Dear Families, Just a reminder that we have a busy week next week! Monday we are on a field trip all day, Thursday we have student-led conferences, and there is no school on Friday for a faculty and staff professional development day. If you have not had a chance to send in your hopes and dreams for your child, please do so prior to our conference. We have recently started using Google Classroom as a way to share documents and links connected to our curriculum. For example, fourth graders used links compiled in Google Classroom to research National Parks to add to their state pamphlet. This is also a platform where students can share their written assignments and receive feedback during the publishing process. We will continue to explore the many different ways to utilize Google Classroom to support our projects and assignments . Social Studies This week in social studies we started discussing the importance of whaling in the Northeast. We learned important whaling dates, which whales were hunted, and the different paths that ships took on their voyages. We were amazed by how many traveled from New Bedford. Check out the photo section to see a few moments from our trip! Social/Emotional Learning During morning meeting, we learned a new social thinking activity called Should I? Or Shouldn’t I?, which explores social behaviors from different people’s perspectives. Fourth graders listened to a variety of everyday scenarios and were asked to think about the expected and unexpected behavior of the situation. Students rated the scenario using a behavioral scale. The behavior scale is a tool that helps students have a common language with how social behaviors are perceived. To hear from multiple perspectives, they shared with each other how they would rate the same scenario. We spent time discussing the situations and why people rated it the way they did and how they viewed the situation. This is a wonderful activity for students to practice their problem-solving skills and to see how an individual's behavior can impact the the relationships they have with other people. Math Fourth graders used basic multiplication and division facts to find factors and multiples. They added factors and multiples resources to their math notebooks to refer to when working independently. Students continued using IXL focusing on the recommendations that were identified from the diagnostics. We also watched a video about the importance of struggle in math. Check out the video HERE . Language Arts Students have started typing their published stories. Through mini-lessons, students are learning how to revise their written work on a computer. When revising, students are checking for a clear beginning, middle, and end. They are also looking to add descriptive words, remove unwanted sentences, and expand upon areas that could use more detail. Have a wonderful weekend!
Warmly, Brigid
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Dear Families, Fourth graders have started to prepare for Student-Led conferences, which are coming up on October 24th and October 25th. To help identify strengths and goals, students started thinking about social and academic skills that are practiced throughout our day. They were then asked to reflect on how these skills apply to their learning and whether it is a strength or a growing edge. Next week, fourth graders will identify specific strengths and goals for language arts, math, and social/emotional learning that they will share with you at the conference. A new classroom job in fourth grade is a news reporter. The role of the news reporter is to share current events that they find interesting. They could cut an article out of a newspaper, share a video from the internet, or simply relay facts that they learned about a topic of interest. Each week the news reporter will be on the lookout for current events to share with our class. This job is meant to be fun and spark interest about what is happening in the world around us. I’m always happy to help the news reporter the find time and resources to fulfill their job. This week, one student researched Indigenous People’s Day and presented it through a slideshow. Below are a few curriculum highlights: Math
Social Studies
Language Arts
Have a wonderful weekend! Warmly, Brigid Dear Families, Student-Led Conferences are coming up on Wednesday, October 24th and Thursday, October 25th. Please note that there is no school on Thursday, October 25th due to the Student-Led conferences. (There is also no school on Friday, October, 26th). When students are not taking part in the conference, they can go to the library for childcare. Students will be present for a short time at the beginning of the conference. Please let me know if you have any questions about the conference format or the date/time of your conference. Please read a few curriculum highlights from the week: Language Arts During Writer’s Workshop, fourth graders are learning how to be a writing buddy as a way to confer about a story. A writing buddy listens to or reads a classmates story and provide positive feedback. Students have been practicing giving compliments and helpful suggestions. Below are the starter sentences used as a guide:
Fourth graders are learning that being a writing buddy means being an active listener. Another component to being a writing buddy is helping a friend proofread for capitalization, punctuation, order, and spelling. As we get more into the writing process, students will taking time to confer with either a teacher or a peer prior to publishing a story. Math In math, we continue to solidify multiplication skill through a variety of lessons, games, and activities. This week, fourth graders learned the partial-products algorithm to solve a multiplication problem. This is just one strategy that fourth graders can add to their problem-solving tool kit. Below is an example to show how the algorithm works. Social Studies Students have been learning the states and capitals of the Northeast. Next week, fourth graders will have a quiz to check their knowledge of the nine states and capitals of the region. During Mix It Up Social Studies, each student has been given one of the nine states to research. They will then make a pamphlet of their state to share with the group next week. The research and pamphlet will all be completed in school. Since fourth grade learns about whaling, we have started reading an adaption of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Each child has a copy of the book and we will be reading it as a whole group or in partners over the next few weeks. Have a wonderful weekend! Warmly, Brigid |
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May 2019
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