Weekly Announcements

Announcements for the Week of January 29, 2024

Important Dates:

Wednesday, February 14– Radio Park Cares

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

One long-standing tradition at Radio Park is an annual service day where students have the opportunity to give back to our community. This year our Radio Park CARES day is going to be held during the school day on Wednesday, February 14th. On that day each grade level will be completing a different project that will benefit the community.

The fourth grade classes are going to be making Pumpkin Popper animal treats that will be donated to PAWS.

If you are able, please consider donating some of the items needed for this service project. You can use the following link to indicate what you would like to give. All donations can be brought to school by your child and will be collected in their classroom. Please send them in with your child by Friday, February 9th. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090C4EA9AC23ABF58-47394276-radio

Thank-you for your help with this project. The service day is always a very memorable day for the students, and we're certain that this year will be no different!

Warm Regards,

Joanna Pake, on behalf of the Radio Park PTO

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Wednesday, February 14– Valentine's Party

If you would like to help donate supplies for our Valentine's Party, please use this link to sign up. Thank you!

Sign up link for Valentine Party supplies

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Monday will be day 5

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

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Curriculum Updates:

Math- In this unit, students will investigate and use the standard addition and subtraction algorithms, give and take strategy, and constant difference strategy. They will compare these methods and make generalizations about which strategy works best for certain problems. We are always looking to use the most efficient strategies. Students will also explore length, distance, liquid volume, elapsed time, mass and weight. They investigate the relationships between common measures, and solve problems that require them to convert measurements to smaller units within the same system of measures.

Writing- We analyzed a completed 4th grade opinion essay to identify all of the different parts: thesis statement/introduction, reasons, evidence to support reasons and conclusion. We compared this type of essay to our work with narrative and literary essays. Students used their notes about why they love Radio Park to come up with three broad reasons: the kind and caring people, learning opportunities and extra special events and privileges. Students then identified specific pieces of evidence to support the reasons. Students will use angled stories, quotes, examples and advice when crafting their essay.

Reading--As you know, the district is using a brand-new reading resource, Into Reading. This program is made up of many different instructional components: foundational skills, vocabulary, grammar, communication, fluency and reading strategies.

This week we will wrap up Module 4 and take our module assessment on Friday. We will finish our instruction of the following skills:

Biographies
Using text features- timelines, charts, graphs, captions
Suffixes -ity and -ty
Adding prefixes to base words and identifying spelling changes: double consonant, drop final e, and irregular words that do not follow the rules
Text structures: compare and contrast, problem and solution, sequence and cause and effect, description and chronological order
Modal auxiliary helping verbs: may, might, can, could would, should and must
Shades of meaning in vocabulary words
Root words in multisyllabic words
Facts and opinions–identifying author’s purpose and perspective and the facts that support the opinion
Figurative language–imagery and sensory words
Paraphrase vs Plagiarism
Long e endings–ey, -y and -ie
Monitor and Clarify reading strategies
Present and past participles
Participle phrases
Using pronouns I and me
Subject, Object and Reflexive pronouns -self and -selves

Science: : Energy on the Move!

We will explore the following compelling questions:

How can we make a roller coaster so the marble has enough energy to go over hills

and a loop to the end of a ride?

Miss Fledderman, our student teacher, will teach our science unit. She is super

excited to be able to work more with our students this semester.

Announcements for the Week of November 13, 2023

Important Dates:

Monday, November 13th @ 7 PM - PTO Meeting in RP Library or virtual
Wednesday, November 15– Wishtree Presentation Field Trip 9:20-12:00
Wednesday, November 22nd - Friday, November 24th - No School - Thanksgiving Break
Friday, December 22nd - Monday, January 1st - No School - Winter Break

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Monday will be Day 4

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

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Curriculum Updates:

Math- We will begin unit 3- Fractions and Decimals. Families will receive an email from their child’s unit 3 math teacher after Mrs. Moore has had a chance to update the math classes.

Writing- Students are working on their realistic fiction story. Students have been working hard to develop their characters, identifying a problem or conflict and planning their story arc. Students will apply all of the narrative lessons that we have completed in this unit while crafting their story. Ask your child about their new story ideas.

Reading--As you know, the district is using a brand new reading resource, Into Reading. This program is made up of many different instructional components: foundational skills, vocabulary, grammar, communication, fluency and reading strategies.

This week we will focus on:

Helping verbs and past participles
Past, present and future tenses
Using verb tenses correctly
Synthesizing new information
Using formal language when having a reading discussion
Theme
Suffixes: -ful, -ous, -less
Sentence fragments and run ons
Synonyms and Antonyms
Context clues
Plot-characters, setting, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Figurative language-hyperbole/exaggerations
Author’s craft- voice,mood, anecdote, language/ word choice, imagery
Writing about our reading–prompts

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The third set of lessons will focus on:

What types of Earth’s features can we find in Pennsylvania?
What is the topography in Pennsylvania?
How can we model patterns of Earth’s features in Pennsylvania?
Why are waterways important?
How can we represent Earth’s features in Pennsylvania more accurately?
What are Pennsylvania’s top agricultural products?
What natural resources are found in Pennsylvania?
How has the land and water changed over time and what are important natural features in Pennsylvania now?

Students have finished creating and painting their salt dough map of Pennsylvania showing the different elevations, landforms and bodies or water. This week students will label the major cities, bodies of water, natural resources and important agricultural products. Please ask your child about the top 10 agricultural products of Pennsylvania.

Announcements for the Week of October 23, 2023

Important Dates:

October 25–All day Harvest Event–2:00-Harvest Party

Harvest Party Supply Link

Thank you to everyone who signed up to donate supplies for our party! I really appreciate it.

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October 26-27–Parent/Student/Teacher conferences– Please plan for your child to attend the parent, teacher, student conferences on October 24,25,26 and 27. Our students have been working hard to create a reflection presentation to share with you at the conference.

Fall Conference Link

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Monday will be Day 1

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

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Curriculum Updates:

Math- Due to Ms. McAleer’s museum field trip, The Harvest Party and Parent/Student/Teacher conferences, students will not have regular math homework. Your child’s math teacher will assign optional IXL skill opportunities.

Writing- Students will finish their small moment stories this week. We will learn how to format narrative writing by adding new paragraphs when:

The story goes in a new direction
There's a scene change
A dialogue occurs back-and-forth between speakers: make a new paragraph each time someone different speaks.

Students will also create a powerful ending to their story by using a strong feeling, strong action or strong image. Students can always combine techniques too.

This week we will focus on:

Visualization-creating pictures in the mind while reading
Words with vowel sounds-
Proper nouns
Action verbs and helping verbs
Context clues
Plot-characters, setting, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Writing about our reading–prompts

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The third set of lessons will focus on:

What types of Earth’s features can we find in Pennsylvania?
What is the topography in Pennsylvania?
How can we model patterns of Earth’s features in Pennsylvania?

Announcements for the Week of October 16, 2023

Important Dates:

Fall Conference Link

_______________________________________________________________________

Monday will be Day 1

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Math-- You should have received an email from your child’s unit 2 math teacher. Unit 2 focuses on multiplication and division.

Writing- We will also arc our narrative flashdrafts making sure students include rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Students will also focus on balance between dialogue, inner thoughts and narration.

Reading--As you know, the district is using a brand new reading resource, Into Reading. This program is made up of many different instructional components: foundational skills, vocabulary, grammar, communication, fluency and reading strategies.

We wrapped up our first module: What makes us who we are?

Our second module focuses on the essential question: How do people and animals use their senses to navigate the world?

Skills we will focus on this week:

Nonfiction Text Structures-compare and contrast, problem/solution, sequence, cause and effect, description, chronological order
Homophones
Appropriate reading rate/fluency
Multiple meaning words
Critical vocabulary
Figurative Language–assonance, alliteration, idioms, sensory language
Suffixes -ness and -ment
Proper nouns
Media Techniques to inform, persuade and entertain by using live action, sound elements, experts, visual elements
Summarizing and paraphrasing

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The second set of lessons will focus on:

How has the land changed to form canyons?
How do water and wind change the land?
How do glaciers change the land?
How was the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon formed?
What is soil made of?

The third set of lessons focuses on Modeling Patterns of Earth’s Features

What type of Earth’s features can we find in Pennsylvania?

Our field trip to the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum and Art Gallery was fantastic! As soon as we arrived on the top floor of the Deike building, the fire alarm went off! This was an unplanned drill and our students handled it so well. After returning to the Geosciences department, the students enjoyed activities that focused on plate tectonic movement and exploring a river table that showed erosion, deposition and the movement of boulders. Downstairs in the museum, our students participated in a fossil presentation and then completed a scavenger hunt in the museum.

Announcements for the Week of October 9, 2023

Important Dates:

October 9–Act 80 Day–no school for students

October 10-13–Spirit Week

Tuesday, October 10th- Grade level colors (K: red, 1: orange, 2: yellow, 3: green, 4: blue, 5: purple) - we will provide the bandannas for the Harvest Festival in these colors in time for this event so students can get double the use

Wednesday, October 11th: Wacky Wednesday (if you're matching, you're doing it wrong)

Thursday, October 12th: Funny socks and hats (self explanatory)

Friday, October 13th: RP and SCASD Spirit Wear (RP logo, red, white, black, maroon, and gray are all good)

October 13–Pride Stride

We're only ONE WEEK away from our Mini Lion Pride Stride fun run. Now is the time to get registered and start collecting those donations. Our website makes it super easy to get your student registered and then share the event with friends and family via Facebook, email, and text.

We need ALL PARENTS to complete these 3 easy steps:
1. Register your child(ren) by going to www.getmovinfundhub.com and using our School Identifier 5d7fdd2784cf3
2. Email and/or text your child's fundraising web page to 10-15 friends and family. (It's super easy!)
3. Post a link to your child's fundraising web page to your social media. (It's two clicks of a button to post. You'll be surprised when donations come in from relatives living far away, friends, or co-workers.)

4th grade will run from 10:00-10:30.

October 26-27–Parent/Student/Teacher conferences–

Fall Conference Link

_______________________________________________________________________

Tuesday will be Day 2

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Math-- All math classes will wrap up unit 1, Multiplicative Thinking. Students will take their math assessment on Monday and Tuesday. We will regroup for unit 2 and begin instruction on Wednesday. Once Mrs. Moore has the new classes in Synergy, you will receive an email from your child’s unit 2 math teacher.

Writing- This week we will wrap up using different types of leads to use to begin our narrative writing: setting the scene, dialogue/inner thoughts, and onomatopoeia. We will also arc our narrative flashdraft making sure students include rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.

We wrapped up our first module: What makes us who we are?

Our second module focuses on the essential question: How do people and animals use their senses to navigate the world?

Skills we will focus on this week:

Nonfiction Text Structures-compare and contrast, problem/solution, sequence, cause and effect, description, chronological order
Synonyms and Antonym review
Content Area Words
Characteristics of nonfiction texts
Critical vocabulary
Homophones
Multiple Meaning Words
Media Techniques to inform, persuade and entertain by using live action, sound elements, experts, visual elements

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The second set of lessons will focus on:

How has the land changed to form canyons?
How do water and wind change the land?
How do glaciers change the land?
How was the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon formed?

Our field trip to Penn State’s Earth and Mineral Museum will be on Thursday. Please return permission slips as soon as possible. Thank you!

Announcements for the Week of October 2, 2023

Important Dates:

October 9–Act 80 Day–no school for students

October 10-13–Spirit Week

Wednesday, October 11th: Wacky Wednesday (if you're matching, you're doing it wrong)

Thursday, October 12th: Funny socks and hats (self explanatory)

Friday, October 13th: RP and SCASD Spirit Wear (RP logo, red, white, black, maroon, and gray are all good)

October 13–Pride Stride

We're only TWO WEEKS away from our Mini Lion Pride Stride fun run. Now is the time to get registered and start collecting those donations. Our website makes it super easy to get your student registered and then share the event with friends and family via Facebook, email, and text.

We need ALL PARENTS to complete these 3 easy steps:
1. Register your child(ren) by going to www.getmovinfundhub.com and using our School Identifier 5d7fdd2784cf3
2. Email and/or text your child's fundraising web page to 10-15 friends and family. (It's super easy!)
3. Post a link to your child's fundraising web page to your social media. (It's two clicks of a button to post. You'll be surprised when donations come in from relatives living far away, friends, or co-workers.)

4th grade will run from 10:00-10:30.

October 26-27–Parent/Student/Teacher conferences

I will send out the sign up link on Monday at 4:30. Please let me know if you are unable to find a date that is convenient for your family.

_______________________________________________________________________

Monday will be Day 2

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Writing- We have wrapped up our lessons on show vs tell. Students have been working to show what is happening in their stories versus telling. When students show the reader what is happening, they use description and detail. Students aren’t just telling them what is happening. It helps the reader picture the events. Students use their senses, vivid verbs, interesting adjectives, figurative language, inner thoughts and dialogue. We also discussed the importance of balance as students craft their stories. This week we will learn about different types of leads to use to begin our narrative writing: setting the scene, dialogue/inner thoughts, and onomatopoeia.

We wrapped up our first module: What makes us who we are?

Our second module focuses on the essential question: How do people and animals use their senses to navigate the world?

Skills we will focus on this week:

Sentence fragments
Run on sentences
Comma splice in complete sentences
Contrasts and Contradictions
Central Idea/ Main Idea/ Key Details
Summarizing
Text Structures
Review of -ly
Latin root lumin

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The first module focused on:

What can we notice about fossils?
What are some ways fossils are formed?
What can we learn from fossils?
How are sedimentary rocks formed?

The second set of lessons will focus on:

How has the land changed to form canyons?
How do water and wind change the land?
How do glaciers change the land?
How was the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon formed?

We are planning an October field trip to Penn State’s Earth and Mineral Museum.

Announcements for the Week of September 18, 2023

Important Dates:

Wednesday, September 20- Fall math MAP testing

Monday, September 25, 2023— no school

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Monday will be Day 3

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Math-- You should have received an email from your child's unit 1 math teacher. The orange family unit letters were also sent home last week. Homework will be assigned on the first day of the week and then due Friday of each week.

Writing- Our students have worked hard to increase their writing stamina this week. Students have been working to draft their ideas for our small moment stories from our sketching activity. Students have been meeting with their writing partners sharing their drafts. Partners are asking questions and sharing wonderings to help the writers generate even more ideas. This week we will focus on showing what is happening in our stories versus telling. When students show the reader what is happening, they use description and detail. Students aren’t just telling them what is happening. It helps the reader picture what is happening. Students use their senses, vivid verbs, interesting adjectives and figurative language.

This week we focused on:

Using context clues continuation
Contractions with not
Avoiding double negatives
Long and short i vowel patterns that will help us decode larger and more complex words
Prefix review of un-,re- in-, im-,
Quotations with direct speech
Split quotations–speaker tags in different positions within the sentence
Frayer Model vocabulary strategy
Point of view-first and third person
Perspective
Character Development and Evolution
Retelling including who is involved, what is the goal, what is getting in the way and how does the character solve the problem.
We also spend quality time writing about our reading. Students create a claim and cite evidence to support the claim when creating their response.

Science- We continue to work on lessons about Our Changing Earth. The first module focuses on:

What can we notice about fossils?
What are some ways fossils are formed?
What can we learn from fossils?
How are sedimentary rocks formed?

Ask your child about the cast, mold and trace fossils that we made in class and what the environment was like during the fossil formation process.

The second set of lessons will focus on:

How has the land changed to form canyons?
How do water and wind change the land?

We are planning an October field trip to Penn State’s Earth and Mineral Museum.

Announcements for the Week of September 11, 2023

Important Dates:

Monday, September 11—PTO Meeting– 7:00 pm

Wednesday, September 13– Fall MAP testing- reading

Wednesday, September 20- Fall MAP testing - math

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Tuesday will be Day 3

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Writing- We finished our Bio Poems this past week. We started our narrative writing unit with lessons helping students to generate ideas for writing. One strategy we are working on is sketching a setting where students have had many experiences that they can pull from as ideas for narrative stories. Please ask your child about the sketching strategy we are currently working on.

This week we focused on:

Using context clues continued
Declarative, Interrogative, Exclamatory and Imperative sentences
Long and short e vowel patterns that will help us decode larger and more complex words
Figurative Language–Hyperbole, Simile, Metaphor, Personification and Idioms
Monitoring and Clarifying strategies during reading
Narrative Poetry and Elements of Poetry
Citing evidence to support our reading claims when we write about our reading. This is a skill we will work on every week.

Social Studies- We finished our lessons about building a strong learning community. We have explored:

What is a community?
What is my role as a community member?
How do I want my learning community to be this year?
What do I need from my classroom community?
Who am I as a community member?

Science- We will begin our first science unit, Our Changing Earth. The first module focuses on:

What can we notice about fossils?
What are some ways fossils are formed?
What can we learn from fossils?

Announcements for the Week of September 4, 2023

Important Dates:

September 7 – RP Plays – 5:30-7:00

______________________________________________________________________

Tuesday will be Day 4

Day 1 - Art
Day 2 - PE
Day 3 - Music
Day 4 - STEM
Day 5 - Library

Curriculum Update:

Writing- As part of our community building, students have been interviewing a class partner to get to know them. They then used the interview information to create a Bio Poem of their partner. I introduced our free writing process as an activity students can work on once they have finished their assigned writing task. Students took the narrative writing pre-assessment. I use this information to see what students already know about narrative writing. We will begin our narrative writing lessons this week.

This week we focused on:

Using context clues
Simple and Complete Subjects and Predicates
Long and short vowel patterns that will help us decode larger and more complex words
Text and Graphic Features
Author’s Purpose
Ask and Answer comprehension strategy
Citing evidence to support our reading claims when we write about our reading.

Social Studies- Our lessons focus on building a strong learning community. We have explored:

What is a community?
What is my role as a community member?
How do I want my learning community to be this year?

We will continue to explore:

What do I need from my classroom community?
Who am I as a community member?

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