March 2023 4th Grade Newsletter
Important Dates & Reminders
- March 2: Early Release
- March 3: No school for students
- March 8: Family Market
- March 8: Interim reports in Wednesday folders
- April 12: Field Trip to Huntley Meadows -- permission forms coming home in March
Please have your child leave their smart watch at home or in their backpack before coming to school.
Students need to read for 15-20 minutes every day at home.
Encourage students to practice their multiplication facts each day for 10 minutes.
Attendance
Attendance is extremely important for our students. Students should come to school as much as possible. Our updated attendance form not only permits you to report and all day absence but also a late arrival or early dismissal. Remember to submit absences:
When reporting a student's absence, please be specific about the reason why your child will not be attending school today.
Language Arts
What we learned this month:
This past month we have been working on using a critical lens to read books.
- We are focusing on the author's choice and author’s purpose - why did the author make certain decisions in the book?
- We have also been writing our own persuasive essays and working on convincing other classmates of our opinions.
What will be learning next month:
Next month we will be doing research projects:
- The students will complete this school-based project about a topic of their choice related to the 4th grade content.
- We will go through the whole research cycle and the students will produce a poster at the end of the unit about what they have researched.
Math
What we learned this month:
- This past month we finished decimals and are finishing up multiplication/division.
- We have been identifying strategies and number sentences for word problems and solving 2 by 2 digit multiplication problems.
What we will be learning next month:
Next month we will be working on adding and subtracting fractions in word problems.
Advanced Math
What we learned this month:
This month, students used their knowledge and understanding of equivalent fractions to add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators! Then, they applied that learning to multiplying fractions by whole numbers.
What we will be learning next month:
Next up, students will dive into algebraic reasoning! We will explore the language of algebra as they learn the meaning of a variable and apply this understanding to the translation of patterns and algebraic expressions and equations. It will be a fun unit!
Science
What we learned last month:
This past month we have been working on oceans:
- Learning the ocean floor, ocean organisms and their niches, salinity, and depth.
What we will be learning next month:
This month we will be continuing oceans and the different food webs/ecosystems and how weather affects the ocean.
Social Studies
After we complete our unit on oceans, we will begin learning about the Civil War and the impact the war had on various groups in Virginia.