Week 6: Mathematical Efficiency and Cultural Diversity

         

        This week, students worked on mastering an efficient strategy: the standard algorithm for subtraction.  That translates to the "old fashioned way" for us parents.  We used the words "decompose" and "recompose" when talking about regrouping numbers into new place values.  Ask your child about Gru's "lightbulb".  In previous years, students have been encouraged to use several other strategies to encourage a true understanding of the operation and numbers.  By 4th grade though, students are expected to master the standard algorithm for addition and subtraction.  Encourage your child to use this strategy whenever subtraction is necessary.  Ask your child to demonstrate the "Minus 1" strategy, a very efficient strategy for subtracting across zeros!

         In science, students have finished their persuasive pet projects and they are all on display outside our classroom.  Students used this project to demonstrate their understanding of learned vs. inherited traits.  This approach to assessment is much more telling of their understanding than a typical test and students enjoy it much more as well!  Next week we will begin our Erosion and Weathering unit.  This unit will be a reoccurring throughout the year, as it is one of the most significant threats to the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem.   

       Our word-of-the-week was “diversity” which was a recurring concept in both language arts and social studies.  In language arts this week, we read 5 different poems that reflected key aspects of different cultures.  We talked about the way poetry can capture ideas, emotions, and images with relatively concise wording.  The poems reflected the importance of cultural history, traditions, and perspectives.  We also looked at poetry as a form of writing and realized that it’s very hard to pin down poetry with a simple definition.  Poetry can be written in many diverse forms.  The students wrote about the poem that meant the most to them. We began spelling by reviewing short vowel sounds that most commonly occur in closed syllables.

             In social studies we narrowed our geography focus to the Mid- Atlantic States. The students learned the names and locations of the four states that border Maryland.  Then we narrowed our focus further to just Maryland. The students made color coded maps to illustrate the location of Maryland’s three geographic regions. This prompted us to acknowledge the diversity of Maryland’s land.  (The students were introduced to this concept when they made salt dough maps in 3^rd grade!)  Next week we’ll read informational texts to learn additional information about each region.

              There are only a couple of students who have not yet had a chance to present their ancestor project.  We will finish them up by next Tuesday.  It’s been impressive to see the students ask each other thought-provoking questions and give each other specific compliments on their work.  We have met a lot of inspiring people through these projects!

Week 5: Celebrating Ancestors and Traditions

        This week we read several selections that helped us consider varying traditions that are a part of our heritage.  In particular, we read about the ways birthdays are celebrated in three different countries.  Following our reading, we looked for similarities and differences in the traditions.  The ability to compare and contrast is an important skill that is used across subject areas.  The students wrote paragraphs about the country in which they would most like to celebrate their birthday and included reasons they had learned through reading.  We continued working on revising and editing our writing, as many first drafts were true “rough” drafts.

            It has been very exciting to hear the students present their ancestor projects! About a quarter of the students have shared so far.  I am very grateful for the support students received from family members in acquiring information.  It is clear that many students learned things they had not known before.  The pride in their voices is a tribute to these ancestors in itself!

            In social studies the students set personal goals for learning the location of states in the USA.  The 4^th grade curriculum requires students to be able to identify the Mid-Atlantic States that surround Maryland.  I challenged the students to learn the locations of 10 additional states that have personal significance to them.  Many students have done an impressive job of expanding their previous knowledge of state locations! 
          In math this week, we continued our conversations about place value.  We began to use this knowledge to begin/perfect our standard algorithm for subtraction...a skill that needs to be mastered by 5th grade.

       In science we put finishing touches on our pet adoption projects.  Those that are finished should be up on display by Monday.  This project was meant to assess the students' understanding between learned and inherited traits while practicing persuasive writing.  The students' took the perspectives of dolphins, koalas, pandas, kittens, lizards, parrots and megalodon sharks!  So if your family is looking for a "pet", stop by room 104 and take a look!  

  

Week 4: Monarch Mania begins!

It's a girl...and a boy...and a girl...and a ???  Yes, that's right!  Monarch season is here!  Our monarch pupa began eclosing this week (the biologically correct word for coming out of their chysalis).  As I type this I'm distracted every few seconds to see if our 4th butterfly has arrived.  It happens fast, ask your child about the silent excitement of "KJ" and "BJ"'s eclosing.  Unfortunately, the students will miss #3 and #4 eclosing, so attached is a picture of their progress as of right now...

Our Monarch Palace will be set up in the garden as a holding area for our adult monarchs (along with the other 30-40 being fostered throughout other classrooms in the school) until they can be tagged and released.  Yes, that's right, tagged!  Watch for more information regarding Monarch tagging if that is a Citizen Science project your family might enjoy being a part of!  Feel free to stop by the Palace to see these amazing creatures before they set flight to Mexico for the winter.

          In reading this week we extended our study of heritage by reading a wider variety of genres.  We have read realistic fiction, historical fiction, narrative nonfiction selections, and an informational article that all share the themes of “family” and “home”.  The students compared and contrasted specific traits of different homes families can have.  In Language Arts we practiced the skills of revising and editing.  I gave the students a sample paragraph about one of my ancestors to give them a frame of reference when working on their project.  We revised the paragraph by identifying which details were informative and which were unrelated or too vague.  The paragraph also contained mistakes in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling that were purposely included for the students to “catch”.  They did a good job of finding many of the errors and also acknowledged which mistakes were easy to miss.  We will be working on the skills of revising and editing throughout the year.

            In social studies we practiced locating the continents and oceans on a blank map and by playing an online geography game.  Most of the students can name all of these major land and water regions.  We also practiced using cardinal and intermediate directions to describe the relative locations of two places.  This was a lot more challenging for the students.  We extended our practice by playing a “Guess Who?” game in which students had to use direction words to describe the location of a mystery person in the room.  This helped the students become more comfortable using direction words in conversation, but some still struggle making accurate statements with direction words.

             In math, we focused on the different forms of expressing large numbers (word form, standard or numeral form and expanded form).  This foundation to place value will be invaluable when we get into our multiplication and division of large numbers. Students also got to work independently at 3 work stations this week, while I met with small math groups. Many of our students demonstrated fine leadership skills, as they naturally took the lead in reading, explaining and helping their peers.  It is my hope that these stations help build collaborative relationships between the students, so that they realize teachers are not just the adults in their lives.

             

              In science, students built their background knowledge of inherited v. learned traits in order to strengthen their persuasive paragraphs for their "Have I got a Pet For You!" project that will be completed next week.

           The students are excited to start a new month of fourth grade.  A new month means new classroom employees and new seats!  Thank you to all of our wonderful August employees.  Your services will continue to be needed as experts of your career fields. 

Week 3

August 18-22

What sets our kids apart? At recess, many students have enjoyed looking for monarch eggs and caterpillars.  We definitely have some nature-smart kids!  We have 4 chrysalis in our room and we are expecting the butterflies to arrive next Friday!! These kids not only enjoy the insects, but spend a lot of their recess time pulling weeds (to improve the garden habitat), watering plants (using collected rain water wherever possible) and harvesting the garden's veggies and fruits and even caring for the CPCS chickens.  Let us know if you'd like some fresh eggs!  Our new students are often stunned at our recess options!!

Shout out to our S.L.O.P Cops for their great update at Community Gathering today.  So far we've "recycled" 62 pounds of food waste to our local chicken farm.  Our Conservationists have been successful with their recycling efforts too!  So far, they've gathered 36 pounds of plastic film for the TREX company to recycle into decking materials and fed 8 pounds of compostable material to our worms for rich fertilizer for our gardens.  Please keep sending in any plastic bags, overwrapping, clean ziplock bags, bread bags, etc.!

Math:

Every Monday students try to beat their fact record during Math Madness for Multiplication.  Nearly all the students improved their baseline scores from our first quiz.  Be sure to ask what your child to tell you their record or score they are trying to beat this week.

In between pre-assessments, students learned the math game "Changing Places to 1,000" and played it throughout the week, helping them with mental math and reviewing place value.  Next week, we will play on a 10,000 chart that spans the length of our entire hallway!  

Science:

We continued to explore inherited vs. learned traits.  Students solved the mystery of Junior the horse by investigating his family tree.  Ask your child what clues they used to discovered where Junior inherited his blue eyes.  We also started our project-based assessment for the unit.  Students are creating the perfect pet while writing a persuasive advertisement (describing its learned and inherited traits) in the hopes that they will get adopted.  Watch our bulletin board for the final ads!  So far we have an elephant, panda, several cats and dogs that are up for adoption!!

Language Arts:

We’ve had 3 “words of the week” so far: collaborate, inquisitive, and heritage.  Most recently we’ve talked about the different aspects of “heritage”.  This week we looked specifically what people consider “home” or “homeland”.  The students brainstormed nouns, adjectives, and verbs that they associate with the word “home”.  We read one selection related to “home” and will read about a very different home next week. 

       In social studies we’ve been reviewing the geography of the world.  The students have identified the continents and major oceans on a paper map.  We also made a human map outside with students representing the continents, oceans, poles and the equator.  

            Please encourage your child to:

-          Read and fill out their reading log

-          Work on their ancestor project  

Back to School!

Hello Fourth Grade Families!
This year, we will be trying a new form of communication with our families.  We'd like to keep you up to date with the topics, activities and projects we are working on in the classroom so that we can create a bridge between school and home.  Each Friday, we will publish the week in review on this blog site along with photos.  Feel free to post comments on the blog, but please continue to send your questions to our email accounts.