Fourth Grade Newsletter

Fourth Grade Newsletter
November 2, 2015
Volume 6, Issue 3
Goshen Elementary School
8701 Warfield Road Gaithersburg, MD 20882
Phone: (301) 840-8165 * Fax (301) 840-8167
Upcoming Events
Announcements and Reminders

October 30th First Marking Period
Ends

November 2nd No School, Professional
Day

November 3rd PTA Meeting @ 7pm

November 11th & 12th–
Parent/Teacher Conferences
(Early Dismissal @ 1:20pm)

November 12th–
Report Card Distribution

th-
th
November 16 20
–
PTA Scholastic Book Fair

November 17th –
Book Fair Family and
Reading Night 6:30-8pm

November 25th – Early
Dismissal @ 1:20pm

November 25th –
November Tic-Tac-Toe
Due

November 26th and 27th
No School

December 11th – Gameo
Night/Silent Auction
 Look for your child’s white Goshen Grizzly folder every day. It will
have homework and other important notices/flyers. Please return
the folder the next day and please discuss your child’s behavior with
him/ her and sign the assignment book nightly.
 Your child has homework every weekday night (Monday-Thursday).
This will include reading a “just right” book for 20-30 minutes, a
spelling bingo activity, and a math worksheet (which will typically be
1 sheet for the entire week). Your child will also complete and return
their monthly Tic-Tac-Toe reading assignment. Your child’s weekly
homework sheets should be returned every Friday. Students should
also practice their basic math facts.
 Your child’s assignment book contains his/her nightly homework
assignments, as well as their behavior color. Your child’s teacher
signs each agenda book to ensure that homework was written down.
 Please remember to keep your child’s lunch account up-to-date. Do
not send money in daily. Instead, send in a check weekly, bi-weekly
or monthly. Also, don’t forget to write your child’s pin number on the
check!
 As the weather is cooling down, it is important that your child is sent
to school with the appropriate clothing. Please dress in layers, as it is
somewhat warm in our classrooms with the heat! 
Thanks for your cooperation in these matters as we work together for
the success of each child!!
Conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are being held on Wednesday,
November 11th and Thursday, November 12th. On both of
these days, students will be dismissed at 1:20 to allow teachers
time to meet with the parents of each child in her homeroom
class. Conferences are scheduled before school, during school,
and after school on both of these days. By now, you should
have received a notice from your child’s homeroom teacher
reminding you of when you are scheduled to meet. If this day
and/or time no longer works for you, please contact your
child’s teacher ASAP so your conference can be re-scheduled.
Each conference will be 15 minutes long. We look forward to
meeting with each of you!
A Quick Blurb From Our Specialists!
Mr. Reynolds (PE): In physical education, fourth grade students will be focusing on throwing to a target
that is moving right or left. In addition, they will concentrate on catching thrown balls while moving
right or left.
Mrs. Raker (Art): In November, Fourth graders will learn about expression, showing personal meaning,
point of view, and mood in an artwork while focusing on 3 dimensional art. Classes will choose between
3 different themes for our clay project: functional teapots, Oaxacan animals, or pop art food. Students
will have the opportunity to build on past knowledge of clay skills including the pinch, coil, and slab
methods while creating a sculpture that will be glazed for shine and color.
Mrs. P (Computer Lab): Fourth-Collaboration with Writing, Social Studies & Information Literacy in
the Media Center. During marking period 2, Grade 4 students learn how to use an inquiry process to
locate information and ideas for informative and opinion writing pieces and create a multimedia product
to use in a presentation. In order to understand how to conduct a business analysis and propose a
specialized business for their
community, students assess the present state of their community and analyze the different types of
specialized businesses. The Maryland Economics Inquiry requires that students become efficient and
effective users of the Internet as a resource for information. Students use criteria to select and evaluate
the information found on business and community web sites. Students research and write a community
profile and business analysis, which includes information on location, population, land use and
availability, natural and capital resources, unique characteristics, and local businesses. They use this
information to write an opinion, recommending a specialized business for their community.
Collaboratively, students complete a graphic organizer and develop questions. Students analyze how the
text features of web sites help them locate and select information. They learn how to use various search
features found on web sites to find information within the site and on a specific page of the site. When
selecting citation information, students analyze the types of information found on business and
community web sites and modify their graphic organizers to record the citation information. When
evaluating web sites for authority and relevance, students learn about domain names. In addition,
students evaluate web sites for point of view by examining the use of descriptive words and phrases.
Students discuss safe and unsafe online practices. Applying what they know about recording “just
enough” information, students select, copy and paste information from web sites to their graphic
organizers.
Ms. Holden (Music): Students will continue to work on reading melodies on the treble staff. We
will study dynamics (how loud or soft the music is) and tempo (the speed of music) and how we
can incorporate changes in dynamics and tempo into our singing.
Page 2 of 4
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
Reading
In school, your child will . . .
MT
Literature

read a variety of literature (poems, plays, and
traditional stories) and discuss details that
describe the characteristics and story elements
(characters, settings, events, and themes).
Characteristics of
Literature
Poetry
Plays
Stage
Verse
Direction
s
Cast of
Rhyme
Characte
rs
Meter
Dialogue

collaborate to evaluate how the elements of
plays and poems affect their meaning.

use graphic organizers to map out cause and
effect and chronology text structure.

compare the same theme within different
stories.

use background knowledge and information
from literature (plays, poems, and traditional
stories) to make inferences.
At home, your child can . . .
 read books with you every night (plays, poems, and
traditional stories).
 use digital materials to read folktales and plays.
www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html or
www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
 reinforce understanding of drama by: watching plays,
playing charades, acting out a play with stage
directions, or rereading plays for fluency.
 use or create graphic organizers to make meaning of
text.
(e.g. cause and effect, sequencing, compare and
contrast, problem and solution)
 make inferences while reading and answer questions
about theme.
o
What is a theme of the story? How do you
know?
 practice effort, motivation, and persistence when
reading at home by saying phrases like: “stick with
it” “try again” “try a different way”
 practice elaborating by adding details when retelling
a story.
Writing
During the month of November…we will compose POETRY!

Focus on a moment in time by developing an experience with precise details
 Incorporate similes and metaphors
 Develop an understanding of how to apply language usage skills when
composing any type of poem
 Analyze the themes in poetry and ways authors choose to conclude their poems
 Apply skills they learn as poets to develop voice and style when writing other
types of texts
Page 3 of 4
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
Mathematics
In school, your child will . . .
MT
Number and
Operations in
Base Ten

rectangular arrays.
3 x 27 = 81
********************
*******
********************
*******
********************
investigate the most efficient formula to determine the perimeter
and area of
*******
rectangles using the attributes of a rectangle.
Partial Products Example:

Measurement and Data
multiply whole numbers using partial-product multiplication, area models, and
3 x 27 = (3 x 20) + (3 x 7) = 81
Example: P (perimeter)= 2 x l (length) + 2 x w (width)
A (area) = b (base) x h (height)
 use a table to record a rule for converting units of measurement
Feet
10
?
6
Inches
?
84
?
At home, your child can . . .



practice multiplication and division facts from 0 – 10.
practice math facts without using paper and pencil (e.g. How many eggs are in 3 dozen?).
share strategies from school (area model, rectangular array, etc.) for solving a multiplication problem
and practice them. Explain the difference between the strategies.

measure rectangular objects around the home and find the perimeter and area of those objects using
the correct formula.

discuss the relationship between area and perimeter.

select a variety of objects and decide what would be the appropriate unit to measure each object.
Estimate a reasonable measurement.

use various measuring tools you have at home (measuring tapes, scales, rulers, clocks and measuring
cups) to become more familiar with using them in real-world situations (carpentry, sewing, exact
time, and cooking).


engage in discussions about how and when to use multiplication to compare measurement.
answer real-world mathematical questions and provide reasonable answers.
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Page 4 of 4
Goshen Elementary School
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Page 5 of 5
Goshen Elementary School
Page 4 of 4
Goshen Elementary
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Home of School
the
Grizzlies
Social Studies
 Study economics where they live to create a framework for
examining the role that economics played in determining the
destinations, goals, and actions of Early European explorers
 Explore relationships among specialization and interdependence of
people in Maryland today
 Explore basic decision-making concepts involved in the production
and consumption of goods and services using examples from
individuals, businesses, and government
We’re on the Web!
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/
schools/goshenes/
Fourth Grade Teachers’
Email Addresses:
Science
Lauren Huntt
[email protected]
 Continue to observe and work with model ecosystems to collect
observable evidence of the relationships and interactions that
occur among the living and non-living components that make up an
ecosystem.
 Identify and describe various habitats found within an ecosystem
 Identify factors that affect an organism’s ability to survive in an
ecosystem as well as events that may contribute to changes in an
ecosystem
 Investigate how human activity can impact an organism’s habitat
within an ecosystem
 Identify human events that both negatively and positively impact
the environment
Alyssa Johnson
[email protected]
Amanda Perera
[email protected]
Katie Techtmann
[email protected]
Betsy Balicao
[email protected]
g
Ann-Marie Wickson
[email protected]
We want to hear from YOU!
We would love to get feedback from you on what you like about the newsletter, what you would like
to see changed, ideas you have, questions you have, etc. Please fill out the bottom of this slip and
return to your child’s homeroom teacher
Name (only needed if you would like a response):
Comment(s):
Look for those students who earned all greens in October in our next monthly
newsletter