Welcome to 4th & 5th Grade!

  • Dear Room 15 Parents and Guardians,


    Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful break.  I enjoyed a lot of family time, board games, and rainy walks.  I also had a lot of fun crocheting with the yarn and supplies you gifted me!


    This week, we will review our classroom routines and procedures as well as students’ individual goals for Trimester 2.  We’ll review what we’ve learned so far about calming down and managing emotions.   We’ll also start many new units of study:  

    • In math, we will start Multiplying in Base 10.  Fourth graders will learn multiple strategies to multiply 1-digit numbers by 4-digit numbers and 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers.  Fifth graders will review and improve their fluency with the 4th grade skills as well as extend those skills to multiplying with decimals.  As always, we’ll do lots of problem solving and explaining our thinking!

    • In writing, we will be starting a new opinion writing project.  Students will choose their own topic for this essay.

    • Fourth graders will start studying the California Missions in Social Studies.

    • Fifth graders will start studying Earth’s water in science.

    • We will start studying plot in reading and get ready for our next round of book clubs!


    Holiday Waste Drive

    Cherry Chase’s Zero Waste team is hosting a Holiday Waste drive! Americans produce 43% more waste during the annual holiday season.  With this waste drive, we aim to help our community maximize the amount of waste we divert from the landfill.


    Cherry Chase will be collecting used cardboard boxes and used bubble wrap.  The cardboard boxes will be donated to Goodwill and the bubble wrap will be going to SCRAP- a non-profit creative reuse center.

     

    There will be two designated places to drop the donations outside Room 32 (Fun Zone). We will be collecting all next week December 19th-23rd and during the week we return from winter break Monday, January 9th- Wednesday, January 11th.

     

    _______


    Please let me know if you have any questions!


     -- Mrs. Sproule

    What We’re Learning

    • Math: Multiplication in Base 10 (Family Information Letter)

    • Reading:  Plot

    • Writing: Opinion Essays

    • 4th Grade Social Studies: Missions, Ranchos, and the Mexican War for Independence

    • 5th Grade Science: Water

    • Lifelong Learning/SEL: Managing Emotions & Calming Down

    Here are some questions/topics you can discuss with your child about what we are learning this week: Please note: These are topics we will work on throughout the week, so some will not apply until later in the week.

    • What are some calm down strategies you already know work for you? What new ones might you try?

    • What books are you hoping you get to read for the next book club? What is exciting about those books?

    • What are you writing about for your opinion essay?  What made you choose that topic?

    • 5th Graders: Were you surprised about where Earth’s water is?  Have you seen the water on Earth interacting with the living things, air, or physical Earth during our stormy weather the past few weeks?

    • 4th Grade: What were different perspectives on the Spanish Missions in California? What is your opinion on them?

    Upcoming Events

    • Return to School: January 9

    • Teacher Learning Day (12:45 dismissal): January 10

    • Martin Luther King, Jr Day (No School): January 16

    • Staff Development Day (No School): January 17

    • Citizen of the Month - Perseverance: January 27

    • Lunar New Year: February 3

    • Teacher Learning Day (12:45 dismissal): February 7

    • Citizen of the Month - Honesty: February 17

    • Winter Break (No School): February 20 - 24

    • End of Trimester 2: March 3