Ms. Wejman

Room 207

Peek at the Week

Week of April 30th-May 4th

Writing:Write Narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

During the month of May, the fourth grade writers will be “fracturing” Greek myths.  This week, the students will focus on fracturing the story of Persephone. As they are fracturing, or changing an aspect, of this myth, mini-lessons will focus on plot, writing a luring lead, dialogue, description, and sensory imagery.  Ask your fourth grader how he or she is fracturing the story of Persephone.

Math: Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements.

The fourth graders will continue to persevere in solving multi-step word problems.  Specifically, the word problems will focus on fractions, converting ounces and pounds, and converting decimals and fractions.  Please practice conversion problems with your fourth grader. The students will begin the week with analyzing patterns.

Reading: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.  

Throughout the week, the fourth graders will be reading poetry by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Shel Silverstein.  As they are reading poems by these well known poets, they will identify the theme of the poems. To introduce the students to theme, the fourth graders will begin the week by reading the classic ballad, Casey at the Bat.  Because poetry reports are due, there will be no Tic Tac Toe sheet assigned.  On Thursday, every fourth grader should bring their poetry report to school along with a copy of their poem.  During reader’s workshop, they will be able to share their poem with their classmates. Every fourth grader will be given the opportunity to read the poem aloud to the class using appropriate intonation.  

Room 207

Peek at the Week

Week of April 23rd-27th

Math: Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.

We will begin the week with the students critiquing three different student work samples of the open response recipe problem that they completed last Thursday.  After they critique the work of three different students, they will revise their own work. The students will also use division to solve both multi-step and measurement problems.  When working on homework with your fourth grader, please make sure that he or she understands the problem before he or she solves it.

Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Because the students earned 1,000 DOJO points, they will have a poetry party on Friday.  All parents are invited to attend our party. The poets will share their poetry books. Even though Friday is a late start day, parents and their poets are invited to come to Room 207 for the party at 8:45.  At the party, we will also celebrate Miss Aron’s outstanding internship year of teaching in Room 207. Friday is her last day. Throughout the week, the students will work on the final drafts of their poems to publish in their books.  

Reading: Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first-and third-person narrations.

As the students continue to read poetry, they will identify the point of view of the poems that they are reading.  Poets that the students will be reading include Jack Prelutzky and Langston Hughes. Questions that the students will answer include: What person is the poem written in? Who is the speaker? Who is the speaker’s audience? What is the speaker’s message? When reading with your fourth grader at home ask your reader to identify which person the text is written.  

Field Trip

Thank you to everyone who has turned in their permission slip and money for Tuesday’s Field Trip to the DuSable Museum.  We will leave at 9:45AM and return at 12:30PM. Because we will miss our regular scheduled lunch, students should bring their lunch from home.  

Monday, April 23rd

This week for homework, read the stories in Lesson 27.  By Friday, you should complete three tic-tac-toe activities in your homework notebook.  At the top of each page, you should write the date and title of the story.

Room 207

Peek at the Week

Week of April 16th-20th

Math: Build Fractions from Unit Fractions

The students will multiply continue to multiply whole numbers by fractions.  They will practice by solving word problems. On Thursday, they will work with their continent to solve an open response problem.

Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization to task, purpose, and audience.

The students will begin to publish their poetry books.  All of the poems need to be about a specific theme. Throughout the book, the students must be creative with line breaks, use sensory imagery, figurative language, rhythm, and spell all words correctly.  The students were given a rubric stating the requirements of the poetry book.

Reading: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Our reading genre for the next ⅛ of the school year will be poetry.  This week’s focus is figurative language. We will spend the week identifying simile, metaphor, and personification in different poems.  The students will study poems and interpret the meaning of each type of figurative language. They will be assessed on identifying two types of figurative language and interpreting the meaning.  In lieu of a book report, they will be completing a poetry report which will be due on Thursday, May 3rd.

Report Card Pick Up

Thank you to everyone who signed up for a conference time on Wednesday.    Because the students are leading the conference, they should also attend. If you have not requested a time yet, please tell me what time you and your fourth grader would like to meet.  

Save the Date!  Just Get Sleep Fundraiser coming up on May 6th!

On Sunday May 6th you will have the opportunity to buy a new mattress in the Ray lunchroom at up to 50% off retail, with 20% of every sale donated back to Ray. Take advantage of this great deal and support Ray at the same time – WIN WIN!

Walk-a-Thon May 18th!

Register your student at rayschool.dojiggy.com and begin fundraising to be entered into weekly drawings for cool stuff – museum memberships, gift cards, sports tickets and more!  Every student who raises at least $50 gets a chance to sink a teacher in the dunk tank on the last day of school.

Name:______________________________________

Over the next five weeks, poetry will be our unit of study in reading.  For our first book report of the quarter, the fourth grader will pick a poem of their choice to analyze.  Every fourth grader should bring their poem to class on Thursday, May 3rd to share with their classmates. They will be invited to share the poem they picked in a class reading.  In addition to a copy of the poem, they must also bring in this completed sheet. The poem can be from a poetry anthology or printed from the Internet. Room 207 has a plethora of anthologies for the fourth graders to pick from if they choose to do so.  

Poem: ________________________________________

Poet: _________________________________________

Why are  you choosing this poem to share with your classmates? ____________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Does your poem you any poetic devices? _____________

If so, which poetic devices does it use? _______________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Identify an example of this poetic device. _____________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Whose point of view is the poem written in? ___________

______________________________________________

What evidence do you have of this? _________________

______________________________________________

In one sentence, what is the main idea of this poem?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the theme of this poem? ____________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you think this? ____________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is your favorite line in the poem? _______________

______________________________________________

Why is it your favorite line? ________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is one question that you have for this poet?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is one compliment that you have for this poet?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Illustrate a picture of this poem and include a caption.  

Monday, April 16th

This week for homework, read the stories in Lesson 27 by Betty G. Birney.  By Friday, you should complete three tic-tac-toe activities in your homework notebook.  At the top of each page, you should write the date and title of the story.

Room 207

Peek at the Week

Week of April 9th-12th

Math: Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements.  

We will begin the week by converting liquid measurements.  At home, make reference to converting gallons, quarts, pints, and cups using tools in the kitchen.  Throughout the week, the students will solve word problems where the student multiplies a whole number by a fraction.  When working with your child on word problems at home, please make sure that they understand the problem before they persevere in solving the problem.  

Writing: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Poetry mini-lessons this week will focus on line breaks, onomatopoeia, and writing a form poem.  Ask your fourth grade poet which poem he or she is most proud of writing this week.

Reading: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

This week, students will refer to details in their real-life mystery books to determine a cause and an effect that takes place.  Cause and effect relationships are used to explain why or how something happened in a story

Report Card Pick-Up

Wednesday, April 18th has been designated as report card pick up for Chicago Public Elementary Schools.  For the spring conferences, the students will be leading the conference. Today every fourth grader received a report card pick up request form.  Please complete the form with your top three requested time slots. I will complete the conference schedule on a first come, first serve basis.

DuSable Museum Field Trip

The Fourth and Fifth Grades are taking a field trip to the DuSable museum on Tuesday, April 24th.  The cost of the field trip is $7.00. Money and permission for the field trip will be due on Friday, April 20th.  

April 9, 2018

Read the stories in Lesson 26 of Paths to Discovery.  Pick three Tic Tac Toe activities to complete. The three activities will be due on Thursday, April 12th.