I hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend! I had a wonderful Easter with my family. I wanted to let you know about this week...
In Writing, we are working on a "Would You Rather" writing piece. We started it on Thursday in class. Tomorrow we will move on to the second portion of that assignment. If your child missed my class last Thursday, he/she is a little behind on this assignment, but should be able to catch up without too much of a problem. We will work on it in class Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday it will go home for any remaining revising/editing/ and matching to the criteria with a due date of Friday, April 10th.
This Thursday we will work on some new non negotiable spelling words, a new weekly idiom, and a new weekly Latin root. Friday, I will be out for my son's arm surgery, but Mrs. Rodriguez will be here for me, ready to collect the "Would You Rather" writing and assist them in the day's activities.
In Social Studies we are learning about the pros and cons of statehood for Texas. Quickly, the Texas leaders will begin to argue over whether or not Texas should remain a republic or request statehood. Obviously we know how this turns out, but it will be important to see how the president and vice president were at odds with each other over this and many other issues. The students worked in the computer lab today on answering the Texas Studies Weekly questions for week 19. Some students didn't bring the required materials with them, so they were unable to complete the assignment. They will have until next Monday to answer the 10 questions, at which point I will close Week 19 for accepting answers.
The Wax Museum...what is it? Well, each year the fourth graders study an important historical figure, read a book about him/her, create an interview of sorts with him/her, and write a 30 second to 1 minute speech in first person teaching others about his/her life. As an addition, students create a costume (which can all be done by hand out of whatever materials are lying around) and they become "wax figures" that come to life and tell about themselves to an audience. Specific information and directions will be going home some time this week. Until then, the only thing you need to be aware of right now is that your child will need to come in by Friday with a couple of ideas of who they want to study. It MUST be a person who has made a positive contribution to our world The person MUST have an age-appropriate biography written about him/her that students can find in my library, the Clayton library, or the public library. (I have many, many biographies from the "Who Was" or "Who Is" series. We try to steer them away from contemporary people, as popularity isn't the key, but rather important contributions to society.
Books need to be here ready to begin reading by next Monday, April 13th..