Coming up this week.....

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  It's a such a nice time to have a break from all of the regular routines.  I am hoping that the kids are ready to come back.

Math Workshop
     Last week we worked on solving word problems and really taking our time and thinking through each problem.  We also worked on being ACTIVE LEARNERS and LISTENERS instead of passive learners.  Ask your child what he/she learned about being an ACTIVE LEARNER.  This will be something that we will focus on over the next few weeks.  We practiced a lot during math, but it works for all areas of life!
     Last week we also worked on a vocabulary project.  We used some of our math vocab and created a "visual" for the vocab word.  We were able to share our visuals and now they are hanging for everyone to use as a resource.  Ask your child what word and visual he/she created and if there are any that stand out that a classmate made.
     This week we will start division in math.  We will learn and practice two strategies for division.  One is the area model for division and the other is number disks for division.  Learning the standard algorithm (the way we learned division) is not part of the fourth grade curriculum.  Just like multiplication, we want the students to have a good foundation and an understanding of the WHY of multiplication and division.  By next year, they will be ready to move towards the algorithm.

Writing Workshop
     Students learned about an upcoming project that we will be creating in Writer's Workshop called Beyond the Cover.  The kids will be writing a second literary essay and then will create an iMovie book trailer using their essay.  These books trailers will be posted onto a website for classmates, parents, and other teachers to go on, watch, and comment on!  It is so important for writers to have a purpose for their writing and have a solid understanding of their audience!

Social Studies
      We will be moving back to social studies this week.  We left off in the Northeast Region of the U.S.A.  This time we will "zoom" in to New York and learn about immigration and Ellis Island.  We will have lots of fun learning about an immigrants journey to Ellis Island.  Be sure to ask your child what they are learning about Ellis Island!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

~Jen