It's going to be a busy 4th quarter!What can we look forward to in the 4th quarter of 4th grade?
SCIENCE Conservation of matter and the processes of energy transfer and transformation, especially as they apply to heat and electrical energy. *LOTS OF HANDS ON EXPERIENCES *TRIPS TO ELIZABETH GARDENS SOCIAL STUDIES Economics *FIELD TRIP TO CASSANO'S PIZZA *VISIT FROM GRAETER'S *MARKET DAY! MATH Area, Perimeter, Volume, Transformations READING/LANGUAGE Literature and Informational Text study Informational Writing WONDER DISCOVERY QUEST PRESENTATIONS: Week of May 19th ASSESSMENTS: READING OAA: MAY 1st MATH OAA: MAY 6th END OF YEAR CELEBRATIONS: Grand Affair: May 8th Hot Dog Lunch: May 23rd 4th Grade Picnic at Shafor Park: May 30th
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Students in 4W worked in teams on a culminating project for their government study this week. Using the app Book Creator, teams wrote and published digital books showcasing their knowledge about government in the United States and in Ohio. Students demonstrated their knowledge as well as PROJECT DETAILS: What are the purposes and functions of government in Ohio and the United States? THE TASK! Create a book using the app Book Creator to answer the question above. Your audience is students in the fourth grade and your purpose is to inform and teach. RESOURCES AVAILABLE:
Project GUIDELINES and REQUIREMENTS: TEXT STRUCTURE: CHOOSE: COMPARE AND CONTRAST or DESCRIPTION BOOK MUST INCLUDE:
CONTENT MUST INCLUDE: (Content can be explained through text and/or text features)
For each branch, be sure to include: -its main job/function (explain it) -information about the people within that branch -other notable and important information about that particular branch.
AND OF COURSE YOU WILL HAVE:
EXTRA TIME and ALL OF THE ABOVE IS COVERED? Check again. Can you be more thorough? Can your work be improved? Can you add another chapter? THE PLACE PROJECT!What a glorious day! We were finally able to break free from the chains of the bitter cold and fluorescent lighting. It felt like a little bit of a miracle. Students wrote, observed, measured, explored, and found a little mud. We looked for evidence of weathering and erosion as we studied this a great deal in the second quarter. Ask your child how his/her special spot changed over the course of the last several months! It will be exciting to watch Elizabeth Gardens bloom with the warmer temperatures and sunshine in the coming weeks. We will be visiting E.G. to do our important work several more times before the end of the school year. INNOVATION DAY!Students carried out their own work plans for Innovation Day on Thursday! Most students worked on some stage of research, while others worked on project production. It was exciting to see them so motivated to learn about their topics!
I will try to fit in another day when students can work on their Discovery Quest Projects as our day was cut a bit short due to an afternoon special. Final Projects will be presented the week of May 19th. ![]() Students in 4W are focusing their reading, writing, and collaboration work in the territory of our Social Studies standards. We began by looking closely at the events that led to the creation of our US Constitution. Next, we explored more closely the Preamble and the Bill of Rights. In the next few weeks we will be learning about our federal and state government. Students are using their close reading skills, partner and small group discussion skills, research skills, and are using a variety of print and digital resources. Ask your child to share his/her learning with you! ![]() I Love…. That is the theme of the 4th grade student contributions to Harmany, our school's student writing anthology published at the end of each year. Students wrote poetry this week about that which they love to see, smell, hear, taste, touch, and do. Descriptive language was the focus. If you are interested in reading your child's piece before the book is published, you can check out your child's blog as it is the most recent post. Enjoy! ![]() INNOVATION DAY is this FRIDAY! Students will be bringing home a planning sheet and a reminder about the details of the day in backpacks tomorrow. Students are very excited about our second Discovery Quest inquiry experience! I am so inspired by their enthusiasm for this work and for teaching their peers. Thank you for helping your child organize the necessary materials for his/her Friday plans. ![]() Fractions have been our focus in math and will continue to be for a bit more time. Below are some resources in case you are finding your child needs some additional practice. APP: Fractions By Braining Camp (click here for information) WEBSITES: Common Core Sheets (printable practice---look for 4th grade) Study Jams IXL Khan Academy ![]() At the beginning of May, 4th graders will be taking the Ohio Achievement Assessment in Reading and Math. This is a state mandated test. In an effort to make certain students are comfortable with the language and format of the test, I am sprinkling in practice throughout each week. We will not abandon the interactive and creative type of learning experience that has been established in our classroom. Rather, students will be familiarized with this test in small doses so that the format and language are not a distraction to students showing their learning. For more information about the 4th grade test, click here. Below are two articles I thought parents would find helpful and interesting. Although they are written for a teacher audience, the information and resources shared can certainly be helpful and relevant for parents.This first article addresses the idea of grit being a determination of success, as well as how to go about modeling grit and teaching grit to students. It is full of additional resource links that may be helpful or interesting. True Grit This second article discusses close reading and strategies for close reading. Many folks really are not sure what close reading is or why it is important. It is a newish focus with our shift to the Common Core and this article may be helpful in understanding what we are doing in school and how you can be helping your child at home. Strategies for Close Reading Thank you so much for your continued support and for all you do at home to support your child's success and creativity!We had a great Valentine's Day celebration in 4W! It was so much fun to see each child's "For the love of Literature" construction. Awesome displays of creativity! Our party was filled with tasty treats and some fun density demos by our guest, Krista Gerhardt, from WPAFB. A great time was had by all. Thank you to everyone who helped! Enjoy the slideshow below… WORD WORKEvery week begins with small group word work. This is a time for students to discover, discuss, and work with word spelling patterns, prefixes, suffixes, syllabication, homonyms, homophones, vocabulary and much more! Students then work independently and with partners throughout the week on sorting and spelling activities. Every child is encouraged to complete several sorts at home throughout the week. If you need a list of these activities, let me know. I have lots of extra copies! FIGURATIVE LANGUAGEFigurative language has been a focus over the last couple weeks in our class and we will continue to notice, analyze, and use these literary devices to comprehend what we read and communicate clearly in our writing and speaking! Students collected examples they found in their reading and posted them to share! CLOSE READINGStudents work on their close reading skills every week. It is so exciting to see them using the strategies and skills they have been taught. I so enjoy the great conversations we have in both small groups and as a whole class. NEWSELA is my new favorite tool for non-fiction reading! Students sign in, check out the articles I assign in the class binder, and then can adjust the Lexile level so that the reading is leveled just for them! Fridays are a great time to group students by the articles they chose to read throughout the week. Below, students are doing work with vocabulary, determining important take-aways, discussing questions they have about the reading, discussing text structure, and using the article content to further understand how organisms interact with their environment. Life ScienceChanges in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful. Students have been doing a lot of important work so that they can understand and defend the statement above! Part of our work is shown below: MID-YEAR ReminderI was visiting Mrs. Williams the other day and saw the sign below posted in her room. I love it. It's important that kids understand that success in area requires time, effort, practice, and many times…failure first. So, I snapped a photo and we had a great discussion at the beginning of last week. Thanks, Mrs. Williams for the GREAT reminder!
Curious about your child's learning? Below are some questions to get the conversation started! Can you share with me some of the different types of text structures non-fiction authors use? Can you give me some examples?
What is the purpose behind similes and metaphors? How are they used? What's the difference between the two? Explain what it means to THIEVE the text? What is the purpose for doing so? Tell me about your Reader's Response assignment. What kind of work did you do on Friday with your NEWSELA (current events) articles? Tell me what you know about fractions. What confuses you? Teach me about equivalent fractions and about how to model them using a bar model or a number line. What can you tell me about this statement? Changes in an organism's environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful. As a part of our Life Science studies this quarter, students in 4W will be visiting a different continent! |
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