Mrs. Alabakoff's 4th/5th GradeDearborn Public Schools

Oct 22nd Halloween Dance

OOPS!  I got the time wrong on my previous post–the dance starts at 5:30 p.m.

Oct 20th October 20th-24th

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  The weather is getting chillier so please be sure your child is dressed for these cold mornings!

Reminders for the Week:

PTA Meeting — Tuesday, October 21st–7 p.m. in the cafeteria

Halloween Dance — Friday, October 24th–6-8 p.m.  PTA is looking for baked goods donations.

Please check outside the classroom for the breakfast sign-up for our Halloween breakfast on Oct. 31st.

We are learning:

Spelling–The focus for third grade this week is blends.  Fourth grade will be working on long e words.  We will be making connections with these spelling patterns throughout the week.

Daily 5/CAFE–We will be working on the genre of folktales this week and probably next.  Third grade will focus on fables and fourth grade will focus on legends.  We will be identifying the elements of folktales and will also compare/contrast several examples.  Students will be working on their own individual goals in their books as well.

Students have also begun book club.  We had our first discussion groups on Friday.  They are really enjoying their books and discussing them with their classmates.

We also are doing book talks where students get to share books they are reading with the class.  It has really tuned other students into a variety of books.  Ask your child if they have shared a book yet.

Writer’s Workshop–We are finishing up with our realistic fiction stories (3rd) and Haiku poetry (4th) this week.

Math–Both grades will be having the Unit 2 assessment this week.  Fourth grade will be tomorrow and third on Wednesday.  We will then move onto factors and prime numbers for 4th grade and measuring to the nearest inch, 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch for 3rd grade.

Science–Third graders are exploring the properties of rocks and minerals.  Look for a take home project which will be coming home later this week.  Students will have an opportunity to extend their learning with this project.

Have a sunny week!

Oct 16th Halloween Breakfast

The sign-up sheet has been posted outside the classroom.

Happy Halloween!

Oct 16th DoVall Club

The DoVall Club is looking for good 4th and 5th grade leaders and well behaved students who have great ideas and want to lead projects and help promote a positive school culture and help those in need in our school and community. If your child would like to be a part of the DoVall Club please look for the note being sent home today. You will find a note and attached application to be returned by Wednesday, October 22nd, no later then Friday, October 24th. Mrs. Grahl and Mrs. Goranson will then review the applications and choose students for the club. Members will meet one, possibly two Tuesdays a month to plan projects. Thanks!

Oct 13th Week of October 13th-17th

Reminders for the Week:

Tomorrow is picture day!

Fun Run money due Friday the 17th.

I will be posting a sign-up this week outside the classroom for our Halloween Celebration.  We will be having a breakfast!  Details to follow.

We are learning:

Spelling–Fourth grade spelling sound is long i and third grade sound is short u.  Each week we also work on the spelling patterns for the sounds.  I usually check to make sure the students have copied the words correctly, but I am working on them taking responsibility for the words themselves.  Please be sure to review words and spelling patterns with your child.  They should be able to identify both.

Daily5/CAFE–We are finishing up with our text features in our informational books.  Fourth grade is working on Biographies for their nonfiction reading.  We will be discussing the books together in groups and each student will also be working on their own individual goals and strategy.  We will also use these books as well as the Treasures books to identify main idea and details.

Writer’s Workshop–Third grade students are planning with a graphic organizer for their realistic fiction stories.  They will begin their first drafts and work through the writing process.  Fourth graders are doing the same with writing Haiku poetry.

Math–Third grade is focusing on addition and subtraction number stories.  We will be identifying key words within these problems.  They will also transfer their knowledge by creating their own number stories.

Fourth graders are finishing up Unit 2 with collecting data and creating different graphs–specifically bar graphs and line plots.  They are also identifying the landmarks for the sets of data.

Social Studies–Students in third grade finished their Geography of Michigan study and assessment.  I will be sending home their grade but not the assessment.  We will eventually transfer their answers to the computer, so they will need the original test to transfer their answers.  If you have specific questions though, you can email me.

We will be moving on Science.  Our focus will be continuing with natural resources and how humans are protecting, extending and restoring resources and how we use the 3 R’s.  Students will also be examining rock samples and identifying the properties of the rocks and minerals.

Have a great week!

Oct 2nd Camp News

CAMP NEWS: Due to the lack of volunteers to run a fundraiser we will NOT be having one this year. I have sent out 5 letters requesting donations and another 6 have been taken by some parents to distribute. I have yet to get any response. For now, the cost will be 85$ more BUT it could drop by the time we have the final meeting. I will keep you posted. The final meeting with payment due will be Tuesday, October 7. It will be 7:00, 4th graders in room 201, 5th graders in room 202. You will get the paperwork and packing list at that time with all final details included.

Sep 29th Week of September 29th-October 3rd

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend!  The weather was so beautiful.  Hopefully you were able to enjoy a cider mill or apple orchard!

Reminders for this Week:

We will be starting the MAP test.  A yellow note went home explaining this new assessment.  Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest and eats a good breakfast.

No School Friday (Oct. 3rd) and Monday (Oct. 6th).

We are learning:

Spelling–Fourth Grade is focusing on Long o vowels and the spelling patterns that go with the word.  Third grade will be working on both long and short o.

Daily 5/Cafe–This week we will be working on main idea and details.  Students will be using a graphic organizer to identify main idea and details with a nonfiction selection.  Fourth graders will also be working on biographies.  We will also be starting book club this week.  Students will be working in small groups to read and discuss their book.

We have also begun “Book Talks.”  This is a great way for students to share books they are reading and enjoying.  Many students choose to pick up the same books that are shared and get really excited about reading these books.  Each student will have an opportunity to share a book.

Writer’s Workshop–Students are finishing up their descriptive writing pieces about their favorite place.  We will then move on to one more narrative piece.  Students will use a graphic organizer to organize their ideas before they write.

Math–Both grades are beginning Unit 2.  This week third grade will be working on fact families and extension facts.  They should be practicing their basic facts at home as well.  We will be starting basic addition and subtraction timed tests.   We will also focus on rounding to estimate a sum or difference for larger numbers.

Fourth grade is working on large numbers and how to write these numbers in the three different forms.  They will also round these numbers to estimate as well.

Social Studies–Third grade students are doing a great job learning about the geography and resources of Michigan!  This week we will focus on how humans use and change/modify the environment.  If there is time, we will move on to learning about Movement to and from Michigan.

Thank you to Emily Kudreiko’s family for the delicious windmill St. Claus cookies!  Yum!

Also thank you to Audrey Malone’s family for the sweet peanuts–also so delicious!

Have a great week!

Sep 22nd Week of September 22nd-26th

Reminders for the Week:

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall!

Pink Shirt Day is October 2nd.  Order forms are coming home today if you would like to order a pink shirt!

Superhero of the Week:  Giselle WronaGreen    Great Job, Giselle!

We are learning:

Spelling–This year spelling is a bit different,  as you may have noticed.  We will be working on a spelling sound and pattern each week and students will receive their words on Monday (much like last year).  This year,  students will also have content words from Language Arts, Math or Science/Social Studies.  These would be words we are using in their subject areas.  The test will be on Friday.  Students will also have 3 cold words on Friday’s test.  These are words that follow the spelling pattern but are not given to study.  We would like students to transfer their knowledge to new words and then be able to use them in their writing.

Daily 5/CAFE–This week we are continuing to set individual reading goals with strategies for each student.  Your child should be able to tell you their goal and strategy.  We will focus this week on character traits.  Students will identify traits of a character based on the actions of the character in the text.  We will also be working some informational text and identifying features.

Writer’s Workshop–Students have been identifying powerful language to use in their descriptive writing piece.  It is a narrative about their favorite place.  We will also be reviewing capitalization of proper nouns.   This week is also the district writing prompt so we may be finishing up with our narrative at the beginning of next week.

Math–Fourth graders just finished up with Unit One, which is a review of lines, line segments, angles and rays.  We will be moving on to place value and large numbers as well as some addition and subtraction of larger numbers.  Please keep practicing those facts!

Third graders are working on some money review and will be finishing up with elapsed time.  We will be working with some problem solving using elapsed time as well.  A unit assessment will be coming up.  Details to follow!

Social Studies–Third grade is working on Social Studies.  I usually do a couple weeks of Social Studies and will then switch to Science.  Third graders are working on the Geography of Michigan.  We are learning about the landforms and bodies of water of Michigan.  This week our focus will be natural resources of Michigan.  We will also learn about the positive and negative consequences of their use.

Fourth Graders are enjoying their Project Based Learning time with Mr. David with both Science and Social Studies!

We have also enjoyed our Michigan Made Fridays!  Students sample various Michigan Made products, identify the city and location where the product is made.  Thank you to Mrs. Brown for the delicious chips!  If you are interested in donating a product, just let me know.  We do this with Mrs. Morrison’s class as well.

Have a sunny week!

Sep 16th Just a test!

Finally have the blog working–I hope!  If you subscribed to the class blog, you should be receiving this automatically!

Jun 9th End of the Year Picnic

Parents,

We are still in need of the following items for the picnic:

Cut up fruit

Cut up veggies

More paper plates, napkins and plasticware

We will be leaving at about 9:15 tomorrow morning.   Drivers please make sure Ms. Cathy has your information in the office.

Thank you!