This week during math, we have found different numbers on a mat of 10,000 squares. Something that might seem pretty daunting, has become so easy for our students. Together we have also created a bigger mat of 1,000,000 squares, that we will use to chart bigger numbers. Yes, we are working on saying larger numbers, rounding them to the nearest ten, hundred and thousand, adding and subtracting them. During Work Places, our students have had lots of fun playing a couple of games, "Target to 1,000", and "Add, Round and Compare". Ask your child about these fun games.
During reading, students have been working independently, reading a book about "Los Pueblos Indígenas", commenting on what they see in the pictures, and summarizing the contents of the story. We have also started a book titled "Introducción a los Accidentes Geográficos", connecting with the science lesson on Erosion and Deposition. During writing, we have continued learning about the different literary devices for poetry, such as rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia, making a bookmark to use as a handy tool during our partner read of poetry books. During science, we have completed the lesson on "Will a mountain last forever?", anchoring with the first activity on the fossils. And finally, during Social Studies, we have continued reviewing the theories about the first inhabitants of North America. There will be no pictures this week, I guess we have been so busy that I have completely forgot to snap a few pictures :( Have a great weekend!
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This week in Math, we have been closing up the unit on fractions and decimals, working on a pre-test with a partner, reviewing and evaluating our answers to assess what skills we still need to work on, and completing a post-assessment independently. During reading, we are making connections to our learning in Science by reading a book on volcanoes in Spanish, asking questions, finding evidence in the story to respond, tuning into interesting words, and summarizing what we read. During science, we have continued our learning on weathering and erosion by making an experiment that explains what happens to rocks that are tumbled down a hill. In the experiment we have used sugar cubes with sharp edges, colored the edges of one of the cubes with marker, kept another cube as a control group, and shaken the the first colored cube and a few other inside of a container for 5x40 times, checking what happens to the cubes after every count. During writing, we have started a unit on poetry, first learning about the meaning of poetry, then writing a few poems on our poetry notebooks and reflecting on them. And during Social Studies, we have started looking into contrasting theories about the origins of the First Peoples of North America. Take a look at this week's short slide show! This week in our class, the students have been busy catching up and finishing up work. In math, we have finished the chapter on fractions and decimals, and today they have been working with a partner on a pre-assessment to analyze the results next week before the independent post-assessment. That way the students will have a chance to understand their successes and areas of challenge, and learn what they can do to overcome those little gaps in their learning. During reading, we have finished learning about personal narrative in Spanish, and alternatively, we have been working on reading all about volcanoes in small guided reading groups and as a whole group class, learning important vocabulary like "cenizas", "polvo", "laderas", "erupcionar", to have a deeper comprehension during our science practice in the afternoon. Since Mystery Science has created the choice of listening to the videos in Spanish, we have increased our time in Spanish as well. But that hasn't been the only fun part, check out the slide show to see your children experimenting with two different types of "lava", thick and thin lava, learning about which one comes from a cone volcano, and which one from a shield volcano. This week we have also made the connection to the anchor lesson that we started a few weeks ago, to figure out how a group of prehistoric animals died, and how their body structures were preserved in the form or fossils. Also, the students have been sharpening their multiplication facts with Xtra math, and kept on getting more puzzles in STMath. And finally, I am happy to announce that some students have published their personal narrative pieces, that you can access in the "author's showcase" page of this website. The rest of the pieces will be published soon, so stay tuned! Have a fantastic weekend! |
AuthorHello! My name is Esther Willinski, and I am a fourth grade teacher in Massachusetts. Join us in our journey through 4th grade! Archives
December 2024
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