Fourth grade is looking forward to the Port Discovery Children's Museum field trip on Friday, April 24th. The Six Flags field trip permission slip for May 8th was sent home last week.
Reading
4th grade will begin their novel study of "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Students will read chapters for homework in addition to studying excerpts in class. Each student will be assigned their own book that will be returned at the end of the unit. If the books are damaged or lost the school will need to be compensated.
Book Summary: Marty Preston lives with family in the hills of West Virginia, and he has always wanted a
pet of his own. When he discovers a beagle near the river behind his home, Marty names
him Shiloh, and immediately wants to take the dog home. Then Marty learns that Shiloh
belongs to Judd Travers, a man who drinks too much, hunts out of season, and abuses his
dogs. When Shiloh runs away from Travers, Marty plots to hide the dog in order to
protect him from his abusive owner. He builds a pen for Shiloh, and sneaks food out of
his family’s house to feed the dog. As Marty works to keep Shiloh a secret, he finds
himself involved in more and more lies to his family, his friend David Howard, the store
keeper Mr. Wallace, and Judd Travers himself. When Shiloh is attacked and injured by
another dog, Marty’s secret is out, and Marty bravely determines to tell Judd Travers that
he is not going to return the dog. In the woods while on his way to confront Travers,
Marty witnesses Travers shooting a deer out of season, and realizes that he can use this
information to intimidate Travers into letting him keep Shiloh. Travers does agree to give
up Shiloh, if Marty will “earn” the dog by doing jobs around Travers’ farm. After weeks
of work for Travers, Marty is thrilled to take Shiloh home as a member of his own
family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLnXFbUSGhU
Social Studies
Students will finish composing their "If I Were Mayor . . ." essays for the annual Maryland Municipal League's 4th grade contest. Each child has the chance to win a $100 prize. One student will be the winner from the PBES 4th grade on the city level. They will be invited to the College Park City Hall to recite their essay at a city council meeting.
Writer's Workshop
Last Week students were introduced to creating bibliographies for their nonfiction books.
Students will be conducting their research using index note cards to answer their research questions. They will also select the writing structure of their books (narrative, question and answer, sections or chapters) and begin brainstorming their introductions.
