Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Fourth Grade News
Be sure to check out our Fourth Grade News page for information and a link to an interesting Ted Talk!
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Meteorologist!
November 29, 2016
Dear Fourth Grade Families,
Today, WBZ-TV meteorologist Danielle Niles came to JFK to speak with our fourth graders. Ms. Niles shared a video about how channel 4’s weather team works, along with some weather trivia questions. She then shared information about different types of weather, and shared photos from a trip while she was “Storm Chasing”. She also took questions from the students.
While she was here, Ms. Niles took 2 brief videos of the fourth graders. Our video will air on Thursday (12/1/16) at 5:10 and 6:10 AM. The link will also be posted online.
Be sure to tune in (or set your DVR) to see your child’s television debut!
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Thanksgiving Speeches and Our Short Week
We have been working on multiplying in math. This is a new concept and is challenging for many students. Practicing with partners has helped with our confidence. In addition, practicing multiplication facts will help your child to feel more confident. 
Our speeches were a huge success! A few children requested that we video tape their speech. The children did a great job stepping outside of their comfort zones and speaking in front of the class.
We even had the chance to craft with our fourth grade friends!
Have a wonderful few days!
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Student Survey
Students ~ Please complete this survey.
Thank you!
Please complete this survey to help Mrs. Merten know what books you would like for our classroom library.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Our Past Two Weeks in Review - Happy Thanksgiving!
It has been a very, very busy two weeks!
We wrapped up our first Interactive Read Aloud (IRA), Mr. Popper's Penguins, with our Black and White Day Celebration, and a visit from Mr. Whitmore! We enjoyed creating Antarctic Art, playing Win, Lose or Draw with vocabulary and characters from the book, and penguin art. We also wrapped up our book with a comprehension/vocabulary check. Students brought home their Interactive Read Aloud Journals this week to share their learning from this IRA. If you didn't see this journal, please check in with your child, and he/she can bring it home again to share with you.
We have also finished publishing our personal narratives. We are working on fine tuning our sentence writing this week, and will begin our fiction stories after Thanksgiving Break.
We began our unit about multiplication strategies during math. These strategies are new to students, and often new for parents as well. Check our blog regularly for quick videos to support your child with math homework. You may find videos in the blog or in our twitter feed to the right. Become a twitter follower (@mertenladybugs) and you will receive automatic updates when these are tweeted. Over the next few weeks, we will learn a variety of strategies to solve multiplication problems. Students will learn different strategies, and then make a choice about what works best for them. Knowing a variety of strategies allows students to (1)have a way to double check work, (2)demonstrate clear understanding multiplication and the value of the numbers, (3) see quickly if an answer doesn't make sense.
We continue to learn about the weather in science and Mexico in social studies.
Thanksgiving speeches will take place on Tuesday morning. Students have been reminded to continue to practice their speech, using the rubric to focus on public speaking. At this time, students should have the speech written, and should be practicing "giving the speech". Starting off at home makes this a more comfortable activity for the children. Some suggestions for practicing are to present:
We wrapped up our first Interactive Read Aloud (IRA), Mr. Popper's Penguins, with our Black and White Day Celebration, and a visit from Mr. Whitmore! We enjoyed creating Antarctic Art, playing Win, Lose or Draw with vocabulary and characters from the book, and penguin art. We also wrapped up our book with a comprehension/vocabulary check. Students brought home their Interactive Read Aloud Journals this week to share their learning from this IRA. If you didn't see this journal, please check in with your child, and he/she can bring it home again to share with you.
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| Thank you, Mr. Whitmore! |
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| Line Plot of our Black and White Snacks |
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| Win, Lose or Draw |
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| Antarctic Art! |
Book Talks
Learning about New Words
We have also finished publishing our personal narratives. We are working on fine tuning our sentence writing this week, and will begin our fiction stories after Thanksgiving Break.
We began our unit about multiplication strategies during math. These strategies are new to students, and often new for parents as well. Check our blog regularly for quick videos to support your child with math homework. You may find videos in the blog or in our twitter feed to the right. Become a twitter follower (@mertenladybugs) and you will receive automatic updates when these are tweeted. Over the next few weeks, we will learn a variety of strategies to solve multiplication problems. Students will learn different strategies, and then make a choice about what works best for them. Knowing a variety of strategies allows students to (1)have a way to double check work, (2)demonstrate clear understanding multiplication and the value of the numbers, (3) see quickly if an answer doesn't make sense.
 |
| Student Comfort Level BEFORE Thursday's Math Lesson |
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| Student Comfort Level AFTER Thursday's Math Lesson |
We continue to learn about the weather in science and Mexico in social studies.
Thanksgiving speeches will take place on Tuesday morning. Students have been reminded to continue to practice their speech, using the rubric to focus on public speaking. At this time, students should have the speech written, and should be practicing "giving the speech". Starting off at home makes this a more comfortable activity for the children. Some suggestions for practicing are to present:
- in front of stuffed animals
- in front of a pet/pets
- for a friend/sibling
- to parents
- over Facetime/Skype with a family member
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| Way to Go! |
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