Mrs. Ball

After a couple of catch up weeks, we are back on track. The kids will be coming home with Math 4 Today and new spelling words for Friday. Also, instead of timings on multiplication facts, the kids are bringing home double digit problems. We are learning a strategy called the “box method” and will be moving into the traditional method we learned later in the week.

Please let me know if you haven’t seen the pink book project form for Feb/March. This involves reading a nonfiction book, then putting together a presentation of some sort. It could be a poster, demonstration, video…have fun with this one!

There is never a dull moment in fourth grade!  We’ve been busy learning about Washington’s climate, building circuits, and figuring out strategies for solving two-digit by one -digit multiplication problems.  In reading we are working on the strategy of making inferences and Mrs. Otteson has helped with narrative writing to give me time to conduct some mid-year reading assessment.  Ask about our bad day stories!

You probably noticed a change in homework assignments the past week or so.  I decided to take a pause in Math 4 Today to spend extra time on skills the kids were struggling with.  Thanks to the help of Mrs. Schatz and Mrs. Otteson, we’ve been able to do a lot od reteaching and clarifying in small group settings.   Math $ Today will resume after the four day weeks.

Spelling is also slightly different during these short weeks.  We are working on strategies for reading and spelling multisyllabic words.  The kids are busy breaking down compound words, looking for prefixes & suffuxes, and finding syllables.  Normal spelling will resume after the four day weeks, so don’t expect any spelling words until then.   With all the midyear assessment going on, it’s been nice to take a break from a couple of weekly assessments.

Welcome to Jacie Lickfold, who is an EWU education student working in our classroom.  She will be student teaching with me next winter.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns!

We are in the middle of some exciting investigations into magnetism
and electricity. The kids should be able to talk to you about magnetic force and building a circuit. They are having a blast with it!