Dear Families,
After veering off the learning path for a while during my absence last week, I can happily say that we got things back in order this week. Although sometimes it is difficult to imagine that obstacles one day will become learning experiences while you are in the midst of it, I tend to believe that there is always a silver lining. This is exactly what ended up happening with the “email exchange” situation. My students have been able to learn from real experience what it means to be a digital citizen. Through some consistent messages from different school personnel, my students have learned what digital footprint means, the importance of using their time wisely, the fact that one’s character is tested when they do the right thing even if the teacher is not with them, the fact that the decisions of a few have a ripple effect on the whole group of students and even have far reaching effects, the importance of respecting the personal privacy of others through not taking pictures or without permission, especially considering they are children, and the fact that being iPad users is a privilege, not a right, and therefore iPads have to be used responsibly and only for assigned work. This is one of those times when a real life experience cements the lessons learned in school, and even though it was a difficult process for all involved, I told my students that I was glad that this happened to them now and in the safe space of a classroom environment. This is the time and place to make these types of mistakes. Regarding the other learning that has been happening this week, we have continued our work on multiplication equations, getting our feet wet on multiplication of two digit factors, and using a manipulative-drawing-equation sequence to break down the process of finding partial products. During our Literacy Block, we have continued working on understanding how the different settings of a story affect how the characters behave, and we have been connecting this learning to the story of The Wild Robot. We have also started our Social Studies Lessons looking at maps of North America and generating questions about how maps give us information about lands and people. Finally, we have started diving into the Behaviors that Promote School Success and doing some self reflection, in preparation for our upcoming Student-Led Parent-Teacher conferences. I am looking forward to meeting with you soon! Sincerely, Mrs. Willinski Spanish: Estimadas Familias, Después de habernos desviado del camino del aprendizaje durante un tiempo debido a mi ausencia la semana pasada, me complace decir que esta semana hemos logrado poner todo en orden. Aunque a veces es difícil imaginar que los obstáculos se convertirán en experiencias de aprendizaje mientras estamos en medio de ellos, tiendo a creer que siempre hay algo positivo. Esto es exactamente lo que ocurrió con la situación del “intercambio de correos electrónicos”. Mis estudiantes han podido aprender de una experiencia real lo que significa ser un ciudadano digital. Gracias a algunos mensajes consistentes de diferentes miembros del personal escolar, mis estudiantes han aprendido qué es la huella digital, la importancia de usar su tiempo sabiamente, que el carácter de una persona se pone a prueba cuando hace lo correcto, incluso si el maestro no está con ellos, que las decisiones de unos pocos tienen un efecto en cadena sobre todo el grupo y pueden tener efectos de largo alcance, la importancia de respetar la privacidad personal de los demás, al no tomar fotos o grabaciones sin permiso, especialmente considerando que son niños, y que ser usuarios de iPads es un privilegio, no un derecho, por lo que los iPads deben usarse de manera responsable y solo para el trabajo asignado. Esta es una de esas ocasiones en las que una experiencia de la vida real refuerza las lecciones aprendidas en la escuela, y aunque fue un proceso difícil para todos los involucrados, les dije a mis estudiantes que me alegra que esto les haya sucedido ahora, en el espacio seguro de un ambiente escolar. Este es el momento y el lugar para cometer estos tipos de errores. En cuanto al otro aprendizaje que hemos tenido esta semana, hemos continuado trabajando en las ecuaciones de multiplicación, comenzando con la multiplicación de factores de dos dígitos, utilizando una secuencia de manipulativos, dibujos y ecuaciones para desglosar el proceso de encontrar productos parciales. Durante nuestro Bloque de Lectura, hemos seguido trabajando en entender cómo los diferentes escenarios de una historia afectan el comportamiento de los personajes, y hemos conectado este aprendizaje con la historia de El robot salvaje. También hemos comenzado nuestras lecciones de Estudios Sociales observando mapas de América del Norte y generando preguntas sobre cómo los mapas nos dan información acerca de las tierras y las personas. Finalmente, hemos comenzado a profundizar en los comportamientos que promueven el éxito escolar y realizando una reflexión personal, como preparación para nuestras próximas Conferencias de Padres y Maestros dirigidas por los estudiantes. ¡Estoy deseando reunirme con ustedes pronto! Sinceramente, Mrs. Willinski
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Dear Families, We have completed another fantastic week filled with deep learning and enjoyable activities. Last Friday, students became highly engaged during our play day. In just a few minutes, my classroom was transformed with forts, board game stations, and craft workshops. My students participated in role-playing, collaborated with one another, supported each other in their learning, and most importantly, had a great deal of fun! When it was time to return to work this week, my students demonstrated once again that tackling challenging material is also important to them. We reviewed multiples in math, as the recent checkpoint revealed that this was an area of growth. Students collaborated on a pre-assessment with partners to prepare their minds for today’s “real” assessment. The corrected assessments will be sent home in the portfolio next Friday. I must say, I am incredibly impressed and proud of their effort. For one long and uninterrupted hour, my students focused intently on completing the test with attention to detail. I believe that knowing that you will review it next week plays a significant role. Your conversations at home when your child brings the portfolio are invaluable! They want to take pride in their work! During our reading block, my students have been finishing chapter books and starting new ones. They have discovered new vocabulary words for our classroom word collector, continued writing their short personal narratives, participated in group work on character traits, phonics, and vocabulary, listened to articles and improved their typing skills. This week, we also began integrating writing into our science lessons. We started by creating a Word Bank with all the new vocabulary acquired while building the eye model and learning about how our eyes function. We are now in the process of crafting a cohesive paragraph in response to the question, “How does light enter the eye?” We are using the R.A.C.E. model, which stands for: R = Restating the question, A = Answering with a topic sentence, C = Citing evidence from the text or lesson, and E = Explaining the evidence or expanding the answer. We will engage in more guided practice before my students can do this independently, so you will see the whole-class guided model in their portfolios next week. On an exciting note, I’m sure your child has already mentioned our field trip to the movie theater. It was a wonderful experience! Since we have read several chapters of the book already, they were able to make comparisons and connections between the two, and we will continue to do so in the coming weeks. Thank you so much for fostering the connection between classroom and home by reviewing your child’s work and providing positive feedback and encouragement. Children thrive with this kind of support. Have a fantastic weekend! Be sure to check out this week’s slideshow! SPANISH Estimadas familias: Hemos completado otra semana fantástica llena de aprendizaje profundo y actividades divertidas. El viernes pasado, los estudiantes se involucraron mucho durante nuestro día de juegos. En solo unos minutos, mi salón de clases se transformó con fuertes, estaciones de juegos de mesa y talleres de manualidades. Mis estudiantes participaron en juegos de roles, colaboraron entre sí, se apoyaron mutuamente en su aprendizaje y, lo más importante, ¡se divirtieron mucho! Cuando llegó el momento de volver al trabajo esta semana, mis estudiantes demostraron una vez más que abordar material desafiante también es importante para ellos. Revisamos los múltiplos de matemáticas, ya que el punto de control reciente reveló que esta era un área de crecimiento. Los estudiantes colaboraron en una evaluación previa con compañeros para preparar sus mentes para la evaluación "real" de hoy. Las evaluaciones corregidas se enviarán a casa en el portafolio el próximo viernes. Debo decir que estoy increíblemente impresionada y orgullosa de su esfuerzo. Durante una hora larga e ininterrumpida, mis estudiantes se concentraron intensamente en completar la prueba con atención a los detalles. Creo que saber que lo revisarán la próxima semana juega un papel importante. ¡Sus conversaciones en casa cuando su hijo trae el portafolios son invaluables! ¡Quieren enorgullecerse de su trabajo! Durante nuestro bloque de lectura, mis estudiantes han estado terminando libros de capítulos y comenzando otros nuevos. Han descubierto nuevas palabras de vocabulario para nuestro recopilador de palabras del aula, continuaron escribiendo sus narraciones personales breves, participaron en trabajos grupales sobre rasgos de carácter, fonética y vocabulario, escucharon artículos y mejoraron sus habilidades de mecanografía. Esta semana, también comenzamos a integrar la escritura en nuestras lecciones de ciencias. Comenzamos creando un banco de palabras con todo el vocabulario nuevo adquirido mientras construíamos el modelo del ojo y aprendíamos sobre cómo funcionan nuestros ojos. Ahora estamos en el proceso de elaborar un párrafo coherente en respuesta a la pregunta: "¿Cómo entra la luz al ojo?" Estamos usando el modelo R.A.C.E., que significa: R = Reformular la pregunta, A = Responder con una oración temática, C = Citar evidencia del texto o la lección, y E = Explicar la evidencia o expandir la respuesta. Realizaremos más prácticas guiadas antes de que mis alumnos puedan hacer esto de forma independiente, por lo que verán el modelo guiado para toda la clase en sus portafolios la próxima semana. Como nota interesante, estoy segura de que su hijo ya mencionó nuestra excursión al cine. ¡Fue una experiencia maravillosa! Como ya hemos leído varios capítulos del libro, pudieron hacer comparaciones y conexiones entre los dos, y continuaremos haciéndolo en las próximas semanas. Muchas gracias por fomentar la conexión entre el aula y el hogar al revisar el trabajo de su hijo y brindar comentarios positivos y aliento. Los niños prosperan con este tipo de apoyo. ¡Que tengan un fin de semana fantástico! ¡Asegúrese de ver la presentación de diapositivas de esta semana! Friday, October 4th, 2024 Dear Families, It’s hard to believe we’re already in October! As we settle into the month, I’m pleased to see our students following their routines and expectations. They are working diligently in math, reading, writing, and science, and I appreciate their efforts and engagement. In math, we have been focusing on finding hidden arrays and writing partial multiplication equations. Students have been collaborating with partners on mathematical Work Places titled "Arrays to One Hundred" and "The Multiple Wheel." They’ve also moved through math rotations, working in small groups with Mrs. Parent or with me to review the concepts of prime and composite numbers and practicing finding partial products. During their independent rotation, many students have been completing more puzzles on ST Math, and I’m proud to see several of them being effective collaborators and mentoring and supporting their classmates. During our literacy block, students have been learning to infer character traits through dialogues, actions, and the thoughts and feelings expressed in their chapter books. They have captured numerous new words for our Word Collector, finding definitions in a dictionary and recording them on index cards. Additionally, students are working on the first draft of a short personal narrative piece, using the Writing Process to guide their revisions. They have also been focusing on vocabulary words and collaborating on an informational article in small groups. In science, our exploration of the human eye has been fascinating! Students have learned about the parts of the eye and what causes some individuals to be blind. They created eye models to visualize how images are reflected on the retina, which has sparked some great discussions and curiosity about the topic. As we continue to foster a positive classroom environment, I encourage you to discuss behavior expectations with your child. Emphasizing the importance of correct behavior in the cafeteria, cleaning up after themselves, helping others, and paying attention during lessons can make a big difference. Additionally, reminding them about the importance of avoiding side conversations when the teacher is giving instruction, focusing on their work, and being responsible and hardworking will help reinforce our classroom values. Thank you for your support in helping our students develop these essential habits! Finally, take a look at this slideshow. Have a fantastic weekend! SPANISH Viernes 4 de octubre de 2024 Estimadas familias: ¡Es difícil creer que ya estamos en octubre! A medida que nos vamos acomodando al mes, me complace ver que nuestros estudiantes siguen sus rutinas y expectativas. Están trabajando diligentemente en matemáticas, lectura, escritura y ciencias, y aprecio sus esfuerzos y compromiso. En matemáticas, nos hemos centrado en encontrar matrices ocultas y escribir ecuaciones de multiplicación parcial. Los estudiantes han estado colaborando con compañeros en Work Places matemáticos titulados "Matrices hasta cien" y "La rueda múltiple". También han realizado rotaciones de matemáticas, trabajando en grupos pequeños con la Sra. Parent o conmigo para revisar los conceptos de números primos y compuestos y practicando la búsqueda de productos parciales. Durante su rotación independiente, muchos estudiantes han estado completando más acertijos en ST Math, y estoy orgulloso de ver a varios de ellos siendo colaboradores efectivos y asesorando y apoyando a sus compañeros de clase. Durante nuestro bloque de alfabetización, los estudiantes han estado aprendiendo a inferir rasgos de carácter a través de diálogos, acciones y los pensamientos y sentimientos expresados en sus libros de capítulos. Han capturado numerosas palabras nuevas para nuestro recopilador de palabras, buscando definiciones en un diccionario y registrándolas en fichas. Además, los estudiantes están trabajando en el primer borrador de una breve pieza narrativa personal, utilizando el proceso de escritura para guiar sus revisiones. También se han centrado en las palabras de vocabulario y colaborando en un artículo informativo en grupos pequeños. En ciencias, ¡nuestra exploración del ojo humano ha sido fascinante! Los estudiantes han aprendido sobre las partes del ojo y qué causa la ceguera en algunas personas. Crearon modelos de ojos para visualizar cómo se reflejan las imágenes en la retina, lo que ha provocado grandes debates y curiosidad sobre el tema. A medida que continuamos fomentando un ambiente de clase positivo, los aliento a que hablen sobre las expectativas de comportamiento con su hijo. Hacer hincapié en la importancia del comportamiento correcto en la cafetería, limpiar después de sí mismos, ayudar a los demás y prestar atención durante las lecciones puede marcar una gran diferencia. Además, recordarles la importancia de evitar conversaciones secundarias cuando el maestro está dando instrucciones, concentrarse en su trabajo y ser responsables y trabajadores ayudará a reforzar nuestros valores en el aula. ¡Gracias por su apoyo para ayudar a nuestros estudiantes a desarrollar estos hábitos esenciales! Por último, echa un vistazo a esta presentación de diapositivas. ¡Que tengas un fantástico fin de semana! Dear Families,
Welcome to our classroom blog! We are already on day 6 of the school year, and a lot has been happening in our classroom. I will be using this platform, along with student portfolios, to inform you about the events and activities taking place in our community of learners. Hopefully, this will not only provide a basis for opening conversations with your child about school but will also serve as another means of communication between home and school. Here are some highlights from these two weeks: During our Morning Meeting period, we have been reviewing the routines and expectations in the classroom and hallway to create a safe and respectful environment where all students can learn and participate. My students have shown fantastic listening skills and have adjusted really well to the new schedule. I have been amazed at their willingness to participate in classroom activities, provide answers to questions, and collaborate with their peers. They have also been very helpful around the classroom, eagerly keeping it organized and clean at the end of each day. Some of them have even risen to the challenge of helping out in the cafeteria, where they are sharing space with the kindergarteners this year. In our Math block, we began by discussing how we like to learn and collaborate during math time, what we prefer to hear when we are working on a problem, how we will persevere through challenges, ask questions, and solve math problems together. We also focused on using new math vocabulary and strategies to demonstrate our thinking process. During Language Arts block, we have been introducing the Daily 5 structure. We gather at the reading area for a mini-lesson and then move to reading spots around the classroom to practice our independent reading. We have started building our stamina for independent reading, and I have already conferred with some individual students to learn about their reading preferences, fluency, and comprehension. This week, we discussed the choices of "Read to Self," "Work with the Teacher," and "Skill Practice." Next week, we will introduce "Work on Writing" and "Vocabulary Work." Students have also completed a writing survey where they expressed their excitement about writing topics and identified potential obstacles. My students have shown great awareness of their strengths and challenges, and I look forward to helping them overcome these challenges and support their growth. We have also dipped our toes into Science this week, but more details will be covered in the next newsletter. Additionally, and what my students are most excited about, I have introduced a reward system where they can earn points as a class for showing respectful behavior in the halls, making quiet and quick transitions, and demonstrating consistent hard work, collaboration, and effort. When the class accumulates 30 points, they will choose a whole-class activity, such as an extra recess! Your child will be able to tell you how impressed I am with their behavior; in just two weeks, they are already more than halfway to that goal! Additionally, students can earn individual tickets for their work and participation in class, for completing their checklist at the end of the day, and for being classroom or school helpers. When they collect 50 tickets, they can exchange them for a coupon for an activity or reward, such as wearing pajamas to school, wearing a hat, having lunch with the teacher, enjoying a watercolor session with the teacher, sitting with a friend for a day, and other rewards. I can’t wait to send you a Happy Mail when they receive their first reward! Finally, I have started calling some of you at home to introduce myself and open the lines of communication between home and school. If I haven’t already called, I will be reaching out over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, feel free to add any comments to this post or send me an email if you wish. Have a fantastic weekend! Dear families,
I apologize for the long pause in this newsletter update. I hope your children have been keeping you updated on our classroom learning and activities. Just in case they are not, here are a few highlights: In Math we have continued learning about two-digit by two-digit multiplication and properties, creating tiled arrays, drawing quick sketches and solving by adding partial products. The students have also been working on a daily review that contains many of the topics that we have already practiced, so that we keep them fresh in our minds. During Daily 5, our students have been learning to find evidence in the text to refer to those details when answering to open response questions. Students have followed a scaffolded method of answering questions where they Restate the question, Answer with their own words, Cite the evidence by quoting or paraphrasing, and Explain the quote or expand on the answer. Students have learned how to highlight the evidence in the text and link it to the number of the question. They have also learned to "reread" for close reading, by reading one first time and summarizing each paragraph with a short sentence, and reading a second time the specific paragraphs that the question refers to. We have also worked hard on determining the theme of a story, by finding the topics or general ideas of the story, like friendship, family relations, courage, and then asking the question "what is the story or author trying to tell us about ...?". The students have found important themes in the stories that we have shared, and are getting used to find the themes in small groups as well. While working independently, students have continued practicing new vocabulary and reading their own personal choices of chapter books. It is such a joy to share these literary moments with my students and learn about their insights and deeper thinking about a story, finding the theme of stories as universal human experiences tells me a lot about the capacity of my students to use higher order thinking skills. For writing, I am in the process of finalizing the editing of my students' personal narratives. Some of my students have finished their stories, but others are still working on them... I think they are enjoying writing so much that they want to keep on going! Also, during the magical time of our read aloud, we are so taken by the story of "The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart, that literally yesterday's chapter got a few of us teary eyed. It is such a heartwarming story, with important themes on the power of friendship to support each other during difficult times, and how family bonds can push us to do what is hard. Finally in Science, our students are investigating the link between fossils of ancient rhinoceros and volcano eruptions, and how the majority of volcanoes are found in the Ring of Fire. As you can see, this fourth grade group has been doing a lot of thinking and learning! Have a great weekend! Dear families,
A few weeks have gone by, and our students have been busy at work in the classroom. Here are a few highlights from the past three weeks: In Math, we have started a new morning routine to review concepts of multiplication like finding factors and multiples, and solving three step word problems. The students have been collaborating while answering to 10 daily problems that range in difficulty. Our students are demonstrating pretty good acquisition of math concepts. We have also started practicing measurement using metric and standard systems. During our Daily 5 block, students have finished their book report on character change, finding the major and minor characters in their books, and inferring character traits from dialogues, actions, feelings and thoughts narrated in the book. They have also found the major event that causes the characters to change, and the type of character conflict. Log into Seesaw to see their book reports. Additionally, we have been learning about the setting, and how the change in setting affects the characters, and we are currently learning about the different stages of plot development. In writing we continue working on our personal narrative, where students are learning to "show", not "tell" during the edit of their first draft. During Social Studies, our students continue learning about how maps give us information about land and people. The mindful practices that we have recently incorporated into our self-regulation tool box are: body awareness, anchor spots and anchor words. Students have learned about three important parts of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, that get affected by stress and anxiety, and how breathing exercises and using our anchor spots can help us calm down and return to a place where we are able to learn again. We have also incorporated cursive handwriting as a calming mindful activity to do at the end of the day, when our brains are tired, and our bodies get fidgety. Students work at their leisure focusing on the repetitive movements of tracing and writing cursive letters. Eventually, students will practice writing in cursive those words that we will catch from their reports and personal narrative and that need to be spelled correctly :) And we have also started our "Reading Buddies" activity with Mrs. Pilkington's kindergarten students. Our students have paired up with one or two little ones to help them with their reading. Our students were well prepared, and showed fantastic teaching and mentoring skills, being patient, cheerful and so caring. They read a book to the kindergarteners and asked comprehension questions. It was such a cute thing to witness! As a final note, students have continued earning tickets for their fantastic participation and collaboration skills, and have exchanged them for rewards. Recently some students exchanged their tickets for songs, and we ended up the day with some karaoke and dancing! It is my intention to move my blog to Seesaw in the near future to incorporate student pictures that will be password protected. I will let you know when it happens. Have a fantastic weekend! Dear families,
This is the learning that we have been working on in our classroom: In Math, our fourth graders have been working on using multiplication strategies and mastering their multiplication facts. Students have been using quick arrays to aid their comprehension, finding hidden arrays and partial products. During Daily 5, students have continued working on their personal reading goals, and after finishing the lessons on how to describe a character in depth, students are working on finding the types of characters, and the character traits of the protagonist of the books that they are reading, as well as finding the main event in the story that helps the protagonist to change or learn a lesson, and the type of character conflict presented in their books. Students are writing a small report on the books that they are reading, and will be uploading that report to Seesaw once it is finalized and edited. Also during Daily 5, students have been building more vocabulary with their weekly words, by learning the spelling and definitions of those words while playing Pop with a partner, using the words in sentences and adding them to our Graffiti Wall, and completing the assigned paper to practice the words. During the mini-lesson part of Daily 5, students have learned about the description of characters while listening to and discussing the story of Verdi, by Janell Cannon. Together we have found character traits to describe our protagonist, using their lists of character traits. During Writing, our students have been planning and writing the first draft of a Personal Narrative story, introducing the setting and characters, and writing the sequence of events with important details to keep the readers engaged. During Social Studies, we have been noticing and wondering about different types of maps, and how maps tell us about people and land. Additionally, the students have been completing the Math and Reading i-Ready tests, and working on STMath and XTra Math digital platforms. And during our Thinking Journal time, the students have continued practicing daily personal writing, guided by simple prompts, like writing a list of things that you see through a window (Window Wednesday), writing a thank you note to a classroom friend, and to planet Earth (during Thankful Thursday), or writing about the plans for the weekend (on Freedom Fridays). Finally, our students have continued earning tickets through participation, collaboration, and use of new vocabulary. Many students have traded their tickets for a lunch with me, sitting at my desk, chewing gum in the classroom, bringing a stuffed animal, or playing with one of the centers (fidgets, watercolors and playdough are the most popular). And, we are so close to get another extra recess, as the students have been amazing in the hall, using quiet voices and gentle feet when transitioning to and from specials and recess, closing their locker doors with care, and taking good care of the school supplies. It is a total joy to work with this kind, gentle and respectful bunch of kids :) Have a fantastic weekend! Another week is coming to an end, and these students haven't slowed down one bit. The learning that is being achieved in this classroom can be seen in the students' books and journals, and in how the walls are being filled up with anchor charts, student work and student goals.
This week in math, the students have continued learning about prime and composite numbers, and have been creating quick sketches to represent the arrays that they have been creating with tiles. On those sketches, the students have represented the factors and products of the equations. The students have also collaborated with partners through Work Places to play "Cover Up" and "Arrays to 100". During our Literacy block, the students have been working on the i-Ready assessments for reading, and learning about Major and Minor Characters, Protagonist and Antagonist. Students have also learned about how character traits can be inferred from the dialogues, feelings, thoughts and actions of the characters. During independent reading, students have been practicing their words of the week if their choice was "Word Work", playing Pop with a partner to practice this week and last week's vocabulary, using those words in sentences to add to our Graffiti Wall, Reading to Someone and practicing check for understanding, Reading to Self and finding the protagonist and antagonist of their stories, Working on adding more ideas for their personal writing, or listening to some assigned articles on the Readworks platform. This week we have added one more mindfulness practice to our thinking journal, the one called "heartfulness", where we think kind thoughts towards others, and they have been writing about moments or objects that they treasure, and places they are thankful for. During science, the students have continued working and investigating using the eye models they created, and learning about how nocturnal animals can see in the dark. We have also launched the Writing Workshop with lessons generating ideas for personal writing, zooming in just one moment, and making a plan for the first draft. Have a fantastic weekend! Dear Families,
This week our students have been building up their math, reading, writing and science skills, as well as their POL superpowers while working on the following tasks: During Math, the students have been creating posters with all the possible arrays for numbers 1 to 36, and noticing patterns in the arrays. Students have found that some numbers only have one type of array, while others have a few more. Students have been introduced to the words prime and composite numbers, and have practiced the previously learned vocabulary words, such as factor, factor pairs, dimensions, and product. While playing POP for math vocabulary, the students have been collaborating effectively, being patient with each other, finding strategies to give each other time to learn the spelling and definition of the words, and supporting each other with positive feedback. During Daily 5, the students have been using their Mindful Learner superpowers to set, adjust, accomplish and reflect on personal goals for reading. Students have set goals like "read 3 chapters a day", "finish my book", or "read 5 pages a day". Other students have set goals related to sustaining focused attention during their independent reading, or practicing check for understanding during read to someone. We have added two more optional activities to our Word Work choice: Write a postcard to the teacher, with specific directions and models on what and how to do that, and our Graffiti Wall where students will use the new vocabulary words in sentences. Today we have been organizing some of the finished papers in our Literacy Folder. During writing, the students have been writing letters to all of you for Open House, as a way to welcome you in our classroom. For science, the students have been learning about how the human eye works, the different parts of the eye, and have created a model of the human eye using a lens as a model for a cornea lens, and one index card as a model for the retina. Students have observed that when the light enters the lens and touches the retina, the images that appear on the index card are upside down. Our Mindfulness practice this week has been "Mindful Listening". The students have practiced sitting in their mindful bodies, breathing slowly in and out to send oxygen to their brains and to relax, and paying attention to the sounds of birds and a bell. So much learning packed in just 5 days! The first full week has come to an end, and our fourth graders have been really busy learning.
This week, during math, the students have been practicing multiplication and division strategies, while collaborating with partners and sharing with the whole classroom. The students have been solving word problems showing their understanding while using skip counting on the number line, and ratio tables, area models and tile arrays. The students have followed the guidelines that we agreed on to keep a safe and welcoming environment as a community of learners, using math vocabulary, negotiating disagreements, supporting each other and staying focused on the task at hand. The students have also practiced math vocabulary with our Math Pop game, and worked on addition, subtraction and multiplication during morning practice. During Daily 5, this week we have introduced the choice called "Work on Writing" as independent practice, but connected to our Writing Workshop and our Thinking Journal routine. Students have been able to choose what to work on every round, either read to self, read to someone or work on writing. Setting weekly goals for reading has kept my students laser focused and committed to their reading, as they get to know themselves as learners. With guidance, some students are challenging themselves to read chapter books on topics of interest. We have also practiced a couple of strategies when reading with a partner, like "I read, you read", and "Coaching or time". Students are also tracking their Daily 5 choices on a chart. On our 20 minute block between specials and recess, the students have learned one mindfulness practice called "mindful bodies", where they become aware of their body posture with straight but relaxed spine, relaxed shoulders, feet on the floor, and hands on their laps or heart or bellies. In that posture, students practice slow breathing exercises to check in with themselves, and help their nervous system to calm down. Just a few minutes helps us reset and get back to work. Students learn to be more in tune with their bodies. Throughout the week, we have also used this time to write on our Thinking Journal about the pets that we have or we would like to have, a skill that we would like to improve this year, and one person that we are thankful for and why. During Science, the students have been exploring their engineering skills through the construction of a robotic hand. Students have learned about bones, tendons and muscles and have followed a step by step process of inquiry and hands on activities. I am sure that you have seen this project already. It was so much fun to see their enthusiasm, and to hear the many questions that came up with this project. We have quite a group of scientists in this class! Finally, the whole class has been able to enjoy an extra 20 minute recess because they earned 20 points through collaboration and excellent behavior in the hall and in transitions. Great job, class! |
AuthorHello! My name is Esther Willinski, and I am a fourth grade teacher in Massachusetts. Join us in our journey through 4th grade! Archives
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