February Newsletter

It's hard to believe we are almost halfway through this school year.  I have seen so much growth in each and every student, and encourage them to always try their best. This is the time of year when students can become complacent and need reminders to do their very best work at school and at home.  You can help at home by encouraging your child to be neat and accurate in homework assignments. 

Science 

We are enjoying our study of electrical circuits.  Students look forward to working with batteries, bulbs, and switches to construct different kinds of circuits and learn how thses item interact in a system.  Ask your child to compare a parallel and series circuit.

Social Studies

After studying the European Explorers who stumbled upon New York in a quest to find a Northwest passage to the Indies, we are now discussing the settlers who came to live in the new colony.  First it was the Dutch who settled in the Hudson River Valley.  But soon, we will learn how the English took over and the colony grew.  Please help your child understand better about the Iroquois by having him/her bring home their notes weekly.

Math 

For now we are studying geometry.  Not just identifying shapes, but being able to name them, compare them and describe attributes about the shapes.  Finding the area and perimeter of shapes is challenging for most fourth graders.  Any practical activities you can come up with at home to enrich your child's understanding of these concepts is beneficial.

At this time, your child should be proficient with most of the multiplication facts up to 12.  We have been testing students on each number fact up to 12 in timed tests. Students have to complete 20 problems in under a minute. Students meeting this goal will be invited to participate in an ice cream party the second week of December. Mrs. Beers and I have bookmarked several links to websites that will help with math facts skills.  Look for these on the left margin in the math section. 

Reading

We continue to discuss behaviors that good readers demonstrate while they read. We have also been developing a CAFE menu of reading strategies to help us become better readers. CAFE is an acronym which stands for:

C-Comprehension

A-Accuracy

F-Fluency

E-Extend Vocabulary 

We are building stamina for working independently while Mrs. Antinelli meets with small groups for reading instruction.  Each day students rotate through three stations...Meet with a teacher, read independently, and a work station.  In our room, the work stations include word work, writing, content review, and computer. 

A few notes from Mrs. Antinelli: 

Thanks for visiting our class webpage.  I hope you find all you need to help you be successful in fourth grade.  I update this site periodically, so please stop back and see what's new.