Welcome to Mrs. Alers' Website!

Tune in here for up-to-date information about upcoming events, assignments, field trips, and any other fourth grade happenings. Our general fourth grade calendar is on the fourth grade website, and class-specific information will be listed below.

Special Happenings

• 4th GRADE MUSIC PROGRAM - November 10 at 6:30. Please have your child here by 6:15 - 6:20 p.m.
• MIDTERM REPORTS will be sent home Monday, November 14. Sign and return the bottom half by November 15.
• NO SCHOOL November 23, 24, and 25. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tests, assignments, etc.  

• REGULAR HOMEWORK POLICY - All work is due the following day unless otherwise noted. Late work is downgraded one letter grade, and missing work is given a zero. To help you stay aware of your child's homework in this area, look inside your child's Friday Folder to see how many missing and late assignments they have. If this is a regular problem or if you have questions, please let me know.
• DOL - grammar skill test each Friday
• SPELLING - final test and contract due each Friday.
• COLORADO HISTORY - Chapter 3 test is November 8. Baskets are due November 17. Cliffdweller projects are due November 28. Check your child's planner each week to see what should be completed each week. Ideally the project should be completed before Thanksgiving break. Please don't spend much money on this project - we've discussed in class how the structure can be built using things that are already in their house, such as kleenex or cereal boxes. If you do buy supplies, try to share with other classmates. We've talked about using their desk groups as supply groups and sharing the materials and supplies.
• READING - We will have a monthly vocabulary test given the first Thursday of each month, testing comprehension of the previous month's vocabulary words. The next test will be December 1. 

Current Subjects, skills

• READING - We are reading "Mae Jemison" from the Open Court book, which is a biography. Along with the on-going vocabulary and comprehension work, we will be working on these specific skills - sequencing, identifying the main idea and supporting details of long and shorter passages. The specific story elements will be continued as well, identifying the setting, characters, conflict, resolution, theme, and plot. We'll continue on later this week with The Coming of Gray Owl, a novel, later this week.
• MATH  - Unit 4 covers learning about decimals and their uses. The students will estimate, measure, compare and order decimals, extending the base-ten place value system to decimals. 
• LANGUAGE - This week's grammar emphasis is capitalization and proper nouns. The writing skill is expository paragraph sentence fluency and beginning word choice, specifically adjectives.
• COLORADO HISTORY - American Indians of Colorado is our current unit of study. We will continue our practice and knowledge on how to find specific information in a nonfiction text, how to take 2-column notes, and how to find and classify information.
• SCIENCE - We don't currently have a FOSS kit, but will be receiving the next unit mid November, which is Magnetics and Electricity.

Regular routine homework

• The SPELLING CONTRACT is due each Friday. Please review your child's work throughout the week, and be sure to sign each week's spelling contract.
• You will receive your child's papers each week in their Friday Folder with a WEEKLY PROGRESS REPORT enclosed. The emptied Friday Folder, along with the Progress Report, need to be returned each Monday signed by you. This lets me know you've seen your child's papers, and are aware of any missing or late work your child may have. It also really helps with regular communication. These Progress Reports will come home every Friday. The only exceptions will be if we have a 3 day week, or the week before report cards/conferences. If you're not seeing these, please call me.
• Your child will have "WEEKLY HOMEWORK" which will be math computation practice and a targeted reading skill. The reading skill will correspond with what we're studying in the classroom. These will let you know in more detail what we're doing in the classroom, while giving your child an extra chance to practice those pesky math facts! These will come home each Monday and will be due that Friday.