Week of Sept. 29-Oct. 3

We have finished ISTEP testing. All of the students worked very hard, and I am proud of the effort that they displayed while taking the test.

This coming week, the subject matter is staying pretty much the same. We will be continuing to read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Our focus will still be on predicting, clarifying, questioning, and summarizing, but we'll also start discussing main ideas, plot events, and characters. In writing, we'll continue working on our personal narrative stories. I'll be giving mini-lessons on improving the writing technique, as well as practicing using capital letters for titles and in quotations. This week's math focus will be rounding, ordering, and comparing whole numbers. Finally, in science, we'll continue our study of how the land was shaped by glaciers.

Just a note on math: I was really happy with the way our groupings worked. I know there were some students who caught on faster than others in the main group, and other students who still struggled a little, but I feel like, in the end, our goal of mastering place value has been achieved. Now, we will continue to review the concept in order to ensure long-term understanding.

Have a great weekend!