Please note that due to surgery I will be out until approximately 10/4/04. I will be working with the sub during this time. If you have any special concerns prior to my return, please call the office and ask that they contact me with your phone number.

Special Note
Country Projects
Projects are the only assigned homework for that particular week.
DATES WILL BE ASSIGNED NEAR THE END OF SEPTEMBER. ONLY MONTHS ARE LISTED NOW.

10/00- Norway project due.
10/00- Ireland project due.
11/00- Africa (Gabon & Kenya) project due.
12/00- Turkey project due.
1/00- Australia project due.
2/00- China project due.
2/00- India project due.
3/00- Russia project due.
4/00- Ecuador project due.
5/00- Mexico project due.
5/00- Haiti project due. (optional for extra credit)

Projects can be absolutely anything associated with that country. Here are just a few ideas. Students can make a map of the country, they can write a short report, they can do a photo report showing the landscape and people, they can bring in a traditional food associated witht he country and share it with the class, they can come dressed in the the traditional clothes of that country, they can display art from that country, they can compile pictures and biographies of famous artists, mathematicians, or scientists that came from that country, they can bring in a doll dressed in the traditional clothing of the country, they can choose an invention that came from that country and report on it, they can make a float representing things from the country, or they could bring in pictures of something they collect that comes from that country. If you have a relative that lives in the country we are studying, your child can write an interview of what it is like to live there and how it differs from the U.S.

A good place to get ideas on these projects is to visit the official website for the country. Many kids have a collection of something. I have told some of them they may want to look for an item from that country that will fit into an existing collection.

Areas of Study

Math
Review. Subtraction with borrowing, simple division, multiplication with multiple digits on top and one digit on the bottom, column addition.

Reading
All students are responsible for AR points each quarter. This will be assigned based on reading level. There will be a class novel assigned in addition to our basal text. This will be done in class.

English
The major focus in english for fourth grade in all classrooms is a five paragraph essay. Please CLICK HERE to look at the format that the children must use each time. We will be doing these all year long starting in October.

Social Studies
Chapter 1- Geography and regions of California.

Science
Animals and habitats.