Week of: December 14 – December 18
This Week at BHE :
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Monday, Dec. 14 th - Spelling Bee (9:30 in LGI)
Tuesday, Dec. 15 th – Read, Deed, Run (field trip day!- pick up from BHE at 5:45pm)
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Tuesday, Dec. 15 th
Thursday, Dec. 17
Thursday, Dec. 17
– Student Council Meeting (7:30am in LGI) th th
– BHE Winter Sing Along
– Chess Club (afterschool until 4:30pm)
Friday, Dec. 18 th – Polar Express Day/Half Day!
 Students are allowed to wear PJs to school, however please keep in mind that they will be participating in specials that day, so please have the appropriate shoes if they are attending PE on Friday!
Math :
 We will be finishing our Personal Financial Literacy unit this week and taking a quiz on Thursday over the main vocabulary concepts of the unit (fixed and variable expenses, revenue, profit, and different options for saving money). We have been working for the past week on defining and coming up with real-world examples of each of these terms. The students should have ample notes to look over to review in their math journals.
 We will also be going down to the 2 nd grade classrooms this week (on Wednesday) to help them review their addition and subtraction skills  We are very excited to have our students work with and “teach” younger learners, so please make sure to ask them how their day in math was Wednesday afternoon!
 There are MANY different free apps and websites for your student to practice their multiplication fact fluency. Please let your math teacher know if you would like a list of free games to improve your child’s basic multiplication skills.
 Please use the “Anchor Charts and Videos” link on the Math section of our 4 th grade website
(bhe4thgrade.weebly.com) and notes written in your child’s journal for any additional help over a specific concept.
Science:
 In our week before the December holiday we will be concluding our unit on Force, Motion, and Energy.
 We are looking forward to our upcoming unit on Earth’s changes and resources. We will be investigating properties of soil, weathering erosion and deposition from water wind and ice, and inquiring into renewable and non-renewable resources.
 Students have taken completed their science DLA’s and we will have a unit test on Wednesday the 16 th .
Review sheets will be distributed on Monday the 14 th .
 If your child hasn’t done this already, he/she may want to check out these 2 web based activities on forces that students:
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/friction_fs.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/energy_electricity_forces/forces/activity/
 We are exploring forces through experimentation. We began with a guided experiment where we tested whether balls of different mass pushed a cup forward different amounts (i.e. had more force).
 Students have now created their own test questions and are working through the scientific method as they experiment with how forces affect objects. Students are developing a hypothesis and procedure, conducting repeated testing, recording and analyzing results, and drawing conclusions about how different forces act on objects.
 The Key Concepts for this part of our unit are:
1. Forces have observable effects on objects.
2. We can test the effects of force on an object
3. Forces that can affect objects include pushes, pulls, gravity, friction or magnetism

Essential Questions
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How does the student’s experiment demonstrate the effect of force on an
Enduring Understandings
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Unbalanced forces cause change in motion/position.
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Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just changes forms.
The Central Ideas for this unit as a whole are: a) Energy occurs in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems. b) Energy is never lost, but it can be transformed and it can transfer between materials depending on their properties as a conductor or insulator. c) Electrical energy has properties that we can understand in order to create working circuits and electromagnets. d) Forces affect objects in ways that we can observe, test, and record.
Over the course of the unit students will: o Learn about different forms of energy, including mechanical, sound, electrical, light and thermal energy. o investigate how energy is used and transferred in a systems o inquire into insulators and conductors of different forms of energy o understand how electrical circuits work o Examine how electromagnets work
 demonstrate the effects of force on objects
Social Studies:
 We will be concluding our Government unit this week before the winter break.
 Students have conducted research on important people and elements of our government, using books and internet sources. We have gone over this information together and this research will then be available for them to use on their open note assessment which takes place Thursday the 17 th .
 We are finishing our menu items this week. Two items are due on the 14 th of December and a final item will be turned in on the 17 th . This will bring them to a total of 8 items done from the menu. The 9 completed for extra credit. th can be
 Our next unit will be on European Influences in the US and Texas. We will be discussing explorers and their motivations and activities as they came to the new world and Texas.
 To review: The menu has 9 spaces and each activity will be completed over the next few weeks. The first box was sent with a worksheet to be completed and should have been turned in already. The next two boxes were due this week and students can pick one more for next week. The menu should stay in the students expandable for the duration of our menu work, and students are asked to color/mark the ones they have done so they can keep track. Only one other activity has a worksheet (Framing Documents) and this will be filled out when your child decides to do this activity.
Where needed, the other menu items can be completed on notebook or blank paper. Students will be asked to look up information for their work as needed, and some suggested web sites are listed on the bottom of the menu.
Writing :
 This week, students will be writing about their “greatest gift”! This essay will follow the expository structure and students will demonstrate their learning by writing strong, meaningful introductions (hook and thesis statement) and conclusions (thesis statement and takeaway statement).
 Our grammar and conventions focus will continue with the rules of quotation marks as well as ways to replace the verb “said”.
Reading:

 This week, students will be learning about folktales – stories passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, which is called oral tradition. Folktales were made up to explain the wonders of the world or to teach moral lessons. There are different types of folktales such as fables, fairy tales, legends, myths, trickster tales or pourquoi stories. We will cover the elements of folktales and explain that exaggeration is present in these types of stories. We will spend one day especially focused on the trickster within some of these types of stories. Students will write interview questions and “interview the trickster” as if he/she is on a talk show.
Reminders:
 Weather Warning The temperature has been cooling down continuously. Students are more than welcome to bring a jacket to school as needed, but please remind them to be aware and responsible of where they leave it! We have had many lost jackets in classrooms and on the playgrounds these past couple of weeks 
Please note that we will continue to have outdoor recess (as long as the weather allows), and we will be encouraging the students to drink water and stay hydrated. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately (shorts the appropriate length and no spaghetti straps, jackets as needed).
 Water! Water! Water !- Students are encouraged to bring water bottles daily to stay hydrated. It is the students’ responsibility to keep up with their water bottles, as well as using it appropriately in the classroom.
 Healthy snacks are also highly encouraged. These must be DRY SNACKS ONLY. Please be aware that we do have peanut allergies on the grade level.
 Change of Transportation - Notes must be sent from home with change. We are NOT allowed to take emails for change of transportation
 Birthday treats must be peanut free and single servings . These will be given out during recess (around
11:30). We would recommend small bite sized cupcakes, cookies, prepackaged cakes , rice-crispy treat s, or pencils. Please remember that homemade items will not be allowed to be passed out in class- they MUST be prepackaged or store-bought.
 If you have a question about a certain subject area, please contact the appropriate teacher by using the email links provided on our grade level website (bhe4thgrade.weebly.com) .