Mrs. Zinn Grade 4 St. isidore School
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Mrs. Zinn's January Newsletter
Important Dates:
Monday,January 7th: Return to school
Wednesday, January 9th: Fourth Grade Mass
Friday, January 18th: No School: Teacher Institute Day
Monday, January 21st: No School MLK DAY
Sunday, January 27th: Open House, Catholic School's Week begins
Thursday, January 31st: Family Mass and Potluck Dinner
Monday,January 7th: Return to school
Wednesday, January 9th: Fourth Grade Mass
Friday, January 18th: No School: Teacher Institute Day
Monday, January 21st: No School MLK DAY
Sunday, January 27th: Open House, Catholic School's Week begins
Thursday, January 31st: Family Mass and Potluck Dinner
Curriculum News:
Religion
When we return from break, we will be learning about the Epiphany. We will have a short prayer and blessing of the doorway into our classroom. Then we will move on to discussing how to make good choices, with our focus on working toward "the common good". The students will also learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. and his dreams for Black people in the 1960s. The children will be creating a "folder" listing Martin's dreams as well as their own dreams for their future.
math
We will continue to work on dividing larger numbers. Hopefully your child practiced this skill over the break. It was starting to "click" before Christmas! The Chapter 6 test is scheduled for Thursday. Then we will start a fun chapter on patterns, sequencing, input- output tables and order of operations. We continue to have timed multiplication and division tests. Please, also encourage your child to work in the IXL website. It is extremely helpful with so many skills to practice.
social studies
We are working in Chapter 7, which is our final chapter on the Southeast Region of the United States. Students need to memorize the States and capitals of this region by the week of January 14th. Our next region of study will be the Midwest. Bet we know a lot about that region! We will study Illinois during this time also. Your child will have an Illinois packet to complete. Much of this will be done in class, but some homework assignments will be given.
science
We become engineers when we return to school. We will be studying and building prototypes. Your child will learn about constraints and criteria as a part of designing an energy solution. These will be drawn out and then built in cooperative groups. The children will earn a grade for this assignment. Materials will be provided to them; much like STREAM!
language arts
We will be taking a break from our Wonders series for a few weeks to do a novel study. The class will read the book, Loser, by Jerry Spinelli. It is a wonderful book which teaches lessons on friendship, bullying, acceptance, and being true to yourself. My past classes have enjoyed this funny, thought provoking book. The students will keep a binder of all their assignments for the novel. Again, much of it will be done in class. They may take home the binders, but please make sure they bring them back to school every day! During the weeks we read Loser, there will be no spelling tests. We will have vocabulary words to learn during our novel study. They will be tested on these words. I will impress upon the children the importance of not reading ahead in the book! Please remind them of this if need be.
reminders
- If your child accumulates 5 Late Work Lunches, they will need to serve a detention. You will be notified through School Speak. If this happens you need to sign the report. All majors or minors will be sent through School Speak, and need to be signed in School Speak by a parent. Ask your child if he or she has needed to attend LWL, and ask them how many times they have gone. I tell them to write it in their assignment notebooks each time they go. Please check their notebooks daily.
- Please remind your children about being caring and kind to their friends and classmates. Our classroom is a place where all should feel safe and welcome. There have been a few instances of late, where a student or two has hurt by unkind words and actions. I have spoken to the children about this, and they know if it continues, parents will be contacted and minors will be written.
- I will no longer be reminding you of missing Mass Reflection Sheets. They are due no later than Tuesday every week. You will see a grade in School Speak at the end of the quarter. For example 9 returned out of 9 will be an "A". Some of the students have only turned in 3 or 4 this quarter. I have emailed those parents.
In closing, I would like to thank you all for the thoughtful Christmas gifts and for the prayers for my husband as he recovers from cardiac surgery. He is doing well! Prayers were heard!
I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy, 2019!
Mrs. Donna Zinn
I wish all of you a Happy, Healthy, 2019!
Mrs. Donna Zinn