November Finish Unit 2 and begin Unit 3: Fractions and Decimals *Monday 11/5 and Tuesday 11/6- Half Days and Parent-Teacher Conferences *Thursday 11/8- Friday 11/9- Teacher’s Convention, No School *Week of Monday 11/12- Spirit Club Food Drive *Wednesday 11/21- Half Day *Thursday 11/22-Friday 11/23- Thanksgiving Recess, No School Finish Unit 2 and begin Unit 3: Fractions and Decimals Students will begin by reviewing previously learned concepts about fractions. The unit will focus on delving deeper into fraction and decimal comprehension, including equal sharing and fraction equivalence, utilizing fraction circles, finding an equivalent fractions rule, comparing and ordering fractions, modeling tenths with fraction circles, modeling decimals with base-10 blocks, reading and writing tenths and hundredths, working with tenths and hundredths of a meter and tenths of a centimeter and comparing decimals. Students will also continue to review concepts from Unit 1 and Unit 2 through the use of Math Boxes and games. Study of Nonfiction Students will study the genre of nonfiction and how this differs from fiction. Students will learn about the different types of nonfiction, nonfiction text features, text structures, summary, main idea, details, author’s purpose, and fact vs. opinion. Students will read a plethora of nonfiction texts and articles and they will have access to Newsela, a wonderful online resource. Students will also continue to review fiction skills with responses to their reading. Science Unit 1: Energy Students will engage in five investigations that focus on the concepts that energy presents whenever there is motion, electric current, sound, light, or heat. Through controlled experiments, students will change variables to determine the strength of electromagnets, how energy transfers, and how mass impacts energy. They will manipulate electrical energy with batteries, light bulbs, and wires. Students will interpret data from their graphs to develop explanations and make predictions based on evidence revealed through investigations. Students will engage in engineering design to apply electromagnetism to everyday life. (continued below) Students will write research essays. They will read various nonfiction texts and articles, as well as watch informative videos. Then, they will write about what they learned, including information gathered from all sources. Students will engage in multiple forms of research throughout their study and produce five paragraph essays with accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Social Studies Chapter 1: The Geography of New Jersey In this chapter, students will review geography skills, including using globes and using different kinds of maps. Fourth grade centers on New Jersey, so that will be our main focus. Students will study the landscape and waters of New Jersey as well as our state’s climate.