitution in 1791 and focus on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. Science This week in science we will be assessing our simple machine knowledge. On Tuesday we will play Simple Machine Jeopardy to review and play a simple machine board game if time allows. Thursday is the assessment. Study guides went home last Thursday and extra copies can be found on the class blog. I have been encouraging the kids to come see me if they have any questions on the material we covered. Happy Birthday!!! Peter Stamoulis 1/5 Emily Beers 1/10 Kathie Gonzales 1/11 Grace Creamer 1/12 Abigail Kamin 1/16 Gabriel Mendilian 1/30

*Specials*
MUSIC: Tuesday 10:45-11:25 AM ART: Wednesday, 11:25-12:05 PM Health: Thursday 9:15-9:55 AM CHORUS: Friday 10:45-11:25 AM PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Friday 2L25-3:05 PM MEDIA: Every Other Wednesday, 2:45-3:00 PM

As always, your questions/comments are welcome. Please send me an email or a note to school. Kristen Liporto

January Birthdays: