Weekly News--February 23rd

Benson/Bodrick News

News from the 4th Grade

February 23, 2018

Math News

This week we continued comparing fractions using equivalent fractions and ordering fractions.  We took a little quiz on Thursday.  They were not very good.  I had several who did great on them, but a good portion make a lot of careless mistakes.  We took time in class today to go over these quizzes.  I will not be offering extra credit on them or a redo on them.  Each week students have a chance to earn 5 extra credit points by completing ALEKS.  I’m hoping that with the challenge below and seeing their scores today, many will choose to do at least 10 topics a week so they can receive extra credit.  

On Monday, we will begin adding and subtracting both fractions and mixed numbers.  We will work on this throughout next week.  This is Topic 12 in our Envisions textbook.  This can be accessed online at www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.

We will spend a good portion of this nine weeks on fractions.  Zearn is a math program that students have access to.  There are some great videos on fractions in Zearn and some great learning activities.  Students are always welcome to work on lessons in Zearn to help their understanding.

I have given students an ALEKS challenge.  I will still be giving a grade for topics completed in ALEKS each week.  However, if students complete at least 10 topics each week, for the next 3 weeks, they will also receive a great reward on Mondays.  I will count topics earned from Monday to Sunday each week.  Not only will this give them extra points for ALEKS if they meet the challenge, it will also help prepare them greatly for the MAP tests which will take place the first couple of weeks of March.

Please have your child practice their multiplication facts.  There are many games on www.multiplication.com that they would love to play that will help them.

If you still need to join Seesaw, please click here and follow the directions.

Science News

This week we started talking about inherited traits vs. learned behaviors.  We will continue to talk about these learned behaviors and inherited traits next week as well as some adaptations that plants and animals make to survive.  We will also start incubating our chickens on Thursday.  Hopefully we’ll be successful and in 3 weeks have some baby chicks!  Thanks to the Yeary family for donating our eggs.

ELA News

Next week is Dr. Seuss Week at BHE - a week long celebration of reading! In honor of this celebration, we will be reading and responding to some of Dr. Seuss’ most beloved pieces of literature. I am asking that by mid-week, your child find a childhood book that is near and dear to them, but appropriate for reading to younger children (a chapter book will not suffice) - as we will be visiting a younger bunch at the end of the week for buddy reading for Read Across America Day!   

WRITING BOOT CAMP will continue - Students will engage in an intensive week long teacher-led Text Dependent Analysis (TDA) writing lesson with lots of modeling and practice (Dr. Seuss Theme reading).

Special shout out the following Lexia Core 5 Completers!

• Emily Lancaster

The following students are almost there! Keep pushing: Thomas Bozard, Daija Caldwell, Liana Adams, Caroline Goff, Jake Gonzales, Jeremy Harris, Emerson Ramsdale, Darius Gatewood-White and Libby Lee

Social Studies News

This Week: Students reviewed the Causes of the American (the major political and economic factors leading to the American Revolution, including the French and Indian War, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, and Intolerable Acts as well as American resistance to these acts through boycotts, petitions, and congresses) and tested - those grades will be available over the weekend in Parent Portal.

Next Week: The Declaration of Independence and Course of the American Revolution - Students will dig deeper into the actual meaning of the words written in the Declaration of Independence in order to explain the significance of major ideas and philosophies of government reflected in the document.

Excellent Resource to Review with your Child: http://www.ducksters.com/history/declaration_of_independence.php

By mid-week, we will start talking about the course of the war - major battles and the outcomes. (Liberty’s Kids Videos will be posted in Google Classroom for students to view at home as we may not have time to view them all in class - students are really enjoying them!)

Fourth Grade News

Related Arts Schedule for next week

MAP Testing

MAP testing will be taking place on Tuesday, March 13th and Wednesday, March 21st.  Please make sure your child is in attendance on those days and on time.  We will be starting around 8:30 each morning.  They have each been given their goals that they should be able to meet and pass.  Rewards will be given to those students who meet their goals.

Columbia Fireflies Reading Logs

Reading logs are due next week!!  If students complete 4 books (appropriate reading level) by Feb 28th they will earn a ticket to the Columbia Fireflies game, free hot dog dinner, and a surprise gift at the game.  Completed reading logs should be sent to the Media Center.  Also, our own BHE Chorus will perform the National Anthem at the game.  Game day is Tuesday, April 10th at 7:05pm

Field Study to Charleston

We will be going on our last field study of the year on Wednesday, April 11th.  We are going to visit Charleston to tour Fort Sumter and the Charleston Aquarium.  We will be leaving at 6:30am and returning at 4:15pm.  The cost of this trip is $55 per student and $62 for chaperones.  We are limited to 5 chaperones per class.  If you would like to chaperone, please fill out the permission form with the accompanying $62 asap.  The first 5 chaperones that follow this requirement will be the chaperones for the trip.  Forms were sent home today.  We look forward to a great educational experience.  The deadline for the money and forms is Thursday, March 15th.

Ending Thoughts

Thank you for sharing your children with us!  Please feel free to email us with any questions.  For those who signed up for Remind 101 with Ms. Bodrick, feel free to shoot a text if necessary.  Click on our name below for a direct link to our email.  

Thanks for sharing your children with us each day!

Mrs. Shannon Benson and Ms. Aubriaunna Bodrick

Book Fair and Dr. Seuss Week

Next week is the Book Fair and Dr. Seuss Week.  Our classes will be shopping on Monday, February 26th.

Other shopping times are as follows:

Weekly News--February 16th

Benson/Bodrick News

News from the 4th Grade

February 16, 2018

Math News

We took our math test this week.  I will be sending them home on Monday.  Please sign and return them no later than Wednesday.  Once I mark off that you have seen it, I will let students bring them back home to keep.  I tried to make notes when students mixed up area and perimeter and/or forgot their units.

We started our new unit on fractions.  We are stepping away from our blended classroom a little and going back to a more traditional approach.  Students will have classwork each day that will be gone over at the end of class.  I have walked around before going over the answers to make sure everyone is working to their potential.  When finished with classwork, students will be able to do other enrichment activities (games, projects, etc.) until we go over classwork.  We will take a quiz on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week on equivalent fractions and placing fractions on a number line.  We will start adding and subtracting fractions and converting improper fractions into mixed numbers and mixed numbers into improper fractions midweek.

We will spend a good portion of this nine weeks on fractions.  Zearn is a math program that students have access to.  There are some great videos on fractions in Zearn and some great learning activities.  Students are always welcome to work on lessons in Zearn to help their understanding.

Students also need to make sure they are completing at least 5 topics each week in ALEKS.  They should be able to master a topic in 10-15 minutes.  If they are working longer on a topic, they need to ask for help so they can master that topic.  The more topics they complete, the better at their math skills they will become.  This is a great program that will help bump up their math scores and skills.  Please encourage your child to complete these topics--they can be done at school or at home.

Please have your child practice their multiplication facts.  There are many games on www.multiplication.com that they would love to play that will help them.

If you still need to join Seesaw, please click here and follow the directions.

Science News

We continued our discussion on life cycles this week.  I am very happy with so many of the students’ life cycle models that have been posted in Seesaw.  If you do not see your child’s post in Seesaw, please remind them that they were due this past Monday.  They will be deducted 10 points for each week it is late.

Students worked in pairs this week reading about different animals.  They completed Venn diagrams on the similarities and differences between the two different animals.  To the right is an example of one of the articles we read and what was learned from it.  Next week we will move on to characteristics of animals and plants being inherited or learned.

Fourth Grade News

Related Arts Schedule for next week

PTO is sponsoring a Mother/Son Bowling Night on Friday, February 23rd.  It will be at Royal Z Lanes on Two Notch Road.  The cost is $12 per person which covers bowling, shoes, a slice of pizza, and a drink.  Fliers were sent home so that you can fill out and return with your payment.  There are 2 sessions you can sign up for--4-6 or 6-8.  Time slots will fill up quickly so please return these soon.

Columbia Fireflies Reading Logs

If students complete 4 books (appropriate reading level) by Feb 28th they will earn a ticket to the Columbia Fireflies game, free hot dog dinner, and a surprise gift at the game.  Completed reading logs should be sent to the Media Center.  Also, our own BHE Chorus will perform the National Anthem at the game.  Game day is Tuesday, April 10th at 7:05pm

Weekly News--February 9th

Benson/Bodrick News

News from the 4th Grade

February 9, 2018

Math News

This week we worked hard with area and perimeter.  We also reviewed our polygons and symmetry.  We will take our math test on Tuesday morning before we go on our field trip.  We will review on Monday with many sample problems.  I went over a study guide with students this morning on types of information that will be included on the test.  I have posted it to Google Classroom so that students will check it out.  They can work out the problems I included on it.  I also mentioned to them that their classwork packets will be great study tools to help them as well.  They are supposed to check their packet with an answer key in the classroom so that when they are turned into me I can see what mistakes were made and know how to help them.  After review, I return to the students so that they can use them to study.

Our next unit is fractions--adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators.  We will also be converting improper fractions into mixed numbers and mixed numbers into improper fractions.  We will spend a good portion of this nine weeks on fractions.  Zearn is a math program that students have access to.  There are some great videos on fractions in Zearn and some great learning activities.  Students are always welcome to work on lessons in Zearn to help their understanding.

Students did somewhat better on their homework packet this week.  Next week’s homework packet will be more questions similar to the ones they have done the last 2 weeks.  Hopefully by now, they have asked the questions at home or at school so that when I look over them next Friday, there will be few--if any--mistakes.

Students also need to make sure they are completing at least 5 topics each week in ALEKS.  They should be able to master a topic in 10-15 minutes.  If they are working longer on a topic, they need to ask for help so they can master that topic.  The more topics they complete, the better at their math skills they will become.  This is a great program that will help bump up their math scores and skills.  Please encourage your child to complete these topics--they can be done at school or at home.

Please have your child practice their multiplication facts.  There are many games on www.multiplication.com that they would love to play that will help them.

If you still need to join Seesaw, please click here and follow the directions.

Science News

This week we discussed life cycles of various plants and animals.  Students created their own life cycle drawings and will be posting them in Seesaw by Monday afternoon.  We will continue to discuss life cycles and compare the various stages of life with many more plants and animals next week.

ELA News

Last week, students thoroughly enjoyed our SUPER BOWL themed “learning experiences” with informational text and types of sentences - and I must say...so did I. I am still in the process of getting grades in for the sentence assessment students took Monday of this week.

Beginning on Tuesday, we started our first WRITING BOOT CAMP - as the time for middle of year writing benchmark assessments has approached. Students engaged in an intensive week long teacher-led Text Dependent Analysis (TDA) writing lesson with lots of modeling and practice. Monday, they will complete their actual benchmark (PAPER AND PENCIL) - assessment will only be ONE day just like testing at end of the year. Students will receive a new writing prompt (not a TDA) - “Someone I Admire” - in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

Reading logs ON PAPER - NO submissions online as I am trying to get students back into the habit of writing (structurally and grammatically correct) well thought out responses. This shift comes with the news that students will test at the end of the using paper and pencil for the Reading/Writing portion. Parents, please take the time to read through your child’s responses from time to time! It will help both me and them out!

Special shout out the following Lexia Core 5 Completers!

• LaLonnie Mitchum
• Lily Calhoun

The following students are almost there! Keep pushing: Thomas Bozard, Daija Caldwell, Liana Adams, Caroline Goff, Jake Gonzales, Jeremy Harris, Emily Lancaster, Emerson Ramsdale, Darius Gatewood-White and Libby Lee

Social Studies News

Next Week: Causes of the American Revolution - Political and economic factors that ultimately led to the American Revolution started with the French and Indian War (discussed this week and assessed Thursday - cloze activity) and culminated with shots fired at Lexington and Concord. It is important that students understand the chronology of these events and how one event led to another. Students will learn about:

• The need for taxes as a result of the French and Indian War and the power of the colonists to boycott British goods.
• Stamp Act
• Tea Act
• Intolerable Acts

Fourth Grade News

Related Arts Schedule for next week

Our field trip to the Koger Center to see a performance of “Freedom Train” is this coming Tuesday, February 13th.  We will be leaving school about 10:30am and returning around 1:30pm.  We will eat lunch when we return.  We look forward to this wonderful learning experience.  

PTO is sponsoring a Mother/Son Bowling Night on Friday, February 23rd.  It will be at Royal Z Lanes on Two Notch Road.  The cost is $12 per person which covers bowling, shoes, a slice of pizza, and a drink.  Fliers were sent home so that you can fill out and return with your payment.  There are 2 sessions you can sign up for--4-6 or 6-8.  Time slots will fill up quickly so please return these soon.

Columbia Fireflies Reading Logs

If students complete 4 books (appropriate reading level) by Feb 28th they will earn a ticket to the Columbia Fireflies game, free hot dog dinner, and a surprise gift at the game.  Completed reading logs should be sent to the Media Center.  Also, our own BHE Chorus will perform the National Anthem at the game.  Game day is Tuesday, April 10th at 7:05pm

Ending Thoughts

Thank you for sharing your children with us!  Please feel free to email us with any questions.  For those who signed up for Remind 101 with Ms. Bodrick, feel free to shoot a text if necessary.  Click on our name below for a direct link to our email.  

Thanks for sharing your children with us each day!

Mrs. Shannon Benson and Ms. Aubriaunna Bodrick

Weekly News--February 2nd

Benson/Bodrick News

News from the 4th Grade

February 2, 2018


Math News
For the 100th day, 4th grade math students are collecting small water bottles for BHE’s backpack program. We would love to see how many small water bottles we can collect to help this wonderful program to succeed. The 100th day of school is this coming Monday, February 5th. Please send any water bottles you wish to donate to school on Monday. You can read more about BHE’s 100th day Math project by clicking here.

We took a Geometry test this past Tuesday. It was given to students today so that they can bring it home and show you. We have started the next part of our Geometry studies. In this Geometry unit, we will take what we learned about lines, angles, and line segments and learn how to classify shapes--quadrilaterals, triangles, hexagons, and pentagons. We will also discuss lines of symmetry and area and perimeter formulas for rectangles. This unit shouldn’t take too long so I anticipate testing on it the week of February 12th. I will have a more definite date in next week’s newsletter.

There will be a homework packet sent home next week. Students will also need to make sure they are completing at least 5 topics each week in ALEKS. They should be able to master a topic in 10-15 minutes. If they are working longer on a topic, they need to ask for help so they can master that topic. Please have your child practice their multiplication facts. There are many games on www.multiplication.com that they would love to play that will help them.

If you still need to join Seesaw, please click here and follow the directions.

Science News

This week we continued to discuss animal and plant classification. We viewed many presentations and video or two discussing how animals and plants are classified. We specifically discussed how the vertebrate group was divided into 5 groups and how each group was different. We took an online quiz today about classification. Each student received their scores once they finished. I will update parent portal this weekend with their test scores.

Next week we will discuss the life cycles of several different plants and animals. We will plant some seeds in our classroom and watch them go through their life cycles. We will also do a mini project on life cycles. Students will be give this information on Monday or Tuesday with a due date.

Just a reminder--if work is turned in past the due date, points will be deducted in the gradebook when it is turned in. I will have it marked as late in the gradebook so that you can see in Parent Portal if they have turned it in or not. I also mark when assignments are missing so that if you log in and see there is missing work, you can remind your child to complete it. After a week or so of it being missing and/or late, I will put a zero in the gradebook.


ELA News
This week, students thoroughly enjoyed our SUPER BOWL themed “learning experiences” with informational text and types of sentences - and I must say...so did I (despite the extra chit-chat that I guess they couldn’t help)! To start the week, we reviewed simple, compound, and complex sentences and then shifted gears to punctuation specific sentence types - declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Of course after mini lesson, there was a football themed twist! As we began our discussion on informational text, we reviewed the difference between fact and opinion football style and beginning on Wednesday, we made some predictions about our reading before seeing the actual text - I posed the question, what do you already know about the Super Bowl? By the end of the day today, students were able to confirm and/or revise their predictions and gain new knowledge that I’m sure they will give you an ear-full of this weekend as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52!!!

NOTE: Students did not get to take the assessment planned for today on SENTENCES (so everything from subjects and predicates, fragments, run-ons, simple, compound and complex sentences, as well as declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences they will see). We got carried away with memes! Notes for all of this has been provided! Test will be given on Monday, February 5, 2018.


Next week, we will have our first WRITING BOOT CAMP - as the time for middle of year writing benchmark assessments has approached. Students will engage in an intensive week long (Monday-Thursday) teacher-led writing lesson with lots of modeling, practice, and peer/teacher reviewing. Friday, they will complete their benchmark (PAPER AND PENCIL)


Reading logs will be on paper again next week - NO submissions online as I am trying to get students back into the habit of writing (structurally and grammatically correct) well thought out responses. This shift comes with the news that students will test at the end of the using paper and pencil for the Reading/Writing portion. Parents, please take the time to read through your child’s responses from time to time! It will help both me and them out!

Special shout out the following Lexia Core 5 Completers! 

LaLonnie Mitchum

Lily Calhoun

The following students are almost there! Keep pushing: Thomas Bozard, Daija Caldwell, Liana Adams, Caroline Goff, Jake Gonzales, Jeremy Harris, Emily Lancaster, and Libby Lee


What you can do at home to help your child be successful:

Discuss What Your Child is Reading and help them complete weekly Reading Responses

Find Reasons to Write outside of the Classroom

Play Educational Games/Watch Educational Videos - LEXIA and STUDY ISLAND can be used at home and is strongly encouraged for students who are pulled out during class time/not meeting weekly requirement.


Social Studies News

Next Week: Cooperation and Conflict between Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans and its influence on life in America - students will present the memes they created! Many already submitted and received grade, but some have to work on over the weekend. Please check with your child so they can receive full credit.







The Assignment: Create two content-related memes using appropriate pictures and wording for social studies indicator 4-2.4: Summarize the relationship among the Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, including the French and Indian War, the slave revolts, and the conduct of trade. Utilize the note page provided/presentation in Google Classroom that has examples of memes (may not use same ones). You may use the Meme Generator (a lot easier for some) - https://imgflip.com/memegenerator


Remember:

Students (and now parents) can access Google Classroom at home. All presentations and special links are posted there as references. Students may use these references when studying and completing weekly RAP questions. Some links are interactive games and videos!

A parent study guide has been issued for your personal use (so you can help your child if for some reason they are missing information or you aren’t exactly abreast on your history!)


Fourth Grade News
Related Arts Schedule for next week






Our field trip to the Koger Center to see a performance of “Freedom Train” is on Tuesday, February 13th. We will be leaving school about 10:30am and returning around 1:30pm. We will eat lunch when we return. If you have not turned in a permission form and money, please do so no later than Monday, February 5th. If your child is not attending the field trip, please send us an email or note letting us know. Also please let us know if they will be at school that day or if they are going to be absent.







Ending Thoughts


Thank you for sharing your children with us! Please feel free to email us with any questions. For those who signed up for Remind 101 with Ms. Bodrick, feel free to shoot a text if necessary. Click on our name below for a direct link to our email.

Thanks for sharing your children with us each day!

Mrs. Shannon Benson and Ms. Aubriaunna Bodrick