The students in my class recorded their respectful behavior on apples and added them to our character tree. We met our goal and were recognized at the recent town meeting.
12/6 Band & Chorus Concert @6:30 p.m.
12/9 Mrs. Beard's last day (celebration...shhhh!) 12/23 1/2 day of school 12/26-1/2 Holiday Break The H.E.S. Way!
This month students focused on hard work. They set daily goals in the morning and reflected on ways they showed hard work at the end of the day. They wrote their examples on leaves for our hallway display. Respect was our focus for the month of October. Students tracked how they were showing respect to hit a class goal and be recognized for our strong character at the town meeting.
Classroom Routines & Expectations!
Students have settle into all of the new routines and expectations in 4th grade. They are becoming more independent each day, and taking increased initiative. We established guidelines for the alternative seating choices in the room, and students are choosing "smart seats" for themselves. We have stools, exercise balls, yoga mats, cushions, and stand up desks to choose from. Next week we will try daily choice seating. Students can sit at any desk they choose, and continue to have the privilege as long as it allows them optimal success. As part of our agency goal for the month of September we read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain Stretch It, Shape It by JoAnn Deak Ph.D. We did activities and discussed the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Each day last week students reflected on a mistake they had made and how they turned it into a learning opportunity. Reminders! Please help your child remember to empty the "Left At Home" pocket in the blue home binder every day. Homework is Monday through Thursday unless a student needs to make up work from being absent or didn't finish an assignment. Students record their assignments first thing in the morning from the Smartboard as part of their morning routine. Reader's Workshop; Informational Text Students worked hard researching the answers to their questions in their research teams for their weather/natural disaster topic. They summarized the information, revised, edited, and published it. Then they worked with their group members to create a poster that would teach more about their topic using various graphic and text features. Each group presented their project to a kindergarten or 2nd grade class last week. They received rave reviews from both students and teachers. Students continue to work on honing their skills in summarization of informational text by working in small groups, sharing, and using their rubrics to evaluate and lift the level of their work. They have been identifying various craft moves made by authors and thinking about why an author might choose to show information in a particular way. They have also been working on analyzing the importance of parts of a text in comparison to the whole, and synthesizing across texts. Additionally, I introduced students to the three BIG questions readers of nonfiction should ask themselves as they read. They come from Kylene Beers and Robert Probst's Notice & Note Nonfiction. Students stop and think about places in the text that surprised them, challenged, changed, or confirmed what they knew, and where the author assumed I knew something. The result has been increased close reading and deeper conversations of what students are reading. Writer's Workshop; Opinion/Persuasive Essays Students continue to strengthen their understanding of the structure of this genre of writing by using their rubric and revising the content. They wrote several opinion pieces about people, places, objects, and activities that were important to them. They recently chose one to publish. They are moving into the more persuasive writing model by choosing a topic of importance, taking a stance, and using facts, information, and quotes to help convince the reader to take the same stance. Additionally, students continue to learn about different types of figurative language and how they might incorporate it into their own writing. Math Workshop; Multiplying and Dividing Multi-Digit Numbers We ended unit 3 with a performance task based on the popular video game Minecraft. Students worked in pairs using their math skills to solve multi-step problems. As they moved through the task, the math became more challenging. They did a great job persevering, talking with one another, and problem solving. Students spent several days reviewing multiplying by multiples of ten and one hundred moving from concrete representation, to pictorial, to abstract. They have learned and practiced how to multiply using the area model, and most recently, partial products. They practiced this skill in isolation and then embedded in word problems. Next, they will learn how to divide using partial quotients. Although these methods take longer, it helps to teach and reinforce place value skills, and develops a greater understanding behind the traditional algorithm which will be taught in 5th grade. Examples and explanations of these different methods was sent home last week. Please let me know if you need another copy Social Studies/Science; Veteran's Day & The Water Cycle We read The Poppy Lady by Barbara Walsh and students each made paper poppies to pass out to the veterans at our assembly. Then a group of students performed a reader's theatre version of the story for the audience. Students were treated to a cultural arts assembly about Egyptian animals. They saw, learned about, and in some cases got to touch a ferret, cat, snakes, lizard, and tortoise. They learned about the history and significance of these animals in Egypt. Students have been learning about the water cycle. We used QFT (question focus technique) to generate their own questions on the topic and then prioritize based on what they wanted to learn. They conducted an investigation called "Cloud in a Cup" to gain a better understanding of what happens when clouds become so heavy .with water droplets that they then are pulled to earth by gravity causing precipitation. They had a lot of fun as you can see below. FY.I/Dates to Remember in December!
Thurs. 12/3 @6:30 - Pajama Party Tuesday, 12/8 @6:30 - 4th Grade Chorus Concert & Select Chorus Friday, 12/11 - Report Cards go home Mon. 12/21, Tues. 12/22, Wed. 12/23 - Students work on "Genius Hour" independent projects Wed. 12/23 - half day of school Thursday 12/24 - Fri. 1/1 - Holiday break (return Mon. 1/4) Reader's Workshop: Unit 2: Reading The Weather, Reading The World (informational text)
Teaching Points; * Students worked on making connections between what they already know and care about and the text. * Students were reminded how nonfiction readers preview text in order to activate prior knowledge and anticipate how the text might go. * Students learned how nonfiction readers notice the text structure in order to help them determine the information that is most important (compare/contrast, cause & effect, problem/solution, and sequence). * Students learned strategies for tackling the hard parts of nonfiction reading. * Students learned about texts that are structured as hybrids (narrative & informational), and how to look through different "lenses" as they read. * Students learned ways to tackle new vocabulary in nonfiction. They have been practicing how to look in the word for root words, prefixes, & suffixes, and look around the word to use the sentences that come before and after to help determine meaning. * Students participated in a summary boot camp to learn how to summarize nonfiction text by using boxes & bullets (main idea and supporting details), and put them together in a cohesive paragraph using their own words. * Students began planning for their research projects in teams. Each team was assigned a severe weather event or natural disaster and began working together to generate research questions by using QFT (Question Focus Technique by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana). Writer's Workshop: Unit 2: Boxes & Bullets (personal and persuasive essays) Teaching Points; * Students participated in an essay structure boot camp to learn how to structure an opinion essay. We wrote about why we love ice cream. * Students have learned different ways to collect ideas for writing opinion essays (think about a person, place, or object that is important to you). * Students learned how to extend their initial thinking by using elaboration prompts to grow their ideas. * Students have learned how to support their thesis by developing different types of reasons. Students have planned and written opinion essays about a favorite person, a place or object, and about Halloween on Friday. Math Workshop: Unit 2; Factors and Multiples Teaching Points: * Students learned how to find all the factor pairs for a whole number in the range 1-100. *Students learned to recognize that a whole number is a multiple of each of its factors, and determine whether a given whole number in the range 1-100 is a multiple of a given one-digit number. * Students learned about prime and composite numbers and how to determine whether a given whole number between 1-100 is prime or composite. * Students learned to interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison (35=5x7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5.), and the reverse. * Students learned to multiply and divide to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison by using bar models and equations. Students continue to practice previously taught concepts through number of the day activities, as well as problem solving skills with our problem of the day. During our small group time students have been working on adding and subtracting with the standard algorithm and solving 2-step problems involving adding and subtracting. Science/Social Studies; Students continue to work on identifying the characteristics of various social skills, and ways to demonstrate them. During the month of October we focused on setting personal goals, and identifying how we show respect for others, ourselves, and property. We reached our class goal! Additionally, we continue to work on map skills. In science, we are working in research teams to investigate, design, and report on a severe weather or natural disaster. We will repeat this for the water cycle in the near future. Important Dates! Nov. 3rd No School (teacher professional development) Nov. 9th @2:15 Veteran's Day assembly Nov. 11th No School (Veteran's Day) Nov. 25th 1/2 Day Thanksgiving Break Nov. 26th & 27th No School Thanksgiving Break A very BIG thank you to Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Marciniec for organizing and working with the students to decorate an amazing spider theme pumpkin. Thank you all for coming in to meet with me during our parent-teacher conference week. I enjoyed sharing all your child's hard work and accomplishments with you.
Reading;
Students have learned all six of the signposts and continue to practice stopping when they notice them and take notes using the anchor question for each signpost. |
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October 2017
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