Taos Charter School 4th Grade Class

-Reading: Read an "on-level" chapter book of 100 pages or more over the break. Bring the book into school with you on Monday, January 7th to write a Book Review about it in class. -Math: Use your IXL account over break to keep your math skills sharp and to preview new material that we haven't covered yet. If you still haven't made it into the prestigious One-Minute Club, then keep on practicing those multiplication facts using flashcards, websites, and worksheets. -Reminder: 4th graders ski and snowboard for FREE everyday at Sipapu! Just bring a copy of your first marking period progress report for verification. See the link or call 800-587-2240 for more info. -Geo-Bee: Our class Geography Bee winners and alternates should study and prep for the TCS school-wide bee on January 11th. Our school winner will go on to compete in the state-level bee in Albuquerque in March. The New Mexico winner and their parents get an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC to part

-Library Books: Please return all the TCS Library books and classroom library books that you checked out for the biography reports if you haven't already done so.

-History: Steps 7 and 8 on the green checklist (add pictures and write the bibliography in the format shown on the back side of the green sheet). Reports are due to present to the class and hand in on Thursday. -Geo Bee Winners!: Congratulations to the five winners of our grade-level Geography Bee: Cully, Sawyer, Max M., Katie, and Rafael! And thanks to the whole class for participating today and giving it so much effort. It was a very competitive bee, taking 8 entire rounds to narrow down the 5 winners. They'll advance to compete against the 5th to 8th grade winners in our school-level Geo-Bee Semifinals on January 11.

-History: Step #4 on the green checklist. Write the final draft of your Revolutionary Biography Report in your best cursive handwriting. Remember, it's not too late to add new information into your report to expand those paragraphs. -Printing Visual Aids: Are there are any students who don't have access to a printer at home, and still need to print out a few pictures, maps, photos, etc. for your history report? If so, I can help you Wednesday after school in the library. Plan to stay late if you can, and your parents can pick you up at school at 3:30. -Reading Club: Meets Wednesday after school from 3:00-3:45.

-History: Complete step #3 on the green sheet: edit and revise your rough draft. Find and fix all mistakes in spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation. Add more information. Expand your paragraphs to cover at least two full pages . -Spelling and Math: There's no spelling list or take-home math assignments this week so you can focus more time into your Revolutionary Biography Report. -Friday change: Parents, today I was informed that Friday, December 21 is now a noon dismissal day for all grades at TCS. The district changed its calendar and we have to follow suit in order to accommodate bus transportation.

I hope everyone enjoys the Precipitation Hiatus (yaD wonS)! -Due on Monday: Five paragraph rough draft of your Revolutionary biography report. -Ski Club parent-chaperone meeting: Parents, if you're interested in helping out at TSV on our Ski Club days this winter, please attend a chaperone meeting on Tuesday, December 18 at 3:00 in Mr. Evans' classroom. -School delay & closure announcements via text: Parents, to get the earliest possible info on delays and closures this winter, I suggest signing up for text alerts from the Taos News. Just go to www.taosnews.com , and click on "Get Text Alerts" to get on their list. They do a very good job of getting the word out as soon as TMSD makes the decision. This morning, I got the Taos News text about today's closing at 5:24, half an hour before our staff phone tree alerted me and almost an hour before it was announced on tv or radio.

-History: Use your outline and your notes to start writing the rough draft of the report. Try to finish the first two paragraphs if you can. Remember what we discussed in class today: that each paragraph should have a topic sentence, five or more supporting detail sentences, and a conclusion (or clincher) sentence. -Reminder: Winter raffle tickets are due back on Friday, December 14. Please bring in all sold and unsold tickets if you haven't done so already.

-Spelling: Written work is due. Study for the practice quiz. -History: Outlines for the Biography Report are due.

-History: 1. Spend 15 minutes working on the biography outline you started in class today. Use the format page that I gave you today to help set up your outline. 2. Spend 30-45 minutes completing your reading and note-taking for the report. 3. Bring all of your materials into school on Wednesday: books, articles, your notes, and your outline (even if it's not finished). We'll be working on the reports in class, and you'll need everything you have. -12/12/12: At twelve seconds after the twelfth minute of the twelfth hour of the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of the century, we'll have a 12 minute party. If you can, bring in 12 healthy snacks to share and celebrate this unique event!

-Math: SL 5-7 (p. 107) -History: Finish up your research, reading, and note-taking for the Revolutionary Biography Report.

1. guerilla 2. timeline 3. retreat 4. victory 5. defeat 6. treaty 7. indent 8. adjective 9. advantage 10. disadvantage 11. billion 12. felicidad (happiness) 13. paz (peace) 14. It is better to give than it is to receive.

-History: Continue to gather information, read, and take notes for your Revolutionary Biography Report. Use some of the note-taking strategies you learned about in class today. On Monday, I'll give you all the details about writing the paper. -School Supplies: Many students are running low on basic school supplies. The most important items are pencils, red pens, folders, and a ruler. Parents, please ask your son or daughter if they're out any of these items and re-supply as needed. Also, I'm happy to accept donated supplies to give out when kids need them, especially pencils. Thanks! -Ski Clothes Needed: Parents, Ski Club is looking for donations of used kids' ski pants, gloves, and goggles to outfit students who need them this year. If you have any of those items that your family's grown out of, please pass them on to Mr. Bonner or Coach VanNevel. -Reminder: 4th graders ski and snowboard FREE everyday at Sipapu this season! Just bring a report card to show a

-Math: Finish the 3-digit x 2-digit side of the bright yellow sheet if you didn't finish it in class today. -Spelling: Study for the quiz. -History: Research, read, and take notes for your Revolutionary Biography.

-Math: Finish the 2-digit x 2-digit side of the bright yellow practice sheet. Save the back side of that page for Thursday in class. -Spelling Written work due. Study for the practice quiz. -History: Start researching and reading about the life of the person you chose today for the Revolutionary Biography Report. Take notes on what you find. You'll need to find at least 2 books and 2 websites to use for the report. I have more books in class to share with students tomorrow. Check out the links for information too.

-Math: SL 5-6 (p. 105) -History: Choose a person to write your Revolutionary Biography Report about (see the back of this week's spelling list). -Music: Grades K-5 students will be putting on a song-sharing performance led by our music teacher, Ms. Tara Somerville on Wednesday from 1:20 to about 2:00 in the cafeteria. 4th grade will sing their songs at about 1:40. Parents are invited to come in and enjoy the concert!

1. monarchy 2. democracy 3. outline 4. rough draft 5. paragraph 6. topic sentence 7. supporting details 8. conclusion 9. edit 10. revise 11. bibliography 12. biblioteca (library) 13. tarea (homework) 14. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.