Week 14: Just Dance: CPCS Version; Giving Thanks and Recognition

This week, students continued to learn strategies for multiplying larger numbers.  We took the strategies outside (before the arctic blast!) and practiced with sidewalk chalk.  There is a dance we use as a mneumonic device to help us multiply two double digit numbers:  "Tens times your tens, ones times your ones, tens times your ones and your ones times your tens".  Ask your fourth grader for a demonstration!  We also integrated some geometry and measurement concepts as students learned to use area models to help solve multiplication problems.

       As we continue our unit on erosion, we explored our new resource, BrainPop.  Students may access this site at home too for videos, games, quizzes on various topics.  Next week, we will begin to design models of an eroding area of our school campus.  Teams of four will then engineer a solution to the problem and present it to a board of judges who will decide which solution is the most cost -effective, earth friendly and feasible.  In the spring, we will put that plan into action when we revisit the concept of erosion when we begin our Smith Island unit.

          In language arts we are at the midway point with our novels.   I’m encouraging students to take more of a leadership role in discussions.  Part of this process requires them to prepare questions before their group meets.  I’ve asked them to create three types of questions that inspire different types of thinking.  Most of the students recognize that questions that aren’t answered with “yes” or “no” answers prompt us to think more deeply about the story elements and plot development. 

           Students wrote letters to the fifth grade students to thank them for inviting us to tour their “wax museum”.  It was an impressive experience and we took the opportunity to practice writing with specificity.  Instead of just writing “It was awesome!” the students used graphic organizers to list specific ways the 5^th graders worked to make the experience so informative and realistic. Then the students used their notes to write their letters.  Many of the students filled a page or more with positive detailed feedback for the fifth grade class!  I was especially pleased that some of the students initiated writing a second draft because they wanted to be proud of what we send to 5^th grade.

            In social studies we talked about the elements of culture that can make a group of people unique.   Our Maryland newspaper contained an article about the lifestyle of Native Americans.  Many cultural customs and beliefs were explained.  We compared and contrasted the Native American way of life with modern American life.  Some of the students have chosen to write poetry about cultural connections and the importance of bridging the gap between cultures through understanding.   We’ve been given the opportunity to submit these works to the “Maryland Connects Writing Project.” This a project open to 3^rd – 12^th grade students in Maryland.