The Holiday Break is here! And this week, regardless of the the excitement, our students have been able to keep (some) focus on school work :) During math, we have started exploring fractions, mixed numbers and improper fractions, using a model of a 12 egg carton, yarn and tiles to represent the equal parts and the amount of "eggs". During language arts, we have watched Mickey's Christmas Carol to talk about the major and minor characters, the plot of the story and the various themes. Students have also been finishing assignments for reading and writing. During Science, we have sharpened our engineering abilities by creating STEM Holiday trees using gum drops and toothpicks, and we have also enjoyed singing along some Holiday songs and listening to the Nipmuc high school band and chorus group. On Thursday we've also had tons of fun during our fantastic holiday party, thanks to Mrs. Bodio and Mr. and Mrs. Halnon, that helped the students create a really cute tree ornament and participate in a fun gift exchange. You will see by their smiles and goofiness that they are all so ready for the Holiday Break! Thank you all so much for a fantastic first term. I wish you and your families happiness this season and in the coming year. Happy Holidays!
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This week's work could be summarized in two words: choice and agency. For the past few weeks we have worked together to learn about big literary themes during our reading block, the students have also been writing entries about their independent chapter book stories and have been working with a partner, a guided reading group or by themselves on their Story Works story to dive deep into the theme of short stories. Adding to that plethora of choices, this week I have introduced the Book Talks, where students collaborate with a partner, working with a picture book, reading the book, completing the graphic organizer on theme, and presenting to the class. During their independent reading time, students have been able to work on the five choices of Daily 5 throughout the week, focusing on a specific goal and sticking their names to their work of choice. After the round is over, we gather back together at the carpet to discuss our progress on their goals. Take a look at the slide show to see the choices and the books for book talks. For writing, we have introduced the R.A.C.E. method to answer open response questions, after an honest review of their previous work on a classroom reading assessment. After briefly introducing it to my students, I took a step back, shared the resources with them, and working with a partner or in a small group, the students are now using the method to respond to questions for another story. With the R.A.C.E method, students Restate the question, Answer it, Cite evidence, and Explain or Expand the answer. Ask your child how this method is helping them to answer these type of questions. During math, the students have continued working with multiplication area models, and have been introduced to division with remainders. Students have also presented their models to the class for discussion. Clearly these students know how to be effective collaborators and problem solvers! Have a fantastic weekend! : Back to full speed after a week of half days and fun play, the students have been learning a few new things. In math, we have continued working with double digit multiplications, story problems, and area models. We have also been practicing elapsed time during our Number Corner time, collecting cups of water to fill quarts and gallons, and using the number line to add. In language arts, we have been diving into the world of literary themes. Last week with the story "A Bad Case of Stripes", by David Shannon, we explored the themes of self-concept, bullying, being true to oneself and accepting each other's differences, and this week with the beautiful anthem of "Change Sings" by poet laureate Amanda Gorman, we are discussing the themes of hope for the future, creating positive change, and standing up for justice and equality. This week I have also introduced the assignment of the reading response journal, where students are expected to write two weekly entries about their independent chapter book reading, choosing a different focus each time from the ones we have already practiced in class: main idea and details, character change, theme, prediction, connection. Students have guiding questions and charts in their notebooks to write their entries. In Social Studies, we have worked with the second major theory of the origin of the first people of North America, the "Kelp Highway Theory", that states that the first people migrated from Asia to America by boat, following the rich oceanic life provided by the kelp forests of the Pacific coastline, deeply connected with the lives of many tribal nations of North America. Students also learned about the counter theory based on new evidence of foot prints found in New Mexico (link here), that the first people might have been already here before what the Clovis First Theory explains. A lot of food for thought, and high interest topics four our students to discuss and learn about. After this lesson, I have asked my students to create a Google document that will be their final assignment for this topic. If you get a chance, please ask your child about the theories learned in the classroom. Take a look at this week's slide show! This week in our classroom, the students have been learning all about how to use quick sketches of arrays to solve multiplication equations of two digit factors, finding partial products and adding them up at the end. We started by working with base ten pieces and linear pieces, then making sketches of mats of 100, lines of 10 and dots of 1, to finally creating area drawings with labeled dimensions and products. We have also tried to focus on understanding the story problems without jumping to conclusions about the numbers that show up in those problems, reasoning about what the problems are really asking, and figuring out the best way to solve them. During Number Corner time, we have started a new month, calculating the elapsed time of the cards that show different clock hours. And we have been playing a division game and practiced adding larger numbers using the number line and splitting one of the addends to make our addition effective and accurate. In reading, we have continued working with analyzing character change, and the event in the plot that turns things around for the character. We have been using Janell Cannon's beloved books "Crickwing", "Stellaluna", and "Verdi". Students have continued using richer vocabulary for emotions, and finding evidence in the story to support their thinking. During group work, students have continued working on their assignments with the stories "The Ghost of Specter Elementary", and "Clean Start" in Story Works. And finally, fourth graders have been introduced to the Lending Library, created by our Curriculum Coach, Mrs. Desruisseaux, and our Reading Specialist, Mrs. Zalusky. They have been able to borrow more books for their independent reading time. During Social Studies, this week we have started the unit on The Early People of North America, in order to evaluate competing theories about the origins of the first people of North America. Students have learned and taken notes on the meaning of certain vocabulary words, like "scientific theory", "artifact", "archeological site", "carbon dating" and "ancient migrations", and we have started generating questions using the Project Zero thinking strategy called "Creative Question Starts", while looking at a map of North America during the Ice Age, and using the brief entry to our first theory to investigate, the "Clovis-First Theory", that states that the first people migrated from Asia to America through a land bridge. We have used primary sources like the Smithsonian Magazine. The topic has generated lively discussion and curiosity in the students. Last but not least, the students could enjoy a fantastic Halloween Day on Monday, filled with activities and fun. In the morning, students collaborated in the engineering of a structure that could hold a candy corn cauldron. They designed, built, demolished and built again, always trying to improve their models and persevering through setbacks. After that, we played the matching game with the pumpkin vocabulary and the fun pumpkin drawings. In the afternoon we had super fun activities thanks to the creativity of Mrs. Bodio and Mrs. Halnon, with Halloween Bingo, unwrapping candy and feeding the box monster. Students had a blast! We finished the day with the fun parade where students showed fantastic costumes. It was a day to remember. Take a look at this week's slide show! Here are the highlights for the week: In math we have been creating the Great Wall of Base Ten with square centimeter pieces, from 1 to 10,000, finding the area of rectangular arrays and practicing multiplication facts. In Language Arts, we have completely focused our attention on how characters' feelings change throughout the story, and how there is usually a specific event in the story that turns things around for the main character. Students have been learning and practiced identifying feelings other than "happy" or "sad". What about "discouraged", "delighted", "furious" or "annoyed"?, And what are the evidence in the story that show that the characters are having those feelings? Students have been learning the process of close reading the stories, identifying the feelings and finding the evidence. Additionally, the students have started writing their own letters to me about the books they are reading independently, so that eventually they can get a real pen-pal from another class. During Science the students have been learning all about the nervous system and how the brain receives information a creates a response or reaction to an event. We have practiced some interesting activities in the classroom to measure the speed of our responses to stimuli, like the reaction to a falling ruler between our fingers, or the speed to read color words that have different colors than what the words say. Take a look at this week's slide show! Learning by experimentation. That could be the summary of this week. This week the students have rolled up their sleeves and used a bunch of tools to learn about units of measurement. We have been going every day to the science room to find the mass, weight and liquid capacity of different objects, using a pan balance, platform scale, and several measuring cups. The students have tried and many times succeeded in finding the accurate measurement of a gram, a kilogram, an ounce and a pound of playdough and beans, to find measurement benchmarks, and to understand the different scales of the metric system and the standard units. For liquid capacity, the students have been calculating how many times 250 mL fit in a 1 L container. They have followed up with measurement work in their math books, and with ratio tables in their notebooks. For reading, the students have finished their first assignment on finding the main idea and important details in the story of The Hindenberg, a famous and luxurious zeppelin that went down in flames in the 1930s, and have started working on the same skill in a similar story about a war ship during WWII. The students have been fantastic managing their independent reading time to work on the assignment and also read their own choice of books. The guided reading work has been filled with interesting conversations about the story at hand. This week we have also finished a book by Patricia Polacco titled "Thank you, Mr. Falker", that has given us the opportunity to talk about character change and the different stages of the problem of the story. We have also been exchanging letters between Mrs. Keenan's and Mrs. Rutkowski's class about books. During Science, the students have continued learning all about human and animal eyes, how nocturnal animals can see in the dark, and why when we take pictures of animals in the dark, their eyes glow in different colors. Take a look at this week's slide show! If you don't see your child's photo in this show, it is because I had to crop the photo as the school still hasn't received your permission to publish photos of your child. If you wish to take a peek at what your child is doing in the class, make sure your fill out the form that was sent online at the beginning of the school year. Have a great weekend! This week the students have been working hard, and showing responsibility and ownership in completing several assignments. In math, we have been wrapping up the unit on multiplication and division strategies, practicing related vocabulary like factors, multiples, product, factor pairs, multiplicative comparisons and other, playing multiplication games during our work places time, and completing a checkpoint and an end of unit assessment (results for these will be coming home next week). During reading, we have been working on finding the main idea and supporting details of a story, and rereading for deeper understanding, and we have started a letter exchange about books with the other two fourth grade classes. Additionally, we have started reading our next chapter book, titled "Restart", by Gordon Korman, where the main character wakes up from a coma with his memories wiped off and a new chance to clear his past as a bully. During writing, students have been creating a story inspired by the book Tuesday, by David Wiesner, asking questions about the magical event of flying frogs. Finally, during science the students have been learning about the process of seeing, the parts of the human eye, and have created a model of the eye using a lens. Two special events that have also happened this week have been the school wide walk, and the presentation on washing hands by BVT students. As a final note, a million thanks to those of you who bought the special prizes for my students. My Amazon wish list was emptied quickly and I received all the new rewards. The kids are excited about them! Take a look at this week's short slide show. Have a great weekend! This week in our classroom: Students have been learning about different multiplication strategies that they can use whenever they encounter factors difficult to remember. They have practiced strategies such as double-doubles to multiply by 4, and half-tens plus one to multiply by 6. Students have also played several games involving multiplication facts, like Arrays to 100, and Multiple Wheel. To become better mathematicians, students have been trying to use more math vocabulary like factors, product, factor pairs, dimensions, and arrays when explaining their thinking. Students have been participating more and more this week. For about an hour each day, students have been taking the i-Ready diagnostic assessment for reading and math, that will help narrow down the skills that they need to work on to become proficient readers and mathematicians. In the afternoon, students have been creating their North America map books, using transparencies and generously donated Sharpies. Thank you to those of you who purchased those markers for us, we deeply appreciate it!. Students have been learning about the countries that form the continent of North America, are learning to outline its shape, find the most important rivers, mountain ranges, deserts and other bodies of water. We will continue with this unit next week, and students will have to complete a questionnaire upon finishing their maps. Students have also reviewed the most important features in a map, such us the compass rose, scale, cardinal directions, key or legend, and title. Take a look at this week's slide show! What a fun filled week we've had! This week we have successfully launched a new math structure called "Math Rotations", where the students work together in a small group, partner work, or work with me in different math related activities. When a small group of students works with me, I explain a Bridges Math lesson, review math concepts, and students feel less intimidated to participate than with the whole group. When I worked with small groups yesterday, there were many aha moments for students when concepts like prime and composite numbers were finally understood. Small group interactions work better for many students. In the meantime, other students were working on Work Places (games), Math pages, quizzing each other on vocabulary, practicing math facts on XTra Math, or other skills on STMath. Even though some adjustments need to be made to our structure, I was very impressed with my students, that showed amazing problem solving skills, collaboration and independence. During Daily 5, this week we have been working on setting the purpose for reading, and tuning in to interesting words. We have added more words to our Word Collectors, and depending on their choices, students have been able to work on their drafts for writing, read with a partner, or practice vocabulary. Yesterday for our Read Aloud, our very own Principal, Mrs. Garden, came to our class to read a beautiful book to our students, titled "My First Day", by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien, a story about a Vietnamese child's first day of school. And Principal Garden impressed all of us, but learning the names of all the students right away! On Science, students have explored what makes our hands and fingers move, learning about muscles, tendons, joints, and bones, and creating their own robotic fingers and hands. Finally, the students have completed a 5 Love Languages questionnaire, so that I can make sure that I "speak" their love language in every interaction. Take a look at this week's slide show :) The first full week is coming to an end. The students have been busy working on several projects and reading for longer periods of time. Here are some of the highlights: During Math, we have been working on practicing four different strategies to explain multiplication problems: number lines, ratio tables, tiled arrays and area models. Students have taken on the challenge of learning to use models that are a little out of their comfort zone, and then using the ones that work for them. We have used the same models to review division problems, and have been working on finding factor pairs of different numbers and create array posters. During Literacy, this week we have continued adding lessons to our Work on Writing Daily 5, and we have also introduced Listen to Reading, bringing our choices for Daily 5 to four. Students are starting to master the mini-lesson and independent practice model of work, and are up to 11 minutes of independence. When called their name, the students are able to verbalize their Daily 5 and literacy strategy choices, and move to their chosen spots. This has given me a chance to confer on reading with all my students one-on-one and to start a round of writing conferences. The strategies that the students are able to practice during reading are "check for understanding", "three ways to read a book", "coaching or time", "generating tiny thoughts for writing", "generating bigger ideas", and what to do when they encounter a word that they don't know how to spell when writing. This week we have also celebrated "International Dot Day", based on the book "The Dot", by our local author Peter Reynolds, a book that celebrates creativity and courage. Also, during Social Studies, we have rolled up our sleeves and created three dimensional world maps using continents cutouts and balloons. Take a look at this week's slide show:) |
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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