Week of January 9th, 2012

Hi Families!  Hope you had a joyous Christmas!  January will be a busy month for Corderman's Kiddos!  Here is what is on the agenda:

Reading - We started the Mystery genre this past Wednesday.  I assigned each of them a mystery on 4th grade level or on their individual level.  We talked about vocabulary words such as alibi, suspect, evidence, etc..  The children will be writing about clues, suspects, and possible red herrings while reading their stories.  They have really been excited about this genre! We will also focus on the skill: making predictions.

Math - This week we will finish up multiplying large numbers, 3 digit x's 3 digit and start division.  We will begin by focusing on division facts and then next week move on to long division.

Spelling - Suffixes, List 13 on spellingcity.com.  I will start enrichment words again next week.

English - We will begin writing stories.  These stories will actually be published!!  More information will follow.

Social Studies - We will begin to study the history of the Southeast Region.  The children will be assigned a partner.  With their partner, they will research a person, place, or event from the Southeast and complete a project over that topic.  They will then teach the rest of the class about thier topic. 

Science - We will begin studying about Space!

*********FYI**********
We have started the Super Bowl Reading Challenge!  We are competing against the other 3 4th grade classes as well as a 5th grade class.  We hope to win!  Winning requires READING AT HOME and taking AR tests with an A or a B grade.  Hopefully, you received the information about this challenge on Wednesday.  On February 7th, we will have a Super Bowl Party to celebrate all the reading!  We talked about being a TEAM player and participating. (Together Everyone Achieves More)  I explained to them that if they are to participate in the party, they have to participate in the reading. :) The winning class will get the coveted Reading Trophy to display in their room!  

I sent home 2 Homework Assignments on Friday.  One assignment is to create a Solar System Model.  In the past, my families have really enjoyed this project and have come up with some awesome models!  This project is due on January 23rd.  The other assignment is related to our 100 Days of School celebration.  The children are to collect 100 of one item and display it in a unique way.  All the 4th grade classes are participating and we will be voting on each other's displays.  6 small trophies will be awarded in my class for the top amount of votes!  This project is due on February 1st.  Have fun and don't procrastinate! :)