Way to go, scientists! Job well done! Thanks to all our special guests for joining us! We had an "owl"standing time dissecting owl pellets!

The West Valley Learning Center brought Hanovi to Prairie View so our fourth graders could learn about owl adaptations.

Halloween is right around the corner!

Our celebration will begin after lunch on Oct. 30th. Please send your child's costume to school that day in a bag and we'll start our transformation at 12:35. Please avoid anything too spooky or gory and the easier the transformation the better.  Our parade will commence at 2:25 and wrap up about 3:00.You are more than welcome to join us that day for any or all of the festivities. 

Veteran's Day Info from Mrs. Wiser

Dear Prairie View Families and Friends,

            As Veteran’s Day approaches, it is our desire to honor the men and women who have served so faithfully in our armed forces.  Veteran’s Day plays a special part in my life since my dad served in the U.S. army for over 20 years.  As part of our upcoming Veteran’s Day assemblies, we would like to present a slideshow honoring members of our armed forces, both past and present from our community.  If you would like to help with this project, please send a photo of a family member or friend (in uniform if possible) who has served or is currently serving in any branch of the U.S. armed forces.  Clearly label your picture with the name, branch and relationship to your Prairie View student.   Digital pictures would be preferred!  Please send your pictures via email to melanie.wiser@mead354.org.   If you submit a paper copy of a photo, please send it to school with YOUR CHILD’S NAME so these precious pictures can be returned.   We also ask that you include a phone number on the back of the photo in case we have any questions.  Please do not send any “heirloom” or “irreplaceable” photos with students.  

At our assembly, students will sing patriotic songs and listen to a story told by our very own PV veteran’s.  Students are welcome to invite family or friends who are veterans to join us in recognizing Veteran’s Day on Tuesday, November 10^th, at either 10 a.m. with our primary students (AM-K, 1, 2, and 3) or at 2:00 p.m.with our intermediate students (PM-K, 4, 5, and 6).

Thank you in advance for your assistance with this special project.  Don’t forget to submit photos right away as the deadline is Wednesday, November 6^th.  Photos must arrive at school no later than this date to be included in the slideshow.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Melanie Wiser

(509) 465-7854

melanie.wiser@mead354.org

Fabulous fourth graders have been hard at work!

Together we wrote an informational paragraph about Jackson Pollock. We used several sources to get our information. Have your author tell you about our work. Be sure to ask about elaborations, sentence openers, strong verbs, and dress ups. 

In reading, our target was to write a summary for "Standing Tall." Ask your reader to share the summary.

Math has been all about numbers to the millions place and subtraction and addition algorithms. We have also been spending a lot of time on word problems. There are many necessary steps we take to solve them. Identifying the information we need and what's being asked of us can be transferred to a a tape diagram. Then mathematicians estimate a sum or difference. Now, it's time to solve it using a standard addition or subtraction algorithm.  After solving, we have to check the answer. Last, we write our answer as a statement. Whew, that's a lot of work!

The reading logs are looking great and another bunch of readers passed their first cone. WAHOO!!

Artists at work on our owl project! There were several steps involved. One more to go! Ask your artist about the procedure.

Lots of News!

Here's what we've been up to and what's coming up!

We just took the Mid-Module math test this week. Targets covered on the test were reading and writing numbers in a variety of forms, comparing numbers using symbols, rounding numbers, and using rounded numbers to estimate sums and differences in word problems.

In reading, we worked in groups to define, illustrate, and use our vocabulary words in sentences. Then we presented our posters to the class.

Our first points celebration was tons of fun! Ask your scientist a fact they learned from the movie we watched.

 Scientists at work!

Prairie View has an amazing opportunity to participate in a community wide Halloween service event which will impact hundreds of families in the Spokane community as well as provide an opportunity for our children to give back. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint Youth group is working in conjunction with Catholic Charities of Spokane and the Athletic Department at Gonzaga University to provide a Halloween Carnival and Costume “store” to hundreds of underprivileged families in Spokane.

To make this a success we need Prairie View’s help.  We are asking for new or gently used costumes to be donated that we will use to set up a costume “store” for the underprivileged families to “shop” for a Halloween costume for their children who would not normally have the opportunity to dress up for Halloween.  There will be NO COST for the costumes and will be part of a larger Halloween Festival including a trunk or treat and carnival activities. Everything will be donated and free of charge for the families.  We hope to continue this event in the years to come.

Collection Box will be in the Rotunda from Monday, October 19-Friday, October 23

Please Donate New or Gently Used:

·         Halloween Costumes: (Animals, characters from books, cartoons & movies, etc)

·         Athletic/band/military uniforms

·         Prom & vintage dresses

·         Dress Ups

·         Accessories

·         Props (eye glasses, hats, scarves, purses, shoes, wands, wigs etc)

Large Youth Sizes are in great demand

Owl Pellet dissection is coming up! It will be the day of Donuts with Dad. October 22! Donuts with Dads will start at 8 am on that morning. After you are finished eating your donuts you will line up outside with your child and come in at 9:10 to dissect your owl pellet!

Halloween is coming soon! We will be having a party on October 30 from 12:35 - 2:05. Any volunteers are welcome to help out with the party. We will need help planning a game. Please send me an email, if you are interested in helping with the Halloween party.

Mr. Wiser has partnered with GU and Mead Nutritional Services to host a Family Fitness Fair here at Prairie View.  GU students will be running some activities in the gym, and some local Farmers that supply produce to our District will have booths in the Cafeteria. If you have kiddos in both Intermediate and primary grades, select which time works best. 

Happy Friday! Another fabulous week in fourth grade has come and gone!  

Some FYIs

Behavior Plan: The fourth grade uses tickets as a motivation system. This is an individual rewards system for the students. Students earn ticket for targeted behaviors or completing tasks such as homework or secret passwords on the blog. At the end of the week, the students can "cash in" their tickets for prizes such as wearing a hat in the classroom for a day or having lunch with a friend. The students can choose to save their tickets week to week to select bigger prizes. The students can also lose their tickets if they are disrupting the learning of their classmates.
Wahoo! The class has earned 75 points and we are watching a movie (I'm in charge of that).  Our celebration will be Wednesday, Oct. 7th.  Jammies and a stuffed buddy are welcome!
Looks like the reading homework is going great!  Watch for the orange homework folder every night.  It needs to be turned in daily. Thanks for keeping up on those reading logs! Next week we will add math homework.
Self Manager's recess is an extra 15 minute recess for the students who make good choices throughout the week, turned in all their homework, read 100 pages throughout the week (20 pages a day), and completed all their work in class throughout the week.  Most of you signed the Weekly Report on Thursday. Thank you for checking with your fourth grader every Thursday to see the Weekly Update, sign it, and send it back the next day with them so I know you saw it. That's the last part of their ticket to the celebration.  

Book Orders are due on Monday.  I will submit all orders after school! Thanks to all of you who have already gone online to place orders!

The Sweet 16 test will be Friday, Oct. 16th! Practice lots!

after, although, as, because, besides, if, in order, since, so, that, unless, until, when, where, whether, why 

 

Thank you volunteers for your help and time!

 

4th grade Rotations
4th grade rotations started this week!  The rotation topics will continue through conferences: Mrs. Wiser - Human Body & The Brain, Miss Pecka - Math Module 2, Mrs. Jordan - Living & Non-living (A.G.C.R.E.W.) and Ms. Cozza - Social Studies.

Monday:  We began learning about the skeletal system.  The students made observations about how the body moves when jump roping and discussed the number of bones that make up different parts of our bodies.   We also wrapped up reading The Search for the Missing Bones, a chapter book jam packed full of great information about the skeletal system.  
Tuesday:  Math was our focus during our Tuesday rotation with Miss Pecka.  The students began working on Module 2: Unit Conversion and Problem Solving with Metric Measurement.  Wednesday:  On Wednesday, the students worked with me and began discussing the classifications for determining whether something is living or non-living.  They will be doing a science investigation using the scientific method!  So fun!
Thursday:  Social Studies has begun!  We start the year learning about where we are in the world beginning with Earth and making our way to the tippy top of 5 mile!  The students will also begin learning about the regions of Washington.