Have you seen the buds? The first little peeps of green? The hope that they bring? AND THE WINNER IS... DALLAS SEAVEY! He won the Iditarod for the 4th year is a row! And with a record time, running the race in eight days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, and 16 seconds. We had a lot of fun checking where our racers were each day along the trail...some are still racing! To go along with our learning about the Iditarod, students read the book Stone Fox. While it's not about the Iditarod, it is about a small boy who is trying to save his family farm by winning a sled race. Students read the book a couple chapters at a time and answered questions and drew pictures to show their understanding. Our other focus in ELA this week was writing opinion pieces. Our ultimate goal with our opinion pieces is for the students to write a piece about their plan for Operation Hillside. To prepare students for that large piece of writing, this week we had them choose an opinion that is more "fun", such as "What is the best holiday?" , "Should students have unlimited screen time?", "Which makes a better pet, a cat or a dog?". Students filled out a graphic organizer with their reasons and their evidence for those reasons, then wrote a 5 paragraph essay stating their opinion. It was great practice for the kids! IMMIGRATION and TRANSPORTATION Students spent some time learning about immigration to the US and Ohio. They read about various groups that came, when they came, why they came, and what contributions they've made to our country and state. This study covered immigrants from the 1800s to current day immigrants. Students were able to make connections about why people come to the US. They saw that the reasons have not changed much, but the places people have come from have changed over time. Then we moved on to a study of transportation over time in Ohio, beginning with the Native Americans using their feet, all the way to the Wright Brothers' invention of the airplane. We also took a look at the practice AIR test in Social Studies to he[p familiarize students with the format. OPERATION HILLSIDE On Friday, Kent Fullmer, from Fullmer's Landscaping, visited us for an expert interview. He took the students through the process he usually takes when beginning a large project, then answered questions the students had. Each child left with a CD that goes through this process of design. Our experts have really given the children much to think about as they create their plans for our hillside! HAVE A WONDERFUL SPRING BREAK!
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COOKIE-OLOGY------PART 2How does the mass affect the float time of the cookie? Student teams moved through the scientific process to uncover the answer to the question above. Students conducted their tests, recorded their data and arrived at conclusions. Next, students shared their data on a class data table and found several data landmarks for the class data. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AT HOME: Tell me about your hypothesis. Tell me the steps you took to ensure that your results were not impacted by other variables. How did your results compare to your hypothesis? How did your results compare the rest of the class data? MEMORY BOXES-FRACTIONSBefore moving on to addition and subtraction of mixed numbers, the little people organized and documented their learning about fractions thus far. Next, partners shared and added missing pieces, discussed vocabulary, and reflected on how they retrieved information from their memory. FRACTIONS GREATER THAN ONE and MIXED NUMBERSASK YOUR CHILD.... How can you rename a fraction greater than one as a mixed number? How can you rename a mixed number as a fraction greater than one? CONSTRUCT AND DEFENDLearners spent time last week on paper folding constructions, which gave learners a chance to talk fractions and geometry. The first challenge: Construct a square with exactly 1/4 the area of the original square. This was tough. The next step was to convince others that the construction was a square, and also exactly 1/4 of the are of the original square. The second and third challenge continued to get more difficult, and learners continued to improve with their solutions and their arguments! FRACTIONS AND THE PLACE PROJECTHow can you describe your place at Centennial Park using fractions that equal one whole? VOICES FROM THE FIELDCheck out the latest post from student authors! Our trip to Centennial Park last week gave way to lots of great observations and questions! OPERATION HILLSIDEMr. LaPerle and Mr. Lunne spent time with many fourth graders on Thursday afternoon, serving as landscaping experts for Operation Hillside. We all learned a ton, received some recommendations for plant life, and even took home Euonymus starters! We are so appreciative of the time they gave to preparing, and their thoughtful and helpful answers to our questions! LEARNING AND THE BRAIN!Ask your child to share what they learned about the brain today! Thank you Mrs. Harris for teaching us!
We continue march-ing ahead in ELA and social studies! May will be here before we know it! PATRICIA POLACCO & THEME Patricia Polacco is a beloved picture book author. Her picture books might not be what you think of when you think of picture books, though. She writes about a lot of meaty, important topics. We spent a couple of weeks exploring her books and learning about finding the themes in a story. Some topics she covers are: dyslexia, family traditions, acceptance of others, bullying, slavery. So, lots of thinking and great themes in her books. IDITAROD FUN! America's "last great race" begins on Saturday, March 5! We have spent the week learning all about the Iditarod and the Jr. Iditarod so that we can follow along as these amazing mushers race each other from Wasilla-Nome, Alaska! Students have each chosen a musher to follow and will eagerly check standings each day. You can follow the race yourself at: http://iditarod.com. Next week, we will begin a novel study, of the book Stone Fox. While it doesn't take place during the Iditarod, Stone Fox does entail a dog sled race...between a little boy and a very large man! SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATE We continue to march through time as we explore Ohio's history. Students were fascinated to read and watch videos about the War of 1812, especially the all important Battle of Lake Erie. Labeling maps of the US in 1800 and discussing the differences in each region was another task. It's amazing to think that, at one point in time, Ohio was considered "the west". Students are always intrigued and, quite frankly, appalled, by our study of the plantations of the south and the practice of slavery. Our focus is really Ohio's part in the Underground Railroad. Students spent time exploring Kids Discover magazines about the Underground Railroad and recorded their new learning on post its. We will also read many stories about the brave souls who ran the Underground RR and the lives that were saved because of their bravery. FIELD TRIP PROJECT DUE: APRIL 22, 2016
(it'll be here before you know it!) http://aimoutoftheballpark.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/5/8/10585727/field_trip_project_guidelines.pdf |
AuthorAnne Kenney Archives
May 2016
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