February is already the shortest month of the year, but with all the schedule changes due to weather the month really flew by in 4th grade! Even though it went fast, we accomplished a lot and had fun while doing it!

In ELA class, we have continued to read a lot of non fiction texts and talking about the structures those text have. We have read about the oceans, different bodies of water, different land forms and fossils, and our solar system. Students had the chance to make many different projects including a planet travel brochure, a botanical garden, and an experiment to change salt water to fresh.

We have also worked a lot on opinion writing and how to share our opinion. Students learned to give reasons and evidence to support their opinion. We ended the opinion writing lessons by writing a 5 paragraph essay answering the question, “do kids watching too much TV?”

We are also continuing to write through our own personal blogs. This month we are going to participate in a world wide blogging challenge. Students will be able to connect with other students all over the world! Be sure to ask your student about their different challenge tasks each week!

In math class we continued to work with fractions. Students can now order fractions, find equivalent fractions, and add and subtract fractions. We also learned about mixed numbers and improper fractions and how to add and subtract them as well. Students even made their own posters teaching others how to add and subtract fractions. This month we are going to learn about multiplying fractions and start talking about decimals!

March will be a very busy time for 4th grade, and we are looking forward to the end of the month and our field trip to the state capitol in Harrisburg.

If you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact me!

Mr. Straub

Winter has finally arrived in PA with our wild weather this week! Having this weather worked perfectly with our mini weather unit, in which students made their own forecasts each day! It made for great impromptu lessons on the weather; ask your student if they know what a snow squall is!

In ELA class, we started the month by presenting to the class different products we have invented. Students did a great job researching what it would take to make their product to know the materials, tools, and time it would take to make it. Students presented their ideas to the class, working on their presentation skills, as this was the first time they  presented on their own to the whole class! Everyone seemed nervous at first, but they all did a great job!

We have read about many different topics throughout the month. For each topic we read two texts and compared them to each other. We have also been working on opinion writing in class. Students have learned  to not only state their opinion but explain why they have that opinion. Students have shared some great ideas through their writing!

In Math class, we have finished up with division and are now focusing on fractions. We are learning how to compare fractions using common denominators and benchmarks. Next, we will work on adding fractions together. Please continue to review basic multiplication and division facts with your students at home!

It’s hard to believe we are already halfway done with the school year! Thank you for all your work with your students this year, and I am looking forward to a great 2nd half of the school year!

Mr. Straub

Hello!

Due to the weather this week and missing two full days of Language Arts Class our spelling test that was scheduled to be today 2/1/19 will be pushed back to next Friday 2/8/19. Please continue to review those words with your students next week!

After next week students will begin having  4^th Grade High Frequency Words for their spelling words. These are words that we feel are important that all 4^th graders can recognize, define, and spell. Please be on the lookout for those words and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me!

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Straub

Dear Parents,

In fourth grade we are planning to have a gift exchange in each homeroom.  If you would like your child to participate please send in a gift, by Monday December 17th, which costs between 5 and 6 dollars.  The girls should purchase a “girl gift” and the boys should purchase a “boy gift”.  When you send the gifts in please wrap them and attach a tag that says To: a boy From: (your childs’ name) or,  To: a girl From: (your childs’ name).   The gifts will be separated into boy and girl piles and randomly labeled with a number attached to the bottom.  At the party each child will choose a number from the boy or girl basket. They will receive the present with the corresponding number.  This is completely optional!

One of our Christmas projects is for each child to make a Christmas stocking.  They will make the stockings in the next few days.  Then it is time to fill the stockings!

I know that many of you are baking or preparing treats or special items at this time of year.  If you would like to send something in to help fill our stockings I’m sure the children would love it!   We have 25 children in our class.  The stockings will be hung in the hallway and the children will open their stocking at our Christmas party.  Please individually wrap any treats that you send in so they can be placed in the stockings. This is completely optional please do not feel obligated. 

Thank you in advance for your participation with these projects.  The children will have a wonderful time opening gifts and stockings.  If you have any questions please feel free to email or call.

Miss Rohrbaugh

Mrs. MacAdams

Mr. Straub

It seems like just yesterday we were beginning the school year, but here we are in December and the holiday season! November went by like a blur, but a lot happened in 4th grade!

ELA: In reading students finished their Theme Poster Projects with their collaborative team. We read many short fables and reviewed what the theme was for each one. We also learned about Clara Barton and the Red Cross by reading two different texts and comparing the readings.

We  researched different careers that we might like, and even made a SeeSaw video about it!

In science we conducted a few different experiments to compare solid, liquids, and gases. We saw how M&Ms reacted to liquids.

We are now moving on to talk about economics during our inquiry time.

Be on the look out for blog posts to be coming to our blogs!

Math: In math we spent the month working on multiplication. We started by reviewing basic multiplication facts from 3rd grade. We even made our own board games to help review! We also learned how to solve 2 digit by 1 digit and 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems.

In December we will be starting division!

As the holiday season continues we will be having a lot of fun in 4th grade, while working hard!

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Mr. Straub

Another month has come and gone in 4th grade! The weather still doesn’t feel quite like fall, but November is here!

Here are a few updates about what happened in 4th grade in October:

ELA: We have talked more about natural resources and how we as 4th graders can conserve different natural resources that we use. We have even created a presentation about how to save electricity right here at Brecknock! Students created Google Slides, SeeSaw Videos, or a poster to show ways we can save electricity. Students had so many great ideas!

In reading we have talked a lot about theme and summaries of stories and what both mean. Students are currently creating a project with their collaborative groups to share everything they know about theme! We have read many stories as a group and talked about the theme of the story after reading.

Students are continuing to do a great job reading for pleasure during class and completing their reading logs to tell me what they are reading!

Math: In math we finished talking about place value and are taking those skills and applying them to multiplication problems. We are reviewing our basic multiplication facts from 3rd grade, and we are even learning strategies to solve 2 and 3 digit numbers multiplied by a 1 digit number!

It’s so important that students know their basic multiplication facts so please keep practicing at home! In school they love to practice by playing the flash card game Around the World!

November is a busy month at Brecknock with fundraisers, conferences, and holidays!

I look forward to see everyone Nov 8th and 9th at Parent Teacher Conferences!

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Mr. Straub

It’s that time of year- Parent Teacher Conferences! Please sign up for a 15 minute time slot either Thursday November 8th from 1pm-8pm or Friday November 9th from 8am-3pm with your students’ ELA teacher.

You can sign up by going to the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A094FA8A92FA5FF2-parent 

I am excited to have the chance to sit down and talk with you about your 4th grader!

Cody Straub

Red Ribbon Week Oct 22-26 

“Life is a journey, travel drug free”

Monday Oct 22nd- Role Reversal! Students dress like staff, and staff dress like students.

Tuesday Oct 23rd- Shine and wear your bling!

Wednesday Oct 24th- Dress like someone you want to be in the future!

Thursday Oct 25th- Dress in something mis-matched!

Friday Oct 26th- Wear your favorite sport team’s shirt!

As we end the first full month of school (the year is already flying by!) we have been doing a lot in 4th grade! Below is a short update on what is going on in our classroom:

ELA: We have been talking a lot about the main idea of a reading and how to summarize the reading. We have been reading a lot about natural resources and the environment to go along with what we are learning in our science and inquiry class.

We having started our Words Their Way spelling lists and will have tests every Friday unless noted differently. Vocabulary words are also coming home for homework and are critical for students to work on! We reinforce that work in the classroom throughout the week.

In writing, we have started to learn about informational writing. We have talked about the writing process and are currently writing about natural resources. We are in the last step of the writing process, which is typing a final draft!

Math: In math we have done a lot of work with numbers! Place Value, periods, rounding, estimating, addition and subtraction are just a few things we have talked about! We will spend the first week of October working on word problems and open-ended problems. We are planning on having our first graded quiz this coming Tuesday Oct 2nd followed by a unit assessment Friday Oct 5th! Students have worked really hard on these skills and are ready to show what they know, but please take time at home that week to review as well!

I hope everyone has an enjoyable fall weekend and please reach out to me with any questions or concerns!

Mr. Straub

Hello,

Starting this week (9/24/18) students will be beginning Words Their Way Spelling lists. Words Their Way can personalize students spelling lists to help them work on skills they specifically need to work on. In our ELA class we separate into 4 different groups for our weekly spelling lists.

Each week that we have spelling, students will come home with a Words Their Way sorting page to keep at home to help practice their words. Students will have between 10 and 20 words on their list depending on the skill they are working on. Each week they will have homework to complete for their spelling list and we will have a test in class on Friday.

Another great resource that we have is the Spelling City website. That is a website that we will access at school and can also be accessed at home! Spelling City will have your student’s list as well as different games they can play to practice their words. This is a great tool that is hopefully fun as well!

To access Spelling City you will need to go to the follow page: https://www.spellingcity.com/users/cbstraub. Once on this page students will not need to login in to access their lists, but they will need to know their rotation team from school. (They are baseball teams!) They will need to select their team to see the list that they are working for the week, other teams will have different lists.

I believe once we get into the spelling routine these will be 2 great resources to help all students with their spelling skills! As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to email or call!

Thank you for all your support,

Mr. Straub