words, we will begin our first feature this week.  It is complex consonant patterns such as qu, str, spl, scr, squ, thr, shr.  Your student will participate in a brainstorm of words containing these patterns.  Then a list of words that will be challenging and differentiated will be created from their brainstorm.  Additional challenge words will be added. During the week we will look for these patterns in text that we read, practice using the words and discovering their meanings.   The assessment will be held on Friday as usual.   (See feature below for more information about word study.)

                 Parents, I hope you had a safe and restful Labor Day!  We are beginning to study mystery in readers and writers workshop!  This week we will begin Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case by Donald Sobol as our class novel, and begin creating characters and settings that will be a part of our very own mystery!

                         Also, this week we will wrap up elapsed time and assessment will be Tuesday.  In math, we will begin looking at data, especially in graphs!  Look for our bar graphs, pictographs, frequency tables, and line plots coming soon!

Our focus in Social Studies, will be the people and

regions of the United States.    On Tuesday, we will hear from President Obama as he addresses the nation’s students, encouraging them to do their best!  Also, we will be doing a current events project for homework.  The best way to help your student with this project is to read the newspaper with them, watch the news, or discuss a current events radio broadcast.  Let them choose something that interests them and then discuss it.  They will then write a paragraph describing the event, and bring it to class on Friday to share next week with their classmates. 

                         Now that we have mastered some high frequency fourth grade

After the break!

What is Word Study and why do we do it?

Word Study is a practical, research-based and classroom-proven way to study words with students.  Remember how we were taught to spell when we were students? Many of us were simply handed a list of words and told to write each word five times. We then had our Friday spelling test, after

which we may have forgotten those very words.

Remember how we were taught to decipher new words we encountered when reading? I can still hear my teachers saying, "Just sound it out!" Of course, we were also taught some reading and

spelling rules such as, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." But did you know that this rule, like many others that we were taught, holds true less than fifty percent of the time? (Clymer, 1996) (cont. on page 2)

Pulaski Heights Elementary School

Stevens Gazette

August 31, 2009

Volume 1, Issue 2

Special points of interest:

· After the break!

· Word Study

 

· Featured Website: kids.mysterynet.com