Literacy - We continued our group novel study of The Indian in the Cupboard. This activity will wrap up next week. Along the way we have been learning and discussing several elements of a story, as well as making predictions and connections throughout the text. We have been learning proper ways to "turn the question around" in order to write in complete sentences. After this novel study, we will look to set up centers during literacy for a more focused practice of individual skills. We continue our daily independent reading.
Writing - We continue to work on weekly spelling. We began our "Which Witch is Which?" descriptive writing project. Students were to privately color in a drawing of a witch, and then write a short descriptive piece detailing their witch. All 22 witches will be displayed anonymously on the board on Halloween, and each student will read their description while the remaining students try and guess which witch is which! Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. We discussed conversions of time from seconds to minutes to hours and focused on difficult word problems involving time. This is a tough skill! We will continue to work on it as not every 4th grader has shown mastery. We also began multiplicative comparisons and students loved creating word problems involving themselves and others. Science - Our first Unit was finished, and we spent the week reviewing some key ideas and terms in order to have a successful assessment on Friday. We worked individually, in pairs, and in small groups to prepare. Assessments were completed on Friday, and we will look to begin our next unit on rocks and minerals next week! MicroSociety - Job fair! All MicroCity students attended and interviewed for available positions. All students are required to work, and many were able to land jobs at their preferred ventures. Ventures will meet with their employees next week to set up for our Marketplace opening!
0 Comments
Literacy - We continued our group novel study of The Indian in the Cupboard. We did some character work discussing the evolution of our main character, Omri. We discussed what events triggered the character changes and why author's include conflicts and resolutions in stories. This helps 4th graders decipher story elements and gives them some helpful clues into their own writing. We continue our daily independent reading.
Writing - We continue to work on weekly spelling. We had 1 on 1 conferences to review our first narrative writing piece, "One Day This Summer..." I used this first writing piece to help get an understanding of their skill level at the beginning of 4th. I was able to use this piece to set 3 goals for each individual student for them to work on for the remainder of the writing unit. Most goals had a focus of breaking writing into paragraphs, trying to add dialogue to stories, and using powerful words to craft introductions and conclusions. We will look to practice these skills to help further their writing progress. Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. We had our monthly fact fluency test in which students are given 1 minute to solve 20 multiplication problems. We last did this on 9/19 and the students wrote down how many they were able to solve correctly in one minute. One month later, after daily practice, we re-tested. WOW! Such amazing progress from so many students! They were so excited to show off how many more correct they were able to get, which reinforced the concept that practice makes...better! We moved onto differentiating between factors and multiples, we practiced some time conversations, and had a few small math assessment check-ins to get an understanding of their mastery of these standards. Science - We continued our lesson on microorganisms with a focus on the "Tardigrade." This amazing microorganism is the only known species on Earth that can survive the vacuum of space. This sparked conversation about where they came from? It is speculated that, because they have no biological link to other species, tardigrades may have come from an asteroid! A true alien on Earth! We will look to peer into some microscopes next week and have an assessment to finish up the Unit. MicroSociety - Students who passed the Management 101 assessment were able to apply for positions at available ventures. These mangers met with facilitators at the end of the week to set up a job fair "help wanted" board for next week. At the job fair next week, unemployed students will have an opportunity to apply to work at any of the available ventures. We will then start job training. Marketplace will be opening soon! ** We had a bit of a harder 7th week of school. Some behavior issues interrupted our flow. We had to regroup, reset, and start over. Talk to your child about what they think could affect our ability to focus as a group. Is there anything they could do to try and help? Literacy - We continued our group novel study of The Indian in the Cupboard. We did some character work comparing characteristics using Venn diagrams. We also discussed how we can best make inferences in the text. Taking what we read, plus what we know, helps us make inferences that are more accurate than a random guess. We continue our daily independent reading. Please make sure your child is completing homework in their Reader's notebook. A few have gone missing...
Writing - We continue to work on weekly spelling. We finished our pre-assessment narrative writing piece "One Day This Summer..." Students accessed their google drive accounts to type up their final drafts. I will use these assessments to help the students make more accurate writing goals for 4th grade. We also did are first "Pop-Up Writing" assignment. Should students be allowed to wear costumes to school on Halloween? Ask your child not only what they chose, but WHY they chose it. Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. We moved onto factor pairs, arrays, perimeter and area, and much more! Check the photos page for snapshots of your child exploring the 4th grade classroom during math. We introduced multiplication war AND factor captor. Two great games to help fact fluency. Science - We finished our food chain/webs lessons and moved onto the teeny world of microorganisms. Did you know you have more bacteria in your mouth than there are people on the planet? We watched a clip of "Life in a Dew Drop" which showed the microcosm that is wholly sustained in one drop of water, including life and death battles of microorganisms! We will look to finish up this Science unit next week, and even have some hands-on time with microscopes in the classroom. MicroSociety - Businesses were announced! Management 101 finished up, with an assessment taking place on Monday. If the assessment is passed, potential managers will be able to apply for managerial roles in various ventures. Congrats to 4th graders Lillian and Shriya whose business proposal was selected as one of the few ventures run by students. Job interviews for managers will start next week, with the school-wide job fair to take place the week after. ** We had a great sixth week of school. We have a great group of students who are quickly building more and more skills. You should see how proud they are of their math progress. "I know what 6x6 is now!!" was an excited quote from one of our students who HATED math :) Literacy - We continued our group novel study of The Indian in the Cupboard. The students love our novel study! We continue our daily independent reading, and students will be selecting new fiction books for an upcoming book report. We also spent some time buddy reading with our 1st grade class. Read Read Read!
Writing - We continue to work on weekly spelling. We finished our starter unit in writing, and have moved onto our first narrative piece. Final drafts are coming in, which I will use to help set individual writing goals for each 4th grader. The topic of their story? "One Day This Summer..." Students are required to write three paragraphs detailing the morning, afternoon, and evening of one of their favorite days from this past summer. We are working on our writing mechanics and figuring out ways to "Hook the Reader." Ask your child what day they chose to write about! Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. Please make your child practice fact fluency. We practiced finding angles, converting yards to feet, and did some perimeter work. We finished Unit 1 and took our math test on Friday. Math can be scary to some students, but practice always helps. Please see the homework tab for options to help your child practice math at home. Do fact fluency drills (8x7, 3x5, etc) whenever you can! As soon as multiplication facts are stored in memory, math gets so much easier! Science - We focused on our Unit vocabulary this week, including individual and partner work, as well as some vocabulary games. We took our vocabulary quiz on Thursday and many students had great success! We finished up food webs, and will be moving onto Microorganisms next week. I introduced another extremely engaging science program called Cosmos that we will view from time to time as they apply to our lessons. Some might remember the Cosmos from the Carl Sagan days, it has been updated in 2015 and is an excellent educational program. We will look to utilize some microscopes and check out microorganisms in action next week! MicroSociety - Job interviews continued for students interested in working at agencies. Peace Keepers and eager Bank applications were given interviews. Students worked on their own business proposals (either individual or with a co-owner). Management 101 class continued for students interested in being a manager of a business. We also had our monthly Town Hall meeting and our new Citizenship Trait was announced, "Self-Discipline." Talk to your child about self-discipline, how could it help the classroom environment? Business proposals will be reviewed by staff next week and new business should be announced on October 13th ** We had a great fifth week of school. We are really getting into the swing of things, and our September adjustment period has officially ended. You might notice some extra work coming home in a take-home folder if your student has incomplete class work. Please remember to empty the take home folder every night! |
Archives
April 2018
|