Library Books: Please Read

Dear Parents,
Please be sure to send any remaining class books and or book-bags with your daughter tomorrow. Our library needs them... Thank you!

Morah N.D.

Reminder

Dear parents,
Please have your daughter wear a white shirt tomorrow with her uniform skirt.

In addition, PLEASE be sure to come to our class at 10:45 sharp, so that we can be up at the recital on time.

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing you!

RECITAL INFO, PLEASE READ

Dear Parents,
We look forward to greeting you this Friday morning at 10:45 in the 4th Grade Classroom. We will present awards before heading upstairs for the recital.

PLEASE PREPARE a couple of sentences to share how your child has grown this year. Each parent will be asked to come up and share when their child is being presented with their award.

Thank you!

Morah Nechama Dena

Thursday: Walk-a-thon!

Dear Parents,
Please be reminded about the walk-a-thon this Thursday morning. If you haven't yet sent the sponsor sheet back to school, please do so soon! All monies raised will be used to enhance our school play-yard.
Thanks!

Book Club Themes

We've been "plowing through" My Brother Made Me Do It (by Peg Kheret) in our Book Club Discussion. We've had some really meaningful discussions about topics that come up in the book. For example: peer-pressure, taking responsibility for your actions, thinking of the consequences before you act, etc. Please see the picture for more themes that we've discussed as a result of the book. We've definitely come a long way in our discussions; the girls have taken more responsibility in the club and are learning to think more critically about the text. It's a pleasure to see! Ask your daughter to share some of our debated topics (for example: is it o.k. to bend the rules for someone? What does fair mean?).

We Visited the Mazel Juice Bar!

We enjoyed a healthy and delicious juice bar. The menu was fantastic: fresh orange, apple, beet, strawberry, carrot, mango, and celery juices! Enjoy the pictures!

We Enjoyed Salad Snacking!

Thank you for participating in our salad snack by sending in vegetables! We enjoyed a delicious and nutritious salad, and really worked as a team to prepare it. Who ever thought making salad could be that much fun? We had an awesome time!

Science Experiment

We recently experimented making a mixture and proving that unlike a solution, all the substances can be separated. We used a magnet to separate the magnetic items, water to separate the less dense items, and a coffee filter to separate the liquid. We are currently waiting for the water to evaporate so we can see how the salt remains in the cup! Enjoy the pictures!

Intrepid Pictures

We enjoyed a fascinating guided tour of the Intrepid Museum. It started off with a workshop on authentic ship materials: flags for communication, anchors for the planes, talking tubes to get messages between decks...and continued with a truly excellent tour! We saw many types of planes on the flight deck. Many were painted blue and white to blend in with the water and sky; the Israeli plane was painted sandy colors to blend in with the dessert... We saw a CIA plane used to spy, which traveled faster than the speed of sound... There was a lot to see and discuss, including a true-to-scale lego model of the intrepid...incredible! Enjoy the pictures!

Reminder: Juice Bar Tomorrow, Salad Snack Thursday

Dear Parents,
In honor of Health Month at Mazel, please note the following: Tomorrow is 4th Grade's turn to buy drinks at the juice bar. Please make sure your daughter has $5 so that she can try two delicious drinks! In addition, we will have a salad snack on Thursday. Please buy the assigned vegetable on your daughter's homework log, and send it on Thursday WHOLE AND UNCUT.

Thank you so much!
Morah N.D.

Intrepid: Thursday

Dear Parents,
Please note that we will be going to the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan this Thursday at 9:30 am. Please make sure your child is in school on time so that we can leave promptly. Thank you!

Reminder: Math Exams Begin Tomorrow

Dear Parents,

Please be reminded that tomorrow will be the first of three math exams, which will continue on Thursday and Friday. The best preparation is having a proper breakfast, being well-rested, and having all supplies ready. Sending a water bottle with your daughter is recommended.

Please encourage your daughter to stay calm and focus on giving the test her best effort.

Morah N.D.

SCIENCE!

Today we learned about the states of matter and compared and contrasted them. We experimented changing water to vapor (increasing its temperature) and felt it condense on our hands and in a container. We also experimented to find out about density (how close together are particles of matter). We used corn syrup, corn oil, and water. We saw the difference in density and then dropped three items in: we found that the more dense the item, the lower it sank. The paper clip sank below the syrup, the rubber piece floated above the water but sank to the bottom of the oil, and the Styrofoam floated to the top of the oil. Clearly, the foam was the least dense of all the liquids and solids we used. Enjoy the pictures:)

ELA Exam Tomorrow

Dear Parents,
The English Language Arts exams will begin tomorrow, and continue on Wednesday and Thursday. PLEASE be sure that your child is well rested, ate a good breakfast, and has SUPPLIES: 4 sharpened number 2 pencils and 1 large eraser. It would be a good idea to send a water bottle as well. Remind your daughter that she will do her very best and that is all that is needed! Staying as calm as possible will make test-taking less stressful.

All the best,
Morah N.D.

Homework/vacation

Dear Parents,
PLEASE take a look at the test-prep packet sent home with your child. Each letter has INDIVIDUALIZED recommendations to help prepare your daughter for the exams. I've included two stacks of prep-work: English Language Arts, and Math.

ELA contains: Practice for Book 1 (day 1 of the test), Book 2 (day 2), and Book 3 ( day 3). Book 2 is a listening test, so I've included the article which should be read by a parent. The exercise is meant to practice listening and writing (including note taking) so please do not open the article (It's taped shut) until you are ready to read it to your child. Your child should not read the article until the practice test is complete. Read the article once, then during the 2nd reading, your child should write notes.

The math packet includes 2 booklets. Each one contains practice for all 3 books/days of the test. The last packet contains worksheets of various skills. If you notice a recommendation in my notes of a particular skill, it is a good idea to try some practice work in that area.

PLEASE encourage your child to practice over vacation (before and after the holiday).

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me, I will do my best to answer you.

Have a wonderful Pesach holiday,
Morah Nechama Dena

Pictures/Math Cube Toss (Probability)

Fun Math Review...enjoy the pictures!

Current Events

Thank you Michelle for doing an excellent presentation on current events! Michelle presented a Scholastic News article about the updated election 2012 information. We discussed how Mitt Romney is in the lead as candidate for the Republican party. We discussed his competitors and who we think might stay in the race. Michelle brought the numbers from Super Tuesday so we could compare some states. Job well done!

Current Events

Congratulations to Aviva on an excellent current events presentation! Aviva brought in a news article from the Wall Street Journal about the recent meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting was in regards to Iran's nuclear threat and what to do about it. The presentation was clear and well-prepared! We had a great discussion following the presentation. The girls were attentive and had great questions which lead to the discussion... Job well done!

Art Trip Tomorrow

Reminder: Art trip tomorrow morning with Morah Irina to the Jewish Museum in Manhattan

State Exam Schedule

Dear Parents and Students,

Here is a heads-up about this year's schedule for the State Exams. We will be sending home a note shortly with more information and tips. I'd like to share my general approach to the tests:

DO YOUR BEST. THE TESTS ARE NOT A GOAL IN AND OF THEMSELVES; THEY ARE TOOLS TO SEE WHERE YOUR CHILD HAS MASTERED SKILLS OR RETAINED INFORMATION, AND WHICH AREAS NEED MORE WORK. We will work in school on test prep, and it is advisable that you support the effort by paying extra attention to the prep work sent home.

English Language Arts: April 17, 18, and 19

Math: April 25, 26, and 27

Science: End of May

Morah N.D.

Math Update

We've been working on FRACTIONS in Unit 7, as well as PROBABILITY. Today we focused on ordering fractions from smallest to largest. We learned that we can easily compare fractions with LIKE numerators (numbers on the top of the fraction) and LIKE denominators (numbers on the bottom half of the fraction), but comparing fractions that have different numerators and denominators can be tricky. We explored some strategies we could use: we could make the two fractions have the same denominator by reducing or multiplying the fraction. We could also make a graph or number line to help us understand if this fraction is LESS than or GREATER than 1/2. This can help us with ordering.

We learned that PROBABILITY is the likelihood of an event happening. The fraction that tells us the probability is the "desirable outcomes" over the "total number of outcomes." For example, if we have a bag of 75 jellybeans, 16 of which are pink, the likelihood of us randomly choosing a pink out of the bag is 16/75. This event in UNLIKELY. However, if we have 48 blue jellybeans in that bag, the chances of getting a blue  is VERY LIKELY...48/75. The closer the numerator is to the denominator in number (the closer you are to ONE WHOLE) the more likely the event is to happen.

We also learned that we can find EQUIVALENT FRACTIONS - multiplying the fraction by some number over some number (For example 2/2), or reducing the fraction - dividing by some number over some number (for example 4/4). So if we want to say 1/2 in another way we could say 3/6, 4/8, 50/100, etc.

It would be great if you discussed the concepts with your child at home and use practical examples as they come up (i.e, dividing a bar of chocolate and looking for and comparing fractions, or slicing oranges into fractions and comapring fractions, etc.).

Book Club Update

Dear Parents,
We are nearing the end of our book: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry! The book clubs have been working out exceptionally well: the girls have been learning to prepare chapters ahead of time, look up difficult words, and reflect on the text. We've had some great group discussions on the book's themes: BRAVERY, FRIENDSHIP, COURAGE, and EMPATHY (a new word!). We've discussed the importance of not ignoring others' troubles and thinking "it's not MY problem, so I don't need to help." We see in this historical novel how the Danish people were exceptionally helpful in saving their Jewish citizens during the Holocaust, even though they could've easily "turned a blind eye." I encourage you to discuss these traits at home, and share stories and examples that help illustrate having the courage to act!
 We've been analyzing and comparing the characters, as well as learning to summarize the MAIN IDEAS of the chapter. Today, the girls shared with each other their summaries and critiqued their friends on what they deemed to be the main points of the chapter. We hope to wrap up the book in the next week or so. We are looking forward to a good ending...and the beginning of a new book!

New Books! Thank You!

Dear Parents,

I'd like to thank those who bought books for our class at the Book Fair! The girls were thrilled to see the new titles. They are a great addition to our classroom library.