On Monday and Wednesday we were lucky enough to have our Poet in Residence, Ms. Elizabeth McKim come to JFK to work with our class. She spent 90 minutes with our class on each of the two days, and the children have written some beautiful poetry! (Stay tuned, you will see some of it this weekend!) Ms. Liz has a wonderful way with the children, and is able to bring out the most beautiful poetry imaginable. Below are some pictures and videos of her time with us. She will join our class at our Poetry Coffeehouse on June 10th. We hope to see you there (more details to follow)!
The Poetry Bus
During reading we began our next (and possibly last) Interactive Read Aloud, Charlotte's Web. Mrs. Merten LOVES this book, and has assured us we are going to be doing some "serious thinking" about the characters in this story. Our goals while reading this book are:
- To read with expression (Ask your child about Reader's Theater ~ and Kids ~ add a comment about how you feel about Reader's Theater).
- To understand character's actions and their motivation
- To understand the author's message through character's actions
- To understand how the characters' actions lead us to different themes.
During math, we have spent the last week reviewing the various concepts learned this year. Mrs. Merten has been quite impressed with our ability to recall the topics. Math MCAS is next Tuesday and Wednesday.
In Science we have been learning about storms. We read various non-fiction books and created a chart about the storms. Mrs. Merten shared some actual videos showing hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards (including pictures of hurricanes from the National Weather Service). Our last weather assessment is scheduled for next week.
We also cleaned out our terrariums. Your child will be bringing his/her terrarium home soon (if it didn't come home today).
We are also wrapping up our study of the midwest. We have learned so much about this part of the country. We even discussed the Continental Divide (which many parents learned about in high school!). Our assessment is also at the end of next week, and then we will travel to the west region.
Lastly, what a wonderful surprise this morning! I arrived to a sign on the classroom door,
a sign on the lawn,
and many lovely notes. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.
My favorite part of fourth grade so far is Mrs.Merten because she is funny, nice, and helpful.
ReplyDelete-Alison