ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS We have really hit our stride in ELA! Some of the things we've been working on in grammar include finding the subject and predicate of a sentence and using commas in a list. These are skills that are given a quick assessment on the Friday mentor sentence paper. We will continue to review these skills throughout the year. In reading we have jumped into a study of myths. Our main focus will be Greek myths, with the goal of learning about allusions in language...those phrases we use which allude to a myth or story. Children are working on leveled stories that will introduce one of these allusions. We will continue with this study of myths for a few more weeks. Spelling and vocabulary are well underway with a weekly rotation between the two. On the week your child does not have a spelling list to study, we are doing vocabulary work at school. This study focuses on two things...shades of meaning of a word, and prefixes. Finally, in writing, we have begun the preliminary work for our fictional narratives. Students have begun brainstorming small moments in their lives that might spark a fictional story, as well as thinking of "stories we wish existed". See below for some photos of our work on subjects and predicates! Questions to ask your child: *What does Shades of Meaning mean? *Do you have an idea for your fictional narrative yet? *What myth are you reading? SOCIAL STUDIES We have been working to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, which will be used throughout the year as we study Ohio and American history. Then we moved on to a lesson about how Ohio contributes to the economic development of the United States. We discussed such things as our natural resources (water, minerals, forests), farms, manufacturing, and transportation. Finally, students read about how modifying the environment with such things as dams, destroying wetlands, and cutting down forests, can have both positive and negative consequences. Questions to ask your child: *Give me an example of a primary source and a secondary source. *What is your opinion about the effect of dams on the environment? FIELD TRIP TO CAESAR CREEK It was a beautiful day for a field trip! From our study of fossils with the Park Ranger, to the hike with our guide Shawnee, and the digging through pond sludge, students were engaged and learning! After lunch and recess on an awesome playground, we drove out to the fossil bed to hunt fossils! Students were able to choose up to 10 fossils to bring back to school to study and learn from. We'd like to thank our drivers for spending the day with us! Enjoy the pics below!
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What a beautiful day we had for kicking off The Place Project! Learners were enthusiastic, eager, focused, and curious. As we hiked to Centennial Park, I was thrilled to hear the kids talking about what they hoped for their place this year. Some were hoping to choose a place by the water. Some were searching for a spot with a great view. Others were planning to choose a place that offered a hook for their bag and a place to rest their notebook. Locating that special place for the year was an important task for our first trip! Once this was completed, learners spent a good bit of time journaling and the rest of the time on a hunt for examples of weathering, erosion, and deposition. Students filled their field journals with observations, sketches, and creative writing. It was a successful first trip and I am proud of these 4th graders! Learners did a lot of preparing before heading out on Thursday! Earlier in the week students completed a variety of tasks! IMAGES FROM OUR TRIP!Adventures with 4W...Unfortunately, I had a glitch with my camera and lost a bunch of the photos I took of 4W. Hopefully, next time I will have better luck! 4K/4W Field JOURNAL FILES...."I love being outside." "It's a beautiful day!" "My new spot is awesome. There is a log that holds my book." "I loved Centennial Park. I left super happy!" "I learned about orange mushrooms. When I got home, I researched them." "I love my spot." "I'm feeling really happy and relaxed." "How did my mountain form?" "Many times I was attacked by little green spikes. What were those?" "I feel one with nature and calm with nature." "I smell the beginning of fall." "I hear crickets, water, and I can see the whole place." "This place just spoke to me. It showed me through the woods." "I can see a squirrel as white as snow. Amazingly, it's with a brown squirrel as brown as chocolate." "I liked looking for samples of erosion, weathering, and deposition." "Leaves, rocks, and mud have built up to make my spot. My spot is a delta." "What will my spot be like in the winter?" "I saw a bee hive, a wasp nest, some broken glass, and a wolf spider sack. I want to know how they are related together or if they are not." "I feel warm inside and a little scared because I've never been here before." "When I was at the Place Project, I felt powerful and calm like an animal." "I found a crayfish!" "Water flowing, moss growing, water striders hopping..." "I hear the mating call of the mockingbird." "I hear the soothing sound of the waterfall in the stream." "Why is there a slope?" "I felt like my stream was singing to me." "I found a tree stump to sit on. It has a back rest and it's really cool." "It's the perfect temperature." "How will it look when we come back?" "Some rocks seem that they are artificially colored." "I found a very large rock with a tree fossil!" "I feel wonderful. My spot is perfect." "I hear the trickling of water, the twitter of birds, and the sound of a mower." "My spot is perfect for me because it's safe, and warm, and has good views." "I will always treasure my spot." "I wonder how that bees nest got there." "How can rocks look like seashells?" "I chose this spot because I see a lot of things to observe." "It was a fabulous visit there. I can't wait to go back." EXPLORING WITH 4K...THANK YOU....to all of our chaperones! I so appreciate your help so that these trips are safe and successful!
We are finishing up with the early days of learning routines and beginning of the year assessments and are starting to "settle in" to the very important work of 4th grade. SOCIAL STUDIES: We are establishing a base of skills that will be used all year in social studies. We spent some time reviewing map skills which included the parts of a map, using the scale, and practicing relative location. Then we moved on to reading and using timelines. Discussing the concept of BC and AD with children in always interesting at this age, as they begin to really understand the vastness of time. Also, on Friday, a very important packet came home with your child. This is an at-home project that can be completed any time between now and April 22. Please look for this packet and email me with any questions! QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD: *What does BC stand for? What does AD stand for? *What direction is Michigan relative to Ohio? What direction is Kentucky relative to Ohio? LANGUAGE ARTS: Students enjoyed practicing skills as they read about roller coasters. When reading a non-fiction piece about the Fury 325 roller coaster, students reviewed the process of leaving their tracks of thinking, or annotating, the text. RAP was also introduced, which is a way to help students fully answer written comprehension questions. R=restate the question in the answer A=answer all parts of the question P=prove the answer with evidence from the text We started our spelling routine this week. Each student is placed in a group based on a day of the week. Words will be sorted with the teacher on their day one week, activities will be done throughout the week for practice, and the following week, on your child's "day", there will be a written spelling test. Then we will take a week to work on other types of word and vocabulary activities. The following week the cycle will begin again. Reading the mentor sentence book each Friday is a highlight of our week. Enemy Pie and The Man who Walked between the Towers both led to great discussions in class. Skills covered through our mentor sentences have included propositions and subjects and predicates. Questions to ask your child: *What day is your spelling day? *What was the boy's dad trying to teach him Enemy Pie? *Tell me about The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. SEPTEMBER 11th I feel strongly that our children should know about this tragedy in our nation, but I keep the information fairly brief and not too detailed due to their age. We started the conversation by reading a passage about the events of the day and practiced the skill of annotating, then I shared my story with the kids. On Sept. 11, students shared their interviews in small groups, then created the "one word" art piece. Thank you for sharing your 9/11 stories with your children. MATH:We have been exploring the use of several online tools and hands-on tools in math class to help us answer the question: How can you use place value to compare, add, subtract, and estimate with whole numbers?
Students have had the opportunity to work with partners, small groups, and independently. Additionally, it has been great to teach in cooperation with Mrs. Jabir and Mrs. Uptegrove. We are planning and working together to address the needs of all learners in the classroom. Ask your child: How do you compare and order large whole numbers? What are some strategies you can use to round large whole numbers? How can you rename a whole number? MATH-DIGITAL TOOLS:THINK CENTRAL: This is the digital component to our newly adopted Go Math! curriculum. The site provides a location and tools to differentiate learning experiences for students and assess student learning. We have been using this site in class periodically over the last two weeks. There may be times students will need to access this site at home for homework, but please explore the site with your child and encourage your child to go to this site as a resource when help is needed outside of school. There is a link posted on the math page of this site and is titled "Go Math- Digital." *Quick Start Guide was sent home with students in take-home folders on Friday. Please keep this for reference. REFLEX MATH: This site will be used for the purpose of math fact practice. The goal is fluency and this site is motivating and well liked by kids. Practice on this site can be done anytime, but will at times be specifically assigned as part of homework. Looking for a break from the screen? Flash cards work too! Practice is what matters. *A parent letter was sent home with students this past week and Reflex Math was assigned for homework. DIGITAL CITIZENS: Learners completed five modules and missions to acquire their Digital Passport. As a final assessment, students created a newsletter or poster with the purpose of teaching other 4th graders how to be good digital citizens. Students gave tips and advice in the areas of responsible use of cell phones, privacy, effective and efficient searching, cyberbullying, and creative credit. This assessment was a great opportunity for students to get creative with non-fiction text features and showcase their learning. Common Sense Media is an excellent resource for parents. Check it out for tips and advice on navigating the world of parenting in this digital age. Additionally, look for parent information to come home next week that supports what your child has learned through Digital Passport. Ask your child: What advice did you share in your digital citizenship assessment? TERRARIUMSWe are scientists! Table teams worked together on Friday to build a terrarium. We will use them to review scientific processing skills and continue to ask questions, research, and observe these small living worlds throughout the year. The initial work in science notebooks was to sketch and label the terrarium, and then to record questions and make predictions. The slideshow below showcases the process! Rock PainTING...Look at these gorgeous creations! Each Harman student painted a rock this week with Mrs. Kuntz leading the way. Stay tuned for a beautiful display to adorn our school soon!
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AuthorAnne Kenney Archives
May 2016
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