This week flew by! I hope some families are able to make it out to spring fling on Friday and enjoyed the surprisingly awesome weather!
In Math we began the week with practicing identifying special quadrilaterals. The category of “special quadrilaterals” includes trapezoids, rhombuses, squares, rectangles, and parallelograms. They are special because they are quadrilaterals with specific attributes. We used our knowledge of rectangles and squares to solve word problems involving perimeter. We have also practiced finding unknown side lengths for irregular shapes. In reading we have been focusing on various fairytales and folktales. We discovered that fairy tales have certain story elements. For example, the main characters in fairy tales are usually good and then there is someone evil who causes a problem. Often there are magical creatures/magic involved in the plot. The main character often solves the problem by being tricky and clever, outsmarting the evil character. Students came up with these elements on their own after reading many different fairy tales. After familiarizing ourselves with the elements of a fairy tales we read Cinderella, we noticed that there are some essential elements to a Cinderella story. They included: not being treated kindly by siblings and stepparent, losing her shoe, getting help from a fairy godmother, and living happily ever after. As writer’s we can gain inspiration from these classic fairy tales to create tales of our own. Students started planning out their adaptations based on the elements of a classic tale of their choice. We discussed how author’s don’t simply change the name of the character and leave every other part of the story the same. Author’s make meaningful changes that impact the rest of the story; for example, changing the setting to outer space, making the main character the opposite gender, making the wishes of the main character different. As we continue on this week, students will begin writing out their rough drafts into their writer’s notebooks. In Math we will continue our work with perimeter, but will soon be returning to a review of essential concepts from our year in third grade. At home you can help your student by skip counting forwards and backwards (counting by 4s: 4,8,12,16, etc) with them and practicing multiplication facts. Upcoming Dates May 24th 10:00-12:00 Field Trip to Folino’s Pizza May 24th 1:30 pm Middle School Jazz Concert for students at Orchard May 27th No School→ Memorial Day May 29th Vermont Youth Dance Company visiting Orchard
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December 2018
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