Weekly Update 9/22/13

Believe it or not, we are already halfway through the first quarter!  I will be sending home Mid-Quarter Reports in your child's Tuesday Mail Folder.  Please make sure to read over the report and send it back to school signed the following day.

Don't forget school picture day is Wednesday.  If you would like to order pictures, please make sure your child brings the picture order form back to school with them by Wednesday.  Also, there will be no school on Friday due to teacher professional development.

In reading, we have been working on asking questions before, during, and after reading non-fiction books. We have been recording our thinking as "I wonder statements", and then reflecting back as we read to see if our questions have been answered.  This strategy helps children monitor their comprehension as they read. The students learned lots of new facts about snakes during the process!

We had an exciting week in writing, as the class finished the publishing of their first writing workshop pieces. We celebrated our accomplishment by having a "gallery walk".  Students displayed their personal narratives on stands, just like pieces of art.  Children moved around the room reading each other's work and leaving positive feedback for their peers, as soft music played in the background.

In math, the students have been learning about algebra with addition and subtraction.  They have been learning how to write and solve expressions and equations both with and without variables.  We have also been studying the properties of addition.  Next week, we will wrap up Chapter 4 with learning how to balance equations and review the unit for a test.

We have started our science unit on ecosystems.  Each child should have a bag of vocabulary flash cards behind the science tab in their binders.  Students should be studying these words throughout the unit.  It can be easier to start with a few words and then add on words as we move through the concepts.  I have been recording the suggested words to study on the nightly assignments.  The children are currently working on a class activity that allows them to learn about animal adaptations by camouflaging "butterflies" to help them survive in their ecosystems.

Children got to meet their first grade buddies from Mrs. Owen's class this week.  While getting to know each other, they also practiced the habit of being proactive from Leader in Me.  They worked together on how they could solve common problems that might arise at school and home.

Salt Dough Map Extra Credit

Today, students received information about an optional extra credit project for social studies.  The project is to make a salt dough map of Missouri that shows the state's regions, rivers, and levels of elevation.  Each child has been given a packet of information that contains a scoring guide, instructions, and a blank map. This is an at home project, and class time will not be given to complete it.

Again, this is optional.  We have wrapped up our social studies and have switched over to learning science concepts for the quarter.  If your child would like a chance to boost up their social studies grade, this project would be a good opportunity to do so.  Grades can be accessed on SIS.  The due date for the salt dough map project will be Monday, October 7th.  No late projects will be accepted.

Weekly Update 9/14/13

School picture day will be coming up on September 25th.  If you would like to order school pictures please fill out the picture order form that came home in your child's mail folder on Friday, and return it to school with your child by the 25th.

This Wednesday, the 18th will be our first early release day.  Students will be dismissed beginning at 1:40. Please make sure to discuss with your child what their plans will be for going home that day in case it varies from the normal routine.

In reading this week, we continued to work with various non-fiction texts.  The students worked with partners to learn a strategy called Close Reading, which allows them to navigate and comprehend complex expository text more easily.  Children highlighted headings, underlined topic sentences, and found key words that enabled them to respond to questions about what they were reading.  Reading partners did a wonderful job helping each other with this strategy!

In math, we have been practicing column addition and subtracting with regrouping.  The students also worked on solving word problems and determining whether they needed to find an estimate or an exact answer to the problem.  We used our Close Reading in math as well, as students searched for words like "about" to alert them that estimation was needed.

We wrapped up Chapter 1 in our Missouri books for social studies with learning about ways we can conserve the important renewable and non-renewable resources of our state.  Now that mid-quarter is approaching, we will be switching our focus to science for the next several weeks.  Our first science unit will cover ecosystems. 

The students are nearing the end of the writing process for their personal narratives.  This week we focused on learning how to divide longer pieces of writing into paragraphs.  They have been using editing checklists with writing partners to check for correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.  I have been conferencing with the students to review all of their hard work.  Several children have now moved on to the publishing step of writing their final drafts.

Students took their first eValuate tests in both math and reading this week.  All students in grades 3-5 take these tests throughout the year as a way to practice for end of the year MAP state testing.  The eValuate tests cover the entire fourth grade curriculum, so often times students will not know how to answer every question on the tests early in the year.  The tests do not count towards their report card grades, but instead are used as a tool for me to see what topics the children need instruction on and to monitor their progress throughout the year.  You will begin to see these tests come home in the students' mail folders soon. I was very proud of the class's effort and we took a fun "brain break" after our tests by breaking out some dance moves! 

Weekly Update 9/7/13

We accomplished a lot during this short week!

I want to update everyone that each child should have a laminated copy of all of their various passwords and logins that is hole-punched and in their binder.  I hope this is helpful when students would like to extend the practice of what we are doing at school while they are home.  The laminated copy should stay in their binders at all times because we also refer to these for work on the computers and iPads at school.

Most of the week in math was spent reviewing place value.  We also started our next unit on addition and subtraction.  If your child is still struggling with their basic facts in addition and subtraction, they should be practicing regularly at home.  Fact practice is ongoing at school as well, and I encourage your child to use the website XtraMath.  There is a link to the website directly from this blog.  The children are practicing mental math strategies and learning to estimate the sums and differences of problems.

In writing, students have been working on the drafting and revision steps of the writing process with their personal narratives.  Our emphasis has been on revising the beginning and ending of the story, so that their writing begins with a lead that "hooks" the reader's attention and ends with a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.  We work together to create anchor charts of our revising ideas, such as the one below.

The readers in our room are extending their clarifying strategies into non-fiction texts this week.  We have also started to explore non-fiction text features that can help us comprehend better, such as the table of contents, glossaries, and headings.  We will continue to work on text features next week.

In social studies the students are learning about the natural resources of Missouri, and well as the importance of conserving our resources.  They have been practicing writing the global "address" of locations by using latitude and longitude.  Students have a quiz on Monday covering the five regions and two major rivers of our state.  They should be able to locate and label them on a map.  Check out some of the fantastic finished This Hand is My Land projects!