Important Dates

Conferences

If you would like a spring conference, please sign up for one time slot per child below. 

Field Trip
Students will need a completely disposable lunch and drink on March 17. They are not permitted to walk around the museum with drinks or lunch boxes.

FIELD TRIP LINK:
https://dcsdk12.revtrak.net/tek9.asp?pg=prairiecrossES

Follow these directions:

1) Click on "Registration"

2) Click on "Field Trips"

3) Find "PCE - Gr 4  Colorado History Museum - Click on Correct Teacher to Register" - underneath that, you'll see all 4th grade teacher names...click on correct teacher 

4) Then in the right box click "Register for this class" and then you either login or set up a new account.

If you have questions/problems with the online registration/payment, please contact:

RegWorks directly at 1-888-848-2194 or Kathy in our office at 303-387-8200 or Kathy.Klancic@dcsdk12.org
If you are having trouble with the link - we have found that it works best in the  GOOGLE CHROME BROWSER.  Other browsers were not working consistently.

PARCC/CMAS

This morning Mr. Rainford came in and showed the kids all of the tools that will be on the PARCC tests this year, and they had a little time to do some practice test problems. If you'd like your child to practice at home, here are the links to the PARCC and CMAS practice tests. There is also a practice test that guides the kids through how to answer questions on the math test. The practice tests do not work in Chrome, so please use Safari/Firefox/Internet Explorer. Be sure to choose the Grade 4- Computer Based Practice Test.

Students need headphones/earbuds for PARCC testing. Please make sure your child has working headphones/earbuds at school. 

PARCC/CMAS tests are the state mandated tests that your child takes once a year. More information about PARCC/CMAS will come out via the weekly email blasts from the school, but here is our testing schedule so that you can plan accordingly. Please note that we start testing the first day back from spring break.

Monday, 4/4

1. English Language Arts, 9-10:45
2. Math, 12-1:15

Tuesday, 4/5

1. English Language Arts, 9-10:45
2. Math, 12-1:15

Wednesday, 4/6

1. English Language Arts, 9-10:45
2. Math, 12-1:15

Thursday, 4/7

1. Math, 12-1:15

Tuesday, 4/12

1. Social Studies, 9-10:35

Wednesday, 4/13

1. Social Studies, 9-10:35

Thursday, 4/14

1. Social Studies, 9-10:35

February News

What are we learning this month?

In social studies, we continue to focus on three World Class Outcomes: Evaluate how environment and culture influence sustainability. Evaluate the relationship between cause and effect. Evaluate the relationship between decisions and the impact on available resources in the community. 

The content we'll use to understand these WCOs include:

• The Native American tribes that have lived in Colorado

• How Spanish explorers affected the native people

• Colorado history to include: fur trappers, mountain men, the gold and silver rushes, Westward Expansion, pioneers, homesteading, ranching, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, Sand Creek Massacre, Camp Amache, and Lincoln Hills

In math, we'll spend the month focusing on decimals. Students will learn how to model, understand the place value relationships, order and compare, round, and compute addition and subtraction problems with decimals.

In literacy, we are focusing on a new WCO: Construct a viable argument and critique the reasoning of others.

• Students are synthesizing information from multiple sources to draft a report to support a claim they've made about the person they read about in their biography book.
• We are wrapping up their first book clubs with presentations to convince the class to read (or not read) the book that they read.
• We'll start our next round of book clubs with novels that take place in Colorado during different time periods in our state's history. Students may have another fourth grade teacher for this novel study. Mrs. Thistleton will be teaching Blizzard, Estes Park; Mrs. Everett will be teaching Little House on the Prairie; Mrs. Williams will be teaching Hard Gold; and I will be teaching The Secret School.
• In writing groups we are writing opinion pieces based upon articles that we've read.

Snapshots of our Learning

 

Each group read about a tribe and took notes on their food, method of getting food, traditions, shelter, location, and clothing.

 

Then, they planned out what was most important to teach the class about their tribe.

 

Next, they divided up the work.

Finally, the groups created a poster to share their learning with the class. 

Sharing out with the class how the Cheyenne made decisions based on their environment

Teaching the class about the Arapaho's culture

Explaining how the Ute used their natural resources for a sustainable society

The Stink book club is creating a poster for their presentation next week. 

The Nest for Celeste book club is collaborating on a Popplet for their presentation.

Homework

Please be sure that your child is reading nightly. Your child should finish two books at home this month. 

My favorite websites for math homework are Front Row and Ten Marks Jam Session. These websites give your child practice at his/her skill level and will push them to learn new concepts as well. 

Spelling for this month:

• Testing Friday, February 5: per
• Testing Friday, February 26: multi

January News

Tomorrow we embark on a three month journey that integrates many World Class Outcomes through literacy, math, geography, and history content. 

WCOs 

• Create meaning strategically. 
• Evaluate how authors create meaning.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
• Create knowledge through the process of inquiry.

Students will be: 

• Learning how to read a biography book, take notes to determine important information, synthesize what they've learned about the famous person from the book and other sources, and write a report to justify why this person is worthy of study.
• Writing multi-paragraph essays. These will include: a personal narrative about winter break, responses to opinion pieces that they've read to critique the author's opinion and support their own reasoning, and blog posts about current events. 
• Analyzing the five different text structures present in nonfiction text: description, sequence, problem/solution, cause/effect, and compare/contrast. By reading a lot of nonfiction texts, students will analyze the author's organizational structure to evaluate the important information. 
• Integrating all four of these WCOs in their first book clubs of the year. Each reading group has chosen a novel to read. They'll read a portion of the book each week, analyze the text, and meet to discuss it each week. 
• Beginning their first DLT project. They'll choose something that they want to learn more about, and through inquiry, create a project to showcase their new learning. 

WCOs 

• Evaluate how environment and culture influence sustainability.
• Evaluate the relationship between cause and effect.
• Evaluate the relationship between decisions and the impact on available resources in the community.

Students will be: 

• Deconstructing the WCOs so that they actually understand what they mean! As you drive around town, have dinner conversations, talk to your child about school, you may want to talk about:
• What is sustainability? Why is it important to consider when making decisions?
• If the town of Parker doesn't think about the environment, what effect would that have on our city's sustainability?
• If the town of Parker thinks about the environment over culture, what effect would that have on our city's sustainability?
• How has Colorado thought about resources when making decisions?  
• How do you make decisions? How does cause/effect manifest itself in your daily life? 
• What decisions has the community made that you agree/disagree with and why? 
• Learning about the geography and regions of Colorado. We'll focus on: how the geography of Colorado has affected where people settle and the jobs they have; how decisions can have positive/negative effects on our state's resources and sustainability.
• Analyzing the history of Colorado. We'll focus on: the cause/effect relationships in historical events; how environment and culture have influenced sustainability over time; and how decisions are made for our state based upon the available resources in our state at the time.

WCOs

• Create a process to solve a problem.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

This month, our focus will be on fractions. Students will work heavily with simplifying, equivalent fractions, and adding/subtracting fractions. Through number talks, we'll continue with sharing our thinking as we solve problems mentally for efficiency and accuracy. 

Homework This Week:

• Spelling: gram
• Reading: Students will choose a biography book to read this month at home. The notes are posted in Google Classroom. We will have gone over the assignment's expectations in class on Monday. 
• Math: I'd suggest Ten Marks Jam Session, Front Row Fractions, or these Equivalent Fractions games

December News

MONTH AT A GLANCE

World Class Outcome Focus: Analyze the characteristics of effective citizenship & Appraise the interaction between individual and societal activities

Some things to talk with your child about might include how you are an effective citizen and your thoughts on how an individual can impact society (think of the presidential election, charity work, service to a community).

Content/21st Century Skill Focus: Civic Responsibility

• Branches and Levels of Government
• Branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
• Levels: Local, State, National
• Rights and Responsibilities
• Citizenship
• Student Council
• Officers will be elected (5th & 6th graders)
• Our representatives will be elected in class
• Field Trip to Colorado Capitol
• If you've not registered yet, please see the previous blog post with details on this field trip.

Ongoing WCO: Create meaning strategically & Evaluate how authors create meaning

• Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• Using this novel, we'll be analyzing plot and character development. How does the society impact the individuals in the book? How do the individuals impact the society? 
• We'll be applying new vocabulary into blog posts that show our critical thinking about what we've read. 
• Students will communicate digitally about what they've read and analyze what others have communicated to collaboratively understand the novel on a deeper level. 
• Integrating the 21st Century Skill- Global Awareness
• Students will participate in many choice activities that have them analyzing winter holidays celebrated around the world. 
• Creativity- Students will have choice in their independent writing, which includes prompts that require them to hit writing targets and communicate their thinking with creativity.

Ongoing WCO: Create a process to solve a problem.

• Math will focus on standard 4.3- Visual displays are used to represent data. 
• Analyzing data to find: mean, median, mode, range
• Line plots with fractions
• Probability: likelihood and outcomes 
• Students will continue to practice their flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency in our number talks. 
• We'll delve deeper into multi-digit multiplication and division with word problems. 

If you can donate supplies for our holiday activities, please click here. 

December Events

November 20 News

Holiday Adoption Information

Last year during the holidays, 70 families (over 184 kids) were adopted within the Douglas County community. These families came from Renaissance Expeditionary Outward Bound Magnet School, Fox Creek Elementary, Pine Lane Elementary, and Prairie Crossing Elementary.  These families received clothing gifts for each family member and toys for each child.  The program was very successful, and the families that were adopted were grateful and appreciative of the kindness and support of the Douglas County community.

This is the 9th year Prairie Crossing has participated in this program. Fourth grade would like to be a part of this community service building activity, and you are welcome to participate. We, as a grade level, will be adopting one family. Please visit the Bring It sheet to sign up for a gift if your family wishes to participate. Once you've purchased the gift, please wrap it, put a sticky note on it with the letter/number code listed on the Bring It sheet (ex. C4e), and send it in to your child's teacher. All wrapped/coded gifts need to be at school by December 8th. 

**Also, because of the sheer number of families that Alison Armour (the school social worker organizing this outreach) has, she'd rather our class not go beyond what is asked, but rather have parents that want to give more, contact her (719-232-7803), and you can help another family.  Sending in gift cards is another option. She always needs gift cards for food.  King Soopers is best, but she will take Target and Walmart as well. She first uses gift cards to make sure all families in our community have been adopted.  Then extra gift cards are used for food for the families.  Anything extra is used throughout the year for those families that come to us in crisis.*

Capitol Field Trip
As part of our upcoming study on government/civics in Colorado, we will be taking a tour of the Colorado Capitol building. Please follow these directions to sign your child up for this field trip. 
https://dcsdk12.revtrak.net/tek9.asp?pg=prairiecrossES

1) Click on "Registration"

2) Click on "Field Trips"

3) Find "PCE - Colorado State Capitol Building " - underneath that, you'll see all 4th grade teacher names...click on Ms. Tucker.

4) Then in the right box click "Register for this class" and then you either login or set up a new account.

If you have questions/problems with the online registration/payment, please contact:

RegWorks directly at 1-888-848-2194 or Kathy in our office at 303-387-8200 orKathy.Klancic@dcsdk12.org

December Needs
If you can help contribute to supplies for our holiday party, please sign up here:
 

November 15 News

Homework
Spelling: tele list
Math: Front Row, Ten Marks Jam Session, AbcYa, or Games Linked On Math Google Classroom
Reading: Your child should be finished with at least 8 books by the end of November

Talk with Your Child About...

• Inflation- Beware! Using the Consumer Price Index Calculator, I showed them how our $2/week allowance in the 80s would be $4 a week in 2015. 
• The choices you make when purchasing good and services, how you compare prices, and how you budget your family's money
• The perspective/point of view of the different characters in the book your child is reading
• How you use your bank/online banking system to track your money
• How your family "gives back" (We read stories in reading group about how people/businesses give back to their communities.)
• How you use tables/graphs in your job or personal life
• The Lemonade War
• The One and Only Ivan

Snapshots from the Week

Researching Flights to Vacation Destinations to Create a Table to Compare Data

Collaborating to Create our Stories

Using the Consumer Price Index Calculator to Figure Out the Price of Goods in 1932 versus 2015

Calendar Reminders

November 16: Small Business Owner Presentation to 4th Graders

November 16: Fire Drill 

November 23-27: Thanksgiving Break

December 4: Shelter in Place Drill

December 14: Fire Drill

December 16: Field Trip to Colorado Capitol (more info coming soon)

December 18: Winter Break Begins

On days that we have indoor lunch recess, I'll be allowing students to stay in the classroom to play board games (instead of going to the library to watch a movie). If it looks like it's going to be a day that we'll have indoor recess, feel free to have your child bring in some games to play. We did this last week, and the kids had a great time, and it was so fun to watch them play so well together. Please know that I am not the one making decisions about whether we go outside, so always send your child with warm layers to wear just in case. 

November 7 Update

Homework

• Math- Continue using websites. I also showed the kids how to use Ten Marks Jam Session, which is a great option if your child is looking for a different website. If you preferred written homework, please let me know. I am happy to provide written math homework for your child each week. I'll differentiate it based on what your child needs to practice, but I don't want to print out work if you/your child prefers the internet based practice.
• Spelling/Vocabulary- de 
• Reading- We recently used Read Theory in class. Students are welcome to do Read Theory as their nightly reading homework. (It is linked on the Links page of our website.)

Talk with Your Child About...

• The positive incentives and negative incentives in: your life, your family, your job
• The goods and resources (natural, human, capital) that you use and/or want
• How your family budgets your money and your opinion on credit cards
• Data tables that you use/encounter in daily life
• The figurative language in the book your child is reading
• The flat and round characters in the book your child is reading
• The plot and characters of the story that your child is currently planning to write
• The science fossils assessment that your child completed this week

Snapshots from the Week

Getting Feedback from Classmates as We Plan our Stories

Building our Writing Fluency by Planning and Drafting in Writing Group

Learning some Idioms Related to Thanksgiving