Holiday Concert!

Just a reminder that the OCS Holiday Concert is TONIGHT!

Concert begins at 6:00 pm and both 4th grade classes will meet in our classroom at 5:30. All 4th graders will be in our room after the concert to be picked up as well.

See you tonight!

Spelling

On Monday, our class used "candy cane" as an inspiration for this week's words!  All words focus on the long a sound.

1.  ace
2.  face
3. base
4.  race
5.  grace
6.  baste
7.  brace
8.  pace
9.  lace
10.  place
11. chase
12. case
13. paste
14. space
15. trace
16. taste
17. basic
18. haste
19. craze
20. waste

Week of November 25....

How many words can you make using the words "THANKSGIVING DINNER?"  Our class has created over 230 words (so far)!  If you think of any as a family, please send them in with your child tomorrow. 

Since we are having a short week, Friday Folders will not be going home tomorrow.  However, I will send home the math quizzes that were taken earlier today.  Everyone did a great job!

Tuesday, December 3, will be our next Spirit Day.  Our class has now won two months in a row and have selected "Dress to Impress" to be the theme!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week of 11/18 Spelling

This week's spelling focuses on the vowel sounds that are heard in put and out.

1.  stood
2. took
3.  wood
4.  football
5.  brook
6.  bush
7.  July
8.  cushion
9.  butcher
10. pudding
11. power
12. however
13. shower
14. crowd
15. loud
16. house
17. outside
18. mountain
19. cloud
20. proud

Spelling homework for the week:
Monday-write words 1-10 five times each, underline or highlight the vowels
Tuesday-write words 11-20 five times each, underline or highlight the vowels
Wednesday-Use each spelling word in a sentence.  (20 complete sentences!) Underline or highlight the spelling word in each sentence.
Thursday-Study!

November 11, 2013

Welcome Back!

This week's Spelling focuses on words that are easily misspelled by 4th graders.

1.  because
2.  too
3.  would
4.  people
5.  when
6.  said
7.  are
8.  about
9.  friend
10. there
11. very
12. want
13. went
14. were
15. know
16. house
17. again
18. favorite
19. our
20. once

Spelling Homework:
Monday-write #1-10 5 times each (highlight the vowels)
Tuesday-write #11-20 5 times each (highlight the vowels)
Wednesday- use 12 words in sentences (underline the spelling word in the sentence)
Thursday- create a short story using at least 10 words (underline the spelling words)

Today also kicks off National Young Readers Week!  Mr. Magnuson helped us launch by coming in to read the first few days of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck to the class!  Please continue to do the 20 minute nightly reading at home! 

Spirit Day

The theme for tomorrow's Spirit Day is CRAZY HAIR DAY!
Enjoy!

Keep Reading!

October reading logs (Read Your Heart Out!) are due!  If your child has completed one, please send it in with them next week.  Also, November reading calendars are coming home today!  Please have your child record every day that they read for 20 minutes!  These will be due on Monday, December 3! 

Have a great weekend!

School Pictures -

Make up day will be Monday, November 4th.  Please have students bring in the unwanted pictures that day (or before)!
Thank you!

Thursday, October 24

Another great day in 4S! 

For our last day of Red Ribbon Week, we are wearing anything that sparkles and shines!

In Math, we learned about mean, median, and mode.  The kids loved a singing toad video.  Please check it out if you need any help for homework, or just as a refresher.  Caution-the toads (and spider) sing some very catchy tunes!

Mean, Median, and Mode Singing Toads!

Wednesday, October 23

 

In Social Studies, we have been discussing the regions of the United States.  To begin our discussion, everyone wrote down the state(s), and region(s) that they have visited.  After, we made posters labeling the regions with the states and listed students under each state visited.  It is so neat to see all the places that we have been fortunate enough to see!

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, Thursday 10/24-"Stay in the Game-Play Drug Free!"-Wear a team jersey/shirt!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Tuesday, October 22

What a great day!  Our class showed such spirit by wearing clothes backwards, inside out, mismatched.....we truly have a creative group of young people in our room.

Keeping up with Red Ribbon Week, tomorrow's theme is "Too Smart to Start," and students may wear their "thinking caps" (hats) to class tomorrow.

Keep it up 4S!

Also, as of tomorrow, students are not to bring in their rainbow looms or trading cards to school.  They have become quite a distraction.  Students are still permitted to wear their loom bracelets, but should not be wearing them as rings.  

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter and continued support!

Have a great night!

Week of October 21

It was great to see so many 4th graders in red, white, and blue-what a great way to kick off Red Ribbon Week!
Please remember that tomorrow kids may wear their clothes backwards, inside out, or mismatched for -"Smoke is NO Joke!"

This week, our spelling words focus on the short i, short o, and short u sounds-
1.  into
2.  itself
3.  gifts
4.  little
5.  sitting
6.  prints
7.  pinch
8.  without
9.  twinkle
10.  digging
11.  drop
12.  topple
13.  clog
14.  frogs
15.  jogging
16.  bottom
17.  buddy
18.  plus
19.  rusted
20.  buses

Spelling homework for the week:
1.  create as many words as you possibly can using one word from our list
2.  illustrate 12 words
3.  write a letter to a friend about our class, using 8 of our words
 *Due Thursday 10/24

Have a great week!

Week of October 15

Spelling words focus on short a & e sounds:
1.  alligator
2.  facts
3.  sanding
4.  can't
5.  handle
6.  rattle
7.  camera
8.  January
9.  panda
10. planted
11. clever
12. exit
13. never
14. left
15. fellow
16. hello
17. spelling
18. extra
19. every
20. effort

Spelling homework: Cryptogram Puzzle & ABC order due Thursday, October 17
Remember to keep logging your daily 20 minute reads on your Book-It calendar!
Have a great week!

Walking School Bus...

is tomorrow!

Just a reminder-there is no spelling this week.  The Social Studies quiz that was scheduled for this Thursday, has been rescheduled for next Thursday, October 17.  I apologize for the confusion, but I want to make sure we have enough time to review!

Have a great night! :)

Week of Respect

This week, our school is observing the state of New Jersey's "Week of Respect."
To kick it off, we discussed ways we show respect to our classmates, school, and of course, families.  4S is a very respectful class!

There will be no Spelling words this week!

Have a great week!

Exciting Things Happening at OCS Next Week!

There is a lot going on at school next week., which is also Week of Respect: 


Monday 10/7-Wear a blue shirt to help us promote NJ Week of Respect
Wednesday 10/9-Walk to School Day (Check the OCS Backpack for more information)
Friday  10/11-Wear blue & yellow to show your support for Down Syndrome

Have a great weekend!

Hat Day for Charity

This Friday,10/4, will be a Hat Day for charity.

Students may wear a hat in school if they bring in a small donation.  Money raised will go for awareness for both Down Syndrome and Food Allergy Awareness.  

Please be sure to check the OCS Backpack for more information, and for any other events happening in our school!

OCS Backpack

Week of September 30

This week's spelling focuses on the long a sound /a/:

1.  afraid
2.  explain
3.  payment
4.  trace
5.  sleigh
6.  laid
7.  raise
8.  straight
9.  freight
10. height
11. they
12. favorite
13. April
14. able
15. radio
16. station
17. daybreak
18. relation
19. may
20. prey

Spelling homework for the week:
Monday-write words #1-10 5 times each
Tuesday-words #11-20 5 times each
Wednesday-choose 12 words to use in sentences
Thursday-create a short story using at least 8 words

Happy Monday!

The students are doing a great job of getting into our daily routine!  We are really getting to work in our new school year-so exciting!

Here are the spelling words for the week (these are vocabulary words for our first unit in Social Studies)
1.  landforms
2.  geography
3.  border
4.  coast
5.  wetland
6.  waterway
7.  source
8.  erosion
9.  transportation
10. port
11. elevation
12. weather
13. climate
14. temperature
15. precipitation
16. blizzard
17. hurricane
18. river
19. Oxford
20. Trenton

Gentle reminder that there is a vocabulary quiz in Science on Friday 9/27

Have a great week!

Spelling

Spelling words for the week concentrate on short vowel sounds. 
Spelling pack (hw) is due on Thursday 9/19
Spelling test and Reading quiz will be on Friday 9/20

1.  rough
2.  grudge
3.  stunt
4.  sudden
5.  thumb
6.  once
7.  another
8.  does
9.  cousin
10. trouble
11. began
12. city
13. oxygen
14. copy
15. very
16. until
17. umpire
18. which
19. crumb
20. puzzle

Have a great week!

4th Grade Goals!

Both of the 4th grades have worked on goals for this academic year.  Mr. Denzer-Weiler's class (Mr. DW as the kids refer to him), as well as our own, have filled in football templates with personal goals for school.  They are in the hallway in front of both of our classrooms as serve as a motivation to all of the 4th grade.  The students did a great job on these, and they can not wait for you to see them at Back to School Night (9/17)!

Spelling Words

Happy Friday!

Students were given the spelling words for next week's test. 
The words were taken from the first two chapters of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

1.  cereal
2.  insulted
3.  pears
4.  turtle
5.  hollered
6.  flowers
7.  reptiles
8.  mumbling
9.  advertising
10. delicious
11. stomach
12. slurping
13. complained
14. announced
15. advantages
16. combination
17. pastimes
18. discussing
19. repeated
20. commercial

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

September 5, 2013

Good Afternoon!

Just a friendly reminder that many of the forms that were once sent home ("Parent Homework") are now on the OCS homepage.  If you locate the "OCS Backpack" icon, you will find forms that need to be filled out and sent with your child to school.  If there are any issues with printing out documents, please let me know and I will send your child home with a print out!

Thank you and have a great night!

Welcome to 4th Grade!

Today was such a wonderful 1st day of 4th grade!  The class and I had a great time getting to know each other and learning about their new class!
Welcome back!  :)

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Our focus of study for MARE this year is on the Kelp Forest.  Lucky for us, the adorable sea otter makes it's home in the Kelp Forest.
If you would like to see sea otters, live on your computer, check them out at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  They feed and train them every few hours.  You can log on anytime from 7am to 7pm when cameras are rolling and they feed them at 1:30pm, 4:30pm and 6:30pm (EST)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_otter/otter_cam.aspx

ENJOY!

The week of May 20-24

There is so much happening in our classroom and in our school as we wind down our school year!

Please remember, the concert is this Wednesday (5/22) evening.  The show begins at 6:00pm and students may come to our classroom starting at 5:30pm.

Thursday (5/23) is our long-awaited class trip.  As a reminder, the students need to be at school by the regular time (please be on time!) and will return at around 3:45pm. Please check their folders for more information regarding our trip, this will be going home tonight!

This week's Spelling focuses on words that have vowels with no sound clues.

1.   machine
2.   especially
3.   usually
4.   probably
5.   giant
6.   buffalo
7.   Canada
8.   canoe
9.   relatives
10. stomach
11. moment
12. cement
13. yesterday
14. animals
15. iron
16. favorite
17. welcome
18. support
19. suppose
20. August

We are also reading "Into the Sea" in Language Arts.  There will be a selection test on this short story on Wednesday (5/22).

Have a great week!

NJASK!

The students have been preparing for the NJASK this week.  Testing for 4th grade does last for all five school days, as there is a day of Science testing included! 
In addition to focusing work on comprehension, writing and math, we have discussed the importance of having a healthy breakfast, getting a good night's rest, and being prompt to school in the morning!

For an interesting read about helping your child deal with test anxiety, click the link for the article!
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Helping_Overcome/

This week's spelling words focus on the prefixes dis-, in-, mis-, re-

1.  dislike
2.  disappear
3.  distrust
4.  dishonest
5.  disagree
6.  incomplete
7.  independent
8.  incorrect
9.  invisible
10. inactive
11. misplace
12. misspell
13. misled
14. mistreat
15. misbehave
16. rebuild
17. reuse
18. react
19. replace
20. recall

April 15-19

Just a friendly reminder....
There will be a quiz on Wednesday on our Science vocabulary, students created cards to study over a week ago in class.  These will help them prepare for the vocabulary quiz.
**The Math test that was scheduled for this Thursday will be moved to Friday.  The topics on the test will be: partial quotient division, measuring angles and coordinate grids.**

Have a great week!

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone has been able to enjoy this beautiful weather this week!

In our Math class, we are learning to measure angles!  Currently, the students are measuring using a full-circle protractor and later this week, they will learn to measure with a half-circle protractor.

In Language Arts, the students are working with a reading partner instead of in a literature circle.  Currently, they are reading (and enjoying!) Dear Mr. Henshaw  by Beverly Cleary.
To read more about our author, learn more about Leigh and other characters that Ms. Cleary has written, take a look at her website: Beverly Cleary Website

Enjoy the rest of the week and read this coming Friday's weekly update for more happenings in our class!

Week of March 25

This week, the students have finished reading Strider and are working on in-class projects.  They are creating new covers for the book based on their favorite section and are rewriting the ending.  So far, the covers look great!

There will be a spelling list on Thursday of this week.  The list is a little shorter than usual, concentrating on double consonant words.

1.  tomorrow
2.  borrow
3.  different
4.  supper
5.  matter
6.  written
7.  bottle
8.  ridden
9.  odd
10. bubble
11. offer
12. suffer
13. slipper
14. grasshopper
15. worry
16. current
17. lettuce
18. paddle
19. shudder
20. hobby

*As we continue to work with division, please encourage your child to study math facts at home for a few minutes a night! :)

Tricky Tray Class Basket

As many of you know, our very own OCS PTA puts together an amazing Tricky Tray every year!  The PTA does so many great things for our school, so it is so important that we help them out with our class basket.
This year's basket is "Hot to the Touch," which includes a lovely fire pit!

Mrs. Frasca has kindly offered to put together our class basket.  Many of you have sent in the money to cover the fire pit, however, we could still use some more items to include with it. 

Some ideas may include: marshmallows, skewers, blankets, music, plastic tumblers, hot chocolate mix, graham crackers, chocolates (smore fixings)-possiblities are endless and so much fun!

Please send in what you can, it can make a great difference in our class' basket!  Also, classrooms with baskets that have a high amount of tickets also get prizes, so our children benefit not only in the long run, but also in the classroom!

Thank you!

Partial Quotient Video

In Math, we are working with a different method of division.  The students were introduced to the "partial-quotients" algorithm in class.  Take a look at this quick video, to see the method being used to solve a problem.  It is a great video and shows how to use partial-quotients, step by step.
Enjoy!

Partial Quotient

The week of March 18

Happy Monday!

This week in Language Arts we continue to work in our literature circles.  The students and I are reading Strider.

There will a spelling test on Friday of this week.  We are studying words that have the suffixdes: -ful, -ly, -ion.

Spelling list:

1.  powerful
2.  peaceful
3.  beautiful
4.  cheerful
5.  painful
6.  thoughtful
7.  slowly
8.  safely
9.  daily
10. suddenly
11. carefully
12. weekly
13. lately
14. truthfully
15. hopefully
16. action
17. location
18. invention
19. correction
20. pollution
21. dangerous
22. principal
23. suspected
24. chanting
25. cautious

Have a great week!

Oxford's Got Talent....

and I am happy to say that we have several talented performers right here in our own class!

If you can, support your classmates and school by coming to tonight's talent show!

The Rock Family

In Science, we have been learning and talking about different rocks.  The students listened to this song today.  It's a great reminder of how the rocks are formed!
Rock Song

March 4, 2013

Happy Monday!

This week we will be reading about baseball great, Lou Gehrig, in Language Arts. While doing so, we will also be studying text structure and learning new vocabulary.
Spelling will focus on easily confused words.

This week's spelling words:
1. convinced
2. courageous
3. engineer
4. gradually
5. immigrants
6. set
7. sit
8. off
9. of
10. when
11. win
12. our
13. are
14. than
15. then
16. lose
17. loose
18. were
19. whose
20. who's
21. we're
22. where
23. quiet
24. quite
25. quit

Read Across

Our class is looking forward to celebrating Read Across America Day tomorrow. All students are invited to bring in a book of their choice to share a bit with their classmates. We also have some suprise visitors which will make our day extra special! As a friendly reminder, please remember to check your child's Friday folder tomorrow. There will be important information about what has gone on in class this week as well as what to look forward to for next week. Third quarter progress reports will also be in the folders tomorrow. Have a great night!