Friday, January 17, 2025
Dear Families,
After just over two weeks into the new year, my students are finally settling into the daily routines and putting forth consistent effort in their learning. I’ll admit, the first two weeks following the break have been a bit challenging for some of them. As a result, we’ve spent some time revisiting classroom rules, setting individual behavioral goals, and checking in after each period to ensure we’re all upholding our expectations.
That being said, our students have been working on the iReady diagnostic assessments for both Language Arts and Math. The results will be added to their portfolios next week.
In Math, we’ve begun our unit on fractions. We are revisiting key vocabulary, focusing on understanding equivalent fractions, and learning how to find the value that each fraction represents.
During our Language Arts block, we’ve been exploring the theme or message of a story, distinguishing it from the topic, and examining how the themes in books relate to our own lives. Additionally, we’ve started working on our Trickster Tales. The students have been participating in one-on-one writing conferences (student-teacher), and they are now in the process of typing their stories in a document, preparing for future publishing.
In Social Studies, our students have been learning about various theories regarding the origin of the First Peoples of North America, such as the Land Bridge Theory. This theory suggests that the first people migrated from Asia to North America across a “land bridge” exposed during the Ice Age due to lower sea levels. By analyzing and evaluating these theories, students are developing a deeper understanding of how the first peoples may have arrived on the continent. They are also enhancing their vocabulary and critical thinking skills through ongoing discussions and inquiry, which helps them examine multiple perspectives on historical events.
Thank you for your continued support as we work together to create a positive and engaging learning environment!
Warm regards,
Mrs. Willinski

Viernes, 17 de enero de 2025
Estimadas familias,
Después de poco más de dos semanas en el nuevo año, mis estudiantes finalmente se están adaptando a las rutinas diarias y poniendo un esfuerzo constante en su aprendizaje. Debo admitir que las primeras dos semanas después del receso han sido un poco desafiantes para algunos de ellos. Como resultado, hemos dedicado tiempo a repasar las reglas del salón, establecer metas de comportamiento individuales y hacer un seguimiento después de cada período para asegurarnos de que todos estamos cumpliendo con nuestras expectativas.
Dicho esto, nuestros estudiantes han estado trabajando en las evaluaciones diagnósticas de iReady para Lengua y Matemáticas. Los resultados se agregarán a sus portafolios la próxima semana.
En Matemáticas, hemos comenzado nuestra unidad sobre fracciones. Estamos repasando el vocabulario clave, enfocándonos en comprender las fracciones equivalentes y aprendiendo a encontrar el valor que representa cada fracción.
Durante nuestro bloque de Lengua y Literatura, hemos estado explorando el tema o mensaje de una historia, distinguiéndolo del tema principal y analizando cómo los temas de los libros se relacionan con nuestras propias vidas. Además, hemos comenzado a trabajar en nuestros Trickster Tales (Cuentos de Rufianes). Los estudiantes han participado en conferencias de escritura uno a uno (estudiante-maestro), y ahora están en el proceso de escribir sus historias en un documento, preparándose para una futura publicación.
En Estudios Sociales, nuestros estudiantes han estado aprendiendo sobre diversas teorías acerca del origen de los Primeros Pueblos de América del Norte, como la Teoría del Puente de Tierra. Esta teoría sugiere que las primeras personas migraron desde Asia hacia América del Norte a través de un “puente de tierra” que se expuso durante la Edad de Hielo debido a los niveles bajos del mar. Al analizar y evaluar estas teorías, los estudiantes están desarrollando una comprensión más profunda de cómo las primeras personas pudieron haber llegado al continente. Además, están mejorando su vocabulario y habilidades de pensamiento crítico a través de discusiones e investigaciones continuas, lo que les ayuda a examinar múltiples perspectivas sobre los eventos históricos.
Gracias por su continuo apoyo mientras trabajamos juntos para crear un ambiente de aprendizaje positivo y enriquecedor.
Saludos cordiales,
​Sra. Willinski




​

Friday, December 13, 2024
Dear Families,
Wow, what an incredible week it has been in our classroom! Despite the excitement building as we approach winter break, my students have been working hard and soaking up new knowledge with incredible focus and enthusiasm. It’s been truly inspiring to see how dedicated they are, even with the holidays just around the corner!
Here are a few highlights from this week:
Math:
We’ve continued working on solving multiplication problems using the area model, finding missing variables, and we’ve started learning about division with remainders. My students have been figuring out how to handle remainders and deciding how to split them. If they can be split, how much of a leftover cookie does each of 4 friends get after dividing the rest? How many cars does the swim team need to drive to a competition? How much money does each friend get after mowing the neighbors’ yards? These word problems have sparked lots of reasoning, and my students have demonstrated fantastic thinking skills!
Reading:
This week, we focused on deepening our skills in referring to details and examples in a text, both to explain what the text says explicitly and to draw inferences. My students have been learning how to annotate a story by numbering the paragraphs, summarizing each one with a couple of notes for easy reference, and underlining the parts of the sentences that provide evidence to support our answers. They’ve also learned the difference between citing contextual evidence and paraphrasing. We reviewed the RACE process for answering open-response questions step by step. Although this process requires perseverance and stamina, my students have realized that it helps them structure their responses and elaborate thoughtfully. We’ve also learned about the dangers of over-quoting and how to avoid it, and they’ve been asking themselves key questions throughout the process to ensure they stay on topic.
Additionally, my students have continued reading their chapter books and practicing their comprehension skills, tracking their progress on their Daily 5 trackers. They've also been expanding their vocabulary by practicing new words.
Writing:
In Writing, my students have been busy crafting their “snowy streets” stories. I’ve been giving them detailed feedback and starting individual conferences with each student to discuss their writing. The quiet buzz of busy writers and the thoughtful conversations about writing that arise during our conferences is truly magical!
Social Studies:
In Social Studies, we’ve been learning all about Canada. We’ve started locating the countries of North America on a map and have been exploring the differences between continent, country, province, county, and city. Talk about deep learning!

Viernes, 13 de diciembre de 2024
Queridas familias,
¡Vaya, qué semana tan increíble hemos tenido en nuestra aula! A pesar de la emoción que se va acumulando a medida que nos acercamos a las vacaciones de invierno, mis estudiantes han estado trabajando arduamente y absorbiendo nuevos conocimientos con un enfoque y entusiasmo increíbles. ¡Ha sido realmente inspirador ver lo dedicados que están, incluso con las fiestas a la vuelta de la esquina!
Aquí algunos de los puntos destacados de esta semana:
Matemáticas:
Hemos seguido trabajando en la resolución de problemas de multiplicación usando el modelo de área, encontrando variables faltantes, y hemos comenzado a aprender sobre la división con restos. Mis estudiantes han estado averiguando cómo manejar los restos y decidiendo cómo dividirlos. Si se pueden dividir, ¿cuánto de una galleta sobrante le corresponde a cada uno de los 4 amigos después de dividir el resto? ¿Cuántos autos necesita el equipo de natación para ir a una competencia? ¿Cuánto dinero recibe cada amigo después de cortar el césped en los jardines de los vecinos? Estos problemas de palabras han generado mucha reflexión, ¡y mis estudiantes han demostrado unas habilidades de pensamiento fantásticas!
Lectura:
Esta semana, nos hemos centrado en profundizar nuestras habilidades para hacer referencia a los detalles y ejemplos en un texto, tanto para explicar lo que el texto dice explícitamente como para sacar inferencias. Mis estudiantes han aprendido a anotar una historia numerando los párrafos, resumiendo cada uno con un par de notas para facilitar su referencia más tarde y subrayando las partes de las oraciones que brindan evidencia para respaldar nuestras respuestas. También han aprendido la diferencia entre citar evidencia contextual y parafrasear. Revisamos el proceso RACE para responder preguntas de respuesta abierta paso a paso. Aunque este proceso requiere perseverancia y resistencia, mis estudiantes se han dado cuenta de que les ayuda a estructurar sus respuestas y a elaborarlas de manera pensada. También hemos aprendido sobre los peligros de citar en exceso y cómo evitarlos, y se han estado haciendo preguntas clave a lo largo del proceso para asegurarse de que se mantengan en el tema.
Además, mis estudiantes han seguido leyendo sus libros de capítulos y practicando sus habilidades de comprensión, registrando su progreso en sus rastreadores Daily 5. También han estado ampliando su vocabulario practicando nuevas palabras.
Escritura:
En Escritura, mis estudiantes han estado ocupados escribiendo sus historias sobre "calles nevadas". Les he dado retroalimentación detallada y he comenzado a hacer conferencias individuales con cada estudiante para hablar sobre sus escritos. ¡El zumbido tranquilo de los escritores ocupados y las conversaciones reflexivas sobre la escritura que surgen durante nuestras conferencias es realmente mágico!
Estudios Sociales:
En Estudios Sociales, hemos estado aprendiendo todo sobre Canadá. Hemos comenzado a ubicar los países de América del Norte en un mapa y hemos estado explorando las diferencias entre continente, país, provincia, condado y ciudad. ¡Hablamos de un aprendizaje profundo!

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!

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!