Welcome to Mrs. DeCaporale's Webpage                                             May 2009 NEWSLETTER     Happy May!  It seems hard to believe that the children will be fourth graders for only 6 more weeks!  The students have been working very hard all year long.  It has been wonderful to see all of them mature academically since September.  Their writing has improved significantly.  They have advanced from simple writing to wonderful vivid stories that show their imaginative fourth grade, soon to be fifth grade, minds.  Although spring has finally sprung(!) the students need to continue to focus on their learning.     MCAS testing in math is scheduled to begin very shortly, in a little over one week on May 12th.  Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest and eats a good breakfast to feed their great mind.     In math, we have been working very hard to prepare for the MCAS exam as well as continue to move through our Investigation units.  We are wrapping up our unit on packages and groups and will move onto our final unit on data and graphing.  Once the final unit is completed we will continue to review areas we have covered throughout the school year so that the children will be prepared for the fifth grade.  As always, please continue to remind your child to practice their multiplication facts.     In social studies we have finished with our thorough unit on Mexico and now are involved in another exciting unit on Canada.  Students are learning about the geography and culture of Canada and will be doing some research on the specific provinces and territories of Canada.  Once the unit is complete, we will move back into the text to investigate other regions of the United States.     In science we are involved in our unit on Rocks and Minerals.  We will continue to investigate the make-up of certain rocks and learn in detail about the rock cycle.  The children will be  able to do some more hands on work with this topic at our next field trip to the shores of Jamestown on Monday May 4th.     We have much to accomplish this month and your children are more than up to the task.  If you have any questions regarding your child's education, please do not hesitate to call me.                                        May your MAY be wonderful!                                                  Mrs. DeCaporale