This Week in LL38....

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I am sure there will be lots of excitement in the classroom tomorrow!

Scientists!
     We started off last week learning about scientists and how a scientist uses a Science Notebook to collect data, make observations, and answer questions.  We started getting used to our Science Notebooks by brainstorming some ideas for creating statues that represent the children of Hudson. The kids used play-dough to create these statues.  After creating the statues, the kids needed to take careful observations and notes about their statue.  We then ventured outside of our classroom to leave our statues in the "elements!"  There was a lot of disappointment in the classroom with all of that rain on Friday.  We will observe what is left of our statues tomorrow afternoon.
     We also started our Earth Science unit. We learned about tree wedging.  Ask your child about this topic.  It was very interesting to learn how trees can "split" through rocks.

An example of tree wedging!

Our statues before the rain!

Creating our statues...

Reading Workshop

     Late last week we started to look at patterns that fiction stories follow.  We are able to use a story arc to think about what might happen next in a story.  Ask your child about the pattern that a story follows.  You could also ask them about the HEART of the story. Getting used to the arc of a story will help us to think about how characters change throughout a story.  

Writer's Workshop

     We created a thesis statement or big idea/opinion of a Battle of the Books text.  We talked about a thesis statement being one that we feel strongly about!  We have to really believe in our thesis so that we can work to "prove" that it is true using reasons and evidence.  

     Writing literary essays is hard work!  This week we will keep working on creating reasons to back up our thesis.  

Math Workshop

     We started our 3rd math module this week.  Your child should have brought home the Homework Helper packet for this module last week.  We are working on applying what we know about Area and Perimeter.  In fourth grade it is important for the kids to be able to solve real world problems about area and perimeter.  

I hope everyone has a great week!  

~Jen