Week 18 Final Tests and Shakespeare Festival

Dear Parents,

Congratulations to you on your students' excellent performance at the concert on Thursday. I was so impressed with the professional manner in which they conducted themselves and the joy with which they sang. Thank you to all you parents for supporting their performance. I know it is not easy to get students to a concert on time and appropriately dressed in the middle of the week, but you managed it. We greatly appreciate all you do to make these concerts happen. Of course, we also owe a lot to Mrs. Washburn and Mr. Scott for coordinating these concerts and to Miss Sassaman for teaching the students such beautiful music. We are also indebted to the people from King of Kings Church for allowing us to use their facilities.

You all know by now that this is the last week before break. Monday and Tuesday will be full days, and Wednesday through Friday will be half days.  The main motivation for the half days is to give students more time to study. They will have tests in all their major subject areas this week. While these are unit tests, not cumulative tests, there are a lot of tests in a single week, so we feel it is best to give the students more time to study.

                                         

In my classes, we have the following test schedule: There will be a math test on Wednesday on division. On Thursday there will be a science test on geology. On Friday we have our Shakespeare festival. The students’ performance, including their ability to be silent and respectful when they are off-off stage, will count as their literature test. The study guides for the other tests are below my signature line.

While it may seem like a big challenge for fourth grade students to have so many tests in a week, our goal is to prepare them to be successful in middle school. Many students have never taken several tests in a short period of time before they reach middle school, and they are unfamiliar with how to manage their study time. This can impair their performance on tests at a time when their grades are becoming more important. By giving them the opportunity to study for numerous tests before their grades are really important, we give the students tools to succeed.

All this being said, we are very excited to invite you to our second annual Shakespeare festival! Your students have been practicing hard and they would love to have you watch them perform. Relatives and friends are also welcome. The fourth grade performance of “Twelfth Night” will begin at 8:30am in the MPR on Friday. At 9:30am the dram club will have their presentation, and at 10:15am the fifth graders will present “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Please note that while we do want you watch your students perform, the students are also required to stay and watch their peers’ performances; they cannot be picked up until the normal half-day dismissal time.

We are certainly not assigning any official homework over Christmas break, but it would be wise for students to review stanzas 1-6 of “Paul Revere” over break so they do not forget it. Also, students who struggle with math can benefit from occasion review of multiplication facts and spending a little time in the  RM Wall of Mastery or Office so they don’t forget what they’ve learned. This need not be a huge time investment; even one or two twenty minute sessions over break could be helpful.

The first week after break will be project week. This is a week of half days in which students will be expected to use their extra time to complete a major project. Last year we had a successful science fair on the human body. This year our theme is history. Students will be assigned to study historical figures from a time period their class has been studying. They will write a paper with important facts about their historical figure and then they will dress up as their person as part of the formal presentation on project night. Students will be assigned historical figures for project night by lottery this Monday.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Math Study Guide

1.       Division: Students should be familiar with division as the inverse of multiplication. 12 x 3 = 36, 36 divided by 3 equals 12, and 36 divided by 12 equals 3. They should also know the formal names of parts of the division problem. The number being divided is the dividend. The number by which you are dividing is the divisor. The answer to a division problem is the quotient, unless there is some part left over. The leftover part is called the remainder.

2.       Students should know and be able to articulate the difference between dividing into x groups and dividing into groups of x. For example, 24 divided by 3 can mean 24 divided into 3 groups with 8 things in each groups OR 24 divided into groups of 3 with 8 groups of three. 

3.       Students should be able to draw the difference in #2 when requested to do so. For example, they should be able to draw 24 divided into 3 groups by drawing 3 circles with 8 dots in each circle. Then they should be able to show 24 divided into groups of 3 by drawing 8 circles with three dots in each circle. (Tally marks or other appropriate marks may also be used.)

4.       Students should be able to perform division with a remainder. For example, 20 divided by 3: Is there anything times 3 that equals 20? No! What is the math fact for 3 that is closest to 20 but not greater than 20? 3 x 5 = 15; 3 x 6 = 18; 3 x 7 = 21. 3 x 7 is greater than 20, so 3 x 6 must be the math fact we want. Now subtract to find the remainder. 20 – 18 = 2. Therefore, 20 divided by 3 is 6 remainder 2. (Students do not need to put all this work on paper, this is just one example of a conversation to have in case a student is unsure how to answer.)

5.  Students should know and be able to apply the properties of division. The properties of division are: 1. Any number divided by one equals itself. 2. Any number divided by itself equals one. 3. 0 divided by any number equals zero.  4. Numbers cannot be divided by zero. If such a problem appears, students should state that it cannot be done,

6. Because column multiplication is one of the fundamentals of math and is not formally taught again after fourth grade, I will also be including one and two digit column multiplication problems on the test. Students are required to use column multiplication (the standard methods you were all taught in grade school) to solve these problems. Any creative methods of splitting the problem apart or breaking it down will be marked wrong, regardless of the answer. It is absolutely vital that they know the standard method of column multiplication because this knowledge will be presumed in higher grades but it will not be retaught.

Science Test Study Guide

1.       Groups of atoms bonded together are called molecules.

2.       The three (main) states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. Matter changes states according to its temperature. A solid that gets heated becomes a liquid, and a liquid that is further heated becomes a gas.

3.       Heat gives atoms and molecules energy. Atoms and molecules are always moving, at least a little, but when they get heated they move more quickly. The hotter they get, the faster they move. The faster they move, they more space they need in which to move. This need for more space causes atoms to spread out from one another, which we experience as a change in state from solid to liquid and then from liquid to gas.

4.       Cooling down has the opposite effect on atoms. They slow down, and they need less space to move. As a result, the atoms are able to stay closer together.  This changes them from gas to liquid to solid.

5.       Because the atoms in solids are moving so slowly, solids keep their own shape. Because the atoms in liquids and gasses are moving more quickly, liquids and gasses do not hold their shape. They take the shape of whatever container they are in.

6.        The earth is divided into three main layers, the crust, the mantle and the core.

7.       The crust is extremely thin compared to the mantle and the core. In drawings of the earth, the crust is represented as the outline of the drawing. 

8.       There are two kinds of crust, oceanic crust and continental crust. Continental crust is the crust found on land. It is mostly made of solid rock covered by thin layers of dirt. Oceanic crust is the crust found under the ocean. It is mostly made of solid rock covered by thin layers of sand.

9.       The mantle is the middle of the earth’s main layers. It is divided into the lithosphere, the asthenosphere and the mesosphere. 

10.   The lithosphere is composed of huge slabs of solid rock called “tectonic plates.” The plates fit closely but not perfectly together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. There are gaps between the plates which allow them to move and bump into each other.

11. The places in the earth’s crust that lie directly over the gaps between the tectonic plates are called fault lines.

12.   The plates of the lithosphere float on the asthenosphere, which is made of liquid rock.

13.   The mesosphere is the lowest layer of the mantle, beneath the lithosphere and asthenosphere. The mesosphere is made of solid rock (not plates).

14.   The core is the innermost of the earth’s three main layers.  It is divided into the outer core and the inner core. The outer core is made of liquid iron. The inner core is made of solid iron.

15.   The inner core is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit—That’s as hot as the surface of the sun. Even though it is extremely hot, the inner core is solid because the weight of the earth above it presses its atoms together and forces them to remain in a solid state.

16. The inner core and the outer core are spinning in opposite directions at high speeds. Their motion causes the earth’s magnetic field. This magnetic field reaches all the way though the earth and into the atmosphere, which means it is over 8,000 miles wide.

17.   Earthquakes occur when heat rises from the inner core and causes the magma of the asthenosphere to move and bubble. (Think of water in a pot.) This moves the plates of the lithosphere, which float on the asthenosphere. When the plates of the lithosphere move, they sometimes bump into each other, causing earthquakes.

18.   Mountains can also be formed by the plates of the lithosphere bumping into each other.

19.   Volcanoes occur when liquid magma from the asthenosphere bubbles up through the gaps between tectonic plates and forces its way onto the earth’s crust.

Week 17

Dear Parents,

This is our last full week before Christmas break. Next week (12/12—12/16) we will have two full days on Monday and Tuesday and three half days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

This week our fourth grade winter concert will be held at King of Kings Church in Goodyear on Thursday, December 8. The address is 3095 N 140^th Ave, Goodyear, AZ 85395. Students are expected to arrive in full concert dress at 5:20pm. There will be a dress rehearsal from 5:25-5:55, and parents will not be allowed in the church during this time. Please keep in mind that punctual attendance at the dress rehearsal and participation in the concert are required as part of your student’ music grade. If you have any questions about the performance or about appropriate concert attire, please send Miss Sassaman a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

 PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS HAVE USED THE BATHROOM RIGHT BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE DRESS REHEARSAL. We will not be able to accommodate bathroom requests during practice or during the concert itself.

This week in math we will continue to study division, especially long division. We also have our test on finding the perimeter and area of squares and rectangles on Tuesday. Please note that students are required to use the traditional method of two-digit column multiplication to find the answers to area problems. Any other methods will result in losing some or all credit for the problem. There are still a few students trying to break apart problems like 456 x 28 into 456 x 8 and 456 x 20 instead of using the traditional method. This is not acceptable; they need to be able to use the traditional method. I have created a study guided; it is posted below my signature line.

In science, we will continue our study of geology by studying earthquakes, volcanoes and natural disasters. The geology project on the earth’s interior is due tomorrow. Students should bring their project into the science lab and set it on the table marked 4A or 4B as appropriate before going out to play. Projects should be in sealed plastic bags clearly marked with the students’ names.

I am sorry that I was not able to post the instructions to my blog last week in addition to sending them home on paper. I had intended to do so, but through an unfortunate accident my work laptop broke and I could do computer work only during brief snatches of time on another people’s computers. For the same reason, I am sorry for any missing/late responses to messages. I now have a new work computer, so I should be in better touch with you all this week.

Students who are interested in extra credit can use any leftover clay to make a cross-section model of a volcano’s interior. I will hand out pictures of the volcano cross-section by Tuesday, but I will not give detailed instructions on how to complete the project. It should have all the same parts as the volcano cross-section picture, and it should be labeled. Students can earn up to 10 points of extra credit for volcano models turned in by December 15 (next Tuesday).

On December 16 we will have our Shakespeare festival.  All are welcome to see our students perform in the MPR! The exact time is TBA, but it will be sometime during the morning. Fourth and fifth grade students are currently practicing and adapted version of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” during literature and writing classes. They are not required to memorize their lines; they can read them from the script during the play. However, we will be asking them to practice reading their lines and scenes at home so they will be familiar with them. We want them to work on understanding what the lines mean and reading them with fluency and appropriate expressions. We will work on these things in class as well, and we will also work on stage blocking.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Study Guide for Math Test on Area and Perimeter of Squares and Rectangles

1.       Perimeter is the measure of the border around the shape. Area is the amount of space inside a shape. If you imagine a playground, the perimeter is the fence around the playground. Finding perimeter means finding how long the fence is. Area would be the space inside the playground where you actually run and play. Finding are would mean finding how much space is contained in the playground fence.

2.       We measure area in square units such as square inches, square feet, square centimeters, or square miles. A square inch is a square with sides of one inch; a square centimeter is a square with sides of one centimeter, etc. We write square inches as in², square centimeters as cm², square feet as ft² and square miles as miles².

3.       The long side of a rectangle is called its length. The short side of a rectangle is called its width. All rectangles have two lengths which are equal to each other and two widths which are equal to each other.

4.       Finding the perimeter of a rectangle means finding how long the sides are all together. The formula for the area of a rectangle is 2(L + W).

5.       Finding the area of a rectangle means finding how much space is contained inside it. The formula for the area of a rectangle is L X W. The length of the rectangle tells us how many square units will fit on the length and the width tells us how many rows of square units are in the rectangle.

6.       A square has four sides which are all equal. The formula for the perimeter of a square with side S is 4S. (Since there are 4 equal sides, instead of adding the 4 sides to find the length around them, it is quicker to multiply by 4.)

7.       The formula for the perimeter of a square with sides S is S² which equals S X S. Basically a square has is a rectangle that has its length equal to its width, instead of multiplying length times width to find area, we just multiply S X S.

8.       Students should not just write numbers when giving the answers for area or perimeter. The must also write the proper unit or square unit.

Week 16

Dear Parents,


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with families, friends  and food. As we return from the Thanksgiving holiday, our school week will be a simple one.

In math, we will continue our study of division. We will be working on division with a remainder and long division this week. I am planning on teaching long division in class before students encounter it on the computer. We will be doing long division problems on graph paper first in order to help keep place values straight and will eventually transition to doing the problems on ordinary paper. After column multiplication, long division is the most complicated process students learn in grade school math. Please ready to support you students at home as they learn this challenging process.

This week in RM, studnets should not go past the lesson "Division with a Remainder" until Wednesday, and if they finish the lesson "Long Division" by the wekend, they should not go past it. They should go into Wall of Mastery instead.

In geology, we are beginning the long-awaited geology project. It will be a model of the earth's interior as pictured below. Each night, the student's will add a few layers to their model until it is done.


 The front of the project:

The back of the project:

This is the finished project, except for labels. The clay on the project I made is still a little wet, so I haven't been able to put the labels on it. However, students will not be assigned to put labels on the project until the weekend anyway. I will get you a picture of the labels by then.

The front of the project models the layers of the earth as if one could cut the earth in half through the center and see the layers. The back of the project shows the earth's crust (surface) and the tectonic plates that lie just beneath the earth's surface.The blue part with the green splotches is the crust. The blue represents the ocean and the green parts of the land. The land I drew is not intended to be any sort of accurate global map, and the students' land does not need to be either. The purple part represents the earth's tectonic plates. They lie underneath the earth's surface and are not exposed, soa  more accurate model would have the entire back side of the project covered in blue and green crst. However, it is important for students to understand the plates, how they fit close toegtehr like a puzzle but do fit perfectly together. For this reason, I want their models to be only half-covered in crust on the back, leaving the other half with exposed plates.

Please don't let your students complete the project in a single night unless it is completely necessary (i.e., you will be out of town for most of the week). I have posted pictures of the finished project to help students and parents see what the final product should look like. However, they idea is for students to add layers to their project each night based on what they learned in class during the day. That way they are getting a tactile experience of the information, instead of just hearing lectures about something they can't see or feel. Also, we will be discussing relevant details of the project in class each day. I will be sending the students home with information on the steps to be completed each night as the project progresses, and I will also post the steps to my blog.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. As always, please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns you have.


Sincerely,


Miss Wycklendt

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Parents,

I’m sure you and your families are looking forward to Thanksgiving, and I’m sure your students especially are looking forward to the short week of school. Monday and Tuesday will be ordinary school days, but Wednesday will be a half day with pick-up starting at 12:00 instead of 1:15. Thursday and Friday are off. As usual for half days, there is no lunch time so students do not need to bring lunch on Wednesday unless they are in Athenaeum. No hot lunch will be served.

In math, we will continue studying division and reviewing area and perimeter. We will also continue practicing column multiplication by a two digit number. At least one two-digit column multiplication problem will appear on all math homework assignments through the end of the quarter because it is such an important skill for students to have. I have spent a great deal of time tutoring students on this topic in math lab. It would be extremely helpful if you could also look over the column multiplication problems they complete on homework assignments to further ensure your students’ success on this important topic.

In science I was intending to have students start their at-home geology project this week. However, several parents have mentioned a strong preference to have the project start after Thanksgiving in order to make this holiday week easier. For this reason, I will be postponing the project again. It will start on the Monday after Thanksgiving week.

I have tried to be clear in my communications about the geology project, but I have still received many questions. The geology project will be for students to make a model of Earth’s interior. It will be a cross-section, made to look as if Earth was cut in half through the center and one could see inside. STUDENTS WILL BE COMPLETING THE PROJECT AT HOME. The project will have five steps, so students will complete one step each day that week for homework. During the week of the project each day’s science class will be spent discussing the information students will need to complete the step of the project assigned that night. Students will then go home and complete that step of the project for homework that night. At the end of the week, students will have a complete model of the earth’s interior.

The project will have the weight of a test in the students’ second quarter grades. This should be good for their grades in that they will have complete control over how well they do on the project. Students that follow all the directions and include all the features required will receive full points for the project (unless their work is sloppy or careless).

In case you and you student have not yet obtained the supplies for the geology project here is the list: 1. A can of red play-dough  2. A can of yellow play-dough  3. A can of orange play-dough  4. A can of black or brown play-dough (one or the other; not both) 5. A can of blue play-dough  6. A metal or metal-looking bead at least a ¼ inch in diameter (to be the earth’s iron core)  7. A black Sharpie for writing labels   8. A green Sharpie for drawing land masses

You should be able to pick up the supplies at Walmart easily enough. That’s where I got the supplies for the sample I made. I did have a little trouble finding the black can of play-dough. If you can’t find black or brown, even purple would be fine.

Those are all the notes I have for you this week. As always, please feel free to contact me through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 14 Blog Post

Dear Parents,

This week will be a busy but fun week for our fourth grade class. In music, students are starting more intensive rehearsals for their winter concert during the school day. They will have several rehearsals with the whole grade together. On Tuesday, we have our class field trip to the MIM and some shopping time at our school book fair. On Friday we have our all-school literary and historic figure day.

Please make sure that your students bring their permission slips with money to school tomorrow (Monday) or you can bring the slips and money directly to the front office yourself. Students who do not have their form and money in by the end of the school day tomorrow will NOT BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND THE FIELD TRIP. Forms and money will not be accepted on Tuesday morning. Students not attending will be left to shadow a third grade class for the day, so please, get those forms in! When students hand in their forms, it must be accompanied by the money. Forms without money will not be accepted.

Students are required to come to school in uniform on field trip day. They must arrive at school on time in order to be part of the field trip, and they must be picked up from school after the field trip.

As of this weekend, our 4B class coordinator, Dr. Karen Beckwith, sent an email saying we are in need of two more chaperones for our field trip. For the safety of our students, we do need those chaperones. Please consider signing up to share this fun experience with your child!

Chaperones are asked to be at school by 8:00am so we can meet with them in the MPR around 8:15 and get them familiar with their assigned groups. They will, of course, travel with the students on the bus, accompany a small group on the field trip and later accompany their group to a picnic lunch at a near-by park.

Because lunch will be a picnic lunch at a park, all students should bring a bag lunch on the field trip. We will not be at the cafeteria for hot lunch. Chaperones would need to bring lunches as well.

If you are not able to chaperone, but you would still like to be a part of our trip, you can meet us at the MIM at 9:30am. You would have to pay the ordinary adult admission price to the museum. Your student would still need to be dropped off at school, travel with the class on the bus, and travel back from class on the bus. If you would like to join us, though, we would love to have you.

As you probably read in our school newsletter, Friday is our school’s literary and historic figure day. Students are encouraged, though not required to dress up as a literary figure from one of the classic books in our school curriculum or in our school library. More specific guidelines were sent out through our school newsletter, but if you have any questions about appropriate costumes, please feel free to contact any of the fourth grade teachers. Students not wearing costumes are required to attend in their ordinary uniforms.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in our annual read-a-thon fundraiser! Thank you to all the parents, relatives and friends who supported our fundraiser! The students who completed the read-a-thon have vouchers for money to use at our school book fair. They will find them on their desks Monday morning. Students who did not participate in the fundraiser may still bring money to use at the book fair. If they do bring money, please advise them to be discreet. Teachers will not keep or be responsible for money students bring to school, and because students share lockers, they cannot lock their lockers.

The schedule for the book fair is as follows: On Monday from 1:30 to 1:45, all students will have the opportunity to browse the book fair, but they will not be allowed to purchase anything. On Tuesday from 1:45-2:30, directly after the field trip, students who have vouchers or cash to spend will be allowed to shop at the book fair. On Wednesday from 9:00am to 10:00am, parents will have the opportunity to shop at the book fair. On Thursday, students who were unable to purchase books at the book fair on Tuesday will still have the opportunity to do so during lunch recess or Lyceum.

As busy as the week is, it is also the week in which deficiency notices will be sent out to parents whose students are averaging a C- or lower in any class. While these notices can be disappointing to receive, they are intended to open a conversation about how students can improve. Once the scholar has brought their grade up, the notice has no further relevance to their grade or academic record. Of course, we would all prefer to have students keep their grades up and avoid deficiency notices. To help with this, I will be sending emails tomorrow about assignments students are missing. Students who get them and return them by Wednesday will be more likely to avoid deficiencies. To help motivate students to get their missed assignments in during this busy week, I am offering full credit to students on all missing assignments turned in by Wednesday. (Normally, missing assignments only receive half-credit.)

Regarding math classes:  Students should be starting division in math lab this week. A few students are still working on area and perimeter. In order to have the best quality math labs and math classes possible, it is important for students to be working on the same lesson. That way they have a shared understanding of the material which they can discuss in class, and they are strengthening their understanding of math topics by working on the same topics in lab and class. For these reasons, students who are behind the class in math lessons may be assigned more online homework than students who are on track with their class. They will be held responsible for this homework as part of their grade. It is not really extra homework; it is work they should have already completed.

One final note: I was intending to start the at-home geology project as part of homework this week. However, with all the other things going on this week, I don’t want to put extra pressure on parents and students. We will start the project as part of homework next Monday. In case you have not bought the supplies for the project, they are: 1. A can of red play-dough  2. A can of yellow play-dough  3. A can of orange play-dough  4. A can of black or brown play-dough (one or the other; not both) 5. A can of blue play-dough  6. A metal or metal-looking bead at least a ¼ inch in diameter (to be the earth’s iron core)  7. A black Sharpie for writing labels   8. A green Sharpie for drawing land masses

The project is going to be a model of the inside layers of the earth. Students should keep the supplies at home because the project is homework. I will send detailed instructions home each night next week on the steps students are expected to complete on each night of the project.

These are the many notes I have for you this week. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns, and I will be happy to help you.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Wycklendt

Week 13 : Math and Science Test Study Guides

Dear Parents,

This coming week of school will be a calm one in terms of the schedule; we will be following our normal schedule except for Friday. Veteran’s Day is on Friday, and we do not have school that day.

Tuesday, November 15 will be our fourth grade field trip to the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum).  Last your, our filed trip to the MIM was a great success, and we are excited to be offering this opportunity again. Details about cost and timing, as well as permission slips, will be coming out later this week.

Friday, November 18 will be our annual literary and historic figure day. Students are encouraged to dress up as characters from class stories or form history. No scary or aggressive costumes are permitted, of course. Students are not required to dress up, but if they choose not to, they are required to come in uniform.

As announced last week, we will be having our first math and science tests of the quarter this week. Both tests will be on Thursday in order to have more time for students to study and more time for in-class review. The study guides are below my signature line on this post.

This week I will be sending home records of students’ RM homework completion, including the total number of points they earned for last week’s RM homework. Completing the required 20 minutes is worth two points, completing 10-15 minutes is worth one point, and completing less than ten minutes is worth zero points. Anytime students log into the RM system to work in guided study, they have to complete a warm-up which will take about five minutes. If they log in and work for less than ten minutes, they are not making any progress on the lesson, so I am not giving points for students that are not working for at least ten minutes. Students that work for longer than the required twenty minutes can also earn extra credit points.

This week, students should be in the lesson “Formulas for the Area and Perimeter of Squares and Rectangles” by Monday, and they should not go past “Dividing Round Natural Numbers.”

Next week we will be starting geology, so students should have the supplies for their geology project on hand by then end of this weekend.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions or comments, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Math Test Study Guide on Factors, Multiples, and Column Multiplication

1.       Students should be familiar to with factors and multiples. Factors are numbers that you multiply together to get a given number. Most number have several pairs of factors. For example, 3 and 4 are factors of 12 because 3 x 4 =12. 2 and 6 are factors of 12 because 2 x 6 = 12. 1 and 12 ae factors of 12 because 1 x 12 = 12. Multiples are numbers your get from multiplying by a given number. For example, 12, 24, 26 and 48 are all multiples of 12 because you can multiply by 12 to get them. Many students skip count to identify multiples.

2.       All numbers have one and themselves as factors. Some numbers only have one and themselves as factors; these are called prime numbers. For example, 11 is a prime number because the only numbers which multiply o make 11 are one and 11. Mathematicians do not consider one and 0 to be prime numbers, and I will not accept them as examples of prime numbers on the test.

3.       Most numbers have more factors than one and themselves; these are called composite numbers. For example, 8 is a composite number because 1 x 8 = 8 but also 2 x 4 = 8.

4.       Students should be able to identify whether a given number is prime or composite and explain how they know this. For example, 10 is composite because 2 x 5 = 10. 3 is prime because only 3 x 1 = 3. Students should also be able to come up with their own examples of prime or composite numbers and be able to prove that those examples are prime or composite in a similar fashion.

5.       Given a number less than 50, students should be able to identify all the factors of the number. I will typically be choosing numbers that are on the multiplication tables to make finding the factors a little easier. However, not all factors of those numbers will be found in multiplication problems that are on the multiplication tables, and students still need to find those factors. Students should be able to recognize that any even number will have 2 and some other number as one of its factor pairs, even if these factors aren’t on the multiplication tables. For example, 2 and 15 are factors of 30, as are 6 and 5, 3 and 10, and 1 and 30.

6.       Given two numbers, students should be able to explain if one number is a factor of the other number or not. For example, is 6 a factor of 26? No, because 6 x 4 = 24 and 6 x 5 = 30. Students could use a number of other reasonable thought processes to explain their answers, including skip counting and adding.

7.       Given a number, students should be able to list multiples of the number or identify a particular multiple of that number. For example, what are the first three multiples of 13? They are 13, 26, and 39. What is the ninth multiple of 3? The ninth multiple of 3 is 27. (Skip counting or multiplying could be used to explain this answer.) Students should be able to identify when a list is being asked for as opposed to a particular multiple. If they five me a list that includes they particular multiple I asked for, I will mark it correct, but if they only give the fifth multiple when I asked for the first five multiples, I will mark them incorrect.

8.       Students should be able to answer questions like the following: 42 is the sixth multiple of what number? It is the sixth multiple of seven because 6 x7 = 42.

9.       Students should be able to accurately perform column multiplication by a one-digit number with regrouping (carrying).

10.   Students should accurately be able to perform column multiplication by a two digit number with regrouping using the traditional method we all learned in grade school. In class, we have broken some two digit column multiplication problems apart into three separate problems in order to help students understand what they are doing when they perform column multiplication. However, this is a tool to help them understand two digit column multiplication. It is NOT a replacement for the traditional process. Students should NOT be breaking problems like 345 x 25 into three problems in order to solve them. I will mark them incorrect. They need to prove they can perform the traditional process. Students who have not completed the RM lesson “Column Multiplication by a Two-Digit Number” will be at a big disadvantage, and they would do well to try to catch up before the test.

11.   I know the above study guide on factors and multiples is long, but most of the students understand them quite well as long as they do not confuse factors and multiples for each other.  The more difficult part for most students will be the two-digit column multiplication.

Science Study Guide on Electricity and Magnetism

1.       Electricity is the motion of electrons hopping form atom to atom. Students should know this definition. Students should also understand that electricity is caused by electrons hopping from atoms in a negative state (atoms with more electrons than protons). The hopping electrons are looking for atoms in a positive state (atoms with more protons than electrons) so they can bond with the protons.

2.       Students should know the definitions of current and voltage. Current is the stream of electrons flowing along a directed path to a destination. (It is a stream like in a river; the electrons are moving in a line instead of bouncing around all over the place. They have a destination they are trying to reach; usually they are trying to get to protons. ) Voltage is how many electrons are moving. A high voltage means more electrons are moving and a low voltage means fewer electrons are moving.

3.       Students should know that a conductor is a material that allows electricity to pass through easily and an insulator is a material that does not allow electricity to pass through easily. They should know basic examples of each. Metal, water, plants, animals and people are all conductors. Stone, wood, rubber and most everyday items are insulators.

4.       Students should know the parts of a simple circuit and be able to draw a diagram of a simple circuit. (The expected diagram is in their notebooks.) A simple circuit must have a power source, a conductor, and an object to power. A switch is optional but not necessary. Students should be use these general terms to explain the parts of circuits instead of giving specific examples such as batteries and wires.

5.       Students should understand how a switch works. A switch connects a circuit. When a switch is open, the circuit is not connected. The electrons are not able to reach the protons they are trying to find, so they don’t move and the electricity does not flow. When the switch is closed, the circuit is connected. The electrons move to find the protons and electricity flows. Basically, a closed switch turns the circuit on and an open switch turns it off.

6.       Students should know the difference between a parallel circuit and a simple circuit. A parallel circuit has one power source, but it has two (or more) objects being powered and two (or more) conductive paths. This language is very deliberate: not two conductors, two conductive paths. A simple circuit has only one path for electrons to move on: around in a circle. A parallel circuit starts with electrons moving from the power source on a single path, but then that path branches off into two possible paths for the electrons to follow. Each path has an object to be powered. After passing through the powered objects, the paths come together and fuse again into one path on which all the electrons travel back to the power source.

7.       Students should be able to draw the diagrams for parallel and simple circuits. They should have those diagrams in their notebooks.

8.       Magnets are caused by a small number of electrons in an atom spinning in the opposite direction as the other electrons in the atom. All electrons orbit the nucleus of the atom. As they orbit, they also spin on their own axes. They generally all spin in the same direction, all clockwise or al counterclockwise. When a few electrons spin in the opposite direction as the other electrons in their atom, they create a magnet.

9.       Magnets are attracted to metal and other magnets.

10.   Magnets have two ends called poles. Every magnet has a north pole and a south pole. Opposite poles attract; same poles repel.

11.   A magnetic field is the space around a magnet in which a magnet can attract or repel other objects without touching them.

12.   Electromagnetism: When an electric current passes through a conductor, it creates a magnetic field. This means that there will be a magnetic field around ANY current of electricity. For an interesting example, you can connect a screwdriver to a battery with wires and the screwdriver will become a magnet.

Week 12

Dear Parents,

I am sorry; I completely forgot to update my blog. I wrote a blog post for you last week, but I forgot to post it until now. Here it is, a little late:

This week will be relatively uneventful at school. In science, we are continuing our study of electricity and magnetism. We are getting to the exciting part where students get bring together these topics in a study of electromagnetism. We will be using experiments, demonstrations and videos to help the students understand this mysterious topic.

In math, we will be learning about two-digit column multiplication, area and perimeter. We did start our study of two-digit column multiplication last week, and we did so by breaking these complicated problems into parts and the putting those parts together in a column. For example, with 245 x 13, we multiplied 245 by 3 first. Then we multiplied it by 10 and added the products of these problems to get the answer to 245 x 13.  I then showed the students how to put all three of these problems together into a traditional two digit column multiplication format, the same format you all learned in school. From now on, this traditional format is the format expected when students see multiplication problems where both factors have two or more digits. Most of the students understand this, but in case your student starts doing the three step process at home, feel free to correct them!

We will be having test in math and science next week. Our science test will be on electricity and magnetism. Our math test will be on factors, multiples, multiplying round numbers, and column multiplication. Study guides and more information will be included on the blog post for this upcoming weekend.

I did send home multiplication logs in an updated format this week. I hope it is now clear how students’ flashcard practice is to be recorded. Additionally, I would like to remind parents that online homework completion is being recorded as part of the students’ grades. It is not optional. Students who don’t do online homework or do very little online homework do receive zeros for missing that work, just like they would for any other assignment. I am creating a log so that parents will be able to have records of the grades assigned for online homework completion. These logs will be sent home in their Friday folders next week. Hopefully, this will ensure better communication about homework completion and what students overall grades are likely to be.

I did mention that we would be doing a geology project when we start our geology unit. That will not be for another two and a half weeks, but in case you would like to start shopping for supplies early, here is the list: 1. A can of red play-dough  2. A can of yellow play-dough  3. A can of orange play-dough  4. A can of black or brown play-dough (one or the other; not both) 5. A can of blue play-dough  6. A metal or metal-looking bead at least a ¼ inch in diameter (to be the earth’s iron core)  7. A black Sharpie for writing labels   8. A green Sharpie for drawing land masses

This week, students should be on the lesson, Formulas for the Areas and Perimeters of Squares and Rectangles in guided study, but they should not go past it. If they are still working on column multiplication or properties of multiplication, they are behind.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please get in touch by sending a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 11

Dear Parents,

It was good to meet with so many of you in conferences and talk about how to help your students succeed. There were a few of you we didn’t get to meet during conference week, but conference week is certainly not the only time we can meet with you! If you would like to meet with us and you have not yet mentioned it to me or Mr. Ohbayashi, please send us a message through Jupiter Ed, and we will be happy to arrange a time to meet.

A common theme I heard from many of you in conference week is how you are not looking through your fourth graders’ homework in great detail any more. Rather you are going over their homework briefly to make sure your students are completing it, answering in complete sentences, showing math steps, and handing in their work. In this way, you are trying to help your students develop a sense of responsibility for their work. Of course every student and family has different needs. However, developing a more mature sense of responsibility in our fourth grade students is one of the main things we as teachers are trying to accomplish to prepare the students for fifth grade and middle school. It was great to hear that so many of you were on the same page with us even before conference week. Thank you for all your support. This is truly shaping up to be an amazing year.

There were a few questions raised that were also common in conference week, and I will be devoting some space to them in this post and in my next few posts. Probably the most frequent questions were regarding online homework. First, how do you know if students are making progress in the RM system, especially when they are doing homework? My first answer to this question is that accuracy trumps speed. The most important measures of success in the RM program are how many problems the students get right and how challenging the problems they get right are.

These two goals are linked in the system because students earn the right to work challenging problems within the RM system by doing well on the easier ones. Furthermore, the more accurate your students are during a lesson, the less time they have to spend on review in Wall of Mastery. Students who work slowly through a lesson but are very accurate will find that when they get to Wall of Mastery, many of the problem sets in Wall of Mastery are already marked complete, even though they haven’t worked on them yet. This is because a student who is very accurate and careful needs much less review than a student who works too quickly. Basically, accuracy on problems in Guided Study will give students the opportunity to be exposed to more challenging problems in Guided Study and will also reduce their workload in Wall of Mastery.

Please keep in mind, then, that when we discuss the RM program, accuracy should be your main goal for your students. Sometimes, very strong math students actually go through the program more slowly than weaker students because the stronger students are working slowly and accurately and earning the chance to work on more difficult problems while some of the weaker students may be rushing ahead.

Of course, the school year is not infinite and the students do need to complete the program within the year. This is why I mention on my blog what lessons students should be working on in Guided Study, to make sure they do not get behind. I also mention what lesson they should not go past in order to keep them from moving too quickly.

A number of parents have asked me where they should look to figure out what lesson their student is doing. I tried to describe it, but I think the simplest way is just to show you. Please take a look at the following screenshot. In between the red banner that says “Guided Study” and the orange bar labelled “Problem: Level A” there are some very faint letters that say, “Properties of Multiplication.” That is the lesson this student is on. You can always find what lesson your student is working on in Guided Study by looking at the fain letters directly beneath the banner. I’m sure you find them annoyingly faint. I agree, but unfortunately, I can’t change it.

If your student is working in Wall of Mastery instead of Guided Study, the words “Wall of Mastery” will appear at the top of the screen instead if “Guided Study.”

Notice also the words “Level A” on the orange bar at the top of the screen. That refers to how challenging the problems are. Level A is easiest, Level B is medium, and Level C is most challenging. All students start with A level problems, but if they get at least 70% of them correct, they earn the right to work on B and C level problems.

This week, students should be starting on the lesson, “Column Multiplication by a One Digit Number” on Monday night, if not before. If they are not on this lesson by Monday night, they are behind their class. They should not go past the objective “Column Multiplication by a Two Digit Number.” If they are past this lesson working on “Formulas for the Area and Perimeter of Squares and Rectangles” or anything related to division they are too far ahead! They should go to Wall of Mastery.

One note on discipline for the week: We have had repeated problems with students taking the sticky-tack off the name-tags on their own desks and off the name- tags on other students’ desks. This is destructive and disrespectful to classrooms which all the students share. The name tags are necessary, and it is impossible to get them to stick on the students’ desks with anything else like tape. (We have tried.) Taking the sticky-tack is really stealing whether the students realize it or not. It is expensive and we can’t keep replacing it. Further, when the name tags fall on the floor they sometimes end up getting destroyed. Students end up using the sticky-tack/putty as a toy with which to distract themselves in class, which is another problem. Several students who have been playing with sticky-tack/putty in class have claimed that they brought it from home. However, as name tags are repeatedly found on the floor stripped of sticky-tack, it is becoming obvious that students caught playing with sticky-tack are not getting it from home.

We have addressed the problem several times with both classes, but Mr. Ohbayashi, our dean of students, has decided that from now on students who caught playing with stick-tack/putty at school will receive an automatic detention. Students who take sticky-tack/putty off the name tags on the desks will also receive an automatic detention. While I think it is unlikely that any of the students are actually getting the sticky-tack/putty from home, if they are please have them stop because from now on they can receive a detention for bringing it. We are sorry to have to resort to drastic measures in this case, but we are hoping that the prospect of a detention will deter students without us actually having to give them a detention over sticky-tack.

In science, we will be studying electricity and magnets for the rest of this week and most of next week. After that we will move into states of matter and geology. The students will be assigned a geology project to be completed at home during the first week of their study of geology (three weeks from now). They will be making a model of the layers of the earth as their science homework for that week. This should hopefully be fun and it will help to give them a physical connection to something they can’t see. It is also great exposure to different ways of thinking scientifically; scientists often build models to help them understand facts and theories better.

 If you would like to start shopping for supplies for the science project early, here is the list: 1. A can of red play-dough  2. A can of yellow play-dough  3. A can of orange play-dough  4. A can of black play-dough  5. A can of blue play-dough  6. A metal or metal-looking bead at least a ¼ inch in diameter (to be the earth’s iron core)  7. A black Sharpie for writing labels   8. A green Sharpie

These are all the note I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Wycklendt

Conference Week

Dear Parents,

I hope you got some time to have fun and relax with your students during fall break! I got to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time on my break. (I am not an Arizona native.) It was truly awe-inspiring, especially at sunset. It seemed like every time I moved to view the canyon at a new angle, a totally new landscape was revealed. I’m sure most of you have gone to the Grand Canyon before, and you are definitely blessed to have seen it. If you haven’t, go! You will not regret it.

As you are surely aware, this upcoming week is parent-teacher conference week. I am looking forward to sitting down with you all and discussing how we can support your students this year. Our priority is first to listen and respond to anything you wish to discuss. The evals are typically the basis for our side of the conversation, although we may have a few additional points to raise for some students. Please come early for your conferences because we do have conferences scheduled back-to-back all afternoon Monday-Thursday.

 All school days this week are half days, with pick-up starting at 12:00pm. There is no lunch time on half days and hence no hot lunch—not even for Athenaeum students. If your students are in Athenaeum, please make sure they bring a lunch.

Please remember that shorts are only allowed as part of the uniform for first and fourth quarters. Since we are now in second quarter, only pants and skirts are allowed now. Last year there was some confusion about other aspects of the dress code for cold weather, so here is a quick review: No boots may be worn; only solid black or solid white tennis shoes or dress shoes are allowed.  Students may wear fleeces or jackets that are not navy uniform ones outdoors only. Indoors they must wear uniform fleeces, sweaters, or long-sleeved polos. If students wish to wear undershirts for extra warmth, they may do so as long as the undershirt is not sticking out of their uniform shirt (i.e. no turtlenecks and no long-sleeved undershirts worn under short-sleeved uniform shirts.) Girls may wear knee socks or tights for warmth with skirts. These may be black, navy, or white. Girls may not wear leggings for warmth even when the leggings are paired with socks of the same color.

Because of the half days, we will only have one math class each day in the classroom. We will not be going into math lab. I will still be assigning some online math homework. Students may complete the lesson, “Properties of Multiplication” but they should not go past it. If they are in “Column Multiplication by a One-Digit Number” or “Column Multiplication by a Two-Digit Number” they should stay out of Guided Study and should go to Wall of Mastery instead.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. I look forward to meeting with you.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Last Week of First Quarter! Math and Science Test Guides!

Dear Parents,


I cannot believe we are already in the last week of the quarter. Can you? To me, it seems like time has flown by, but of course, the students have managed to pack a lot of learning into this time.

We do have a test in math on Thursday and another one in science on Wednesday. I have included study guides below my signature line. However, I am going to make the rest of this message short and sweet because the study guides do take a lot of time for me to write and (I have heard) for you to read.

The science test is going to be short, more like an extended quiz. I say this to help calm any nerves before the test, especially since the students have multiple tests this week. I still expect students to study for it and do their best work, of course. Students should focus particularly on neutrons and the nucleus because these areas that a large number of the students have been prone forget.

The math test is on substituting numbers in expressions with letters and finding the value of unknown letters in equations. The most common mistake I see here is that students try to solve the equations by a simple law of opposites. Because they must subtract to solve addition equations, they think they must always add to solve equations. This works for unknown minuends, but not for unknown subtrahends, Students that always perform opposite operations to solve for unknown letters will therefore get about 30% of their equations wrong.

The last quiz before test is generally a good predictor of how well your student understand the material for a test in my classes. I am sending the quiz on substituting letters for numbers and solving for unknown letters home in Monday folders this week. I am also sending the science quiz on atoms and charges home. You can use the quizzes to help gauge what your child needs to study.

Students do need to have all their homework turned in by Thursday morning in order for it to be counted into their final grades. This includes absent work, try again assignments, and any other assignments that might be missing.

Don't forget that students have off on Friday. There is no school in order to give teachers more time to write insightful evaluations for your students' report cards. We often have a few students attempting to come to school on days they have off, so this is a friendly reminder.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please feel free to send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Sincerely,


Miss Wycklendt

Study Guide for Atoms and Electric Charges

Students should know:

1.       Parts of the atom: Protons and neutrons are particles that are packed together at the center of the atom. This tightly packed group of protons and neutrons is called the nucleus. Protons and neutrons do not move. Electrons orbit the nucleus. They are the only atomic particles that move. They are not in the nucleus.

2.       Students should be able to draw and label the atom diagram we have been using in class. Their diagram should include electrons, protons, neutrons, and the nucleus.

3.       Atomic charges: Protons have a positive charge symbolized by =. Electrons have a negative charge symbolized by -. Neutrons have a neutral charge which does not require a symbol.

4.       Atomic attractions: Opposite charges attract similar to the way opposite sides of Velcro attract. Same charges repel, that is, push each other away. Electrons attract protons and vice-versa. Electrons repel other electrons. Protons repel other protons. Neutrons do not have a charge. They neither attract nor repel electrons, protons, or other neutrons.

5.       Atomic states: When there are more electrons than protons in an atom, that atom has a negative state. When there are more protons than electrons in an atom, that atom has a positive state. When there are equal numbers of protons and electrons an atom, that atom has a neutral state. Students should be able to give examples of each state and recognize examples of each state.

Study guide for Math Test on Expressions with Letters and Equations

1. Students should understand that a letter can be used to stand for a number in various kinds of math problems. When we have a mathematical expression with one or more letters and no = sign, we can assign the letters any value. However in a given problem. the letter must stand for one and only one value. 

2. Students should be able to substitute given numbers for letters and then evaluate the expressions. They should be familiar with the term "evaluate" in this context. For example, 100 - c when c = 25. 100 - 25 = 75. 

3.Students should be able to evaluate similar expressions with letters when they contain more than one letter. They should also be able to evaluate expressions with letters when those expressions include operations in parenthesis. The rule is that we always do operations in parentheses first, and then we do operations outside the parentheses from left to right. For example, h - (67 + f) when h = 100 and f = 3. Substituting, we get 100 - (67 + 3). 67 + 3 = 70. 100 - 70 = 30. 

4. Students should be able to find what an expression would equal when they are given two different values for it; they should be able to solve the problems in two different ways. For example, 48 + x. Evaluate it when x = 10 and when x - 22. 48 + 10 = 58. 48 + 22 = 70.

5. Students should be able to solve equations with letters standing for unknown numbers when the unknown number is a summand of an addition problem, a minuend of a subtraction problem, and a subtrahend of a subtraction problem. (Please see the math study guide below my signature in the week 7 blog post for definitions of these terms.)

6. To solve an equation with an unknown summand, subtract the other summand from the sum. For example, 475 + R = 508. 508 -475 = 33. R = 33 Check by substituting 33 for R and evaluating the expression 475 + 33 = 508, so 33 is definitely the correct answer.

7. To solve an equation with an unknown minuend, add the subtrahend and the difference. F + 67 = 110. 110 - 67 = 43. Check by substituting 43 for F. 110 - 43 = 67, so 43 is definitely the right answer.

8. To solve an equation with an unknown subtrahend, subtract the difference from the minuend. For example, 57 - L = 14. 57 - 14 = 43. Check by substituting 43 for L in the original expression. 57 - 43 = 14, so 14 is definitely correct. 

9. Students do not need to check every equation by substitution as a formal step, but it is extremely helpful to their accuracy when they do so. 

10. Students should be able to solve equations when the unknown letter is in parentheses. The trick here is to understand that the whole expression in parentheses is an unknown value. You have to solve for the value of the expression in parentheses before solving for the letter itself. For example, (95 + G) - 75 = 40 You don't know what G is, therefore, you don't know what 95 + G is. 95 + G is your first unknown value, and it is a minuend. Following the rule for finding unknown minuends, 75 + 40 = 115. 95 + G is the minuend, so 95 + G = 115. G is now an unknown summand of the addition problem 95 + G = 115. Solve by applying the rule for unknown summands. 115 - 95 =  20. Therefore, G = 20. You can, of course, check this by substituting 20 for G in the original expression and evaluating it.