Ms. York's Fourth Grade

Open House ’12

MsYork — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:55:48 +0000

Mark your calendars! This year’s Open House is taking place on Wednesday, May 23rd from 6:30-7:30 PM. We’ll have a jelly bean contest, photo slideshow, work on the walls, and loads of fun! See you soon!

“Too Cool for School!”

MsYork — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:27:27 +0000

What have we learned this year? So many things! Our class list was so easy to create; we took up three whole pages! Graphing, fractions, photosynthesis, summary writing, area and perimeter, static electricity, estimating, punctuation, compare/contrast, cause and effect, food webs, long division, parts of speech, the regions of California, conductors and insulators, negative numbers, decimals, temperature, producers/consumers/decomposers, parts of a textbook, math clue words, … the list went on and on and ON!

Below, you’ll find a few of our ice cream creations to showcase some of our favorite reasons for being “Too cool for school!” Come join us at Open House to see the rest!

By the Great Horn Spoon!

MsYork — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:40:22 +0000

Tomorrow, we’re going to begin reading about the adventures of Praiseworthy and Master Jack in Sid Fleischman’s By the Great Horn Spoon! This novel is a perfect accompaniment to our current study of the pioneers and future study of the California Gold Rush. If you’d like to explore the book in order to help your child, the following site may help keep everyone on track: By the Great Horn Spoon! A Gold Rush Adventure

Who Was ______? (Biography Project)

MsYork — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:04:49 +0000

Our class has begun our biography projects! Years ago, we were fortunate enough to have a collection of the “Who Was _____?” biography series donated to our classroom via DonorsChoose. Last week, each student chose and began reading a biography. Students should finish reading their books and taking their notes by the end of this week. For this project, students will read their biography, take notes on the cardstock bookmarks provided (see below if you need another), write three full paragraphs, draw a portrait of their subject, and create a poster with all of the above information. These criteria are outlined in the letter below.

I will provide the necessary materials as well as some time in class to complete the project. Some reading, note taking, and paragraph editing will be done at home. Please give your child support and guidance. Remind them to take many notes in order to facilitate the writing of their paragraphs! The due date will be May 17th (Please note the old due date, if you look at the letter link below. The pink copy you signed is correct — May 17th). Please contact me if you have any questions. Some examples from past years can be seen here.

Biography Report Parent Letter

Biography Bookmark Notes

Biography Outline — Early Life

Biography Outline — Successful Character Traits

Biography Outline — Accomplishments/Honors

Hungry? Have a “Synonym” Roll!

MsYork — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:32:57 +0000

STAR Testing Schedule and Practice

MsYork — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:16:33 +0000

Hello, all! As you know, Wilson students are in the process of preparing for the California Department of Education’s STAR Test. In fourth grade, we’re required to take both an English-Language Arts exam, as well as one for Math. The students have done a great job so far (we already took the writing portion of our test back in March)! Please make sure your child has plenty of rest each night and a healthy breakfast each morning. If you’d like to sample the style of these tests (not that you haven’t seen all the prep come home already, ), feel free to visit http://www.starsamplequestions.org.

Reminder: V.I.P. Club!

MsYork — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:27:03 +0000

Don’t forget to continue your goals in the V.I.P. (Very Intelligent Pupil) Club! There are so many questions that you likely already know! Nouns, verbs, synonyms, math fact families, place value charts, Native American tribes, … the list goes on! Remember, 16 stars places you on the Hall of Fame! You’ve got seven weeks left!

Spring into Reading over Spring Break!

MsYork — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:25:04 +0000

Each student has been asked to read one chapter book over Spring Break. 7.5 AR points will be a passing grade on Monday morning, April 16th! An A grade will be 10.0 points! See you soon!

Please use your spring cleaning time to search your home for any AR books from Wilson School! Each of Room 36′s books has a sticker, name stamp, and number on the back! Please return all books so that other students may enjoy them!

March ’12 Topics-of-Study

MsYork — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:59:44 +0000

Language Arts: Figurative Language, Essay Writing, Making Predictions, Following Multiple-Step Instructions

Figurative Language (notes), Fling the Teacher, Paint by Idioms, Batter Up, Idioms and Similes
Step Up to Writing (notes), How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay
Guess What Comes Next, Making Predictions

Mathematics: Order of Operations (PEMDAS), Coordinate Graphing, Number Lines + Review of Degrees/Turns

What is PEMDAS? (video), Operation Order, Order of Operations, Royal Rescue
Coordinate Graphing, What’s the Point?, Locate the Aliens, Billy Bug #2
Line Jumper, The Decimal Detectives, Find Grampy
Degrees and Turns Slideshow (notes), Angles (degrees), Banana Hunt, Degrees to Turns Converter

Social Studies: Chapter Three — Exploration and Early Settlements

Extra Credit Mission Project: My Mission, The California Missions, California Missions Foundation
Explorers/Newcomers, Settlements/Missions (vocabulary practice
Chapter Three Guideline Notes

Science: Chapter Six — Electricity

Chapter Six Resources
The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits, Conductors and Insulators, Series and Parallel Circuits, Building Circuits, Heat (movie), Light (movie), Electricity and Magnetism

Mission Project Due Date 2012

MsYork — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:24:24 +0000

The extra credit mission project due date has been postponed. Missions are now due at the start of the following week, on March 19th and 20th, instead of March 15th and 16th! This gives all students one extra weekend.