Newsletter October 1st-5th

Math:  This week the students reviewed and took their third math test over lessons 1-15.  Next week we will be working on lessons 22-26.  We are in week 4 of our Fantasy Football scores, the students enjoy randomly picking their teams each week and seeing who they play against in our Fantasy Football league. 

Helping each other with their Fantasy Football Math Scores

Reading: Our theme this week in reading is Astronauts.  The students worked with reading vocabulary this week along with identifying character traits.  We are reading our main story about The Astronaut and the Onion.  

Art:  The students added details to their artwork about cubism like artist Pablo Picasso.  We are working with oil pastels to create the faces and details like Pablo did too!

Just like Pablo Picasso!

Character Development: This week we looked at three different situations dealing with emotions and trying to notice people's body language.  In class we role played different emotions -- try a few  out at home!

Chapel Buddies: The fourth grade students celebrated Clifford the Big Red Dog's birthday this week with their Kindergarten Chapel buddies.

You may order online through Scholastic Book Club through Friday, October 26th.  Check out the catalog online. Please use our parent code to log in and order your books.  There is also a link to scholastic book on the right side of this blog.  Happy Reading!
Parent Code: J3CX6

Interested in Ceramics Club?
Mr. Fiala will have sessions every Thursday after school until 4:30 p.m. at the middle school starting September 20th and continuing through May.  For details contact Mr. Fiala at jfiala@ccls-stlouis.org

**Save the Date** Missouri Botanical Garden field trip
We will start with a classroom presentation by a garden staff member discussing plant adaptations.  Then we will take a trip to the gardens to explore hands on about plant adaptations.  Finally, a staff member will return to the classroom to do a final presentation.  We will be visiting the Mo Botanical Gardens on Monday, October 15th from 8:30a.m. - Noon.

See what the students are leaning with Mrs. Killian in music class.

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more!!   

Newsletter September 24th-28th

Math:  This week we completed lessons 17-19 as well as our second test.  The students seem to be doing great as we are still reviewing and refreshing concepts taught in third grade.  This coming week we will be finishing lesson 20 and preparing for our third test on Wednesday.  The students are also very excited to be using math to calculate and play Fantasy Football against their classmates and teacher!

Reading: Our next theme in reading is Astronauts.  The students will begin reading and working with vocabulary for The Astronaut and the Onion.  Most students have had time to post about a national park they would like to visit in the future or have already visited.  Take a moment and view your child's blog.
Click the link to read your child's blog:
Kid Blog - Mrs. Endorf's class
Kid Blog - Mrs. Brannan's class
 
Art:  As a class we learned about Pablo Picasso's childhood and adulthood life.  The students began drawing a face to make their own Pablo Picasso creation similar to his cubism artwork.

Character Development: This week we reviewed 10 steps to starting a friendship.  Then, in pairs the students started interviewing of each other; learning more about the people in their class.  Each student had a chance to share one new piece of information they learned in their interview process.

Chapel Buddies: The fourth grade students worked with kindergartners to make their very own squirrel and sing a song that went along with actions.

You may order online through Scholastic Book Club through September 28th, this Friday.  The students have catalogs.  Please use our parent code to log in and order your books.  There is also a link to scholastic book on the right side of this blog.  Happy Reading!
Parent Code: J3CX6

Interested in Ceramics Club?
Mr. Fiala will have sessions every Thursday after school until 4:30 p.m. at the middle school starting September 20th and continuing through May.  For details contact Mr. Fiala at jfiala@ccls-stlouis.org

**Save the Date** Missouri Botanical Garden field trip
We will start with a classroom presentation by a garden staff member discussing plant adaptations.  Then we will take a trip to the gardens to explore hands on about plant adaptations.  Finally, a staff member will return to the classroom to do a final presentation.  We will be visiting the Mo Botanical Gardens on Monday, October 15th from 8:30a.m. - Noon.

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more!!  

Newsletter September 17th-21st

Math:  This week we completed lessons 11-16.  Monday they will review for our test on Tuesday.  The test will be over concepts taught in Lessons 5-10.

Reading: The students are continuing to read and research about Our National Parks.  They are working on vocabulary and summarizing and finding the main idea with supporting details as we read our stories this week.  During the week students will be posting on KidBlogs about national parks they have visited or national parks they would like to visit.
Click the link to read your child's blog:
Kid Blog - Mrs. Endorf's class
Kid Blog - Mrs. Brannan's class
 
Art:  Friday completed the painting process of our Louise Nevelson art projects.  Check out the hallway for their art creations hanging on the walls.  The next artist we will be studying is Pablo Picasso.

Character Development: This week we reviewed 10 steps to starting a friendship.  Then, in pairs the students started interviewing of each other; learning more about the people in their class.  

Chapel Buddies: The students spent time playing "Hi, Low" with their chapel buddies on Thursday.  They helped the Kindergartners work on numbers 0-10.

You may order online through Scholastic Book Club through September 28th.  The students have catalogs.  Please use our parent code to log in and order your books.  There is also a link to scholastic book on the right side of this blog.  Happy Reading!
Parent Code: J3CX6

**Save the Date** Missouri Botanical Garden field trip
We will start with a classroom presentation by a garden staff member discussing plant adaptations.  Then we will take a trip to the gardens to explore hands on about plant adaptations.  Finally, a staff member will return to the classroom to do a final presentation.  We will be visiting the Mo Botanical Gardens on Monday, October 15th from 8:30a.m. - Noon.

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more at www.cclsbrannan.blogspot.com  

Louise Nevelson Wood Sculptures

Check out these amazing Louise Nevelson Wood Sculpture projects that our 4th graders are making!

Newsletter September 10th-14th

Math:  We had our first math test this week.  After the test we did, what the book calls, an investigation on number lines and negative numbers.  This week we will be working on lessons 12-15.

Reading: Our theme this week is Our National Parks.  We are continuing to work on vocabulary, summarizing and finding the main idea with supporting details as we read our stories this week.  Also, our reading curriculum comes with a student website where they can play games and do activities on line that coincide with our stories each week. We will be using this in the classroom but feel free to use it at home too.
Treasures Reading Curriculum 

Art: The students started painting of their Louise Nevelson wood sculptures.  They will complete those this week!  Be on the look out in the hallway for their art creations hanging on the walls.

Character Development: This week we continued to talk about feelings and emotions.  Specifically about conflicting emotions, how you can be excited and sad at the same time and understand other people may have conflicting emotion some times too.

Chapel Buddies: The students spent time reading with their chapel buddies this week.  They are doing great as they form a closer bond with their Kindergarten buddy.

I will be collecting Scholastic Book Orders online through September 28th.  The students will have the catalogs sent home.  Please use our parent code to log in and order your books.  There is also a link to scholastic book on the right side of this blog.  Happy Reading!
Parent Code: J3CX6

Picture day is Monday, September 10th!!  
Please remember to bring your best smile to school!

**Save the Date** Missouri Botanical Garden field trip
We will start with a classroom presentation by a garden staff member discussing plant adaptations.  Then we will take a trip to the gardens to explore hands on about plant adaptations.  Finally, a staff member will return to the classroom to do a final presentation.  We will be visiting the Mo Botanical Gardens on Monday, October 15th from 8:30a.m. - Noon.

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more at www.cclsbrannan.blogspot.com  

Newsletter September 4th-7th

Hope you enjoy your 4 day weekend and the upcoming 4 day work week!

Math:  The first math test is this week over Lessons 1-5.  Tuesday will be a review day and then the assessment will be given on Wednesday. 

Reading: In class the students are continuing to read A Walk in the Desert.  Students are working on naming the main idea for paragraphs and collaborating with a partner in a Google spreadsheet to identify the main idea and supporting details.  They will still be working on vocabulary and we will listen to the story this week.  Our quiz over A Walk in the Desert will be on Friday, review Thursday.

Art: The students will start on Friday with the painting of their Louise Nevelson wood sculptures.  They will paint the sculptures one solid color, mimicking her artwork that was painted a solid gold, black, or white.  **If you have acrylic paint that you can donate for this project that would be much appreciated, any colors will be great!**

Character Development: This week we looked at an apple.  The skin reminds us of relationships when we first meet people, you have to get to know them on the surface.  The "meat" of the apple reminds us of close friends, and the core of the apple reminds us of those deep relationships.  We discussed different relationships that God wants us to have in our lives and how to be Christlike in our friendships.

Chapel Buddies: The students spent time reading and working puzzles with their chapel buddies on Thursday.  Ask them about their time with the Kindergartners!

Spanish:  This week Spanish will be on Friday since we did not have school on Monday.  The students are still reviewing and refining their Spanish skills.

Labor Day Holiday-No School Friday, August 31st and Monday, September 3rd
See you back at school on Tuesday, September 4th

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more at www.cclsbrannan.blogspot.com 

Math:  This past week in math we continued to review addition, subtraction, and writing numbers with words and digits.  Next week we will be working on adding with regrouping and looking at even and odd numbers.  There will be a review and test after we complete lesson 10.  We are still using the Smart Senteos for an immediate review in class.

Reading: In class we introduced a new website called KidBlogs; it is teacher monitored and a great way for us to communicate with parents, friends, and relatives about what we are doing in our classes.  Each student has there own blog to post information.  The first post students wrote a sentence using vocabulary from our first literature story.  They will also be posting their personal narrative paragraphs here too.  This week we will be reading two stories: Living in Alaska and A Walk in the Desert.  Check out your student's blog at:
www.kidblog.org/MrsEndorf 
www.kidblog.org/MrsBrannan

Art: Mondays and Fridays we have art in the afternoon.  This week we read an article about artist Louise Nevelson who used scraps of wood to make her own artwork come to life.  Friday the students started working on making their own Louise Nevelson artwork.  To make this project the students need to bring in small wooden pieces to add to our art supplies bucket.  

Character Development: On Wednesday afternoons we have our character building time together.  We started a discussion on feelings.  How do they feel when they are on a roller coaster or carnival ride?  How did their feelings change from kindergarten to fourth grade about roller coasters?  That led into talking about times they felt scared or nervous but later felt happy or excited about it too.  We ended our time together recognizing that feelings or emotions can change over time as you grow.

Chapel Buddies: Our first chapel service was Wednesday. The fourth graders did an outstanding job sitting next to their Kindergarten buddies!  We will see them every Wednesday for chapel and one other time during the week getting to know them better.

Spanish: Mrs. Adler comes every Monday for a 30 minute Spanish class.  The students spent some time reviewing some Spanish terms from last year.

Curriculum Night: Tuesday, August 28th at 7:00 p.m.
Please join us Tuesday night starting in the sanctuary at Webster Gardens and finishing in the classroom with vital 4th grade information about what we are doing this school year!

Labor Day Holiday - No School Friday, August 31st and Monday, September 3rd

Check out Mrs. Brannan's blog for updates on memory work, spelling, and much more at www.cclsbrannan.blogspot.com