Below is a glimpse of the learning happening in 4W as well as two photo slideshows of our AWESOMELY "SCIENCEY" Halloween Party and last week's Fall Harvest Festival. ENJOY!MATH:We are working hard with decimals! Place value, comparing, addition and subtraction, problem solving, metric measurements and metric conversions have been keeping us busy. Most classes are wrapping up this study this week with final projects and summative assessments. Remember that IXL can be a great tool for helping your child at home! Our next unit will focus on multiplication of large numbers. SCIENCE/READING INFORMATIONAL TEXT:We have been exploring the processes that change the surface of the Earth and the landforms created as a result. Students were invited to begin this study with a min-inquiry as a part of their Workjobs two weeks ago . Various leveled resources were provided for students to uncover the answer to the question: What processes change the surface of the Earth? We began last week with small group sharing of what was uncovered during the inquiry process. Students worked together to report their new learning. Our teaching team (myself, Mrs. Uptegrove, Mrs. McAllister, and Mrs. Couch) worked throughout the last two weeks with small groups to read and discuss leveled readers connected to our science topic. Students worked on pre-reading strategies, opinion writing, cause and effect relationships, leaving thinking tracks, summarizing, vocabulary, and comparing and contrasting. I have been so impressed with the thoughtful work students are doing when it comes to reading and discussing our thinking! Learners practiced their close reading skills with a leveled reading of either erosion, glaciers, or frost wedging. Students shared their new learning in small groups and worked together to formulate an answer to our key question: How does water change Earth's surface? Students explored two hands-on stations last week as well. Learners created a model to better understand where our Earth's water can be found and in what relative amounts. Additionally, they had a chance to see how rocks and water can break down and wear away rock. Ask your child to share what he/she learned from these experiences! This week's Internet Workshop gave students a chance to view a short movie about weathering and erosion. Learners also made choices about details to explore further and used a feature within the film to do so. Next, students had time to explore a website that shares information about various landforms. Students will share their new learning in small groups next week. We did spend a bit of time with our Science textbook last week as well. I am trying to help my class understand that the text is just one resource, and that as learners it is important to use many resources to help us in our learning and understanding. I was getting the comment, "We never use our science book!" The truth is that we use it as well as many other resources. We will continue with our Earth Science unit until Thanksgiving! READING-LITERATUREThis quarter we are working on identifying themes in literature and supporting our claims with evidence from the text. Last week, I introduced this to students in small groups and next week we will embark on a study of literature by Patricia Polacco. Students will be asked to read three books from our collection and do some important thinking! Students will then work on writing summaries, writing theme paragraphs, and also identifying signposts in the story and sharing their thinking in writing. Throughout the week, our teaching team will also be meeting with small groups to close read leveled text and discuss theme. WRITINGLast week was ESSAY WRITING BOOTCAMP! Students will continue throughout the quarter to practice writing skills that help them to become proficient opinion essay writers. Next week, students will practice using the topic of family. Stay tuned for these pieces to be published on Kidblog just in time for Thanksgiving! HALLOWEEN PARTY!FALL HARVEST FESTIVAL
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