“Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.” ― R.J. Palacio, Wonder Last weekend, I sat down to read a book that had been recommended to me by an author friend of mine. I was so inspired by the characters, theme, author's craft, and by how it changed me, that I just knew it was a book that needed to be shared and explored with my fourth graders. And so here we are! We began reading Wonder this week. But before we did any reading, we did a little listening. R.J. Palacio tells the story of August Pullman through different characters' perspectives throughout the book. We meet August first, and his section opens with a quote from Natalie Merchant's song, Wonder. We watched the music video below and used the lyrics to help us make predictions about the story. Students identified important phrases from the song and made some excellent observations, predictions, and asked some very thoughtful questions. We have now read through page 16 and the class is hooked. Courage, compassion, and friendship are at this book's heart. This will certainly be an exciting reading journey!
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I have included a few pictures from our past week. Enjoy the images below and use them as conversation starters with your child. I have included key vocabulary as well. Teaching is the best. I love seeing students stretch their brains, share their ideas, get things right after getting things wrong, ask questions and pursue further understanding. I love to be a part of the process of growth. It's hard work and it's exciting work!
Throughout the learning process, students produce a large amount of work to show learning. Some of this you will see and some of this you will not. The majority of what we do in class is formative, which essentially means practice, and informs my next steps for instruction. Descriptive feedback is given to students for this work through private conversation, written comments, and group discussions. The idea is that this feedback will address individual student progress and clarify how a student may improve, extend, or enhance learning. For written feedback, students are given time in class to reflect on their work, ask questions, and assess their own learning. I do not assign grades to work that is formative. It is not a final judgment of student learning, and a grade does not do anything to move a student forward in his/her learning. It is part of the learning process. Once a grade is on the paper, students tend to shut down and disregard the feedback designed to help them achieve the specified learning targets. I work very hard to stress to students that learning, rather than "good grades," is my goal for each of them. I explain that I am not just in the business of collecting grades for my grade book. Of course, some work will be graded! Graded assignments/projects/tests will be used to hold students accountable for their learning and gauge where students are relative to our content standards. These summative assessments will be given after instruction and practice. Grades will be posted in Progress Book which I typically update weekly. Some students love to post graded work on their personal bulletin board, so check with your child if a test, project, or other graded assignment does not make its way home. Curious about your child's learning this week? Here are a few conversation starters! Tell me about your small group work about energy. For which part were you the "expert?" (Renewable energy/Nonrenewable energy/Saving energy/etc.) Where are you in the process of your "annoying" paragraph? What is your topic and your what are your supporting details? Tell me about the theme of Stone Fox. How do you determine the theme of a story? Why won't Mrs. Walther let you use texting language on your class blog? How close were you to hypothesizing the inner workings of Mrs. Walther's Magic tube?
Our first full week was jam packed! I am really enjoying the gifts and talents among this group of young people. It is a pleasure getting to know them all! Our opening math unit is a review of geometry concepts. We are working hard on vocabulary, exploring properties of polygons, and revisiting extended facts and measurement. In Science, we are learning how scientists answer questions. Students have used a variety of media to explore this topic. Ask your child about "Exhibit A" and how one could cook with a pizza box! Next week, we will continue our lab,"How high does a golf ball bounce?" We will also practice making claims and supporting our claims with evidence through some fun demonstrations. I introduced several new tools this week that will help us connect our language arts skills to the rest of our curriculum. I am in the modeling phase of incorporating these tools so that students will be able to use them independently and successfully. The details of Daybooks and Reader's Response can be explored by clicking the links below: DAYBOOKS! READER'S RESPONSE! Kidblog has already been a big hit with students and they are catching on quickly to the world of blogging and social media. I will gradually be allowing different parts of Kidblog to be utilized. Last week began with a focus on digital citizenship. Your child brought home a small poster reminder. Additionally, students practiced commenting on blog posts of mine. We discussed how to interact with each other appropriately and for what purposes Kidblog will, and will not, be used. Students were also encouraged to upload a personal avatar and adjust the screen to a theme of their choosing. I encourage you to pop in to our little blogosphere and read our posts and comments. You may use your child's password for doing this! As students get busier composing and publishing blog posts, you are always welcome to comment on your own child's writing. I have learned that this forum provides a great deal of motivation for young writers as there is an authentic audience! Please know that any critical feedback I give your child in regards to writing conventions or topics will be given as a private comment so that only the author may see it. Hopefully your child has told you about Energy Island. We have spent a great deal of time working with this book and using it for building background for our upcoming inquiry, as well as exploring how to connect our claims and inferences to a text. Please check the Science Page if you are interested in seeing a short video about the island of Samso. Hope everyone has enjoyed a wonderful long Labor Day weekend! Happy September! |
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