Friday, March 13, 2020



Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year!



This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General Reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of August 31- September 4, 2020!


English/Reading::
We will be starting our study of close reading and reading a poem entitled Casey at the Bat.

Social Studies/Science:
 We have not started science or social studies yet. Stay tuned.

SEL:
 We will be focusing on getting to know you and building a class community.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
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Important Info:

Please remember to have your child bring their self certification slip to school each day.  
We do use chromebooks everyday, so please make sure it is charged every night.






Friday, March 6, 2020

Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of March 9-13, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on relative adverbs and pronouns and reading content words.  A whole variety of 4th grade words!  Our test will be Friday, March 13.

English/Reading::
We read a story entitled The Grandfather's Journey.  We practiced reading comprehension questions with this story and also did practice with a written response question using the RACES format we have been working on all year.  We will be moving into the novel Edward Tulane next week.  This is a great story about a journey!

Social Studies/Science:
 State look books are finished!  The grade will go into their trimester 2 report card, however, I am going to hold onto the books to display for Open House in April.  They will get them back after Open House.
We are almost done with the unit on Energy in Ergstown.  We finished this week by writing another design argument for the Mayor of Ergstown persuading him to either get solar panels or wind turbines for more energy for Ergstown.  Next week we will be wrapping up this unit. 

SEL:
 This week we focused on solving problems, we will continue work with this concept next week.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We did well on the checkpoint this week.  We will be finishing up unit 5 next week.  We have a tentative unit 5 test date for Monday, March 16.  Look for the study guide to come home next Thursday or Friday.  If the test changes from Monday I will let you know. 

Important Info:

Thursday, March 12 is a SIP day, so students will be dismissed at 11:00 and no lunch will be served.


Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the spring temperatures!



Thursday, February 27, 2020

Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of March 2-6, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on homographs.  Our test will be Friday, March 6.

English/Reading::
We started unit 2 this week on journeys.  We had some great discussion about what makes a journey.  Most of the students talked about vacations or trips.  We got more deep too and had great in depth conversations!  This will be a great unit to end out the year!

Social Studies/Science:
We are hard working on our state look books!  The students got a lot of it done in school and can finish up anymore of it this weekend.  They are due Tuesday, March 3, they will present them to the class to try to guess which state is theirs.  Please have them practice with you at home and check over their slide shows- this made a huge difference in their last presentation compared to their first presentation.
 In science, we redesigned our  wind turbines after reviewing and getting ideas from peers in the class.  We still did not have much luck- but this is a good lesson for them to see that engineers have to plan, design, test, and redesign over and over until they get it to work.  It is a hard job.  Next week we will have some time to create another design argument for some more criteria the mayor of Ergstown is presenting to us.

SEL:
 Next week we will focus on solving problems, we will work on this concept for a couple weeks.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We are powering through unit 5 and have been working hard on identifying polygons and their attributes for each polygon, comparing them to each other as well. I sent home today a red or orange sheet with items they will need to know for a checkpoint we will have on Tuesday, March 3.  We will do a review on Monday for it but wanted to give you all a heads up on what will be on it.  They finished their homework in class today so I figured they can look over that this weekend to be better prepared for Tuesday.

Important Info:

No school tomorrow Friday, February 28 due to a teacher institute.

Have fun tonight if you are heading to Panther-Palooza!


Have a great, long weekend!



Friday, February 21, 2020

Mrs. Olsen's 4th Grade Blog



Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of February 24-27, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on greek and latin roots uni, bi, tri, and quad.  Our test will be Thursday, February 27.

English/Reading::
We finished our hero essays this week.  They look great!  We will be starting unit 2 next week on Journeys.  We will be reading some fun stories, poetry, and a novel in this unit to finish out the year!

Social Studies/Science:
We finished up the Midwest and will be starting our culminating Midwest project- a state look book!  They were assigned their state today.  These are fun and will be due on March 3, they will present them to the class to try to guess which state is theirs.  They will have in school time next week to work on them and the long weekend next week to finish up if needed at home.   In science, we designed our own wind turbine using the knowledge we have learned so far about simple machines.  This was fun and challenging for the students.

SEL:
 Next week we will focus on handling put-downs; how to handle these properly in school and at home.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We continue work on unit 5 in geometry. We took a checkpoint yesterday and a work sample today.  I did not get a chance to grade them yesterday, but will grade both of them by Monday to see how they did.  Next week we will keep working on geometry, no checkpoints or quizzes planned for next week.

Important Info:

No school next Friday, February 28 due to a teacher institute.

Thursday, February 27 is Panther-Palooza! Sounds like fun!



Have a great weekend!



Thursday, February 13, 2020

Mrs. Olsen's 4th Grade Blog



Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of February 10-13, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on adding ch and tch to words.  Our test will be Friday, February 21.

English/Reading::
We are working hard on our hero essays.  We got them all organized and mapped out on a graphic organizer.  We will be working next week on getting them into essay form.

Social Studies/Science:
We took our Ch. 8 test this week.  They will be bringing them home today to see how they did.  We will be reading about the Native American tribe the Ojibwe next week to finish up the Midwest region. In science, we will be designing our own wind turbine using the knowledge we have learned so far about simple machines.

SEL:
 This week we practiced how to avoid jumping to conclusions when put it an uncomfortable position.  Please look for the purple sheet to come home today.  There are strategies you can try at home to help in practicing this concept.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We started unit 5 on geometry. We are learning all about angles and how to measure angles using polygons.  Next week we will have a checkpoint on Thursday, February 20.  I will also give them a work sample on Friday, February 21 and will see how they do to decide if I am going to take a grade on it.

Important Info:
We had fun at our Valentine celebration!  Thanks to the parents who helped out making it great!
Here are some pictures from the party today!





We do not have school on Friday, February 14 or Monday, February 17 for President's Day.
Enjoy the long weekend!

Spring picture day is Thursday, February 20.



Have a great, long weekend!



Friday, February 7, 2020

Mrs. Olsen's 4th Grade Blog



Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of February 10-13, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on the suffix -tion.  Our test will be Thursday, February 13 because of no school on Friday, February 14.

English/Reading::
We presented the profile in courage project this week.  They did a great job on them!  Their presentations were great as well!  Thanks to those of you who helped them practice, it showed! :) We started an expository essay this week on a hero in their life.  We are working through these and will try to finish them up next week.  There are a lot of moms and dads as heroes!! :)

Social Studies/Science:
We will be finishing up chapter 8 today in social studies.  We will have the chapter 8 test on Wednesday, February 12. A study guide will be going home today. In science we learned this week about how students studying to be engineers are similar to what we are doing as junior engineers in science.  Next week, we will be designing our own wind turbine using the knowledge we have learned so far about simple machines.
 
SEL:
 This week we practiced strategies on how to calm down when you are feeling anxious.  We practiced lots of strategies and what makes us anxious too.  You might hear them singing a song too! :)  Next week, we will be working on avoiding jumping to conclusions.  This is a great one for all the comments I hear all day that "Someone stole something from my desk!"  Most of the time they end up finding it pretty quickly! :)

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We finished up unit 4 today and will start unit 5 next week on geometry. The students will get their tests back on Monday to see how they did.

Important Info:
Next week we have our Valentine's Day celebration on Thursday, February 13 since we do not have school on Friday, February 14 or Monday, February 17 for President's Day.
Enjoy the long weekend!

Spring picture day is Thursday, February 20.



Have a great weekend!



Friday, January 31, 2020

Mrs. Olsen's 4th Grade Blog



Welcome back to the 2019-2020 school year!

This will be a weekly reminder of what is coming up in the following week.  I will send it out as an email to the parents on Fridays.

General reminders:
1.  Binders should come back and forth to school everyday with your child.  Please check their binders for homework.
2. Make sure chromebooks are charged before coming to school everyday.
3.  Please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns you have with your child. jolsen@ccsd66.org

This is what we will be working on for the week of February 3-7, 2020!

Spelling:
We will have a new list of words next week.  They will be focusing on greek roots again- micro, hydra, astro, hydro, and path.  Our test will be Friday, February 7.

English/Reading::
We started our profile in courage project this week.  They will finish them up over the weekend if they need to and we will start presenting them on Monday.  I suggested they have their parents check over their spelling and grammar before presenting it.

Social Studies/Science:
We continued our learning about the Midwest this week.  We will finish up the Midwest next week.  In science, we continue working on chapter 3, where we will be comparing different engineers jobs.
 
SEL:
 This week we practiced strategies on how to calm down when you are feeling anger.  Please take a look at the purple home link that went home too.  This is a great way to continue using the strategies your child is learning  here at school and use them at home too.  Next week we will be discussing and learning how to manage anxiety.

Mrs. Olsen's Math Class:
  We will be finishing unit 4 next week and plan on the test for Friday, February 7.  I am going to see how the week goes and see if we need to stretch it to Monday, February 10.  I will let the students know next week about that.  Please look for their study guide to come home to go through and make sure they understand anything they get wrong on the study guide.  The study guide and test are very similar!  Please make sure you check my sign up genius for a conference time slot.  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4aa4af22a5f85-february80

Important Info:
We had a great time at the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday!  Thanks to Ms. Grace- Kylah's grandmother, Mr. Begler, Mrs. Hanna, and Tia-Liam's aunt for coming and chaperoning for us!  See below for some pictures that were taken there!







Have a great weekend!