Thursday, September 20th, 2018
Reading
On Monday we wrapped up The Fox and the Cat. Students explored the theme/concept of the fable and were surprised to find that they could draw such deep and meaningful information from such a small amount of text! We also played Charades! Students had to act out (with or without props) a creative way that the Fox could've escaped its enemies and the rest of the class had to guess the method of escape! The fable should have come home in this week's Thursday folders if you'd like to read it.
On Wednesday we began our first story from the Junior Great Books series. We have read Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes twice and the students have prepared several questions for us to use as the foundation of our Shared Inquiry Discussion that will take place next week. While reading, the students have written questions, identified places in the story that surprised them, and debated when the woman in the story was being hard on the boy or easy on him.
Math
This week students explored that there are multiple ways to solve problems through CML. Students worked with their CML partners to persevere through several challenging problems. As a whole group we explored two of those problems, and their various solution strategies, in depth. A handful of kiddos were able to come to the board to model their mathematical approaches to the problems for the rest of the class.
Science
This week students explored electromagnetism through a hands-on experiment. They wrapped a wire around a compass and connected the ends of the wire to a battery. They observed the needle on the compass spin in circles when the circuit was complete. During the experiment, I realized that very few students knew how a compass works and how to use it for navigation. We spent our science block the next day using a compass to navigate through directions.
Fun Run Prize Day
Our Prize Day was a blast! All students enjoyed a Kona Ice and were able to participate in the inflatables. We also had a class foam party. The students loved it! We even had one student participate in the Money Machine!
Reading
On Monday we wrapped up The Fox and the Cat. Students explored the theme/concept of the fable and were surprised to find that they could draw such deep and meaningful information from such a small amount of text! We also played Charades! Students had to act out (with or without props) a creative way that the Fox could've escaped its enemies and the rest of the class had to guess the method of escape! The fable should have come home in this week's Thursday folders if you'd like to read it.
On Wednesday we began our first story from the Junior Great Books series. We have read Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes twice and the students have prepared several questions for us to use as the foundation of our Shared Inquiry Discussion that will take place next week. While reading, the students have written questions, identified places in the story that surprised them, and debated when the woman in the story was being hard on the boy or easy on him.
Math
This week students explored that there are multiple ways to solve problems through CML. Students worked with their CML partners to persevere through several challenging problems. As a whole group we explored two of those problems, and their various solution strategies, in depth. A handful of kiddos were able to come to the board to model their mathematical approaches to the problems for the rest of the class.
Science
This week students explored electromagnetism through a hands-on experiment. They wrapped a wire around a compass and connected the ends of the wire to a battery. They observed the needle on the compass spin in circles when the circuit was complete. During the experiment, I realized that very few students knew how a compass works and how to use it for navigation. We spent our science block the next day using a compass to navigate through directions.
Fun Run Prize Day
Our Prize Day was a blast! All students enjoyed a Kona Ice and were able to participate in the inflatables. We also had a class foam party. The students loved it! We even had one student participate in the Money Machine!
Friday, September 14th, 2018
Art:
This week in art, students used vegetables, herbs, and flowers to create paint! They drew pictures of plants and then used the paint to make their pictures colorful. I was fortunate enough to stop by art on this day to see the magic happen and snap some pictures! Please click through the slideshow below to see some of the students' work.
Art:
This week in art, students used vegetables, herbs, and flowers to create paint! They drew pictures of plants and then used the paint to make their pictures colorful. I was fortunate enough to stop by art on this day to see the magic happen and snap some pictures! Please click through the slideshow below to see some of the students' work.
Math:
Students worked in small groups this week. In their daily rotations, they played math games, completed lessons in a math domain of choice on Freckle, had small group instruction, and worked with their group to complete practice problems.
We started CML (Continental Math League) today. CML is a math program that challenges students' problem-solving skills. We will be focusing on problem-solving strategies and CML problems every Friday. Each student has a CML partner.
Reading:
This week students read a short fable, The Fox and the Cat, from the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program. Students worked hard to climb the "ladder" of skills, from their basic understanding of the text to a critical analysis of the characters and theme.
Book Buddies:
Today we started meeting with our second grade Book Buddies! Book Buddies is an exciting opportunity to practice reading skills and build community with students from another class and grade. We will meet with Ms. Goldwasser's class every other Friday to support the instruction of good reading habits and participate in community-building activities. Today the 4th graders interviewed the 2nd graders and then listened to the 2nd graders read!
Science:
Students built models of a primitive battery using pennies, dimes, and wet paper towels. They learned that the development of the earliest battery was made because of the research and hard work of two different scientists, one of which never saw the actual battery created. We also watched a Brain Pop video and read a leveled article on Batteries.
Students worked in small groups this week. In their daily rotations, they played math games, completed lessons in a math domain of choice on Freckle, had small group instruction, and worked with their group to complete practice problems.
We started CML (Continental Math League) today. CML is a math program that challenges students' problem-solving skills. We will be focusing on problem-solving strategies and CML problems every Friday. Each student has a CML partner.
Reading:
This week students read a short fable, The Fox and the Cat, from the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program. Students worked hard to climb the "ladder" of skills, from their basic understanding of the text to a critical analysis of the characters and theme.
Book Buddies:
Today we started meeting with our second grade Book Buddies! Book Buddies is an exciting opportunity to practice reading skills and build community with students from another class and grade. We will meet with Ms. Goldwasser's class every other Friday to support the instruction of good reading habits and participate in community-building activities. Today the 4th graders interviewed the 2nd graders and then listened to the 2nd graders read!
Science:
Students built models of a primitive battery using pennies, dimes, and wet paper towels. They learned that the development of the earliest battery was made because of the research and hard work of two different scientists, one of which never saw the actual battery created. We also watched a Brain Pop video and read a leveled article on Batteries.
Friday, September 7th, 2018
Morning Work
Each morning students come into the classroom and participate in engaging activities to get their brains activated. We have a different theme each day:
This week students went through a rotation of five stations. Each math group was able to name their team and create a team logo, solve a challenging problem by creating an organized list, complete a lesson on Freckle, play Multiplication War, and meet with me in a small group to practice multi-digit multiplication and writing numbers up to the ten millions.
Reading
The class listened to Jumanji as a read aloud. They recorded powerful verbs from the story as they listened. Students then brainstormed the "boring" version of each verb and then heard a few pages read with the "boring verbs" instead of the powerful verbs. What a difference! Following the lesson on verbs, students were able to design their own magical game board and write the instructions for the game.
Science
We explored static electricity and even utilized it to make a paper spider "dance"! Students watched a Brain Pop video on electricity and then read a related Newsela article at two different Lexile levels. They emailed me to share new information they learned from the article as well as explain how the two articles were structured differently.
Social-Emotional Learning
Ms. Nicole taught a lesson on the Happy Brain vs. the Stressed Brain. Students learned how their brains react to happiness and stress differently.
iReady Results
You should have received your child's math and reading iReady results in yesterday's Thursday folder. iReady is new to all of us, as is the process of reading and interpreting the data. My hope is that we will receive more training between now and our fall conferences so that I can help you to understand where your child stands compared to the national norms of this test. It’s important to remember that this is one point of reading data and one point of math data. iReady is a brand new test for students too, so for now the most important thing to look for is growth between this test and the next!
Morning Work
Each morning students come into the classroom and participate in engaging activities to get their brains activated. We have a different theme each day:
- Motivational Monday - Students choose a sticky note with someone else's name from the board. They write a compliment, motivational quote, or friendly note to help start their classmate's week off in a positive way.
- Typing Tuesday - On Tuesdays students will be practicing their typing skills using Typing Pal. I am working on getting accounts for a few students and am hoping we can start this next week!
- Wonderworking Wednesday - Students collaborate to build and create. We have two sets of Legos, gears, Play-doh, magnetic shapes, and Jenga.
- Thankful Thursday - We have not started this just yet, but on Thursdays students will be engaged in activities that support an attitude of gratitude!
- Freedom Friday - Students are able to choose a board game to play with friends or to work on a passion project independently, with a partner, or with a small group.
This week students went through a rotation of five stations. Each math group was able to name their team and create a team logo, solve a challenging problem by creating an organized list, complete a lesson on Freckle, play Multiplication War, and meet with me in a small group to practice multi-digit multiplication and writing numbers up to the ten millions.
Reading
The class listened to Jumanji as a read aloud. They recorded powerful verbs from the story as they listened. Students then brainstormed the "boring" version of each verb and then heard a few pages read with the "boring verbs" instead of the powerful verbs. What a difference! Following the lesson on verbs, students were able to design their own magical game board and write the instructions for the game.
Science
We explored static electricity and even utilized it to make a paper spider "dance"! Students watched a Brain Pop video on electricity and then read a related Newsela article at two different Lexile levels. They emailed me to share new information they learned from the article as well as explain how the two articles were structured differently.
Social-Emotional Learning
Ms. Nicole taught a lesson on the Happy Brain vs. the Stressed Brain. Students learned how their brains react to happiness and stress differently.
iReady Results
You should have received your child's math and reading iReady results in yesterday's Thursday folder. iReady is new to all of us, as is the process of reading and interpreting the data. My hope is that we will receive more training between now and our fall conferences so that I can help you to understand where your child stands compared to the national norms of this test. It’s important to remember that this is one point of reading data and one point of math data. iReady is a brand new test for students too, so for now the most important thing to look for is growth between this test and the next!
Friday, August 31st, 2018
Special Activities from the Week:
- Assessment Day - This day went well! All of our students started their math iReady test. Most finished on Assessment Day and others have been finishing throughout the week. Look for iReady reports to come home in Thursday folders in the next couple of weeks.
- Fun Run - Our class loved the Fun Run! They loved being able to bond with their friends while exercising, raising money for our amazing school, and getting sprayed with water and color! Everyone put in an amazing effort and I was so proud to watch the kiddos running hard, having fun, and supporting each other!
- PRIDE Assembly - We had our PRIDE Kick Off Assembly. The PRIDE words are new this year. PRIDE stands for Patient, Respectful, Involved, Determined, and Exhibits Safe Behavior. During the assembly the students watched a video about PRIDE, saw teachers play Minute to Win It Games, and listened to a song that our music teacher and another teacher wrote and played together!
- Instrument Demonstration - All 4th graders were able to learn about, hear, and try several band instruments. Band information came home in yesterday's Thursday folder.
- First Library Visit - Our class visited the library, which is now called the Learning Resource Center. Mrs. Peck is our new librarian. She taught our class library expectations and students were able to check out their first library books for the year!
This week we started the Problem Solver program. Problem Solver is a program that teaches several problem solving strategies. The strategies will also be utilized in CML, which will start in our classroom in the next couple of weeks. The strategies we focused on this week: Use or Make a Table and Make an Organized List
Read Aloud:
We are halfway through the book Wish. This is a very heartfelt and emotional story about a girl who is sent to live with family she hardly knows. She struggles with anxiety and to control her anger, but finds a sweet friend that helps her learn to control both. Throughout the story she is trying to catch a stray dog to keep and love.
Reading:
Our Shiloh unit has helped us to practice compare/contrast and inferencing this week. The students compared and contrasted how Marty and his family took care of Shiloh after he was attacked to how they could infer Judd would have taken care of him. Students collaborated to create Venn Diagrams and then worked on their own to write a compare/contrast essay.
Science:
This week we created science folders/journals to track what we learn about Magnetism and Electricity throughout the next several weeks. We will be learning about these topics through an Interact unit that requires the students to solve a mystery! Phase 1 will begin on Tuesday. This phase is focused on background knowledge, the scientific method, and hands-on experiences.
Writing:
Students took their writing baseline assessment. Writing lessons focused on writing realistic fiction will begin next week!
Social-Emotional Learning:
Ms. Nicole continued to speak with kids 1-on-1 to learn more about them!
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Friday, August 24th, 2018
Assessment Day/Picture Day: Assessment Day is next Tuesday, August 28th. This date was chosen by the district. Please see the 4th grade Sign-Up Genius Link (sent in a previous email) for your child's individual testing time. There is no school this day, but please make sure to have your child to our classroom on time for their testing time slot! Keep in mind that parking may delay you. Students must have headphones for Assessment Day. If you haven't already sent headphones in with your child, please do so by Monday! Individual student pictures will also be taken on Assessment Day in the Gym. Our class picture will be taken on the day designated for picture retakes later in the school year. Fun Run: The NRE Fun Run is scheduled for Wednesday, August 29th. Information came home in backpacks earlier in the week. Our school goal is to raise $125 per student. Online pledges can be made at run4fundscolorado.com/northridge. If you are collecting donations, please be sure your child's name is on all donation envelopes. Pledges are due Wednesday, September 5th. Students will receive their Fun Run shirts next Tuesday. 4th grade runs from 10:25-11:05. If you would like to watch your child run and cheer them on, please arrive to NRE a bit before 10:25, as parking may be a challenge! Snack and Water Bottle: Please be sure your child has a healthy snack and water bottle each day! Our classroom snack expectation is that each child may bring and eat 1 snack or 2 smaller snacks during snack time. Water bottles should be filled with water only. Please do not send any other type of drink for snack. As you can imagine, we have lots of spills at school! Math: This week we finished A Week of Inspirational Math by exploring and looking for patterns in Pascal's Triangle. Students also practiced visualizing math by explaining how given shapes grew. This lesson was especially intriguing for me, as I was completely surprised by how many different ways students visualized the shapes growing (see the related sheet in yesterday's Thursday folder and pictures to the left). The theme from Inspirational Math was making mistakes grows our brain and allows for future successes. New Math Games: Addition War, Multiplication War, Addition Snap, and Multiplication Snap Reading: We are continuing to read and enjoy Shiloh. This week we explored how and why opinions of characters change throughout the story. Students also closely examined the simile, "Having Shiloh a secret is like waiting for a bomb to go off." After evaluating the meaning of the simile (one student shared that once a bomb is detonated the explosion is inevitable, just like once Marty told a lie it was inevitable that his parents would find out), students were challenged to rewrite the second half in a way that conveyed the same message. Some examples were: "Having Shiloh a secret is like..."
This week Ms. Nicole took the class outside for a team-building activity. Students stood in a circle and tossed a ball of yarn to each other while sharing something about themselves. The yarn eventually created a web. The class worked on leadership skills, specifically identifying when to be the leader and when to let someone else lead. They also worked on communication and group problem-solving skills. |
Friday, August 17th, 2018
Math:
We are starting the school year off with A Week of Inspirational Math. This is an amazing program that teaches students (through a series of videos and interactive, challenging lessons) that all people are "math people", everyone can achieve the highest levels of math, and that parts of our brain actually grow and shrink depending on how and how often they are utilized. The program also teaches kids that struggling with math concepts before learning them actually grows our brain and that speedy math often doesn't equate with a deep understanding of math. If your child hasn't already shared the following activities with you, please ask them about 4 Fours, Visualizing Numbers (the corresponding sheet came home in Thursday folders), and Paper Folding (geometry and fractions). We will continue this program on Monday!
Math games will be used throughout the year to encourage math talk, develop leadership skills, and practice friendly competition. This week students learned Roll to 100 and Roll from 100. This game requires a 30-sided die, addition and subtraction strategies, and some luck!
Reading:
We started our first novel study this week! We are reading Shiloh. This is one of my favorite books and I am so excited to be sharing it with my students! Through our study of this novel, students have been building vocabulary, learning and practicing 4th grade expectations for written responses, locating similes, and taking part in student-directed literature circles to discuss important themes from the story. I have been blown away by the students' interest in the book as well as their insightful written responses. The biggest theme we explored this week: Is it ever acceptable or justifiable to tell a lie?
Writing:
In addition to written responses students have also been creating a poem about themselves. The poem is called What am I Like? Students were given a template to create a poem in which they had to compare themselves to four different things from our world. Here are some examples of what students chose to compare themselves to: an orchid, the moon, winter, a roaring river, the ocean, a hot July night, a sleepy sloth, a peaceful piano, a sweet skittle, a watermelon, Colorado, a paintbrush, and a book mark. The creativity in our classroom is both endless and impressive! I will be hanging the poems in our classroom, but will send copies home in Thursday folders in the next couple of weeks.
Social-Emotional Learning:
Ms. Nicole, our school social worker, has been in to observe the learning taking place in our classroom as well as get to know the students. She will be teaching lessons in our classroom about once a week! Today Mrs. Hilton, our new school counselor, will be coming in to do a quick presentation to our class about her role in the school. She is giving the presentation to all classes so students have a chance to meet her.
See photos from last week's Wikki Stix creations below.
Students created a piece of art that their classmates were then able to name. This lesson taught us to honor others' perspectives and creative differences.
Math:
We are starting the school year off with A Week of Inspirational Math. This is an amazing program that teaches students (through a series of videos and interactive, challenging lessons) that all people are "math people", everyone can achieve the highest levels of math, and that parts of our brain actually grow and shrink depending on how and how often they are utilized. The program also teaches kids that struggling with math concepts before learning them actually grows our brain and that speedy math often doesn't equate with a deep understanding of math. If your child hasn't already shared the following activities with you, please ask them about 4 Fours, Visualizing Numbers (the corresponding sheet came home in Thursday folders), and Paper Folding (geometry and fractions). We will continue this program on Monday!
Math games will be used throughout the year to encourage math talk, develop leadership skills, and practice friendly competition. This week students learned Roll to 100 and Roll from 100. This game requires a 30-sided die, addition and subtraction strategies, and some luck!
Reading:
We started our first novel study this week! We are reading Shiloh. This is one of my favorite books and I am so excited to be sharing it with my students! Through our study of this novel, students have been building vocabulary, learning and practicing 4th grade expectations for written responses, locating similes, and taking part in student-directed literature circles to discuss important themes from the story. I have been blown away by the students' interest in the book as well as their insightful written responses. The biggest theme we explored this week: Is it ever acceptable or justifiable to tell a lie?
Writing:
In addition to written responses students have also been creating a poem about themselves. The poem is called What am I Like? Students were given a template to create a poem in which they had to compare themselves to four different things from our world. Here are some examples of what students chose to compare themselves to: an orchid, the moon, winter, a roaring river, the ocean, a hot July night, a sleepy sloth, a peaceful piano, a sweet skittle, a watermelon, Colorado, a paintbrush, and a book mark. The creativity in our classroom is both endless and impressive! I will be hanging the poems in our classroom, but will send copies home in Thursday folders in the next couple of weeks.
Social-Emotional Learning:
Ms. Nicole, our school social worker, has been in to observe the learning taking place in our classroom as well as get to know the students. She will be teaching lessons in our classroom about once a week! Today Mrs. Hilton, our new school counselor, will be coming in to do a quick presentation to our class about her role in the school. She is giving the presentation to all classes so students have a chance to meet her.
See photos from last week's Wikki Stix creations below.
Students created a piece of art that their classmates were then able to name. This lesson taught us to honor others' perspectives and creative differences.
Friday, August 10th, 2018
Please fill out the online survey regarding student photos in the email sent earlier this week. The subject reads, "Welcome to 4th Grade!" Each student should have the survey filled out one time by a parent.
10-15 photographs and 1-2 child-friendly magazines are due by next Wednesday, August 15th. These will be used to decorate writer's workshop journals. The photographs will be cut and glued to the journals.
I have truly enjoyed getting to know my students over the last two days! Our classroom has been filled with questions, an eagerness to learn, and laughter. We have used two read alouds, The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun as lead ins to discuss what qualities students desire for their teacher and what concerns or expectations students may have for the school year. Students have also completed a survey and created a personal Coat of Arms, both of which have helped me better understand who my students are as people in addition to learners.
Yesterday small groups were formed to compete in the Paper Chain Challenge. Each group was given an 11x17 piece of construction paper, scissors, and glue in order to make the longest paper chain possible. They had five minutes to plan and thirty minutes to build. Some of the chains stretched across the room and others weren't quite so long! During our reflection the class analyzed why some chains were longer, why the shorter chains were more durable, and what they would do differently if given a second chance.
This afternoon I will be reading Ish aloud to the class. This story focuses on how to cope with mistakes as well as honoring others' perspectives. Following the read aloud each student will be given a set number of Wikki Stix to create a sculpture or some type of artwork. Students will then travel around the room with a pile of sticky notes to name everyone's artwork. When each student returns to their seat they will have a pile of 25 sticky notes with ideas on how to name their art. Our group reflection will address creative differences, honoring perspective, challenges faced, and how to fail forward when we feel like we've failed.
Wish List Items: Expo markers (thin and thick), white board erasers, black sharpies
Please fill out the online survey regarding student photos in the email sent earlier this week. The subject reads, "Welcome to 4th Grade!" Each student should have the survey filled out one time by a parent.
10-15 photographs and 1-2 child-friendly magazines are due by next Wednesday, August 15th. These will be used to decorate writer's workshop journals. The photographs will be cut and glued to the journals.
I have truly enjoyed getting to know my students over the last two days! Our classroom has been filled with questions, an eagerness to learn, and laughter. We have used two read alouds, The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun as lead ins to discuss what qualities students desire for their teacher and what concerns or expectations students may have for the school year. Students have also completed a survey and created a personal Coat of Arms, both of which have helped me better understand who my students are as people in addition to learners.
Yesterday small groups were formed to compete in the Paper Chain Challenge. Each group was given an 11x17 piece of construction paper, scissors, and glue in order to make the longest paper chain possible. They had five minutes to plan and thirty minutes to build. Some of the chains stretched across the room and others weren't quite so long! During our reflection the class analyzed why some chains were longer, why the shorter chains were more durable, and what they would do differently if given a second chance.
This afternoon I will be reading Ish aloud to the class. This story focuses on how to cope with mistakes as well as honoring others' perspectives. Following the read aloud each student will be given a set number of Wikki Stix to create a sculpture or some type of artwork. Students will then travel around the room with a pile of sticky notes to name everyone's artwork. When each student returns to their seat they will have a pile of 25 sticky notes with ideas on how to name their art. Our group reflection will address creative differences, honoring perspective, challenges faced, and how to fail forward when we feel like we've failed.
Wish List Items: Expo markers (thin and thick), white board erasers, black sharpies