Coming up this Week...

Published iMovies

We finally have a website ready with (almost) all of the Literary Essay iMovies on it.  I am going to be sharing the website with the class tomorrow.  They are going to be able to go on and watch the iMovies that their classmates made (and their own!) and then comment/compliment the different book trailers.  

I will send out the directions to get on the website tomorrow with the students.  We are hoping that you will be able to go on and watch and comment on the videos as well.  They are very proud and excited for their final products!

Eve Bunting Author Study

Over the past few weeks we have been reading picture books by the author Eve Bunting.  She writes some really thought provoking books that the kids have really enjoyed reading and listening to.  We have also been thinking about the patterns that we notice in the themes and characters in her books.

While listening to and reading her picture books in small groups, they were taking notes so that they could have a discussion about what they were thinking while reading her books. Over the next few days I am hoping that they will be able to use their notes to have some fun and thoughtful discussion about her books!

Eve Bunting has published many books.  We have just read a small amount when you look at just how many picture books she has written. These would be great books to check out of the Hudson Public Library and read with your child.  

Read In!

On Wednesday we will have a "Read In" during the morning.  We will spend the morning reading and being read to by some Mystery Readers!  The kids will be able to get comfy by wearing their Pajamas if they would like to on Wednesday.  


I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a restful vacation!  

Jen

Coming Up This Week....

Publishing Our iMovies...

     The kids worked very hard last week trying to complete their rough draft of their literary essay.  Almost all of the kids were able to record their iMovie.  My plan is to post these iMovies on a website that I am going to create and allow parents, classmates, and other students to watch the book trailers and comment/compliment the author!  I will let you know the details once I have them all posted!

Taking Pride in Our Work...

     We talked a lot about what it means to take pride in our work last week in class.  I am starting to notice that many students are making silly mistakes and are forgetting to really show off what they know.  We talked about when you take pride in your work you make sure it is your very best work.  Some of the ways that you can take pride is to show off the strategies that you have learned, pay extra close attention to capitals and punctuation, and double check the work before turning it in.  

     This week many students will be getting classwork and/or homework papers returned that need to be fixed to meet the fourth grade expectations.  Be on the lookout for a paper with a colored slip attached.  Your child needs to fix the mistake/problem on a separate piece of paper OR with a different colored writing utensil (for example:  a colored pencil).  I will be explaining all of this to the students tomorrow morning!  Then I am asking for a parent to sign stating that they have seen the paper.  (This is similar to what was sent out earlier in the year.)

Here is an example of a slip:

Reading/Writing

Work Expectations

Your child is bringing home classwork/homework that hasn’t been completed according to fourth grade expectations (YET).  Your child needs to fix the work and return to school tomorrow.  Please sign the paper stating that you have seen your child’s work.

This paper is not meeting the following expectation(s): 

-      Correct capitalization

-      Correct punctuation

-      Complete sentences

-      It doesn’t match what you are capable of in the classroom

-      Other:  ______________________________________

Calling all MYSTERY READERS…

On Wednesday, December 23^rd we have a full day of school.  To kick start our winter vacation, we are going to be participating in a fun reading activity called, “Booked In.”   We are going to spend a large part of that day reading some great books.  To add to the fun, I thought it would be great if we could host some MYSTERY READERS. 

What is a MYSTERY Reader?

We are looking for parents, grandparents, or siblings to volunteer to read a favorite picture book or poem to our class on the morning of Tuesday, December 23^rd.  The mystery will be that the students will not know who is coming in to read to our class.  It will be a great surprise for all of the kids. 

Here is what you can do….

J  Volunteer as a mystery reader…let me know via email or a sealed envelope if you are available to read a picture book or poem on the morning of Tuesday, December 23^rd. 

J  Shhh….keep this a secret from the students!  J

If you can’t volunteer to read that day, it is completely fine.  I know that this is a very busy time of year.  Please let me know if you are available to be a Mystery Reader by Friday, December 18^th so that I can put together a schedule.

I hope everyone has a great week!  

~Jen

Coming Up This Week....

I hope everyone enjoyed the extra warm weather this weekend!

Reading Workshop

Last week in Reading Workshop we talked a lot about the theme or message of the story.  We talked a lot about how the theme is the big message that the author wants the reader to understand.  After determining the theme we can ask what does the author want me to learn about this big message. This is the lesson of the story.  We had many opportunities to think about and discuss the theme of some stories.

Below is an example of a "Tabletop Twitter" discussion that we had last week.  The kids were divided into several groups to "tweet" about what they thought the theme was for a fable called The Young Rooster.  After writing down their initial thought, they were able to respond to the responses of their peers.  This made for a great (quiet)  discussion and it was really neat to see the kids back up their thinking about the theme using ideas from the text.  Some of the students also changed their thinking as they started to read the other "tweets."

Writing Workshop

We are finishing up our second literary essay of the year.  Since the kids have learned many strategies for writing a literary essay and they are becoming experts in literary essay, they will have the chance to create an iMovie around their favorite picture book.  We have talked a lot about audience and the purpose of writing this second literary essay.  They will create the iMovie for an audience of other 4th graders, teachers, and parents who might be thinking about what picture book they would like to read next.  

I am hoping that many of the kids will start creating the iMovies this week.  We will have them published for you very soon! Be on the lookout!!

Erosion

We have continued our work with Erosion in Science.  The kids watched a few videos around erosion. One video was a flyover of the Grand Canyon and the other was a video that watched the erosion of coastal land.  After watching these videos they came up with a question that they wanted to find answers to.  We then watched an informational video on Erosion to find out some of the answers to our questions. We will continue with some experiments this week!

We are in need of more play-dough for the continuation of our Statue project from a couple of weeks ago.  If you can donate a few canisters of play-dough that would be very helpful!  Thank you!

Just a reminder that Wednesday there is a half day!  Have a great week!

Jen