This Week in LL38....

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend!  The kids did such a great job at our Memorial Day program on Friday!

Engineers

The kids were very excited to start building their earthquake resistant buildings on Friday.  There were able to take their research and use the materials that we had to create replicas of their structures. Thanks to all of the families that were able to donate materials for our Earthquake project.  It really helped to get the creative juices flowing!! It was great to see how the engineers came together and used bits and pieces of each others designs to create the structure.  One of the biggest AHA moments on Friday was that marshmallows make an excellent glue when a glue stick doesn't do the trick! (And it makes quite a mess!!!)  I can't wait to see how the kids finish off these structures and how they hold up against the shake table.

Math
 We held the Decimal Olympics last week.  The students competed in the Zig Zag, Backwards Run, and the Crab Walk.  We had a lot of fun participating in the Olympics.  After the friendly competitions we took all of the decimal data and used it to compare decimals, write different forms of decimals, and place the data on a number line.

There will not be any Math Menu homework this week!  Your child will most likely come home with some research writing to complete instead. (This could be on a nightly basis!)  

End of Year Reminders

• T-Shirt forms are due by WEDNESDAY.
• If your child hasn't turned in his/her Field Trip permission slip, please do so this week.  If you would like to chaperone on our field trip to the Hudson Public Library and Wood Park, please let me know as soon as possible!   

Have a great week!

~Jen

This Week in LL 38....

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend weather!  I can't believe we are nearing the end of May!  Just a reminder that Wednesday is a 1/2 day and on Friday we have our Memorial Day Program at 9:30.


If the World Were a Village.....


We finished our math project for the book, If the World Were a Village.  I have created an iMovie to go along with the work the class completed, small group sharing, and some reflection about this project.  Ask your child what he/she learned from completing this math project.  (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to include every child's reflection in this video, but tried to capture a few of the reflections.)

If the World Were A Village Math Project

Science

Last week we started to learn about the Richter Scale, which is how scientists measure earthquakes. Earlier in the week the class created a seismograph to see how they are used to record earthquakes. The class then looked at some data that showed the earthquakes that had happened recently all around the world.  

Since we have become experts on earthquakes, the kids will be starting a project to help out the National Weather Service Organization build earthquake resistant buildings based on research.  

The class was divided into engineering teams, have defined the problem, and have started to research the structures that other scientists have found to be helpful when creating buildings that can withstand earthquakes.  We will then build replicas of the buildings we would suggest and see how they hold up under the pressures of an earthquake.

We are in need of a few materials for building the replicas.  If you are able to donate one of the items below, please let me know by email.   We will probably be staring our replicas by Thursday or Friday of this week.  Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!

• toothpicks
• straws
• spaghetti
• mini marshmallows
• play-dough

Recyclables

• paper towel/toilet paper tubes 
• plastic recyclables (milk containers, plastic containers)
• empty tissue boxes

Upcoming Field Trip

Your child will be coming home with a permission trip for our field trip to the Hudson Public Library and Wood Park.  Please sign and return by next Wednesday, May 31st.  

Fourth Grade T-Shirt

Your child will also be coming home with a slip asking for his/her T-shirt size for the t-shirts each fourth graders receives for the Time Capsule Closing Ceremony.  Please send these back as soon as possible.  

Have a great week!

~Jen

This Week In LL38.....

Happy Mother's Day!  I hope your fourth graders were extra kind to you today!

Memorial Day

Last week your child came home with a notice about our Memorial Day celebration.  If you or an immediate family member are a service person or veteran and are available on Friday, May 26th, please fill out the notice or email me and I will pass the information on to the office!  

Book Clubs

The class was excited to start Book Clubs last week.  I listened in on many great discussions about the different books.  We are working on coming up with ideas that help begin a discussion.  We have talked about how these big ideas can lead to great discussions and even learning from their classmates.  

We have also discussed the importance of being prepared for Book Clubs.  Each child should be coming home with a red Book Club folder.  The folder has the book, notes page (if not taking notes online), and a calendar with the meeting dates and chapters to be read.  Students who are not prepared are making it difficult for their Book Club to have a meaningful discussion because there are fewer students in the group.  Most days we will have time in school to read, but reading at home should also be expected.

Math

We started reading a really neat book called, If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith.  This book takes the billions of people in the world and takes a look at the world if it were a village of 100 people.  The idea of thinking about billions of people is overwhelming for fourth graders (an even adults) to think about, but this book makes it easier to think about because it looks at the world as a group of 100.  This goes along with our study of decimals to the hundredths.  We started a neat project last week using this book.  Ask your child what part of the "village" they are learning about.  We will also have some discussions about what we noticed and what we have learned after reading this book as mathematicians!  

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

This Week in LL38....

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We have MCAS testing on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Reading Workshop

There was a lot of excitement last week as we watched the book trailers for the book club book choices.  All of the kids were able to get one of their top 3 book choices.  Each book club has created a set of rules that they will have for their club so that it will run smoothly.  This week each book club will start reading their book.  Like my email said last week, some students will need to do some of the book club reading at home if they don't have time to finish the agreed upon chapters at school.  Each group will also be creating a calendar to help them keep track of when they will be reading and when they will be meeting to discuss their book.


Writing Workshop

The research groups were created last week as well.  Each student was able to choose a region that they were interested in learning about.  After finding out the name of the region they would be researching, the kids started to read through some of our region books to build some background knowledge.

We also looked at a few research papers from former fourth graders.  The kids were able to get an idea of where they are "going" in their research.  This helped them to understand the expectations and gives them something to work towards.  The kids started to brainstorm some topics that they were interested in learning about.  This week the kids will be choosing the topics that they will research.

Science

We had a fun (and sweet) time learning about the different types of tectonic plate movements.  The class got to try out and see the different movements for themselves.  They learned how tectonic plates move to create trenches, mountains, and earthquakes.  Ask your child what he/she learned about tectonic plates!

Math Workshop

We started our unit on Decimals last week.  The class learned about decimals in the tenths and hundredths.  We were also able to make connections between fractions and decimals which seemed to be very helpful!  This week will will practice comparing decimals.

I hope everyone has a great week!
~Jen