Below are some great examples of Homophones from Ms. Bodrick's homeroom students.
Friday, September 28, 2018
September 28th
Benson/Bodrick News
News from the 4th Grade
September 28, 2018
Math News
This week we continued learning about patterns in topic 2. We took the Topic 2 test today and will begin working on Topic 3 Monday. We will be learning about Place Value through the millions. This will take us about a week and we will be testing on this unit around Wednesday or Thursday of the following week.
I have placed a calendar in Google Classroom that is a “live” calendar--meaning I can update it and it will show up with updates immediately. I will make sure to update this with the specific date when I know for sure.
Study Island Assignment #2 is due by Friday, October 5th. Each student should have 4 sessions completed. All students need at least 5 ALEKS topics each week. If your child forgets their ALEKS username and password, please let me know. It is taped in their math journal, but I can look it up and send it by email to you so you can have it too.
Science News
We have created some water cycle models in our classroom that we will be observing throughout the next couple of weeks. We will dive deeper into the water cycle next week with more experiments and projects. Children will be constructing their own model of the water cycle most likely in Google Drawings to share with you in Seesaw. The information is below on how to join Seesaw so that you are able to view your child’s work.
Ms. Bodrick’s homeroom:
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once you’re approved by Shannon Benson, you’ll get access to Seesaw
Mrs. Benson’s homeroom:
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once you’re approved by Shannon Benson, you’ll get access to Seesaw
ELA News
READING LOGS
Reading logs are assigned every week. Students are expected to read for at least 20 minutes and then respond to their reading using the question bank provided in their binder for fiction and nonfiction books. Your child is only required to answer one question a night on the reading response sheet provided. Please check weekly - if not every night - to make sure that your child is completing this task.
SOCIAL STUDIES INTEGRATION
Next week we will focus our attention on a selection from our Treasures textbook entitled “Mystic Horse”- a story about a native boy living in the Great Plains. As we read, we will practice strategies that good readers use (handout found in students’ binders) - all while we continue to learn about/review Native Americans of the Great Plains.
WORD STUDY
Homophones, homophones, homophones! Words that sound the same, but are not spelled the same and have different meanings. This week students got practice using context clues and dictionaries to determine the meaning of commonly used homophones. (Learning to use the actual dictionary was very much necessary and so much fun!) After getting some practice, we had a conversation about figurative language and alliteration - the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Student then created their own homophone alliterations or “tongue twisters”. Take a look at a few examples! (Benson’s homeroom is still working on, so if your child is in her homeroom, please make sure their alliteration is complete Monday.) 
Social Studies News
Next week, we will continue to learn about Native American Cultural Groups of the United States - the Southwest and the Great Basin and review information about natives of the Eastern Woodland and Great Plains. Keep in mind, students received (and will continue to receive) hole-punched notes in their binder. These informational pages are studying tools so please ask your child about what they have learned throughout the week and refer them to the sheets in their binder. Full presentations will be put in Google Classroom by the end of next week and all parents will receive an invite to the class page so you can be alerted when new resources have been uploaded. It will be sent via email so be on the lookout - midweek next week.
RAP Questions went home this week on Thursday and were submitted today - Friday. RAP questions are grade boosters and in order to receive full credit, they should be answered in complete sentences. Students can use any social studies resource to complete this assignment.
*If you did not attend Open House and receive your Parent Study Guide for Social Studies, it will be sent home with your child on Monday.
Fourth Grade News
Related Arts Schedule for next week
Welcome to New Students
We have had 2 new students join our classes. Welcome to Ty’Shaun in Ms. Bodrick’s homeroom and Mary Ashton in Mrs. Benson’s homeroom. We are excited to get to know you both. Welcome to the BHE family!
Open House
It was a pleasure meeting so many of you at open house this past Tuesday evening. The presentation was emailed to everyone so that you can know what was discussed that night. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. The link to sign up for a conference is: https://goo.gl/ge9JS9
Brattonsville Field Study
We are traveling to Historic Brattonsville on Wednesday, October 17th. Permission forms went home this week. Please return them no later than Wednesday, October 10th. The cost is $36 per student. We would love to have chaperones. Chaperone cost is also $36. Please let us know if you are interested in chaperoning.
Ending Thoughts
Thank you for sharing your children with us! Please feel free to email us with any questions. Click on our name below for a direct link to our email.
Thanks for sharing your children with us each day!
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Friday, September 21, 2018
Weekly News--September 21st
Benson/Bodrick News
News from the 4th Grade
September 21, 2018
Math News
This week we tested on Topic 1--understanding multiplication and began Topic 2-- generate and analyze patterns. We will finish this short topic next week and test on Friday. Because the unit test will be Friday, we will take our weekly Math 4 Today quiz on Thursday.
Every 2 to 3 weeks, I assign a Study Island assignment. Students are to work on Study Island as part of their checklist each week. When they do a practice lesson in Study Island, they complete 10 questions. They are required to complete at least 2 practice lessons for each assignment so that they are completing at least 20 practice questions. At the end of the 2 or 3 weeks, I give them a grade based on 2 things--1. Did they complete at least 2 practice lessons and 2. What was their cumulative score. I give them a 100 if they complete the 2 practice lesson and I average that with their cumulative score for the final grade for that assignment. For example, if they completed 2 lessons and had a cumulative score of 80, their overall grade would be a 90 (100 + 80 = 180 / 2 = 90). If they do not complete 2 lessons and had a cumulative score, their overall grade would be 70 (50 + 90 = 140 / 2 = 70). Please encourage your child to complete their lessons. They can also work on this at home, but I assure you they have plenty of time to work and finish these lessons at school.
Math tests were given back to students this week and they had a chance to correct their work to make sure they understood what they missed. These do not need to be returned to school--you can keep them at home.
Science News
This week we worked on learning about weather instruments. Students were given an assignment to find pictures of 6 weather instruments and research their purpose. These were printed and are in their science journals. They also wrote a letter or poem to Mother Nature thanking her for the atmosphere and letting her know what they had learned. I have taken the science journals home this weekend to read through and grade what they have completed. They will be returned on Monday.
Next week we will continue with weather and learn the difference between weather and climate. We will also start learning about the water cycle and creating a water cycle in our classroom as a model.
ELA News
READING LOGS
Each week, students will receive a reading log. They are expected to read for at least 20 minutes and then respond to their reading using the question bank provided in their binder for fiction and nonfiction books. Your child is only required to answer one question a night on the reading response sheet provided. However, they are not allowed to answer the same question each night. The only questions that can be answered multiple times during the week are NF14 and F17 - which ask students to summarize what they read. Students can also read the same book over the course of the week - and are encouraged to take on more challenging reads such as chapter books. If the book is not a chapter book or book that takes longer than 20 minutes to read, it should not show on log more than once. Please check weekly - if not every night - to make sure that your child is completing this task.
WORD STUDY
This week we divulged into affixes (word parts) - understanding prefixes and suffixes and how knowing what these word parts mean can help readers determine the meaning of unknown words. Next week, we will have fun playing a modified version of Family Feud to help students practice further! Students have a list in their binders - but also in Google Classroom there is a link to the Quizlet I created for them to use as a study tool. Click here to read step by step directions on how your child can login away from school.
SOCIAL STUDIES INTEGRATION
Next week we will focus our attention on a selection from our Treasures textbook entitled “Mystic Horse”- a story about a native boy living in the Great Plains. As we read, we will practice strategies that good readers use (handout found in students’ binders) - all while we continue to learn about Native Americans of the Great Plains.
Social Studies News
This week, 4th graders reviewed The Landbridge Theory and we began our studies of Native American Cultural Groups of the U.S. During this unit, students will learn about and be able to
- Compare the everyday life, physical environment, and culture of the major Native American groupings; including, the Eastern Woodlands, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, and the Pacific Northwest.
Students received hole-punched notes in their binder on the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains - and over the course of the next two weeks will have note pages on all five regions. These informational pages are studying tools so please ask your child about what they have learned thus far this week and refer them to the sheets in their binder if they cannot recall much. Another suggestion I made was creating flashcards to help them with active recall rather than just staring at the paragraphs on the informational pages. Quizlet is a great tool I use that you can utilize too to create digital flashcards - plus it comes with additional perks!
Next week,
Parents: BE ON THE LOOKOUT
- During the first Open House rescheduled to September 25th, all parents will be given a Parent Study Guide for Social Studies that provides you with an overview of all pertinent information your child will learn this year for U.S. History!
- The quiz students took at the beginning of the month will still be available to view. (Students should continue studying the material as they will see it again on summative assessment at end of this first unit).
Fourth Grade News
Related Arts Schedule for next week
Open House
Open House will be held on Tuesday, September 25th. There will be two sessions (both sessions will cover the same content). Sessions will be from 5:30-6:10 and 6:15-6:55. Ms. Bodrick and Mrs. Benson will be doing these sessions together so that if you have another child at the school, you may attend their class session also. We will be in Mrs. Benson’s room.
Brattonsville Field Study
We are traveling to Historic Brattonsville on Wednesday, October 17th. Permission forms went home this week. Please return them no later than Wednesday, October 10th. The cost is $36 per student. We would love to have chaperones. Chaperone cost is also $36. Please let us know if you are interested in chaperoning.
Ending Thoughts
Thank you for sharing your children with us! Please feel free to email us with any questions. Click on our name below for a direct link to our email.
Thanks for sharing your children with us each day!
Friday, September 7, 2018
Weekly News--September 7th
Benson/Bodrick News
News from the 4th Grade
September 7, 2018
Math News
This week we continued to understand multiplication. We learned about fact families, inverse operations, and that you can’t have 0 as a divisor. We will be finishing up the first unit on Monday and taking a test on Tuesday, September 11th. Your child can review materials for this unit by accessing their textbook online and taking the topic test at the end of the unit--pages 34 and 35. The unit test is patterned after this test. To log into the textbook, go to the BHE Tech Link page. From this page, click math book and you will need to sign in using the Pearson Easy Bridge button. (Directions on the right.)
Next week I will start giving an ALEKS grade for topics mastered. Students can work on ALEKS at designated times each day (they either have 2 or 3 30 minute periods each week in class) or at home. Students were given their ALEKS usernames and passwords last week--they are taped into the front of their math journal. Students are expected to master at least 5 topics each week. This will be recorded in the gradebook as part of their classwork grade. They can earn up to 5 extra points a week for any topics over 5.
Students are encouraged strongly to memorize their multiplication facts. If your child does not know their basic facts, please have them study these facts daily. They can use multiplication.com to help study or use the website judebert.com to practice facts.
On Wednesday we will begin Topic 2--Generate and Analyze Patterns. We will most likely test on this topic around Friday, September 21st.
Science News
This week we set up our science journals and thought about what a scientist does and what they look like. We also took some time to talk about safety in the classroom with science experiments. We ended the week being introduced to our atmosphere. We will start keeping track of weather on Monday. This will be in their science journals and we will be able to start seeing some patterns in weather around Blythewood. We will also continue learning about our atmosphere--the different layers and the different gases that make up the atmosphere.
ELA News
READING LOGS
Each week, students will receive a reading log. They are expected to read for at least 20 minutes and then respond to their reading - using the question bank provided in their binder for fiction and nonfiction books. Your child is only required to answer one question a night. However, they are not allowed to answer the same question each night. The only questions that can be answered multiple times during the week are NF14 and F17 - which ask students to summarize what they read. Students can also read the same book over the course of the week - and are encouraged to take on more challenging reads such as chapter books. If the book is not a chapter book or book that takes longer than 20 minutes to read, it should not show on log more than once.
Social Studies News
This week, 4th graders reviewed map skills and the makeup of the world we live in. Students labeled maps of the world, our continent, and country - as 4th grade Social Studies is all about U.S. History and maps will be very much prevalent over the course of the year. To help students remember the seven continents, we created mnemonic devices (e.g. Aubriaunna always anticipates snacks every afternoon - for Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, Europe, North America, and Antarctica). We even continued the conversation about using mnemonic devices to remember direction as we studied the compass rose which is comprised of cardinal and intermediate directions. We ended the week with a quiz - students labeled a compass and maps of the world and our country and state’s borders. (Note to Parents: the quiz will be available to view at our Open House Tuesday. Grades have already been put into PowerSchool for some and will be entered for all by Sunday evening)
We also began Unit 1 - The First Americans & The Land Bridge Theory this week. If your child came home talking about/begging you to see the movie Ice Age - it’s because of me! The clip I showed was a wonderful way to introduce this concept and students really enjoyed the connection made!
Next week, will continue our studies on how it is believed that the first Americans got here and begin learning about Natives Americans of the U.S. During this unit, students will learn about and be able to
- Compare the everyday life, physical environment, and culture of the major Native American groupings; including, the Eastern Woodlands, the Plains, the Southwest, the Great Basin, and the Pacific Northwest.
Parents: BE ON THE LOOKOUT
- During the first Open House on September 11th, all parents will be given a Parent Study Guide for Social Studies that provides you with an overview of all pertinent information your child will learn this year for U.S. History!
Fourth Grade News
Related Arts Schedule for next week
Open House
Open House will be held on Tuesday, September 11th. There will be two sessions (both sessions will cover the same content). Sessions will be from 5:30-6:10 and 6:15-6:55. Ms. Bodrick and Mrs. Benson will be doing these sessions together so that if you have another child at the school, you may attend their class session also. We will be in Mrs. Benson’s room.
Ending Thoughts
Thank you for sharing your children with us! Please feel free to email us with any questions. 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
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