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Mrs. Porter & Mr. Barksdale
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Homework
Week of December 1st 

 

Spelling: We will be preparing for next week's High Frequency Words Test this week.  I will pick 30 of the hardest words off that list (especially words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like "their" and "there").  For your words this week, pick any 10 of the underlined words that you would like to practice.  Or, if you have not yet gotten all the way though your list, you should work on the next 10 words.

 

Monday

v    Spelling: ‚ÄúLook, Cover, Say, Write, Check‚Äù. Remember that any words that you missed on our last ‚ÄúBuddy Test‚Äù will go on your list for this week.

v    Reading: Please read independently for at least 15 minutes.  Remember to fill in your weekly reading log.

v    Math: Study Link 4.10

 

Tuesday

v    Spelling: ‚ÄúLook, Cover, Say, Write, Check‚Äù for all 10 words.

v    Reading: Please read independently for at least 15 minutes.  Remember to fill in your weekly reading log.

v    Math:  Review Sheet

 

Wednesday

v    Spelling: ‚ÄúMaking Connections‚Äù & get ready for tomorrow‚Äôs Buddy Test.

v    Reading: Please read independently for at least 15 minutes.  Remember to fill in your weekly reading log.

v    Math:  None (Progress Check Today)

v    Writing: Write an essay entry just like we have been doing in class.  You might start with what you notice and then write what this makes you think about.  You should not spend more than about 15 minutes on this.

 

Thursday

v    ‚ÄúLook, Cover, Say, Write, Check‚Äù for words that you missed on today‚Äôs buddy test.  The Buddy Re-Test is tomorrow!

v    Reading: Please read independently for at least 15 minutes.  Remember to fill in your weekly reading log.

v    Math: None (Pre-Assessment today).

Friday

v   There is no weekend homework in the 4th grade.


Dates to Keep in Mind:

Rocks  Project
(a.k.a. "Rock Query")

 

Our rocks have been at the center of our studies in science.  You have been observing them, wondering about them, and exploring their characteristics.

 

This week, as we complete our exploration of rocks and minerals, please do this:

A.   Choose one question you have about your rocks, the class rocks, or rocks and minerals in general.

B.   Think about this question through your observations, wonderings, and maybe even experimentations.  Please DO NOT use outside resources (books, internet, parents) other than our class Field Guides or www.rocksforkids.com to figure out what you think about it.  Instead, look at the rocks in our classroom, at your Learning Journal entries and drawings, and at the rocks that you come across in your everyday life.  You may  have already thought about your question, you may be just beginning to think about it.

C.   Use words and drawings to explain your thinking.

 

Please complete all of this on your Rock Query page.  Please plan on doing a rough draft and a final draft.  You will present your finished work to the class next Monday, November 3rd.


To play Everyday Mathematics Games online:

 


 

Note: If this is the first time EM Games is being run on this computer, click Technology Requirements, review the requirements, and run the Computer Test to ensure that the computer meets all the requirements to run EM Games Online.

 

2.  Click on At Home Login in the lower left hand corner.

 

3.  Type in your teacher's last name:

 

4.  Type in your name: First name space Last name

 

5.  Enter your password (see below) & click Start

 

6.  Click on Grades 4-6

                          

7.  Choose a game to play & click on the game icon.

 

* Note: Pop-up blocking MUST be disabled for www.emgames.com to work. Ask your parents to disable pop-ups for this website by clicking Preferences in the upper right hand corner of a game page, then click Allow Pop-ups. (Doing so will allow pop-ups for this site only & will not interfere with other preferences on your computer.)

 

8.  When finished playing a game, click Exit, then Back to choose another game.





About Our Classroom





Homework Policy

Completing homework assignments is essential to class participation.  If a student has not completed a homework assignment in a thoughtful way, he/she will not contribute to and benefit from classroom instruction as much as if it had been completed.  The following is a list of expectations for nightly homework assignments:

-    Students are expected to try hard on each homework assignment. 

-    If a student is struggling to complete a particular assignment, he or she should work on it for about 20 minutes.  A parent-signed note that says something like "My child worked on the math for 20 minutes, but was confused by questions 4-8," should accompany the incomplete assignment to class the next day.

-    If a student does not complete an assignment for reasons that are out of his or her control, please send in a note with your child or email me before school the following day.

-    If a student forgets to do an assignment, he or she will need to write a note to me.  This note will explain two things:

o      Why the homework was not completed, and

o      What the student will do to try and make sure that same thing does not happen again. 

This note will then be returned home to be signed by a parent or guardian and returned to me the next day, along with the completed assignment.
Learning Journals

The Learning Journal is a place for students to write about what they are learning.  It is as much for writing about what has already been learned as it is for writing about what is being learned.  As such, it is a place for students to wonder, to puzzle, to consider, to report, to speculate, to imagine, and to do anything else involved in the developing of an understanding. 

While it is important that these thoughts are written down, it is not necessary that it is the learner who writes them.  Some people think better out loud, some people think better in their heads.  If a learner is of the "think out loud" type, it is fine for him or her to dictate a learning journal entry to an adult or a peer.  We call this person who writes for someone else a scribe, and it is crucial that scribes write only what they are told to write.  They will probably need to ask clarifying questions in order to find out exactly what the learner is trying to say, but the final words on the page should come from the learner.

Here is a possible way to structure a Learning Journal entry.  This structure is not required, but it can be useful.


I.  To begin...

-    I learned that...

-    I'm trying to figure out...

-    I feel good/unsure/upset about...

-    I noticed that...

-    It is interesting that...

-    I wonder about...

-    I am struggling with...

-    I am confused by...

II.  And then...

-    Then...

-    This is because...

-    In addition, ...

-    Something else I noticed was...

-    This reminds me of...

-    On the other hand... (However/but...)

-    It is interesting that...

III.  And so...

-    This makes me think/realize/wonder...

-    So, ...

-    Because of this, ...

-    Still, I am wondering (interesting in, confused by, struggling with, etc)...

Any of these suggestions can be used at any point in the writing of a Learning Journal entry (beginning, middle, or end) to help learners write more about their thinking.  As for length, entries should be long enough to explain a thought.  They need to be at least three sentences at the beginning of the year, but this minimum will increase as the year progresses.
Spelling

In spelling, we will be working with the attached list of high frequency words until Thanksgiving.  The format we will use for this is called "Buddy Study". 

In Buddy Study, students:

-  work through the list at their own pace;

-  have weekly practice, quizzes and test with their buddies; and

-  are assessed by Mr. Barksdale when they reach the quarter points (every three columns) of the list.

 

There will be two kinds of spelling homework assignments:

v    "Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check",  where the student folds a piece of paper down the middle, unfolds it, then writes the week's word list accurately in the right hand column.  The word list will be made of the words circled from class on the High Frequency Words list.   Then, for each word, the student looks at the word, covers it by folding the left column back over it, says it, visualizes it, writes it in the new column, unfolds the paper to check the word, then writes it again on the back of the right column, repeating the sequence.

v   "Making Connections", where students write a new word that is somehow connected to a word on the week's word list.  Students think of a new word for each of their ten words on their list.  They make these connections by the way the words sound (phonetic connections; beginning, ending sounds, rhymes, homonyms), look (visual patterns), or mean (synonyms, antonyms).


The weekly spelling routine is as follows:



Monday


School: Buddy gives spelling test from "High Frequency Words" list until student misspells 8 words.  There are also 2 class-wide vocabulary words.

Homework: "Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check" for all 10 words.



Tuesday


School: Buddy checks homework and gives a spelling quiz on the 10 words.

Homework: "Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check" for all 10 words.

 

Wednesday

School: No spelling work in class today.

Homework: "Making Connections" for all 10 words

 

Thursday

School: Buddy Test on the week's word list.

Homework: "Look, Cover, Say, Write, Check" for the words that were missed on the Buddy Test.

 

Friday

School: Buddy Re-test on missed words from Thursday's test.  Any of the 8 spelling words that are missed automatically go on next week's word list.

 






Attention!

 

Eating a good breakfast everyday is an essential part of being well prepared for school!  Serving a good breakfast is one of the best ways you can make sure your child has the energy to pay attention and learn.

~~

 

 

A good breakfast is made of 4 things:

 

1.     good protein (eggs, nuts, 1-2% milk, cheese, yogurt)

2.   good fat (olive oil, nuts, peanut butter/almond butter, avocado)

3.   complex carbohydrates (whole-grain breads, non-instant oatmeal, whole-grain cereals), and

4.   a vegetable or fruit.

~~

 

 

Some menu ideas that cover the basics:

v   Breakfast Burrito (eggs, cheese, salsa, whole-wheat tortilla)

v   Yogurt with blueberries and nuts

v   High Protein cereal with fruit on top and 1-2% milk (not skim milk)

v   1 or 2 eggs, whole-grain toast, Canadian bacon, orange juice

v   French toast with berries on top

v   Whole-grain toast with peanut butter or almond butter on top along with a banana or apple (a sliced apple is often more appealing than a whole apple)

v   Oatmeal (non-instant) with 1-2% milk and fruit and/or nuts on top

Reading Recommendations


Recommendations made by incoming 4th graders:

Pigs Might Fly (David)
Bone (Owen)
Harry Potter 7 (Avery)
Bone Series (Ryan)
Redwall Series (Ben)
The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles (Isabella)
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Joes)
Warriors (Charley)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Caleb)
Storm Breaker (Galen)
Black Beauty (Lindsey)
Black Stallion (Reannon)
Baby Mase (Rachel)
Baby School Books (Bella)
Because of Winn-Dixie (Marisal)
Coyote Autumn (Victoria)
Calvin and Hobbes (Jake)
Hatchet (Alex)
Sixth Grade Secrets (Samantha)
The Secret School (Maddy)
Shiloh (Grady)


Recommendations made by Mr. Barksdale's  4th Grade Class, '07/'08


Title:          Series of the Unfortunate Events        

Author:                Lemony Snikit

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:         Makenzie

Klous, Vilet and Sunny, three veary unforchenet kids.   They have to travel around all different family members because there parents are dead.  One veary poticular member is taking them to get their forchen.

 

 

 

Title:          The Wizard's Map

Author:                Jane Yolen

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Makenzie

The wizards map is full of mistery and danger.  Disappearing arrives when a grate wizard takes the youngest child Molly for aranging one map that can change the world.  Bed a use of the disaperants of Molly, Peter and Jennifer tray to Deston the grate wizard.

 

 

 

Title:          Sarah Plane and Tall

Author:                Patricia Malachlan

Genre:                  Non Fiction

Reviewed by:              Hannah

This book is about a family a long time ago going threw hard times and going threw ruff patches, but at the end of the day everything is okay.




Title:            The Penderwicks

Author:                Jeanne Birdsall

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Ali

 

The Penderwicks is a book about four sisters who go to Arundle Hall with their father for the Summer.  They meet a boy named Jeffrey, but when Jeffrey's mom meets the Perderwicks, she doesn't want him to hang out with the four girls.

 


Title:          Island of the Aunts

Author:                Eva Ibbotson

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Ali

Island of the Aunts is a book about a few children that get kidnapped by old women and get taken to an island so they can do chores.  They treat the children nicely, but when the kids don't do anything to help, they have to work harder to save the creatures.

 

 

Title:          All American Girl

Author:                Meg Cabot

Genre:                  Realistic Fiction

Reviewed by:              Maggie

This book is about a girl named Samantha Madison.  Samantha lives in Washington, DC, hates taking German and loves art.  One day after Samanthat skips art class she saves the President of the United States.  Samantha becomes a hero and gets to do lots of cool stuff and also she loves the president's son.

 

 

Title:          Harry Potter and the Prisiner of Azkaban

Author:                J.K. Rowling

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Aiden

This book is very adventurous and is one of the best books I have ever read in my life.  It is about a boy named Harry who is always being adventurous.

 

Title:          Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author:                J.K. Rowling

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Aiden

This book is about a boy named Harry who is corages when he sneaks past evil creatures that could kill him.

 

Title:          Prince Caspian

Author:                C.S. Lewis

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Emma

This book is about a new prince that comes into Narnia.  The pevensies are called back into Narnia. 

 

Title:          The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Author:                C.S. Lewis

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Emma

This book is about a family going through a wardrobe that is taken over by a mean white witch.  But the king of Narnia Casian returns. 

 

Title:          The Coffin Quilt

Author:               

Genre:                  Non Fiction

Reviewed by:              Hannah

This book is about the feud between the McCoys and the .  Everything ends in terrible tragerty, but is a good lesson.

 

Title:          Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Author:                J.K. Rowling

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Hannah

This book is only the start of harry going and trying to track down someone evil and kill him.

 

Title:          Spiderwick Chronicles

Author:                Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Calvin

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fun, fun, fun adventure book that you will love, with all its exciting moments and when they find creatures.

 

Title:          NBA Reader, Tim Duncan

Author:                Scott Howard Cooper

Genre:                  Bio

Reviewed by:              Calvin

If you follow the NBA, you will surely love this biography of Tim Duncan and how he became a star.

 

Title:          NBA Reader, Lebron James

Author:                James Hareas

Genre:                  Bio

Reviewed by:              Calvin

This biography of Lebron James is a thrilling ride of his journey of becoming an NBA star with his team in Cleveland.

 

Title:          The Twits

Author:                Ronald Dahl

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Corey

This book is about two twits.  Mr. Twit and Mrs. Twit doing nasty tricks on each other and a trick done on them.

 

Title:          The Witches

Author:                Ronald Dahl

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Corey

This book is about a boy who loses his parents.  He goes to live with his Grandma who tells him all about real witches, but most of all the grand high witch.



Title:          Each Little Bird That Sings

Author:                Deborah Whiles

Genre:                  Realistic Fiction

Reviewed by:              Jennifer

This book is about a girl who owns a funeral home so most of her family dyes.  Does she loose everything for her best friend to her dog.






Title:          Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules

Author:               

Genre:                  Realistic Fiction

Reviewed by:              Dylan

This book is about a kid who is pushed around by his brother Rodrick.  He really dislikes being pushed around, but he gets used to it.  The characters are Gregory (wimpy kid) Manny (little brother), Rodrick (older brother), Rowley (Gregory's friend) and Gregory's Mom and Dad.

 


Title:          Magyk

Author:                Angie Sage

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Camilla

Magyk is a book about a boy named Septumus and his family and is adopted sister.  Magyk is also about magic (it is sort of obvious) but it is not the kind of pulling the rabbit out of the hat kind, you will have to read the book to find out about Magyk.

 

Title:          Charlie Bone

Author:                Jenny Nimmo

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Camilla

The Charlie Bone is about a boy named Charlie Bone and he is enchanted.  What I mean by enchanted is that he has special powers to do stuff and if you want to find out what kind of powers he has, you will have to read the book to find out.

Title:          Vacation on Volcano

Author:               

Genre:                 

Reviewed by:              Nicolas

Jack and Anie try to find a mistry.  Jack and Anie stay in a hotel.  They try to save the world.




Title:          Charlie Bone and the Timetwister

Author:                Jenny Nimmo

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Jennifer

This book is about a boy who goes to a magic school.  This school is for the endowed.  Children just like Charlie, but when his long los cousin went back in time, bad things start to happen.

 

Title:          Fantasy Woriors

Author:               

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Nathan

This book is a book of cats fighting and destroying other cats.

 



Title:          Spiderwick

Author:                Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Nathan

This is a mystical book about ogers and dragons and other mystical creatures.

 

Title:          Series of the Unfurtunite Events        

Author:                Lemony Snikit

Genre:                  Fiction

Reviewed by:              Olivia

The Baudelaire children are very unfortunate.  They live with Count If, then with uncle Monry.  I wonder who they'll live with next?

 

Title:          Harry Potter

Author:                J.K. Rowling

Genre:                  Fantasy

Reviewed by:              Olivia

Harry potter has a very terrible life when he lives with the Durshey's.  He is very unfortunate just like the Baudelaires.

 


Title:          Urchin of the Riding Stars

Author:                M.I. McAllister