Coming Up this Week...

      We ended our week with a SMILE!  It was a beautiful day for outdoor pictures  The kids were all smiles on Friday afternoon.  

Battle of the Books...

       In reading workshop this week the class will be introduced to the "Battle of the Picture Books." Battle of the Books has become a tradition in fourth grade over the past few years.  For this project, the kids read or listen to 16 picture books.  Through independent reading and whole class discussion, the students will keep track of their thinking around these 16 books.  Many of these books have characters who possess very strong character traits or have meaningful themes.  
        Over the next few weeks we will read these picture books.  After gathering our notes and thoughts about the books, the students will begin to "vote" for their favorite picture book.  The 16 books will be narrowed down (using a bracket system) until there is ONE book left standing!

Sharing our Opinions...

     We will be finishing up our Personal Narrative mini unit to help us launch Writer's Workshop in 4th grade.  It has been fun getting to know the students through their writing!
      In addition to the reading that is occurring for the Battle of the Books, the kids will also be learning how to write Literary Essays.  They will learn how to develop an opinion around a book and find evidence in the book to help back up their opinion.  These opinions will be able to be used to persuade classmates to vote for a particular book in the Battle of the Books.

It is my hope that the students will see the value of reading books

and then sharing their opinion about the books with others, hopefully 

encouraging others to read a book that is meaningful to them!

Math Workshop

     We continued with our work around Place Value.  Late in the week, the students took a short assessment on the learning that had taken place so far for this module.  Each student has a "focus" area that I am going to work with them on in small groups this week.  This "focus" area was an area that needed to be reviewed.  After small group review, the students will be reassessed on the "focus" area.  I will send home all of this information by the end of the week.  I am hoping additional practice and review will help each student to show improvement. 

Just a reminder....Wednesday is a half day and dismissal is at 11:40.  I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

A Rewarding Week!

      It was a great first full week of 4th grade!  The kids are really starting to learn the routines and expectations of the classroom.  
     It was great to see so many parents at Open House on Wednesday.  I hope you found the information helpful.  If you find that you have questions at any time, please let me know.  

Math Workshop

     We have started the first module in math.  We are learning about place value and addition and subtraction.  We have worked with many hands on activities using the place value chart.  We have also learned that numbers can be represented in 3 ways.  Numbers can be written as a number which is called standard form.  For example, 345 is standard form.  We can also write numbers in word form such as "three hundred forty five."  Finally, numbers can be written in expanded form where the value of each number is written.  For example 300+40+5.
     There are many vocabulary words to remember in this unit, so we have created a "Math Toolbox" section in our math notebook.  This toolbox has resources that the students are encouraged to use if they are stuck on a problem.  This helps to increase independence in students and encourage using a growth mindset.  

Home-School Connection...

• If you want to practice at home, you could create a matching game for your child.  Your child could practice matching the standard form of a number with the expanded and word form of the number.  You could make it in to a game of Memory as well!

• Also, anytime you see larger numbers in the real world, encourage your child to read the number aloud to you.  I have noticed that many of the students have difficulty reading larger numbers.  (Car and House prices in the newspaper make a great place to start!)

EngageNY Website

     At Open House I had mentioned that I would post the EngageNY website that you can use at home if your child needs a review of the daily math lesson.  This is a great resource to have to use at any point during the school year.  

http://www.oakdale.k12.ca.us/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1391596408603 

     After clicking on the link, choose GRADE 4, the MODULE  and the LESSON NUMBER (on the top of the homework page).  

     This will bring you to a page where you will be able to print the homework page (this is great if your child forgets their homework page) and a lesson walking your child through the homework page itself.  

Reading Workshop

     In reading we started to partner read picture books.  Last week, we were practicing asking questions while reading.  We continued to practice asking "talk-worthy" questions or questions that really get us thinking AND talking about the book.  

    This week, we will continue to set up our reading workshop routines.  We will also start a fun project with picture books.  More information about the Battle of the Picture Books will follow!

Paw Print Reward

     The class was able to work together over the past few weeks to earn enough Paw Prints to fill up our chart.  On Friday, we had a Newspaper Dance Party to celebrate!  Many kids were shy at first, but "dance leaders" were chosen, and most kids really got moving! 
     Each student started off with a piece of newspaper.  The music started and the goal was to dance on the newspaper ONLY!  Every time the music stopped, each person needed to fold their newspaper in half.  After 5 or 6 stops of the music, the newspapers were very small.  Many kids ended the party dancing on their tippy toes!
     Here are a few pictures from our Newspaper Dance Party!

                         

The Newspaper was VERY small by the end!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  
~Jen

Growing Our Brains…

          We are continuing to learn about what it means to have a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that you can’t change how “smart” you are.  For example, a person with a fixed mindset might say “I am bad at math.” They believe that they will always be this way.  However, we learned that we can actually “grow” our brains by learning new things.  We also learned that people aren’t BORN smart.  You can grow your brain through practice and ability to stick with a task.   So, people with a growth mindset believe that even though math might be a difficult subject they can be successful with additional effort and practice.  It might take them longer to understand the topic, but with determination they can achieve their goal.

Earlier in the week, the class watched a video about a creative pig who was trying to get a cookie jar on top of a refrigerator.  Throughout the course of the video it is very clear that the pig was having a very difficult time reaching his goal of getting the cookies, but through the use of a variety of strategies and determination he was able to reach his goal (almost!).

          Here is the link to the video so you can watch it.  It is a wonderful way to show what it means to have a growth mindset.  We then talked about how we could learn from what the pig did when we are in school or in any part of our life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd63g3d8qOs&list=PLnah-hqu5MaQY5t2GjBAwt9E7iJFYPsOA&feature=share&noredirect=1

Writing Workshop

          It was fun to see all of the Writer’s Notebooks come in by the end of the week.  The kids seemed to put a lot of thought into the pictures and memories that they glued onto their covers.  They will be using their Writer’s Notebook throughout the school year, and it will be a great place to go back to and revisit when a student has a hard time coming up with a topic to write about that is meaningful to them.

 

          This week we will continue to build on their knowledge of writing small moment stories.  They have come to fourth grade knowing a lot about what makes a great small moment.  We have focused on stories that are about people and/or places that are important to the students.  The kids are working on choosing stories that might have happened over a short period of time rather than a "morning to night" story. 

          To help the students get ready to write about these small moments we practiced storytelling the ideas to a partner.  The more practice the kids are able to have talking out their story, the easier it will make the actual writing of the story. 

Fish in a Tree

          We started our class read aloud last week called Fish in a Tree  by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.  It is a great book to go along with our discussions and learning about having a growth mindset.  We have had many discussions about the cover of this book.  The kids are intrigued by the cover as well as the title.  Be sure to ask your child about their “theory” about the cover.  They have started to build ideas based on their own background knowledge as well as some of the words in the text (evidence).

          This week will be starting to work on a display in our hallway to go along with the book’s theme of taking on challenges and working through those challenges no matter how difficult they are.  (We hope you will be able to take a look at the display during Open House on Wednesday!)

Open House

I am looking forward to meeting you at Open House this week.  I had mentioned in my email last week that Open House will start at 6:30.  There will be 2 sessions.  The first session will run from 6:30-7:15 and the second session goes from 7:15-8:00.  I will present the same information both times to allow parents to visit the classrooms of siblings. 

I hope everyone has a great week!  Hope to see you on Wednesday!

~Jen

Great Start to Fourth Grade!

        We had a great start to the school year last week!  We played some games to help us get to know one another.  We will continue to get to learn about each other this week as well. 

We Can Learn Anything!

        This year we will focus on having a Growth Mindset or a “can do” attitude.  To get us thinking about this, we watched a video that shows how each of us has the ability to learn anything as long as we put in the effort and don’t give up.  Here is a link to the video that we watched…

https://www.khanacademy.org/coach-res/reference-for-coaches/how-to/v/you-can-learn-anything

        We also brainstormed what we knew about our brain.  It was great to take what we already knew about the job of our brain and learn some more about it. 

Ask your child…

·        What he/she learned about the NEURONS of the brain. 

·        What happens to your neurons when you practice? 

·        What happens to your neurons when you take on a challenging problem?

Coming Up This Week…

·        In math we will be doing some review with addition and subtraction.  We will also start to think about the steps that will help us solve word problems this year.

·        In Writing Workshop we will start to brainstorm some topics that we will be able to write about over the next few weeks.   The kids will think about people and places that are special to them.

·        We will continue to talk about Growth Mindset this week to set up the important work that will continue throughout the year.  We will talk about the difference between a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset.

Homework This Week…

      Each morning when your child gets to school, he/she will copy down the homework of the day in a homework planner.  Homework will remain fairly consistent throughout the school year, however, please check your child’s homework planner each night.

        This week your child will need to complete:

·        Reading in the Edges-Due: Friday (Information will be sent home Tuesday.)

·        Study Multiplication Facts- Quiz: Friday (Form needs to be signed and returned)

·        Decorate Writer’s Notebook- Due:  Friday   (Directions will be sent home Tuesday.)

Important Dates:

• Return Emergency Forms- Due:  Wednesday, 9/9
• Getting to Know Your Child form- Due: Friday, 9/11
• Farley Open House- Wednesday, 9/16 from 6:30-8:00

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Also, if there is information that you would like to see in future blog posts, please let me know.  Have a great week!

~Jen

Fourth Grade Here We Come....

I am so excited for our first day of school!  I hope everyone has a good night.  I will see you tomorrow.  It will be a great day as we get to meet our new classmates and see what fourth grade fun is ahead of us!

Mrs. Lewis