Fourth graders worked with their kindergarten buddies. Kindergarteners used their measurement skills and fourth graders were there to assist. It is wonderful to hear the conversation and their love of helping the younger students.
Dear Fourth Grade Families,
I hope everyone has had a great week! Next Friday, we will be participating in the Halloween parade and having a small party after. The students were talking about what they were going to be for Halloween during morning meeting, it is always exciting to see what their interests. Fourth graders do not have to dress up for the parade, but I encouraged them to get into the spirit and enjoy the fun! In reading we started our non-fiction unit. We started with some basic skills about preparing to read non-fiction text. It is important that students think about why they want to learn about this topic and pushing themselves to find a reason to care if it isn’t obvious at first. Students should also be looking at the text features to prepare their minds for what they think they will learn. A big component of non-fiction is the text structure. It is important that students are able to recognize the structure that the author has chosen before beginning to read and take notes. In writing students have selected a thesis that was born out of opinions of people, places and objects. Students were asked to find three supporting, yet distinct reasons that support their opinion. We are working on developing evidence to support their thesis statements. In writing we also investigated the basic structure of essay writing. This framework will serve as a starting place for writing a traditional essay. In math we have been using our multiplication and division skills to solve multi-step problems. I am extremely impressed with the students ability understand difficult problems. Thank you to all of those who supported your child with the additional math homework assignment. It is great to see the support at home. Next Wednesday and Thursday will be minimum days for the students because of parent-teacher conferences. Attached you will find the updated conference times. Thank you Dear Fourth Grade Families,
I hope you enjoyed the beautiful Columbus Day weekend. The weather was perfect! KJ and I got to go apple picking together, and we were able to take a family walk. Yesterday, we had our first lockdown drill. We talked about the importance of having a plan and practicing the plan so we all know what to do. Students often have lots of questions about these drills. I do my best to keep the tone light and to talk in generalities, focusing more on the steps that we take. If your child has any concerns please let me know. In reading, we finished our character unit. Students have been working hard to identify the theme of their books and to find specific evidence that supports their thinking. It is often difficult for students to be able to find specific evidence that backs up their thinking, this is something we will continue to practice. Today, our classroom was a lab site for the fourth grade teachers in the district. We participated in a lesson on writing about reading. The students did a great job. As writers we began our opinion writing unit. Students were introduced to the basic structure of an essay. They learned about thesis statements and having three reasons to support their opinion. I modeled an essay about why I love ice cream. Students had the chance to write a quick essay about a food that they love! We also started to develop ideas for an essay, we are looking for big ideas to write about. Some examples, “Grandparents can be important friends, having a sibling is complicated and moms support their children.” We are continuing to grow and develop ideas for writing. In math we have been learning about prime and composite numbers. Please see the blog for the definitions of these words. It is important that students continue to practice with these definitions. They do not need to be able to write the definition just to identify a prime or composite number. We also started solving multiplication word problems. We have talked a lot about the idea that 4 x 3 = 12 means, 4 groups of 3 is 12. This is an important concept for students to visualize. Thank you for your continued support! The students worked on developing their reading stamina. Fourth graders should be able to sustain reading for 45 minutes.
I am so proud of how hard students worked today during the writing assessment! Keep up the good effort!
Dear Fourth Grade Families,
It is finally feeling like fall and school is in full swing. During morning meeting we have been discussing how to handle difficult situations with our classmates. We have been talking about what you can do if someone is bothering you or doing something you don’t like. One strategy I taught the students is to say, “Please stop, I don’t like…”. At that point hopefully the offending student will cease the offensive behavior. We discussed how they may need to say it more than once and if it has not helped then to seek an adult’s assistance. In many situations, I have noticed that students are not standing up for themselves or making their feelings heard. Hopefully this strategy will provide students a tool to use. In reading we have been working on developing interpretations and finding the theme of the stories they are reading. Theme is an important part of the reading work we do in fourth grade. Students need to be able to recognize the theme and find evidence to support their thinking throughout the book. In writing we have been looking at all of the strategies we learned during the realistic fiction unit. Students are now writing a second realistic fiction story(that won’t be published) allowing them to use their skills more independently. These stories will be completed this week. In math we completed a performance task. I was very proud of how hard students worked on this assessment where they had to use information from multiple sources and complete a multi-step problem. We also began our factors and multiples unit. This unit has a lot of vocabulary in it. It would be great if students continue to practice the new vocabulary words at home. Please watch the blog for more information. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the extra day off on Monday! Math Vocabulary for the new unit. Students do not need to memorize the definition, but need to be familiar with the concept.
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December 2018
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