OAAs are HISTORY! Students worked so hard to show their best work on the Reading and Math OAAs this week. I am so proud of how they gave their best efforts to focus, concentrate, and show what they know! Now, we can move ahead and continue the JOY of learning. Students worked on their portfolio boxes this week. They combed through images from the year, and got creative with personal logos, markers, and stickers. Students will bring boxes home at the end of the year filled with writing, projects, and other memorable work. Sneak peeks at Grand Affair! We made our fourth Place Project visit on Thursday. We gathered our quantitative and qualitative data, journaled, and explored. It has been so much fun to visit our special spots and see the changes throughout the year. Here are some thoughts, observations, and questions from students in 4W: It smells like a damp, muddy place. The water falls sound like when you put water in a water bottle. How old is the log I'm sitting on? I am sitting over a dam and I really,really hope that my log doesn't fall because falling into a deep, deep ditch will probably not be the most comfortable experience to be in. Why are there not a lot of animals? I can't wait to explore the depths of the creek! Here we come! It is different here now. There are bluebells and dandelions. Everything is beautiful. I have noticed a lot. My flower is back! I was expecting more water in the creek, but there isn't. There are leaves on the trees! Thank you! I see faces carved into trees and rocks. My branch isn't that sturdy and the log next to me has moved. How old is my tree? I found a leaf that looks like a frog. Here I am again on my princess throne! I noticed that there used to be a tree on the ground and it's gone now. There are flowers growing next to me! I'm with my fellow friends. I see blue, white, red, purple and yellow plants coming to life. The water is very cold, but there is not much of it. Most of the trees that have fallen have a flat side. It looks like they were cut by an ax. Who chopped the trees? How did that spot in the creek get so deep? Behind me is a tree that is green, but it used to be purple and white. Flowers are starting to bloom and it feels like spring. The creek is a little deeper now, maybe because it was raining. Oh my gosh! A chipmunk just ran down a tree, across the creek, and right past me! How do the leaves grow back? I see dirt that has washed away. Makes sense because it rained a lot recently and the water is running fast. The biggest thing I noticed was there are a lot more rocks than last time. It smells like rotten fish. How long is this creek and are there frogs in it? My spot looks awesome now that it's Spring! The smell and look of a small pile of sand reminds me of Long Beach Island, New Jersey. I see a stump that looks like a face. The creek is babbling again. On my right, the water made a cliff. It's awesome!
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MATH... This week students worked on looking at the relationships between fractions, decimals, and percents. Much opportunity was given for practicing with conversions among fractions, decimals, and percents as well. At the end of the week, we looked at different strategies for multiplying decimals. Next week we will continue with this and also work on dividing decimals. A review will take place on Wednesday and our Unit 9 test will be Thursday of next week. MATH MANIA...Topics covered recently: Polygons, Types of Triangles, and Lines. In addition to all of the above, we work daily on practice problems for the OAA test scheduled for the end of April. READING/LANGUAGE... Write away! Students are continuously writing across the curriculum. Some examples: -Extended response answers in Math -Reports on Famous Ohioans in Social Studies -Fictional narratives -Journaling in Science about our special spots -Written assessments about changes to our Earth's surface in Science -Written conversations about famous Ohioans in Social Studies -Letters to Pen Pals Our Reading focus has been in our content areas this week as we explored Ohio's history and our Earth's surface. SOCIAL STUDIES-Famous Ohioans and the Wax Museum... Thanks so much for helping your child organize their research into final reports. I appreciate this assistance from you on the home front! Students additionally posted their reports to our blogs and this is the tool we used for sharing. On Thursday, students had time to read each other's reports on Kidblog, comment on the writing, and record a significant take-away. Additionally, students returned to class and had written conversations about their new learning, connections, and questions. We also began practicing lines this week for next week's Wax Museum of Famous Ohioans. Thank you for helping your child rehearse his/her lines at home. PERFORMANCE REMINDER: Please come for the Wax Museum of Famous Ohioans! Thursday, March 28th 2:20 pm SCIENCE... We wrapped up our unit on The Earth's Changing Surface this week! Students used a variety of resources and class experiences to complete a written assessment over the material. UP with ART...Students enjoyed Mrs. Caley's Up With Art presentation this week on the life and work of Frederic Remington. Students created with pastels following the presentation. Check out their work! “Project work is student-centred and driven by the need to create an end-product. However, it is the route to achieving this end-product that makes project work so worthwhile. The route to the end-product brings opportunities for students to develop their confidence and independence and to work together in a real-world environment by collaborating on a task.” (Fried-Booth, 2002, 6) The Place ProjectWe ventured out in the chilly temperatures on Wednesday to visit our special spots at Elizabeth Gardens! We gathered our quantitative data first. We have been checking the air temperature, water temperature,and the water depth each time we visit. We will be graphing this data toward the end of the year and drawing conclusions about our data. Next, we headed off to our carefully chosen spots for some observing of the changes we are seeing to the environment. Finally, we paired up and went on a hunt for evidence of weathering and erosion. The exploration was enjoyed by all and the walk was refreshing and energizing. Upon arriving back at school, students journaled about their observations and recorded quantitative data. It was wonderful to see and hear students using the vocabulary and content knowledge we have been studying in Science class through our text and inquiry centers. Famous OhioansStudents worked diligently this week to gather research for the Famous Ohioan Project! Two research sessions were provided for students to gather the important information needed for the report and for the Wax Museum presentation. I have asked students to post their report to their blog on Kidblog along with an image of their Ohioan. We will use this tool for sharing our learning with each other! IMPORTANT DATES: DUE Monday, March 18th: Written lines to recite for Wax Museum and Costume planning sheet DUE Wednesday, March 20th: Famous Ohioan Report Wednesday, March 27th: Dress Rehearsal for Wax Museum Thursday, March 28th: Wax Museum Innovation DayAERODYNAMICS, POETRY, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, FIBONACCI'S SEQUENCE, INVASIVE SPECIES, FAMOUS AFRICAN AMERICANS, INVENTING....
Students spent Friday working on their Discovery Quest Projects. I just love the energy on this day! I love being able to provide students with extended time to get into a real flow. Each student taking ownership of his/her learning is an exciting process to witness! Many students used the time for research and others used the time for creating projects to share their learning. Students successfully utilized their time in class balancing hard work with necessary and appropriate breaks. I watched students collaborate over similar topic choices and I saw other students step in to assist classmates with questions. We concluded our day with self-assessments and reflections. I have seen so much growth among this group. The level of drive, confidence, and independence I observed today was truly outstanding! I was really impressed with how well students worked together this week! Students reflect on their own collaboration skill set regularly and set goals for themselves on how to improve. It is wonderful to see each of these fourth graders make a concerted effort to improve how they work with and interact with others to solve problems and reach goals. Check out the highlights of our week below and ask your child to share about his/her personal experience!
The Place Project...our second visit!We had a wonderful second visit to Elizabeth Gardens! We quickly noticed that so much had changed. Some of us had a difficult time locating our special spots! Students returned to their Field Journals for journaling and recording their qualitative and quantitative observations. Upon returning to the classroom, students reflected in small groups and then independently planned and wrote short reflective paragraphs about the similarities and differences among their first two visits. Below are some images from our trip!
BLOGGING, BLOGGING, BLOGGING...Students are now on their own (sort of) with their blogs! Each student has a Blogging Choice Board from which to choose post topics. There is quite a variety of topics and writing forms. All are tied to the curriculum standards for fourth graders. Please ask your child to share the choice board with you. Explaining the assignment to you will help them remember what is expected and will bring to light any confusion so students can ask questions. Thanks for your help with this!
Students in 4W began their Place Project this week. It was love at first sight when we arrived at Elizabeth Gardens armed with field journals, measuring tools, photo taking devices, and the desire to find that perfect spot. After locating their special places, students journaled, made qualitative and quantitative observations, asked questions, sketched their surroundings and explored the natural world around them. It was joyous! Below are some quick quotes from their writing and some pictures as well. For a different perspective, please check out Kidblog. On Thursday afternoon, students blogged about their special spots. Enjoy! "Here I am in my special spot. I am on a rock by the creek."
"If I look up, there is sunlight flooding through the trees." "I wonder what animals are all here." "Wait! I think I just heard a woodpecker." "There's lots of sunlight, pretty leaves, and a tree stump near me." "It smells like nature!" "Tons of leaves are falling out of nowhere and there is no wind." "There are rocks bordering the creek and some rocks have nets around them." "I feel so good at this spot! I see tons of trees!" "I am sitting by a stream. Luckily it has lots of stones so I can step on them instead of my socks getting wet." "I can tell a lot of people have been here before because there are lots of footprints." "There are also little puddles inside the creek." "It's peaceful and sort of quiet." "All the trees are pretty shades of red, yellow, orange, brown, and some are still green." "It's muddy, but who cares? My place is perfect, but it is hard to enter." "There were just some weird rumbling noises." "I know it's not deep, but I feel like I'm locked in a ravine." "I see lots of water spiders." "I see a stick attached to a spider web." "Shoot! I got my muddy boot on my backpack!" "I dropped my book in the water so I have to start writing here because I cannot write on wet paper." "I am in my special space on a log which is kind of scary." "It is so peaceful, awesome, but sort of gross." "The water flowing beside me is so soothing." |
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