Wednesday, March 21st: Out&About- Pioneer Chores in the Garden- Volunteers Welcome! If you would like to join us in the backyard garden from 1:50-3:00pm to help students rotate through different stations, please email me (Ginny) to let me know you can join us, and meet us at the backyard garden!
Thursday, March 22nd: Yearbook orders due
Click here to order and pay for yearbooks online with credit/debit.
March 26th-30th Spring Break: No School
Wednesday, April 11th: Pioneer Day at the AT Smith House
All day O&A and Oregon Trail Dress Up Day!
Talk to your Puffin about how Pioneers might have dressed, and what types of foods they would have brought for lunch. We encourage students to dress the part that day!
Chaperones Needed!
Friday, April 13th: NO SCHOOL for students
Grading/Staff Development Day
Thursday 4/19 and Friday 4/20: NO SCHOOL for students
Student Led Conferences
Monday, April 30th: Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 2pm-3pm
Chaperones Needed!
Level 2 Suggested Weekly Homework:
Reading Homework
Spend at least 20 minutes reading (outside of school) every day.
Reading is on the "honor system" and we ask that you help your kiddo to develop a daily reading routine with good-fit books. At fall conferences, your kiddo brought home the Tower of Books wall poster, which is a fun (and optional) reading genre challenge.
Typing Homework
Level 2 students have typing homework to develop and support important keyboarding skills. Please practice at least 20 minutes per week on: Typing.com
Math homework
It is strongly recommended that your student practice math skills
at least 30 minutes (or more) per week.
This can be completed online with Dreambox or Khan Academy. Students can also play math games, or complete worksheets (you can find grade level workbooks online or at the Learning Palace).
Current 4th grade Math Topic:
- Fractions
Prefer a worksheet for math homework? You can download here, or your student can pick up a paper copy in class.
Here are the practice pages for the previous weeks:
- Homework #1: Introduction to Fractions
- Homework #2: Unit Fractions/ Finding Fractions on a Number line
- Homework #3: Comparing Fractions
- Homework #4: Adding & Subtracting Fractions
- Homework #5: Adding & Subtract Fractions with UNLIKE denominators AND Multiplying a Fraction by a Whole Number
- Homework #6: Proper and Improper fractions, Conversions between improperfractions and mixed numbers, addition of mixed numbers
- Homework #7: Multiplying a mixed number by a whole number.
- Homework #8: Review items from our most recent assessment
All 4th grade math students should be practicing their multiples DAILY.
4th graders have set goals and made plans for daily practice and have identified the numbers they needs to work on (ie. 6’s, 7’s, 8’s, etc.). Check in with your kiddo about this!
What's Happening in the Puffin Nest...
We are excited to begin our second StoryPath unit!
Last week we learned a traditional folk dance! Pioneers who traveled to Oregon had to face many challenges on their journeys, but music and dance were both great ways to raise spirits and to share some of the cultural traditions that they brought with them. Last week, a guest dance teacher showed our students how to do a traditional folk dance at a local dance studio. It was also a great opportunity for our students to take a risk and try something new!
In class, we completed Storypath Episode 1: The People Traveling West
● Students discussed reasons behind westward movement in America in the 1840s.
● Students were grouped into families who will travel together along the Oregon Trail.
● Students created a character, filled out a wagon train application, wrote a chart per BIO, introduced their characters, and met the other members of the wagon train.
Reading Connection: Students partnered up to complete online reading activities about Lewis&Clark and the Oregon Trail from the Studies Weekly newspaper.
The Oregon Trail: Our Unit OverviewUsing a strategy called Storypath, students form family groups and join a wagon train, which helps them build an understanding of the journey across the U.S. in the 1840s.
Students learn why emigrants formed wagon trains and moved west. They confront difficulties such as illness, food shortages, and broken wagons. Encounters with American Indians set the scene for examining the views of the period as well as the ethical issues surrounding westward expansion.
The culminating activities involve a celebration and presenting plans for their new life in Oregon. Students will dress up and walk to the AT Smith house for a pioneer field day.
Current Class Read Alouds:
Daily Life in a Covered Wagon
This historical adventure follows a typical family from Indiana traveling to Oregon in a covered wagon. It shows how they really lived: how they dressed; what they ate; what they saw; how they survived the hazardous journey.
Rachel's Journal: The Story of a Pioneer Girl
Rachel and her family travel by covered wagon following the Oregon Trail from Illinois all the way to California. The terrain is rough and the seven-month trip is filled with adventure and Rachel's handwritten journal chronicles every detail.
Reading Workshop: Book Clubs
These small group "Literature Circles" engage students in vocabulary study and rich conversations about shared readings. Students can express their opinions, predictions, and questions about a text in a productive, structured way while developing their reading, speaking, and thinking abilities.
Students are finishing up their first book, and getting ready to explore a new book in their book club group. Ask your kiddo to tell you about the book they are reading!
Our Book Club Books:
- The Wanderer
- View from Saturday
- Flora & Ulysses
- Because of Winn Dixie
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Holes
- The Mouse & the Motorcycle
- Cricket in Times Square
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Clementine