December Newsletter

It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the year!
Grade 4 December 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,
We hope that you are all well. Christmas is quickly approaching and the grade four students are
successfully reaching the end of the first term. We are proud of all the students, as they have
worked hard and have many achievements and successes to celebrate. Please remember to
return the report card folder to your child’s teacher.
Language Arts: Author in Residence Program
The Grade 4’s have enjoyed starting their writers workshop.
The students based their stories around the theme of “wishes”. They worked on their story plan,
the beginning of their stories by setting the scene and by using dialogue or letting the reader
know about the character’s feelings. They worked on revising and editing the middle of their
stories and the endings. We focused on using dialogue, descriptive language and detail to
engage the reader. This has been an enriching
experience for the teachers as well as the students.
Religion: Advent Time is Here
Now is the time of preparation for the coming of the baby Jesus. An important symbol used in
the classroom for our prayer tables is the Advent Wreath, which symbolizes that God’s love for
us has no beginning and no end. The four candles of the wreath represent the four Sundays of
Advent. We can prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus through prayer. A wonderful prayer
to learn during Advent is the Magnificat of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). We can also make sure we
attend Mass, sing Sacred Hymns ( advent song such as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”), pray
for others less fortunate than ourselves, donate to the Vancouver Food Bank or purchase a gift
for the Vancouver Christmas Bureau and place it under our Giving Tree that will be set up in the
front foyer of our school.
Parent Ideas/Resources:
These resources and books can be found at Chapters, Kids Books and Coles bookstores.
This is a list of a few more book ideas that you may want to purchase for your child for
Christmas.

1. Shiloh Season (this is the sequel), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
2. Imagine a Day (wonderful picture book), Sharon L. Thomson
3. The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
4. The Bone Collector’s Son, Paul Yee (this takes place in 1907 in Vancouver)

5. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
6. Reading Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
7. Writing Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
8. Non-fiction Reading Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
9. The Bully, The Bullied and the Bystander (parent resource)
10. Parents Do Make a Difference: How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong
Minds and Caring Hearts, Michele Borba (parent resource)
11. The Wish Tree, Katherine Applegate
12. Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Finally, a special thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered their time so willingly to
help in the classroom and with various jobs. We wish you and your family a Blessed and Joyous
Christmas season. May the New Year be filled with peace, love and happiness for all.
Merry Christmas,
Ms. S. LeRose and Mr. M. Brooks

Wednesday Homework

Math pages 105,106, continue practicing times tables to earn your belts!

L.A. Spelling – lesson 2 and post test tomorrow

L.A. Writing – continue working on the beginning of your Wish Story following the ‘Let’s Begin” handout.
Students were to bring lined paper, their story plan, and the let’s begin handout home to work on their writing for minimum 15 mins
-if they finish students can work on substituting some words for triple scoop ones, students can check for spelling mistakes, add sentence variety so its not repetitive.

-go over check list at the bottom of the handout

**ONLY work on beginning, don’t go any further

Please hand in Reading Log Monday December 3 so I can tally up how many entries you have done until now.

Thursday homework

Inside Out of Emotions homework- due Monday

Math- pages 91-94

Writing- story plan – main character, wish and trials and the solution page – Tuesday

No School Tomorrow

Friday Homework

PE homework re-do last chance to hand in is Monday

Math practice test Monday- study 2 quizzes from today and yesterday, Geometry test Tues

Tuesday Homework

Bring back measurement math tests signed and corrected by Friday

Math- geometry unit- pages 71-73

Reading Log started again- each student received 1 sheet for summaries and feelings about what they read, I will now be collecting the reading log once a month and will tally their entries, a prize will be given out at the end of the year for the most entries! Students do this on their own, they can do 7 a week or 2, whichever they want.  I will have a basket of extra sheets and different types so they can get sheets as they need them.

 

Projects- students are working hard on their Saint power points and have already been practicing their presentations. Students will have these on their USB so they can share with you at home what they have been doing. For science we will have 2 more classes until the big day where we will record a video of their Rube Goldberg machines and post them on fresh grade. I have seen some very creative uses of kinetic energy and cant wait till they put all 4 pieces together to make something happen!
Socials Studies end of mapping project is now over due (2 students have special late hand in time due to restarting) I will be marking these and sending them home to be signed by end of week.

Joshua’s parents gave me invites for a pizza lunch which was given to each student last week with their names on it in case one went missing. Students who brought it back to myself or Joshua, don’t forget we have a pizza lunch to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. Thank you to Joshua and his parents for letting us celebrate with him 🙂

French test will be coming up on Wednesday November 14th as well as the students booklets will be due that day- please talk to your students or Mr. Balentona with any questions.

PE homework on Canada’s Food Guide and healthy eating – students received a worksheet with their number on it yesterday, this is to be researched and completed by Wednesday November 14

*******Reminder no school Monday and Tuesday next week