A Bag of Jelly Beans

Dear Parents and Students,

Beans! Beans! Beans! There are lima beans, coffee beans, kidney beans and refried beans. I love them all! But our class' favorite kinds of beans are jelly beans – and every flavor, too. Cherry, grape, lemon-lime, licorice . . . YUM! Double yum for strawberry and banana. For the past few weeks, our class has been learning about the writing process: prewrite, draft, revise, edit, and publish. Students have been working on writing a creative story about a jellybean. What awesome authors we have! Their imaginations are brilliant! Each story is unique and creative in its own way. These flavorful beans are traveling around the world, life saving heroes, and creative cooks. This week students will complete their published pieces. Their jelly bean's adventures create "delicious stories" that will make your hungry . . . not only for jelly beans, but for the good reading, too.

Our curriculum goals for the week include:

Reading: story elements - setting, characters, plot

Spelling: Long/Short u & accented syllables

Writing: Writing Process

Math: Place Value & Multiplication

Science: Classification

Social Studies: Utah Regions

A copy of the 4th grade county report assignment guide is included in this week's homework packet. I hope you will be on the lookout for it. Students' assigned county will be given on Monday and written on the paper. Please keep this paper on file for your reference in completing the project. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to call or email.

Thank you for all your support with emails, phone calls, donations, and notes. I appreciate the opportunity to teach your students. They are truly amazing!

Mrs. Yates

Amazing Adaptations!

Dear Parents and Students,

With a swoosh of a magic wand, some of our students transformed into new creatures with amazing adaptations. Students are learning about animal adaptations in Utah environments: wetlands, deserts and forests. Adaptations are structure or behavior changes in an animal that help it survive to the environments conditions.

Utah is the 2nd driest state in the United States. When the huge thunderstorm rolled through on Thursday, some of the students stared outside with big eyes at all that rain. One student even said, "I don't think we are a desert anymore. That is more than 10 inches of water." It was a record rainfall in the weather books - just over 1 inch! WOW! It is fun to see all their connections to what they are learning in real life. I hope you will continue to help your students make these connections at home.

It was fun to see all them all dressed up. I hope it will help them remember the different adaptations animals have to survive in their environments.

Our curriculum goals for the week include:

Reading: story elements - setting, characters, plot

Spelling: Long/Short u & accented syllables

Writing: Writing Process

Math: Place Value & Multiplication

Science: Classification

Social Studies: Utah Regions

I hope your students are enjoying school and developing a love for learning. This is the true treasure of teaching!

Thank you,

Mrs. Yates

Dear Parents and Students,

We continue to explore Utah environments this week. It was fun to dissect our class "pet" cactus to discover its keeping "cool" adaptations in the desert. These adaptations include: big roots to soak up the water, small pores to release the water, needles to breathe easier, and a waxy surface to keep the water in. I hope your "scientists" described our experiment adventures. This week we will explore more plant and animal adaptations. Some of our students may even "try on" some adaptations themselves. Beware scientist volunteers!

Our curriculum goals for the week include:

Reading: story elements- setting, characters, plot

Spelling: Long/short e & accented a syllables

Writing: Writing process

Math: Place Value Patterns

Science: Utah Environments

Social Studies: Utah Regions

Due to the new 4th grade class, our rotation schedule has changed slightly. Computers will now be on Wednesday and library will be on Monday. To help students remember to return their library books on time, students will be asked to bring their books on Friday. Thank you to all of your for your support with sending classroom supplies, volunteering, and supporting your students. It is a joy to work with your students!

Ready to Explore,

Mrs. Yates

Week 3 - Utah Animals and Environments - Oh My!

Dear Parents and Students,

This week we head on a Utah exploration of our environments - deserts, forests, and wetlands. Be sure to ask your "explorers" about the awesome things we are discovering from animals to adaptations.

In addition to studying Utah's environments this week our curriculum goals include:

Reading: story elements- setting, characters, plot

Spelling: Long/short i

Writing: Writing process

Math: Graphs (Test on Friday)

Science: Utah environments

Social Studies: Maps and globes

Thank you to all of your for your support with sending classroom supplies, volunteering, and supporting your students. It is a joy to work with your students!

Ready to Explore,

Mrs. Yates