This Week in LL38....

This is the visual that we use in the
classroom to think about main idea and details.
The details have to support the main idea
just like the legs of a stool!

Reading Workshop

     Last week we were talking about Important vs. Interesting information in a text.  Pairs of students were given either the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of the West region to become experts on.  We are learning about these two regions because they are the part of the country that has the most earthquakes.

     This week we will take our learning about important information and use it to determine the main idea and details in nonfiction texts.  This will help us to summarize texts as well.



Writing Workshop

     We are working on meeting our second draft "deadline" in writing.  The kids have been working on drafting their  second fictional narrative in writer's workshop.  They are working on going through the writing process more independently and using resources that they have and what they have learned and are trying to apply it to their second story.
     This week we will talk about revising and editing our work.  This will take a lot of thought and can be difficult for fourth graders.  It can be overwhelming to look at a story that they have written and think about fixing it, so we will talk about rereading with a "lens."  Rereading with a lens allows the kids to reread and just try to fix one particular area of their story.  For example they might just reread to find places to add dialogue or just reread for places to add similes.
     Our deadline for finishing our second draft will be this Friday.  The kids will start typing their final drafts next week in class.  This might become homework as well at the beginning of next week.

Math Workshop
     We started to move onto finding missing angles without a protractor last week in math.  Below is an example of what 4th graders are expected to do in this unit.  We have talked about being able to use all the information that we are given to determine the one missing part.  We will continue to practice this throughout this week as well.


                                                         

Valentine's Day
     I will be sending out a class list later this week that can be used for Valentine's Day cards.  We will exchange cards on Friday, February 12th.

* Just a reminder, it is the school's policy to not send in candy or food with your child to hand out to other students.

Book Order
    The deadline for Scholastic Book Orders was this past Friday.  I am extending the due date to this Tuesday, in case you wanted to purchase any books for your child!

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

This Week in LL38....

Science
     On Tuesday the kids were excited to see how their "weathering proof" structures held up over the long weekend.  First, none of the structures blew away with the wind, so that was a huge plus!  The kids were happy to see that all of the structures "weathered" the snow and rain.  Then, they got a chance to observe their structures.  They made some great observations about their structures and tried to be as detailed as possible.
    We also talked about SLOW changes versus RAPID changes to the Earth.

A visual that we used in the classroom.

Our discussion led us to begin to wonder and become curious about earthquakes. We were especially curious about WHY we (in Massachusetts) don't get many earthquakes and California gets so many!

We watched a few videos last week around tectonic plates to begin our understanding about earthquakes and why they happen.  On Friday, we got to experiment and determine the 3 things that can happen to tectonic plate boundaries.  (This experiment took A LOT of will power!)  :)

Experimenting with tectonic plate boundaries....using saltines and frosting!

**  Ask your child what they learned about what 3 things can happen to places where the tectonic plates meet.  **

Math Workshop

      In math we are continuing our Geometry unit.  Last week we talked a lot about angles, the types, estimating angles, and measuring angles.  We will continue to practice these concepts this week as well.  

     You should have received your child's Module 3 assessment data last week.  Thank you for returning them stating that you had seen the assessment.  I will send the blue sheets home on Monday, so you can use it as a reminder of what review your child could work on at home.  

    It will be very important for the kids to review these trickier concepts at home so that they can retain what they have learned in school.  I have talked to the class about using strategies that they have worked on in school when they are practicing multiplication and division at home.  We also talked about the importance for them to TRY the problems on their own at first.  If after a good effort it is still difficult, they should stop and let me know the next day.  

Reading Workshop

     Last week we worked on determining important information versus interesting information in a nonfiction text.  This can be a tricky concept for 4th graders.  We will continue to practice this in school over the next few weeks.  

     If you are looking for a way to support your child at home with reading, it would be great to read nonfiction books with your child.  Magazines or even websites like Wonderopolis would be great to use.  You could talk with your child about the information that they feel other people need to know about this topic (important information) rather than the "cool" facts.  Having conversations and encouraging your child to ask questions that might lead them to other topics of interest would also help to support what your child is learning in school.

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

We had a great week creating "weathering proof" structures in science last week!  Back in December, we started off our Earth Science unit by having the kids create statues out of play-dough.  It was a lot of fun, but the problem was that the statues started to weather and fall apart.

As scientists we learned more about some of the questions that we had around the "WHY" for the statues falling apart.  We did a lot of research and experimenting around weathering and erosion.

As a culminating activity the kids were given the same challenge of creating a statue out of play-dough, but this time they needed to use their knowledge of weathering and erosion to create a "weathering proof" structure.

The class worked like scientists as they first brainstormed their own ideas around how to solve this problem.  After brainstorming their own ideas they got together with a small group to talk about all of their ideas.  As a group they decided on the structure that they felt would be the most effective one.

Then it was off to our recycling pile!   The kids gathered the materials that they needed and got started on engineering their structure!

Below are some pictures of the kids creating their structures together!  It was amazing to see what they came up with.  We decided as a class that the most problematic form of weathering was water, so this is what they focused on.  It was so neat to see that many of the kids came up with drainage systems so that the water would drain out and away from their statue!

(The pictures below are a little out of order.  The bottom pictures are the planning stages and the pictures closer to the top are of the kids actually getting started on their structure.)

We can't wait to see what happens tomorrow when we return to school after all of the wind, rain, and snow from the weekend!

Coming Up this Week....

We had a great start to 2016!  The kids did a great job readjusting to the routine of our classroom.  

OLW

Last week the kids worked on creating One Little Word (OLW) for themselves to work on for this year in place of a New Year's Resolution.  OLW  is just that, one word that a person has as their "focus" for the year.  The kids needed to reflect on some goals that they want to achieve in 2016.  Then they were able to look at a list of words that might work.  Based off of this list, each student chose a word.  They needed to think about why they chose the word that they did and how they were going to "live" this word throughout 2016!  

On Friday, Mrs. Provost and Ms. Scanlon joined us as we all shared our words.  It was really neat to see how each student shared their word and how honest and brave the kids were to share why they chose the word that they did.  

Ask your child about their ONE LITTLE WORD!  We made signs for our desk in school and to hang on the board in the hallway, but the students could also make one for home to help them stay on track at home as well.   


Reading Workshop

We had a lot of fun using Wonderopolis last week in school.  The kids were able to find out about topics that they might not have even realized they were interested in.  They also got to browse through our nonfiction books to find books of interest.  

We have talked in class about how the kids really need to be reading nonfiction books in reading and RTI so that they can work on practicing the strategies that they are learning in school.  I know that many of the kids got new books for Christmas, so I explained that if they want to read/continue to read fiction at home that is okay.  Reading nonfiction at home would be great as well, since this would help to reinforce what we are working on in school.  

We focused on text features last week as well.  We talked about how text features help us to understand the text.    Here is an example of some of the text features that we focus on.  

  

In fourth grade it is also important to really dive in and see what we notice from certain text features such as maps, charts, timelines, and graphs.  We need to be able to ask ourselves what extra information does this give me and what can I do with this new information so that I can apply it to my learning.

Math Workshop

We will be starting our new unit on Geometry this week.  The kids took an assessment for Module 3 on Friday.  Please be on the lookout for this assessment this week.  It will give you valuable information about how you can help your child to review concepts that were difficult.

Just a reminder that Wednesday is a 1/2 day this week.  Have a great week!

~Jen

Coming Up This Week....

Happy 2016!  I hope you had a great holiday and vacation!  I am excited to start off the new year!

Reading Workshop

     We are going to be starting our Nonfiction unit in Reading Workshop this week.  Throughout the unit we will be learning about how text features in a text can help us understand a text, determining the main idea, figuring out important vs. interesting information, and  understanding the structure of a nonfiction text.
     In class I will be introducing a website called Wonderopolis to the kids.  It is a great website that answers a "wonder" each day.  Students can also search through previous "wonders" to see if they can find answers to questions that they might have.  This would be a great resource for students to go on at home as well.  Most "wonders" have text as well as a short video to go along with the answers.
     The website is:  http://wonderopolis.org/  On the website there is a section called the Wonder Jar which would be a fun activity that you and your family could try out together.  Here is some information from the website about the Wonder Jar....

The Wonder Jar was created to take all of the discussion, engagement, and exploration that is presented on the Wonderopolis site, and bring it right into the home. By choosing a “wonder” from the Wonder Jar, families will be able to share their wonders, ideas, and knowledge with each other. The Wonder Jar and its wonder entries, both pre-written and created by families themselves, is meant to create opportunities for humorous discussion, serious discussion, and general outside of the box — or outside of the “jar” — thinking!

Math Workshop
     We are continuing to work on Module 3.  This week we will be focusing on using the AREA MODEL to solve 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication problems.  This model for multiplication will be familiar to the kids because they got a lot of practice with it when they were working on 2 digit by 1 digit multiplication a few weeks ago.

Second Trimester Goals:
     This week your child will have homework on Google Docs.  Before vacation the kids wrote down what they accomplished in Trimester 1 and the goals that they had for themselves in Trimester 2.             
       They will be taking these rough drafts home so that they can type their final copy on Google Docs.  Each student has had a lot of practice signing into Google Docs in school, so they should be all set.  They will need to create a new document and share it with me.  They will not need to print at home.  All of this will be explained to the kids tomorrow, but I wanted to make you aware of this homework.  It will be due on Wednesday.

I am looking forward to a great 2016 with this class!  Have a great week!
~Jen