October Book Report Assignment

October Project

“Place Postcard”

Type of book:  Your Choice!

Directions:

         *Select a book and “okay” it with your teacher the first week of October.

         *Create a cool postcard that celebrates a favorite setting in your book.  Begin with a blank rectangle paper.  On one side, draw a picture of the place and write “Greetings from ______” (setting).  On the other side, pretend you just vacationed there and are anxious to tell a friend all about it.  In your paragraph include interesting events from your story.  When you’re done, address it to a classmate. 

       *Use lots of color and illustrate/print neatly.

         *In very small print, “hide” the author and title on the front of your postcard.

         *As always, check your spelling and grammar.

      

Materials Needed:   book, rectangular paper - a 5x8 index card will be passed out on October 10, pencil/pen, markers and/or crayons.

DUE DATE:  November 7

This project is out of this world!  Have fun reading, but don’t forget to come back to earth!

Studying for the Chapter 1 Social Studies Test

Our first social studies test will be on Thursday.  In class, we've been learning about the 4 types of social scientists through reading and activities.  Thanks to everyone who helped find artifacts for the students to share in class!  What a fun day!  We had some amazing artifacts in and it made the ideas come to life for the students.

Strategies for studying the information.....

1.  Cut out the vocab terms and definitions that the students completed in class (found in their chapter 1 packet) and have them match them up.

2.  Challenge your child to complete the ABC brainstorming that we began in class.  They are to think of words related to Chapter 1 that will complete the ABC chart.  This requires them to do some deeper thinking because many of the words were not in the chapter but are tied to it based on what your child knows.  For example .... B - Buildings (because buildings are a human resource that a geographer might study).

3.  As your child the questions on the review sheet (they filled in the answers in class).

4.  Have your child ask you the questions and then explain the answers to you.  They may stump you on some :)

Spelling Unit 1

Our skill for the week is identifying short and long vowels.  Ask your child if they can share one of the observations we had in class about the two (hint:  it has to do with the amount of vowels in the word). 

Our 5 Word Preview words are ... become, grow, draw, yet, less.  These 5 words are guaranteed to be on the test. 

September Book Report Assignment

September Project

“Make a Map”

Type of book:  Book of your choice (must be at least 70 pages and at your reading level)

Directions:

         *Select a book that appeals to you. Get the book “okayed” with your teacher during the second week of September.

         *Well written books help us see pictures in our minds.  Think of an important setting in your book and use your imagination to draw a map of what you think it looks like.

         *Include labels, a compass (north, south, east and west) and a map key.

         *Somewhere on your map include the title, author and copyright date of your book.

         *Have quality work.  Check your spelling and grammar.  Work neatly.

Materials Needed:  fiction book, paper for the map (Mrs. Hansen will hand this out on 9/12), markers, crayons and anything else to make your project outstanding.

DUE DATE:  Friday, October 3

Make an awesome map that will make your friends want to read your book!  Use lots of color!  Get reading!  Do your best work!

Camp Geneva

I'm working on getting the pictures up on a site (there are 122 for the day!) but here's a little snapshot of our day.

May Book Report Assignments

May Project

“Character Trading Cards”

Type of book:  Your Choice….However it must be at least 70 pages and at your reading level

Directions:

         *You will be making “Character Trading Cards.”  Create 5 character trading cards with the paper provided in school (or you may use your own.  I will be handing out 3x5 index cards).  The cards should be about the size of trading cards.

         *On the front of each card draw a picture of one of the main characters and write their name, the book they are from, and the author.

         *On the back of each card “statistics” need to be written:  a description of their personality and appearance, plus fun facts such as their nickname, favorite food or most embarrassing moment, etc.  Be creative!  Don’t forget to check your spelling and grammar.

DUE DATE:  June 2

It’s baseball card trading time!  Let’s make

it READING SEASON and have the all-star readers

in our class make FANTASTIC

trading cards!  You will trade these

cards in class.

Have QUALITY work!

Unit 25 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
snow
rain
suddenly
easy
leaves

Our skill of the week is plurals.

Unit 24 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
sat
possible
heart
real
simple

Our skill of the week is prefixes.

April Book Report Assignment

April Project

“Top Ten List”

Type of book:  Adventure

Directions:

         *What were the top ten things that you liked best about the book you just read?  Create a list.  Write your list creatively, carefully and with correct spelling/grammar.

         *Make a border around your list.  In the border draw either characters from your story or events from your story.

         *Somewhere on your page include the title, author and copyright date of the book.

Materials Needed:  Adventure book, construction paper, markers and/or crayons and any props.

DUE DATE:  May 2

Imagine yourself reading your top ten list in class!  You are proud of your work!  Everyone is really impressed because your list is creative, funny and carefully done!  Make this fantasy come true!

Unit 23 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
third
quite
carry
distance
although

Our skill of the week is proofreading.

Unit 22 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
ice
ship
themselves
begin
fact

Our skill of the week is compound words.

Unit 21 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
watch
shell
dry
within
floor

Our skill of the week is adding suffixes to words that end with consonant y.

Unit 20 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
leave
everything
game
system
bring

Our skill of the week is consonant blends.

March Book Report Assignment

March Project

“Place Postcard”

Type of book:  Your Choice!

Directions:

         *Select a book and “okay” it with your teacher the first week of March.

         *Create a cool postcard that celebrates a favorite setting in your book.  Begin with a blank rectangle paper.  On one side, draw a picture of the place and write “Greetings from ______” (setting).  On the other side, pretend you just vacationed there and are anxious to tell a friend all about it.  In your paragraph include interesting events from your story.  When you’re done, address it to a classmate. 

       *Use lots of color and illustrate/print neatly.

         *In very small print, “hide” the author and title on the front of your postcard.

         *As always, check your spelling and grammar.

      

Materials Needed:   book, rectangular paper - a 5x8 index card will be passed out on March 6, pencil/pen, markers and/or crayons.

DUE DATE:  April 2 (Wednesday)

This project is out of this world!  Have fun reading, but don’t forget to come back to earth!

Unit 19 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
heavy
carefully
follow
beautiful
everyone


Our skill of the week is comparisons.

Unit 18 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
power
problem
longer
winter
deep


Our skill of the week is antonyms.

Unit 17 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
understand
moon
animals
mind
outside

Our skill of the week is /el/ and /er/ spelling patterns.

February Book Report Assignment

February Project

Character Haiku’s

Type of book:  Historical Fiction or Biography

Directions:

            *Find a historical fiction or biography book that looks great!  Okay it with your teacher the first week of February.  This will be a book where the setting takes place in another period of history or a book written about an actual person.  Examples are Colonial America, Days of Slavery, Exploring the American Frontier, etc.  Ask for help finding a book if you find it difficult.

            *A haiku is an ancient form of Japanese poetry that paints a meaningful picture in just a few words.  We’ve written these in class.  For a quick review, the first line has five syllables, the second line has seven and the third line has five. Example:

George Washington

Our first president

A trustworthy and brave man

Courageous and good

            *Write your haiku’s (you’ll need 3 of them) neatly and check for correct spelling.  Mount the haiku on construction paper.  Please make sure to have them colored and of the best quality. 

           

            *Include the title, author and copyright.

Materials Needed:  Historical fiction book, construction paper, markers, pen and/or crayons and glue.

DUE DATE:  February 28

Unit 16 Spelling

Word Preview Words:
already
warm
gone
finally
summer

Challenge Words:
foothills
navigable
fall line
natural resources
industry
agriculture
floodplain
tornado


Our skill of the week is homophones.

Rooms with a view???

I think that this snow may take away any distractions going on outside our windows whenever we get back to school.  Stay warm and safe everyone!!!!

Unit 15

Word Preview Words:

road
blue
instead
either
held

Challenge Words:

North Carolina
South Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennessee

Our spelling skill for the week is long vowels.  

Winter Conferences

In our last 4th grade newsletter, we mentioned scheduling conferences early if you would like a chance to meet with both of us before I begin my maternity leave.  Beginning next week, we are available to meet before or after school (or even at lunch) if that would work for you.  We'll plan on scheduling these before, after or lunch conferences up until Feb. 14 (my anticipated last day).  If that doesn't work for you, I will leave a sheet for Mr. S to share with you at the conferences in March. 

Unit 14

Word Preview: 
round
dark
past
ball
girl

Challenge Words:

Florida
Georgia
Alabama
Louisiana
Arkansas
Mississippi

Our skill for this week is the /ou/ sound, which can be spelled with ou and ow.