February & March News by 4F/A

News from our class, written by our class!

Reading
By: Kyle, JaylenReniya
You are going to be learning a lot of new reading skills! Have you heard about text features? Some examples are diagrams, charts, and timelines. Also in class today, you will be learning about nonfiction text structures. Types of text structures are: cause and effect, chronological order/sequence, compare and contrast, problem and solution, and description. Next we are going to learn…prefixes and suffixes! We taught each other about prefixes, suffixes, and affixes. One prefix we learned is pre- which means “before”. One affix is poly- which means “many”. A suffix we learned about was –ian, which means “someone who does”. Wait, don’t put your reading binders away yet! We still have to learn about primary and secondary sources. For example, a primary source is when someone was there when the event happened. A secondary source is one written when the author wasn’t there to see it. We learned about combining texts using Venn Diagrams, comparing and contrasting texts, and poetry. We learned poems are grouped in stanzas and written in lines. They have rhythm and lots of them rhyme. We have even been writing our own poems called cinquain, clerihew, couplets, diamente, and bio poems! / Math
By: River, Kady, & Kenneth
Dear Parents,
We have been learning a lot in math these past couple months. We’ve learned a lot about multiplication! There are different ways to multiply. You can use: lattice, partial products, or the traditional way. To use lattice, you draw squares with dotted lines across them, then you write in your numbers and multiply them. We learned when doing partial products that you can’t forget to add your zeroes! We studied perimeter which is the distance or measure around the outside of a closed figure. It’s kind of like area, but you add length and width instead of multiply. Plus, area means the inside of the shape. We learned how to measure angles with a protractor. We measured right angles, obtuse angles, acute angles, and straight angles. Next, we learned how to decompose fractions. This means we broke them up into smaller pieces. We also started adding and subtracting fractions. We learned when you add you don’t add the denominator if they are the same, only the numerator. Sometimes we watch “Math Antics” videos so we can remember what we learned after long weeks so we don’t forget our math skills! We hope that we can teach you this stuff to refresh your memory! / Writing
By: Grace, Dru, & Victoria
Dear Wonderful Parents,
We have been writing a lot this month! We have also been learning about paragraphs, like when we wrote our ABC Book. Paragraphs always indent and good writers use lots of imagery. Imagery is when the author paints a picture in the reader’s mind. We use paraphrasing to make paragraphs, too! Paraphrasing is when you put facts into your own words. Conclusions are a good end to a paragraph and it closes it all up. We have also done Northeast ABC Books. ABC Books are where we write about a topic in alphabetical order. Remember when we were in 1st grade and we did persuasive writing? Well, we are bringing it back. Persuasive writing is where you try to convince someone to do something. Awhile ago we did the district writing assessment, which is when we got an amount of days to write a story. The one writing type we all love is free writing. Free writing is when you write about whatever you feel like! We hope you know how much we have learned!
Social Studies
By: Daniel, Alyssa, Austen & Kate
In February and March we learned a lot in Social Studies. We did a Southeast project and are still working on it! We had the choice of a scrapbook, a brochure, a timeline Martin Luther King Jr., or a song about the Underground Railroad. We had a test on the Southeast states, capitals, and abbreviations. We did a game called Plickers where we held up cards and Miss Owsley scanned our cards with her phone to see if we got the question right. We got in a group to teach the class about the Southeast, which was called a jigsaw because each group had part of the book to teach the rest of the class about. We learned about Abraham Lincoln, and did combining texts about him to tell why he was important and what he did for slaves. Then we studied Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights Movement. We learned about the “I Have A Dream” speech, the boycotts, and the sit-ins. We did desk maps to help us on the Southeast state locations. We also created an ABC Book about the Northeast with a group. We had a Northeast test on the states, capitals, and abbreviations, too. We also learned about the presidential election in Time For Kids. Social Studies is so fun! / Science
By: Tucker, Bailey, & Alex
Dear Parents,
We have been learning about energy sources! A few of them are coal, solar, hydroelectricity, and wind power. We learned using fossil fuels can be bad for our environment. Do you know the different ways to clean up an oil spill?First, there are pads that are like sponges that soak up oil. Next, there is a skimmer that sucks up oil and water and separates it. Also there is something called a boom that keeps the oil in one place. Did you know that they sometimes use bacteria to clean up oil spills? They can even use fire or chemicals! The bad part is these leavepollution in the ocean that can hurt the animals. Last but not least, they use rags to clean up an oil spill. Could you imagine sitting there for hours washing off oil on the rocks one by one? We also did a debate about which way is the best for cleaning one up. Which one would you choose?We did an experiment with fake oil to see how hard it is to clean up in real life. We used a boom, skimmer, and a pad by using pipe cleaners, panty hose, and cotton balls. We also used pipe cleaners to make animals which represented the animals covered in oil. Do you like cookies? We do! Welearned about coal mining and did an experiment where we mined the chocolate chips out of the cookie with a toothpick. This showed us how hard it is to mine.We also read a book called Prince William that was about a seal that got stuck in an oil spill.
Sincerely,
4F Students / Odds & Ends
By: Nicolas, Mechelle, & Deja
Hi, Parents in 4F!
In February we had an awesome Valentine’s Day Party! We got to play games in the gym, including one where we raced to spin toilet paper off of a broom handle. Then we had tons of yummy treats and delivered our Valentines to each other. Thank you to all of the parents who helped plan and volunteered, and sent in items for our party! We also have been doing Panther Parties. One of our parties was a beach party. We got to bring in sunglasses, beach towels, and shorts. We played limbo, took pictures, listened to beach music, had fruit punch, and acted like we were surfing. The second party was our movie and popcorn party where we watched Frog. The boys from 4B came to our class and the girls from our class went to 4B. We also got VIP Passes, when we get to be the important person for the day! You get to sit at the teacher’s desk, be the helper, line leader, and stamper. Since we are finished with the Bucket of Compliments, Miss Owsley surprised us with a Jar of Marbles. We get marbles when we all work hard as a class. And when we fill up the jar we get to choose a class party! We also got to wear pajamas to school and chew gum in class for a fundraiser for Big Brother Big Sister. We have been learning a ton about PARCC! We learned that when we get stuck on a question we can flag it and come back to it. We have also been learning about the tools used on the computer for the PARCC test in IMC. This is what we have been doing in 4F!