We have begun exploring fractions!  Students should be able to identify fractions in sets (they are everywhere, once you begin to look!).  Students can add and subtract fractions with "like" denominators.  They also know a trick to easily compare fractions.  Ask your child to show you (they cross multiply, then compare the products!). We will continue to reduce fractions to lowest terms.

We are currently:
   MATH:  Reviewing multiplication and practicing division!  We will begin understanding fractions SOON!

   Social Studies : The Revolutionary War. Important Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and

   Language Arts:  Editing, complete paragraphs and sentences, responding to prompts in preparation for the Fourth Grade Writing Predictor Test ( to be administered sometime in March)

    Science: We are "boldly going where no man has gone before..." the solar system.  Students will be conducting and presenting research on a planet.

    Reading:  We are reading Shiloh, the story about a boy's love for an abused dog.  Students continue to work on sequencing, predicting, and making connections to text.
  

    In social studies, we are learning about the early colonists from England who settled Jamestown. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America.  We will discuss the relationship between the Native American Indians and the English,  the use/planting of tobacco as a cash crop, and the population changes (more English and African Americans) during this time. once the colony is established, the quest for independence from Great Britian will begin!

    In science,  students have been discovering the different types of forces (push, pull, friction & gravity).  We have defined energy as the ability to do work.  We identified and discussed types of energy (electric, mechanical, solar, heat (radiant), wind, and hydroelectric) as well as 2 forms of energy (kinetic- energy in motion and potential- energy at rest).  We have discussed enertia, motion, and speed.
     Following energy, force, and motion, we will study electricity!

    Students wrote descriptive papers describing haunted houses and friendly letters to parents stating their 3 goals for this quarter.  We will be learning about figurative language such as similies, metaphors, idioms, and hyperboles.

     In reading we will continue to practice summarizing, identifying story elements, predictions and connections, and vocabulary building with context clues and spelling lessons.