Hello Families!
Packet
This week your child will be working through an at-home work packet. In creating it, the 4th grade team tried to do so with the idea that your child would be able to do it independently. However, I’m sure there will be parts that you may need to support them on—especially math if they can’t remember how to solve certain problems. However, please know that what we are looking for next week is effort on your child’s part.
The packet was sent to you digitally Friday by the front office staff. If your family has opted for a physical copy, Mr. Gillingham has sent out directions on how to receive that packet Monday morning. If you fail to receive an email and are not picking up a copy Monday, please let me know, and I will happily email you a copy.
Communication
I wanted to let you know that next week, Mrs. Baugh or I will be reaching out to you via phone. We want to make sure we are staying in close communication with you and your child during this time going forward. Next week, Mrs. Baugh will call half the class, and I will call the other half. If the school closings run longer, we will alternate back and forth. Mrs. Baugh's number is 480-331-8711 . My phone number is 480-630-9618. The conversations will likely be short. Our goal is just to touch base, let you know we are here to help, and possibly to have a conversation with your child to help maintain that personal relationship.
If you have a question or concern, please feel free to call myself or Mrs. Baugh for help and/or clarification. Please call during regular school hours, 8-3. If we are not available, please leave a message and we will call you back at our earliest convenience. You can also email at any time, and we can respond via email or you can request a phone call in response.
Additional Resources
Below are some additional resources. The first one is the Great Hearts Coronavirus page. I expect any important information regarding school closures and procedures to be addressed on this page. If you have any questions right now, check out the FAQ on that page. Next is Khan Academy. Your child should know their login information. If they don’t, let me know and I will send that to you. This is an additional resource for your child. They are not expected to do this in addition to the packet. Xtra Math is something they have done for much of the year. I’ve sent home flyers so students can do this at home as well. If you need a flyer with your child’s specific login information, please let me know. Typing Quest is an online typing program that they have used this year. They need to use the specific url I’ve provided. If they can’t remember their username and password, let me know. I’ve also linked LibriVox, which has many audiobooks for books that are in the public domain. I wouldn’t let your child just go searching for books because they have books for both children and adults.
Lessons
Math: This week, students will spend time reviewing concepts they have already learned this year. The first worksheet for each day is a math facts review worksheet. The next page is four word problems. We recommend that students use bar models to help them solve these. The third page is the more difficult of the three pages. This is a collection of different kinds of problems the students have worked on this year. Students will have math work every day of the week.
History: In history, students will be covering the first two chapters of the unit on the United States Constitution. The first chapter, “The Idea of Self Rule,” is followed by a page of fill in the blank and short answer questions. The second chapter, “New Constitutions for the States,” follows the same pattern. This week, students will only have history on Monday and Thursday.
Writing: For writing, students will take the information that they learned in history by reading the pages and answering the questions to formulate a response to two writing prompts. Monday’s writing prompt is “Jefferson’s third important idea about government was ‘If the people do not give their consent that the government can have this or that power, then the government does not have it.’ What does this mean? Do you agree or disagree? What powers should the government have, and how does this relate to the idea of ‘Limited Government’? Please answer in at least 5-7 sentences.” Thursday’s writing prompt is “What does the word ‘democracy’ mean? Did the individual states create a true democracy as a model for their state constitutions? Why or why not? Please answer in at least 5-7 sentences with examples from the text.” Students should take the information from the readings and develop their own answers to these questions. This week, students will only have writing on Monday and Thursday.
Spalding: In Spalding this week, students will learn two new words a day Monday through Thursday. They will write the word three times with syllable breaks. For example, for the word chorus, they will write “cho rus” three times. They will then write a sentence using that word. The sentence should demonstrate an understanding of the word’s meaning. A poor sentence would be, “The word chorus starts with a c.” A good sentence would be, “The school chorus sang during our spring concert.” After learning the two new words, there are phonograms for that day. It is recommended that a parent help with these. On Friday, the assignment is to write a new sentence that demonstrates an understanding of the words’ meanings for all of the words.
Literature: Students will read the first two chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this week. Both chapters are in the packet, but students may use their own copies of the book if you have it. On Monday, students will read and annotate the first chapter, “The Cyclone.” We recommend that the child annotate the chapters as they read because they will be expected to write a summary on the following day. Thus, on Tuesday, the students will write a summary of chapter one. On Wednesday, students will read and annotate chapter two, “The Council with the Munchkins.” On Thursday, students will write a summary of chapter two. On Friday, the students will read a story called, “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” Following their reading of the story, they will answer three review questions in complete sentences.
Reading Comprehension: Each day, the lessons end with a reading comprehension worksheet. These are worksheets that your child has been doing throughout the year.
Science: The science lesson for the week will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The students will be reading articles on content that we have already covered, so these lessons will be both review and extensions of the content they have already been assessed on. Following each article are some multiple-choice questions. The Tuesday lesson also includes some short answer questions, which should be answered in complete sentences and vocabulary review. At the end of each science lesson is a matching exercise on past content to help students retain the lessons they studied earlier this year.
Grammar: The grammar lessons will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The grammar lessons for this week are paragraph edits that require students to read an error-filled paragraph to find and correct the mistakes.
