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 :)
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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! Literacy - We finished our first class read aloud book, The Tiger Rising. We made final predictions about where the story would go. After finishing, we had a great conversation about making text-to-self connections. Many students could relate to the characters struggle of coping with a lost loved one. It was an impactful conversation and the students were sad to be finished. But! We moved onto our first novel study as a class, in which we break down The Indian in the Cupboard and work through guided questions in our literacy binders.
Writing - We continue to work on weekly spelling. Our word work practice has been helping. Make sure to quiz your child whenever you can (stoplights? dinner table? practice makes perfect!) We continued our Writer's workshop and developed short narrative pieces we will edit and share with the class. We will begin our Narrative writing unit next week. Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. Please make your child practice fact fluency. Drill, baby, drill. We began solving number stories with an emphasis on first estimating, then solving. We reviewed triple digit addition and subtraction. We played math games involving cards and dice. Anything can be turned into a math game, so try and play at home! As we look to the week ahead, we will try and finish up Unit 1 and have our first math test in the next 1-2 weeks. Science - We finished lesson 2 and began lesson 3 in our Unit, Living Things and Energy. We discussed food chains and created some food chains of our own to decorate our 4th grade class. I introduced my class to my favorite science show as a child, Bill Nye, The Science Guy. We watched an episode about food chains and webs. Everything is connected! We will continue food webs and move onto microorganisms in the following week. Microscopes are in! I will look to utilize them to try and find some real live microorganisms. MicroSociety - Job interviews began for students interested in working at agencies. Kindergarten Micro Mentor positions have been filled, and interviews were held for Warehouse. We filled out resumes and Management 101 class started for any new students who would like to be a manager of a business. Managers have a bit more responsibility, but also make a bigger paycheck! ** We had a great fourth week of school. We continue to use the "beat the teacher" board to regulate classroom behavior. Students earned 23 extra minutes this week! We continue to have small slip-ups, but overall everyone is settling nicely into our daily routines. Literacy - We continued our class read aloud book, The Tiger Rising. Students have been making predictions and connections to the story as we discuss the various literary elements. We are almost through with beginning of the year reading assessments, and will do a full-class novel study beginning next week. After walking through a novel study together, students will break into reading groups for their own book discussions.
Writing - We continue to work on spelling. Check the take home folder for this weeks quiz! I've seen big improvements in quiz results already. We continued our Writer's workshop by pulling out new words from a bin and trying to use them in our writing pieces. We also tried a short descriptive writing piece about a mystery classmate. Students read their descriptions in front of the class and the audience had to guess who the subject was based on the description. We worked on strategies to self-edit and proofread our writing before showing Mr. Clermont a finished product. Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. We introduced our student reference books and finished off exercises in rounding/estimating/place value. We finished beginning of the year math assessments, and I am happy to see how bright many of my students are in math! Have a struggling child? Try using academic websites at home to practice fact fluency. I've had students in previous years make tremendous progress after steady practicing of their math facts! Science - We continued our first chapter, Living Things and Energy, and moved onto the food chain. We had many conversations about how important decomposers are in the food chain, and watched some time-lapse photography of decomposition in action. Students were amazed by the speed and growth of bacteria and fungus. Did you know there's a fungus that takes over an ant's brain? Talk to you child about the food chain! We viewed relevant clips of the program "Planet Earth" that details the life cycle of plants and animals. MicroSociety - We participated in our first vote at MACS and decided on Class Representatives and Senators. We talked about the Peace Keepers role at MACS, and had a Q&A discussion with students from last year who were part of the Peace Keepers. We talked about managerial openings in several agencies including the bank, warehouse, post office, peace keepers, and a new position called Kinder Micro Mentor. An older student will pair with some new Kindergarten students during MicroSociety time to help them get acclimated with our school. ** We had a great third week of school. We continue to use the "beat the teacher" board to regulate classroom behavior. Students have earned 14 extra minutes the first week, and 16 extra minutes the second week. Can they keep it up? We work so well as a group! Literacy - We continued our class read aloud book, The Tiger Rising. Students have been making predictions and connections to the story as we discuss the various literary elements. We completed our first literacy story in our binders together, and practiced finding evidence in the text. We continue to organize the library and check in to ensure our reading logs are staying up to date.
Writing - We completed our first week of Spelling. Check the take home folder for this weeks quiz! We continued our Writer's workshop by working on our stamina. We developed a writing plan, with strategies to keep the class on task. We finished "secret notes" to Mr. Clermont detailing the pros, cons, and anything about 4th grade we wanted to share. Math - We continued doing our daily math fact fluency drills. All students were set up with new XtraMath log-ins. Students are able to access at home, and it is a proven method of increasing fact fluency. Have them practice over the weekend, the results are amazing. We worked in our interactive notebooks, detailing numerals, word form, and expanded form. We also set up Khan Academy log-ins to further practice 4th grade skills. Another website that students have access to at home :) Science - We began our first chapter, Living Things and Energy, and have had many enlightening conversations about the world. As we work through our packet, we stop and answer questions together as a group. We also partnered up and completed vocabulary flashcards for the Unit. We learned about the "mouths" of leaves called "stomata." They breathe just like humans! Talk to your child about it. MicroSociety - We completed our voter registration cards, enabling us to vote in elections at MACS. We voted on our 4th grade class representative, congratulations to Gavin Page! We talked about voting rules, should there be an age requirement? What if someone doesn't know anything about the candidates, should they be allowed to vote? Excellent discussion between the 4th graders with some disagreement, ask your child what they think, and why? We learned how bills can become a law (with a throwback SchoolHouse Rock video "I'm Just A Bill"). Next week we talk about other government roles and vote to fill our Micro City Senate! ** We had a great second week of school. We have implemented a "beat the teacher" board to help the students regulate their self-control. If they are on task, raise their hand before speaking, stay quiet in line, etc., they earn extra minutes of free time on Fridays (either outside or playing in the computer lab). We still struggle sometimes, but there's been a big improvement already. Talk to your child about how their self-control might impact other students in the classroom. Happy first week of school! All 4th graders got to play some "get to know you" games to help create an inviting atmosphere in the class. New friendships are already budding! I will post a weekly newsletter every Friday/Saturday to let you know what happened that week in 4th grade.
Literacy - We began the school year by setting up our Literacy binders and reading logs. We discussed what types of books we like to read, what makes some books harder to read than others, and have been working on our independent reading stamina. We began our class read aloud book, The Tiger Rising. Students have used their Reader's notebook (the same one they take home for homework) to begin making predictions about where they think the story is headed. We also began to go through the many, many donated books in our classroom library to help organize our "just right for 4th grade" books. Writing - We began our Writer's workshop by discussing why we write. We set up our Writer's notebooks and created a graffiti wall full of pictures and ideas to help begin the writing process when we are feeling stuck. We completed "letters to Mr. Clermont" to help identify certain seats, people, or strategies that help the students do their best work. Math - We began doing our daily math fact fluency drills. Fact fluency is a big part of 4th grade and I have been so impressed by their skills already! We set up our Math Interactive Notebooks, complete with Table of Contents and page numbers for various math skills we will be practicing throughout the year. We started doing quick review of end of 3rd grade skills (1 digit multiplication, place value, etc) Science - (As an FYI, our 4th grade curriculum leans heavier on Science than Social Studies, so we will be doing more Science work throughout the school year. Many Social Studies standards are covered during the MicroSociety time as well). We started with a Q&A session about what the 4th graders were most interested in learning about in Science. Our first Unit is on Living Things and Energy, and already students are learning a lot of plants. Did you know that plants can think? Talk to your child about it! MicroSociety - We reviewed and signed our MACS Social Contract. We discussed types of government and why we chose a democratic government for MACS. We discussed the MACS constitution, and the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. New students to MACS got to ask older students questions about how MicroSociety time works. Who can start a business? When do you get paid? Do we have to pay taxes? Finally, each student got to fill our their voter registration card, enabling them to vote in upcoming elections. ** We had a great first week of school. We are learning new schedules and routines, and there may be bumps along the way. If there is any pressing issue, please do not hesitate to reach out to me**. Please look here for weekly updates as to the happenings in 4th grade for the 2016-2017 school year!
**This will be the last newsletter of the school year. I would like all parents to know how proud I am of the work that has been done this year! During the last week and a half, 4th graders will be finishing up...
Literacy - Biography projects - including a completed speech, poster, and powerpoint presentation on their eminent person. Presentations will occur throughout the week! Math - We will take our final year-end assessment to monitor progress. I have seen outstanding progress from many of my students when compared to September. They should feel very proud! Writing - Students are finishing up their final opinion-related piece on a debate topic of their choice. Students have completed final drafts of a narrative, informational, and now persuasive pieces of writing. Amazing growth throughout the school year! Social Studies - Group projects on presenting information about the branches of government. Each group (consisting of 5 students) "masters" a branch of government, then chooses a fun way to present to the class. Newscasts, songs, plays, and even raps! Be on the lookout on our class photo's page to see pictures! Microsociety - Our ventures and marketplace times are winding down. Students need to cash paychecks, balance their income ledgers, and pack up/sell off unused goods. Students will carry over their individual account balance into the new school year in September! End of Year Projects - Students will be completing some end of year projects that focus on looking back on the skills we have mastered in 4th grade! NECAP science testing took place on May 9th and 10th.
Literacy - We continued our read aloud, Loser. Students have been doing an excellent job making connections between the various novels from this author. All students continued working on their biography slideshows, which are being created using Google Slides. Students completed a biography worksheet to help them write their 1st person informational speeches. Math - We finished Unit 6 with an emphasis on angle measurements, converting mixed numbers to improper fractions (and vice versa) and adding and subtracting mixed numbers. We will take our Unit 6 math test on Wednesday, May 18th. Writing - Weekly spelling work continues. Students finished their final draft of their April vacation narrative piece. Students have been using learned writing strategies from throughout the school year. They came out great! Social Studies - Students resumed working on their New Hampshire history research packets and I have been reading excerpts from "It Happened In New Hampshire" - which details events that have occurred in New Hampshire that might not have made the history books...! We will look to finish our research packets next week. Microsociety - Marketplace is open and businesses are booming! Many new ventures entice young shoppers to go purchase goods and ignite the Micro Economy! NECAP science testing prep took place during the Science/S.S. Block this week.
Literacy - We continued our read aloud, Loser. Students have been doing an excellent job making connections between the various novels from this author. All students continued working on their biography slideshows, which are being created using Google Slides. They have done a great job gathering information and are putting wonderful presentations together! Math - We worked on measuring and identifying angles, including an exercise to "find the missing angle measurement." Students continue their daily Xtra Math drill, which has vastly improved their fact recollection. We introduced conversions of pounds to ounces. Writing - Weekly spelling work continues. We began a new, longer writing piece about our April vacation. Students are to write 1-2 page narrative piece using learned writing strategies from throughout the school year. After finishing final drafts, students type up their pieces using their google documents account. Microsociety - Marketplace has opened! Many new ventures entice young shoppers to go purchase goods and ignite the Micro Economy! *We continued our "burning questions" activity in which one student per week poses any question with which they are curious. The class will have the week to find the answer and discuss. |
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April 2018
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