This Week in LL38....

I hope everyone enjoyed vacation! It turned out to be a great week to be outside!  Hopefully the kids got some rest and are ready to get back into our routine!  

Math Workshop
Before vacation we spent a lot of time using manipulatives to help us with finding equivalent fractions.  Using the fraction tiles we were able to talk about what we noticed and we were able to draw some great conclusions about fractions that are equivalent.  We will continue to use these fraction tiles as we move through this module as the students need them.    

Here is the Math Menu Homework for the next few weeks:

Math Menu

Reading Workshop

Before vacation we had taken  little break from our Nonfiction unit to work on answering Open Response questions.  We will take our previous learning about nonfiction text structures to help us read more challenging nonfiction texts.  Please encourage your child to read some nonfiction books at home for Reading in the Edges.  Reading magazines, online blogs, or websites like News ELA and Wonderopolis are great options also!

I am looking forward to a great week!  
~Jen

This week in LL38....

Hi Families!  
I hope everyone has been enjoying all of this snow.  It sure is piling up out there!  

Valentine's Day...
On Tuesday we will exchange Valentine's Day cards.  I sent home a list of the students in our class with your child last week.  Please make sure that if your child does choose to participate, he/she needs to include each child in our class.  Also, some of the kids asked about decorating Valentine boxes.  Since we won't have time to do this in school, if your child would like to decorate a Valentine box or bag at home, that would be fine to bring in on Tuesday as well.  

Class List for Valentine's Day

Math Workshop

The students took the Module 4 Assessment last week.  Students paired up with partners last week to discuss their answers.  Students were able to teach each other how to solve the trickier problems that might have been incorrect.  The kids were also given the opportunity to fix their original answers using pen or colored pencil to show that they used the Effective Effort  strategies of using feedback and commitment.  The assessment will come home on Tuesday.  As with our previous math assessments, please take a look at the assessment and then send it back with your child on Wednesday.  There will be a place for you to check off if you would like to receive review work for your child.

Farley Fox Boot Camp!

Last week we had many recruits report for duty at Farley Fox Boot Camp!  The recruits learned about answering open response questions.  We had fun learning about the parts of answering an open response question based on a story. We also found many connections between open response questions and our previous writing unit of literary essay!  The students also participated in many exercises as part of their boot camp experience.  Among the groans, the kids put in a lot of effort.  Ask your child to share the Boot Camp chant for you so that you can hear the parts of answering an open response question.  

Boot Camp Chant

Writing Workshop

Last week we finished up our first realistic fiction story.  Using that story and a 4th Grade Narrative Writing Checklist, the students created goals for themselves as they get ready to write another fictional narrative.  These goals will help students have a focus as they write another story.  As students go through the writing process through this story they will reflect on how they are doing towards meeting their writing goal.  These goals are posted in our classroom so that we can hold each other accountable for our goals.  Ask your child what his/her goal is for this new story.  They could also share with you  why they felt like that should be their focus.

I hope everyone enjoys the snow day tomorrow.  Have a great week!

~Jen

This Week in LL38....

I can't believe it's already February.  Please be on the lookout for a Valentine's Day list of names that will be coming home early this week.  If your child chooses to participate by handing out Valentine's, please make sure he/she has a card for each classmate.  






Math Workshop
We are wrapping up our Geometry Unit.  Students will be taking the end of module assessment this week.  Your child will then come home with the scored rubric for you to sign and return.  My hope is that you will get this by the end of the week. 

Our next module will be on fractions. 

    One topic that is very important for 4th graders to understand in this unit is multiplying fractions.  One fun way of reinforcing this at home is through cooking.  For example if you are baking cookies and you need to double the recipe your child could figure out the measurements for each ingredient if it was doubled or multiplied by 2.

Reading Workshop

Last week the class was introduced to a online website called News ELA.  It is a news website where I can assign articles for students to read.  This website also allows them to highlight and take notes online.  Students are able to go online and read articles that they are interested in as well.  The kids can access this website from Google Classroom.  We have practiced signing on many times, so they should be all set with that part.  This might be a great option for Reading in the Edges.

I hope everyone has a great week.

~Jen

This Week in LL38....

Last week we officially made it to the 1/2 way point of 4th grade!  I can't believe how fast time is flying!

Teamwork

Ask your child what he/she learned from our teamwork project using 4 pieces of construction paper, a foot of masking tape, and a dictionary!  The lesson that the class learned can be applied to their everyday life, however, we talked specifically about how it applies to math.  

                           

Math Workshop

Last week we started to work on measuring and drawing angles using protractors.  We spent a lot of time learning how to measure an angle correctly, as this skill can be tricky for some students.  It was fun to see the excitement in the classroom when we started to demonstrate 180's and 360's with half and full circle turns. Thanks to all of the work that Mr. Quinn does with the class in PE, it was a review when we started to talk about the degrees in a circle!

We will continue learning some more about angle measurements this week, but will also start to work on classify shapes based on their properties.  

Your child can practice working with angles at home as well.  I have shared a page of websites with all of the kids on Google Docs.  

Reading Workshop

We learned about the different nonfiction text structures in reading this week.  We found that an author will set up nonfiction texts in a way that is structured for the reader.  If we can determine the text structure, it helps us to organize our notes.  The kids learned that once we know the text structure, we can then set up our notes in a way that will help us to stay organized.  Our notes might look different, but the important information will be similar.  Here are some of the structures that we learned about:

Just a reminder....we have a 1/2 day on Wednesday.  

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Jen

Coming up this week....

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  It was nice to get outside on Saturday.  Hopefully you and your family were able to take advantage of the great weather as well!  

Reading Workshop

     We spent a lot of time using the subheadings and/or main idea- "pop out" sentences in our nonfiction texts last week.  Once we were able to determine the main idea of each section of our nonfiction books, it made it easier to take notes.  We also worked on note-taking with the purpose of being able to "teach" a classmate about our topic.  At first the kids were taking many random notes in their notebooks with no organization.  We found that if we categorize our notes it makes it easier for us to teach from and it makes it easier for our partner to learn from.  Below are some pictures of the experts in our class last week!

      This week we will continue to look at text structure and see how that can help us take even more effective notes on our topics!

Math Workshop
     This week your child will be bringing home his/her Module 3 Assessment. This assessment was very difficult and it required a lot of focus and persistence.  After looking at the assessment, I would ask that you return the back page of the assessment rubric stating that you saw the assessment. There will also be a box for you to check off if you would like some practice pages for your child to try out at home.    
     This week for Math Menu homework, your child will need to choose one of the problems that was incorrect on the assessment.  He/she will need to try that problem again.  I will encourage the students to bring home their resource tools that give the steps for multiplication, division, and problem solving so that they can use that to help them fix one of the problems.  
     Like I mentioned in last week's blog, multiplication and division are skills that require a lot of repeated practice.  We will continue to practice at school, but I would encourage your child to practice these skills at home to become more efficient!
     We started our Geometry unit last week as well.  It was helpful that we had had lot of practice with the vocabulary prior to starting this unit.   This week we will start to measure angles.  This is a skill that will require a lot of practice as well.  

Writing Workshop
     We started to type our realistic fiction stories last week.  It is amazing to see how much the students are able to type in one sitting!  We have been working on slowing down each scene to our story so that we paint a picture for our reader.  We will continue to work on this throughout the upcoming week.

I hope everyone has a great week!  
Jen  

This week in LL38

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!  Here's what we worked on last week and what to expect for the week ahead!

Math Workshop

On Friday the kids took the Module 3 Assessment.  The assessment took a lot of focus and perseverance on the part of the kids!  Some of them haven't finished the assessment yet, so they will be working throughout the next few days to finish the problems that they had left. Multiplication and division is a difficult concept that needs a lot of practice and repetition. We will continue to practice multiplication and division in school, but it would be helpful for the kids to practice at home as well.  Later in the week you will receive your child's assessment.  After looking at the assessment, I would ask that you return the back page stating that you saw the assessment. There will also be a box for you to check off if you would like some practice pages for your child to try out at home.    

Last week we also started to take a closer look at our mistakes.  We can certainly  learn a lot from the mistakes we make.  We learned about 3 types of mistakes and how we can fix those mistakes. Here is a copy of the poster we are using to help us analyze our mistakes.  You will also see these mistakes referenced on your child's Module 3 Assessment when it comes home.  

We also started to learn some of the vocabulary that goes along with our next math unit....Geometry.  Ask your child about the movements that they use to show some of the geometry vocabulary.  Your child should be able to show you point, ray, line, line segment, right angle, obtuse angle, and acute angle.  The movements really seemed to help.  With all of that practice the class was able to try "showing" what they knew last week with pretzels and marshmallows.  Here are a few pictures of their learning!

Reader's Workshop

We started our new reading unit on nonfiction.  It was fun to see all of the nonfiction around us!  The kids took a pre-assessment for this unit.  They also got to see what the fourth grade expectation is for writing about nonfiction.  The class took a look at their pre-assessment and then were able to create goals for themselves using a fourth grade exemplar (an example of what we are looking to be able to do)!

We also learned about what good readers do when reading nonfiction.  First, readers get PUMPED to read the text and connect to a text (even if they don't really like the topic).  Also we learned that readers PREVIEW a text.  Researchers have found that students who preview a text thoroughly before reading are much more successful!  Then we learned that nonfiction readers think about the TEXT STRUCTURE.  Ask your child the different text structures they learned about.    We will continue to learn about text structure this week.  When we know the text structure, it helps us to take effective notes.

A great website that I haven't introduced to the kids yet....is Wonderopolis!  It is a great website that answers many questions that kids have about our world and many other topics!  I am hoping to show this to the class this week, but it would be a great website for your child to try out at home when they are reading!

I hope everyone has a great week!
Jen