Thankful it's November

 
"November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring."
-  Elizabeth Coatsworth

Summary:  The Palmer family is all ready for an exciting camping vacation on an isolated island in northern California. While on a hike, their mother falls and breaks her ankle. The father heads to the nearest hospital with the mother, while twelve-year-old Jonathan stays on the island with his partially paralyzed younger sister, Abby. The family dog is there to help. When an earthquake hits the island, Jonathan is faced with many problems while trying to keep his sister safe

Earthquake Terror coincides with Earth Science

Summary:  The Palmer family is all ready for an exciting camping vacation on an isolated island in northern California. While on a hike, their mother falls and breaks her ankle. The father heads to the nearest hospital with the mother, while twelve-year-old Jonathan stays on the island with his partially paralyzed younger sister, Abby. The family dog is there to help. When an earthquake hits the island, Jonathan is faced with many problems while trying to keep his sister safe. 

Genre:  Realistic Fiction 

Realistic Fiction is a fictional story in which the setting, plot, dialogue, and characters seem real.

Story Skill: Plot (Conflict and Events)

A plot is the action or series of events in a work of fiction.  Sometimes important events in a plot are changes in a character's feelings or attitudes. Other times they are action-packed events, such as earthquakes, space journeys, or shipwrecks.  In most stories the plot concerns one or more problems or conflicts.  To keep you reading, authors set up interesting characters and situations.  Then, they give their characters big problems or conflicts to deal with. 

Plots usually follow a pattern like this one:

1. Exposition - The characters, setting, and conflict, or problem, are introduced.
2. Rising Action - The characters try to solve the problem.  It usually gets worse.
3. Climax - Action, conflict, and tension reach a critical point.
4. Falling Action - The conflict gets worked out.
5. Resolution - The ending tells the outcome.

Fall Break and Common Core Math

Dear Parent(s),

 

The 4th grade students will have their first Constructed Response Assessment the Tuesday we return from Fall Break. The entire topic of the CRAs (there will be 3) is fractions. As you know, we have been working on fractions this week, and we will continue to do so when we return. I have found some CRA questions that will be similar to what the students will have on their first assessment. There are some challenging questions. I would like for the children to work on them over the break so that they have more practice. I prefer to set them up for success. So, I ask that these questions be worked on and completed by the Tuesday, October 22nd after we return from Fall Break. They will be sent home in the Homefun folders tomorrow if you would like to work them over Fall Break. I will not send home Friday folders this week.

 

Respectfully,

 

Mr. Shadow