March Birthdays

The last 15 minutes of Friday, March 23rd has been designated to celebrate any March birthdays. If you would like to send in a special snack, please contact your child’s teacher by Monday, March 19th.

Reminder...

Students should be reading a minimum of 35 minutes

independently for homework daily.

Students should also remember to fill in their

reading logs and complete their reading response entries.

FOURTH GRADE NEWSLETTERMARCH 2012

FRANKLIN PARK SCHOOL

Dates to RememberTuesday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 7th Spring Pictures Monday, March 12th -

Friday, March 16th Parent Teacher Conferences: Minimum Session Days

Monday, March 19th Minimum Session Day

This month’sWords of the Week

March 5th - grave

March 12th - binary

March 19th - phase

March 26th - permeate

*Please encourage your child to use these new and exciting vocabulary words at home!

Dear Families,

We look forward to seeing you at Parent Teacher Conferences, where we can discuss the progress your child has made this year. Please be sure to arrive to your conference on time, in order to maximize your 15 minute time slot. Sincerely, The Fourth Grade Team

Reading• • •

During the beginning weeks of March, we will continue to identify and analyze the themes in the novels we are reading. We will work hard to find text evidence to support our thinking and spend time discussing our ideas with our peers in book groups.

In the later weeks of March, we will begin to infuse lessons and activities in preparation for the NJ ASK test. Stamina is a critical factor in test taking; both in the amount of time students read and the length of texts they read. Independent reading completed at home should also be increased to a minimum of 35 minutes daily. Students are testing under timed condition; therefore, timing will also need to be part of the preparation. There are also some common skills that help students tackle any text. Students will be taught to preview the text to determine the subject and structure, make a quick reading plan, and break the text into chunks. Then when students read across these chunks, they can use strategies to summarize and synthesize what was read.

Students will practice applying their skills to a variety of genres. The big work of this is not to teach new reading strategies for each genre, it is to support students in bringing forward all they have learned all year about each genre.

Writing• • •

During the month of March the fourth grade will continue learning how to craft literary essays with an emphasis on supporting claims about characters, setting, authors’ intent or theme with specific text evidence. Students will use familiar text to develop claims and make comparisons. The students will continue the use of their writers’ notebooks to help with the planning process. They will also revise and edit to continue the process of evaluating their writing.

Math• • •

This month students will continue to study decimals and understand how they relate to fractions and money. After that, students will further their understanding of data

collection by recording, organizing, and creating graphs to represent their data as well as analyzing their data sets and drawing conclusions. Lastly, students will gain an understanding of mean, median, and mode.

Science

• • •

During the month of March the 4th grade students will continue to study the solar system now examining the force of gravity and determining that gravity pulls on all objects the same. They will also investigate the planets and reflect on the question, how do objects move in the Solar System? The students will read, investigate, model and explore these concepts throughout the month.

Social Studies• • •

This month we will be continuing to explore our studies of Native Americans that lived here in New Jersey.  We will also be learning about immigration and segregation and how it was affected by famous Americans. 

This Month’s Curriculum

Classroom Highlights Mrs. Laub’s Class: Mrs. Laub’s class has been reading a variety of literature for the past few weeks noting the themes and supporting evidence in order to craft a thesis statement for a literary essay. They wrote a quick guided literary essay as a class and then independently. They will continue to practice a variety of strategies which

will help them craft a final product. On March 6th our class will again join Mrs. Kelly’s kindergarten class to participate in Dr. Seuss week. We will read Bartholomew and The Oobleck by Dr. Seuss and make oobleck.

Ms. Glassberg’s Class: To celebrate Black History Month, the students in Room 405 completed some research on a famous African American. Students worked with a partner to learn why this African American is celebrated as well as identify how he/she directly impacts the students’ lives. Partnerships created a poster sharing the information and made presentations to the class. Posters were on display in the hallway for the month.

Ms. Anderson and Ms. Ballow’s Class: This month students began their study of theme during reading workshop. The students are beginning to sharpen their analytical skills even further by studying texts deeply in order to grow big ideas as they read. During reading workshop time, students have enjoyed finding the theme in books they are reading and then proving their findings by using evidence from the text. We are definitely doing some wonderful, deep thinking about the books we treasure!

Ms. Sena’s Class: This month the students will be working on building there knowledge of themes in reading. A theme is a lesson or moral you learn from literature. We have been reading several stories and discussing possible lessons to learn from literature. The students have been working hard to infer story scenarios and make connections to read alouds and independent just right books. We will also continue to add to our history timeline with topics focused on civil rights issues as well as immigration. A weekly oral history report from a classmate who enjoys sharing their passion for American history will also be a highlight this month!

Mrs. Pilgrim’s Class: Mrs. Pilgrim’s class will be looking forward to sharing their immigration interviews to help build an understanding of the history of immigrants who came to the United States, as well as, United States bills and laws.

Mr. Walczyk and Mrs. Weber’s Class This month, we will be continuing an author study using Andrew Clements’ novels. Last month, each of our students read one of his novels with a group as we discussed themes.! This month, those groups will read another one of his novels while we search for similarities among characters and themes across novels.! We will also be writing a literary essay tying in themes we have drawn from the Andrew Clements novels.!

Reading feels like a test sometimes, especially when you know you will be bombarded with "comprehension questions." When children struggle with reading, a test is the last thing they want to face.

A suggestion is to read books together and talk to one another. The discussion you and your child share can be the best preparation for the standardized tests your child faces! It's true! There are plenty of studies to indicate that when readers talk about books, reading scores improve.

Think of it this way. When your child asks a question about a book, he/she is showing you what he/she doesn't understand. You have a chance to help your child figure out the answer by rereading the text, finding the evidence, and drawing a conclusion. That's EXACTLY what tests require of kids (except that the test-maker asks the questions). This question-posing, evidence-seeking practice is just the thing children need to get ready for tests.

Sometimes parents don't know what to talk about. That's where the best invention for teaching comprehension comes in - sticky notes! Give your child 3 sticky notes and take 3 for yourself. Read the book silently, sitting side by side, and mark what you want to talk about with the sticky note. You don't even have to write on them.

Set aside a time to compare your sticky notes. Talk about the confusing parts. You will be surprised by what your child doesn't understand. Listen carefully and help him/her by asking questions, leading your child in the right direction to solve the comprehension problem. Don't quiz your child (like you were quizzed)! Talk more about your reading process, how you make sense of reading, than testing your child on comprehension. If after a few minutes you feel the problem is still murky, share what you think.

You can use this time to talk about your theories as well. From reading the book, you may have some ideas about how you think the story will turn out, what the characters will do, why the author wrote the book in the first place, or how the book is changing your thinking. You will be surprised by what you want to say. If your child says, I can't think of anything then model what you're thinking. By listening to you talk, your child will grow more confident about how people talk about books.

If you need to zero in on a particular reading problem, here are some questions (below) to help you get started. You may notice that your child is struggling in an area or two. Your child's teacher may indicate some weaknesses to you. Or, the list may help you see the kinds of questions posed on tests. You can work these questions into a more natural discussion of the book. If your conversation with your child takes off, you will find you can only discuss 1-2 questions in a night!

Make sure you point to parts of the book that back up your opinions with statements and encourage your child to do the same. "Discussion will foster comprehension."

Reading Strategy of the Month:Meaningful Test Preparation for Grade Levels 3 and Up

Open-ended Discussion Questions! Ask your child, "What do you want to talk about?" Wait and listen. If your child does not respond,

continue with, "What do you need clarified? What are you wondering about? What words confused you?"

! What's one thing the author did that you wish he or she had not done? ! Does this remind you of anything else you've ever read, seen, done? ! What do you make of this story? ! Comment on something important to you.

Discussion Questions about Author's Purpose! What is the most important thing the author wants you to know? ! How do you think the author feels about...? ! What is the purpose of [the information]? ! What is the purpose of the words...? ! Why did the author include...? ! How does the author explain the word...? ! How does the author make the passage interesting to read? ! If the author wanted to add one more topic to this article, what might it be? ! What questions would you ask if the author were here? Which would be the most important question? How do you think the author might answer it? ! What does the author do to create suspense to make you want to read on to find out what happens? Point out places where you were totally in the reading zone - so involved you didn't want to stop. ! Were there any clues, that the author built into the story, that helped you figure out the ending? If so, what were they? Did you think these clues were important when you read them? ! Every writer creates a make-believe work and creates believable characters. Even where the

world is far different from your own, how does the author make the story seem possible or probable?

Discussion Questions Main Ideas! What are the main ideas behind the story? Point out the places in the text where you thought

the author was telling you the main ideas. Do you think you could summarize the theme of the story in a few sentences?

! What idea or ideas does this story make you think about? How does the author get you to think about this?

! Who told the story? How would the story change if someone else in the book or an outside narrator told the story? ! Is this story like any other story you have read or watched? Talk about how they are alike or

different.

Reading Strategy of the Month: (Continued) Questions to Ask Your Child

Discussion Questions about Setting! Were you clear on where the story took place? Could you get any mental pictures? ! If the story took place somewhere else or in a different time, how would it be changed?

Discussion Questions about Problem and Plot! What incident, problem, conflict, or situation does the author use to get the story started? ! How did the author draw you into the story? ! What made you want to continue reading? Point to the parts. ! Summarize the main events of the story. ! Could you change their order or leave any of them out? Why or why not? ! Did you skim any parts? Why or why not? ! Did the story end the way you expected it to? Explain. ! What clues did the author offer to prepare you to expect this ending? ! Did you recognize these clues as important to the story as you were first reading it? ! How could the story have ended differently? How would the rest of the story have to be changed

to fit the new ending?

Discussion Questions about Characters! Who do you think is the main character of the story? ! What kind of person is the character? How do you know? ! Are there any characters that changed in some way during the story? If they changed, how are they different? What changed them? Did it seem believable? ! Some characters play small but important roles in a story. What minor characters appealed to you? Why or why not? ! Are there characters, other than the main character, who are important to the story? Who are they? Why are they important? ! Think about the characters in the story. Are any of them the same type of character that you have met in other stories? Talk about how they are the same or different. ! Is there any character that you know more about than any of the others? Why? ! What kind of person is (name a character)? How does the author reveal the character to you? What words would you use to describe the character's feelings in this book? ! Does the story actually make you think about what it's like to feel the way a character feels?

How does the author do this? Show me the parts of the story where you could identify with the character.

Reading Strategy of the Month:(Continued)