Hi Families,

1. Fourth Grade Free Press Mr. Fox’s Class Thursday, November 4th, 2010 Hi Families, We had a great week in here filled with stories about immigration, elections, place value and conference prep! Our last week and a half has been great in here. We were not working directly out of our reading series so we had the flexibility to do some creative writing and poetry. We learned about ABA rhyming poems as well as Haiku Poetry. We also learned about personal Narratives and all had the chance to write one and type it in the computer lab. This Tuesday someone from the Science Museum of Minnesota came down to Hastings and gave us a presentation on Electricity. This is perfect timing because we are going to be starting our first Science Unit on Electricity next week! The kids loved this presentation and were even able to get involved in the experiments at times. Your students also got the chance to vote on Tuesday. A computer program was developed to allow Pinecrest students to vote for the color of our new Pinecrest shirts and for a special school wide day. After all the votes were cast and counted, royal blue and gold won for the color and pajama day won for our special day! That will be happening on Friday November 12th! I am looking forward to meeting with all of you over the next few days for fall conferences! When you come in, be sure to check out the Scholastic Book Fair in the Library. They have some great books there this year! Ally Frantzick will be our Star of the Week person next week! Thank you very much for everything you do for your kids! I can’t wait for conferences. If you have any questions for me please don’t hesitate to e-mail or call. -Mr. Fox Upcoming Dates: November: Thursday 4th – Nighttime Conferences Friday 5th – NO SCHOOL: All Day Conferences Tuesday 9th – Nighttime Conferences Friday 12th– School Wide Pajama Day! Thursday 18th– PEP (Parent Educator Partnership) Meeting: All are welcome!!! 6:30pm in the Library Tuesday 23rd– Coffee Night with Mr. Fox Thursday 25th/Friday 26th – NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving Break December: Friday 10th– Early Release Day – Staff Development Thursday 23rd – Sunday January 2nd – NO SCHOOL: Christmas Break Language Arts: Our Poetry unit was great a couple of weeks ago. We learned about many different types of poetry. Next week our unit is about China. We will learn a little bit about Chinese culture! Spelling Words: Shred, through, sprout, sprawl, split, throb, throat, shrink, screw, shrimp, screech, straighten, sprang, shriek, splashing, straps, strain, stand, script, thrill, graph, brush, these, threaten, strictly Vocabulary Words: Temples, heritage, overjoyed, preserve, and dynasties Math: We have been flying through our Unit on Multi Digit Addition and Subtraction. The kids seem to really be understanding this concept. We have noticed some great improvements since starting to switch classes, and I think that the kids are enjoying them selves much more. Social Studies: We are done learning about the Midwest! We are focusing most of our attention on geography of the United States and learning the state capitals. I have put up flash cards on our class website if you would like to provide your child with some more practice with this. Science: We are going to start our Electricity Unit next week!!!