What a week of learning! Even though our week was short, the students are working hard to learn new concepts. Though it has been a few weeks, with the snow days and long weekend, some students are still adjusting to the return to school after break. We are all looking forward to a full week next week!
READING/WRITING UPDATE
Students continue to share books they love through our daily book talks. All students are encouraged to give a book talk when they find a book they love. Please encourage your child to do this, too! We extended our Little Dog, Lost unit, with reading nonfiction. Students have been reading nonfiction books about dogs, and watching short nonfiction videos about dogs, with the goal of writing a short essay about a specific dog. We discussed the author's purpose when writing nonfiction. We connected this work to our writer's workshop, where we are learning how to write essays and the structure of essay writing. Students have done a wonderful job reading like writers and writing like readers. On Monday, we will finish writing our dog summaries, and will discuss what type of family would be a good fit for this dog. We will wrap up our study with a Dog Day celebration on Wednesday. Your child took a notice home about this on Friday.
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| Sorting homophones by part of speech |
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| Sorting homophones by part of speech |
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| Sorting homophones by part of speech |
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| Sorting homophones by part of speech |
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| Book Talk |
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| Book Talk |
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| Book Talk |
MATH UPDATE
We will be wrapping up the first part of our fraction learning on Tuesday, with a fraction assessment. The students have worked very hard to learn these new concepts. Many have expressed that fractions are "hard". Students should begin to feel more comfortable in the next few weeks, as we continue learning about fractions. Students were assigned a fraction project (homework) which is due on Thursday. Information went home with students yesterday. In our next math unit, we will build on our fraction knowledge and extend it to addition and subtraction of fractions. If your child is still feeling unsure about fraction concepts, these suggested at home activities will help develop the concepts, and will help with studying:
- Practice multiplication and division facts. Knowing these facts automatically will help when finding equivalent fractions. This will also help to understand and identify prime and composite numbers, as well as finding factors and multiples of a number. There are several websites on our Curriculum Links page which can help with this, but simple flashcards are also effective.
- Play online math games ~ the children love to have computer time. This is a great way to reinforce their learning. Math games can be found on the Curriculum Links page, and there are some fun games for comparing fractions and finding prime and composite numbers. on that page.
- Use the Pearson Realize website. There are many games there. Students can also find the "Center Activities" when they log into Pearson. These are some of the math games that we use in class.
- Students can play "Build a Hexagon". This is a dice game and the students use pattern blocks to represent fractions. Students are able to bring these home if interested.
In class, we will continue to have a teacher table during math, and the students can also check in with a teacher first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. We are working on reflecting on our learning, being responsible for our learning, and asking specific questions. For example, rather than saying, "Can you help me with fractions?", students are asked to be specific, such as, "Can you help me when comparing fraction on a number line?". This allows the students to realize and celebrate their successes while understanding areas that need a little more time and practice.
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| using fraction strips |
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| using fraction strips |
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| using fraction strips |
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| using fraction strips |
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| using fraction strips |
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATE
During Social Studies, we have taken our US travels to our home region, the Northeast. We will stay in the Northeast for about 3 weeks, before traveling to Washington, D.C.
During Science, we have started to look at animal adaptations, and enjoyed checking out the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam. Students can observe adaptations of these birds!
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| learning about the Northeast with other fourth grade classes |
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| Animal Adaptations |
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| Animal Adaptations |
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| Animal Adaptations |
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| Animal Adaptations |
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| Animal Adaptations |
CREATIVE ARTS FRIDAY UPDATE
We were happy to get back to Creative Arts Friday! During Project Based Learning time, we are working on researching a National Park , in order to complete a project about that park with our group. During Technology Workshop we began to think about creating videos to share some learning with other fourth graders. We brainstormed ideas this week. In poetry workshop we learned about Robert Frost and will be writing free verse poems using strong imagery in the next few weeks. Here is Robert Frost reading his poem The Road Not Taken.
From the Teacher's Desk:
Overall the students continue doing a fine job completing homework and returning it to school. Some students are struggling with the organization of this; completing the homework at home but leaving it there, leaving materials at school, or forgetting to obtain parent signatures on reading logs or in assignment notebooks. At the end of each day we have a 15 minute dedicated time to write in our assignment notebooks, get our mail and pack up our materials. Please check in with your child to see how he/she feels homework is going. Though our fourth grade focus is on "independence and responsibility", students master this at different rates. If you have been returning to school regularly after hours to collect materials for homework, please let me know. If your child is having difficulties, perhaps an assignment notebook check at home daily would help. Checklists or an added teacher check could also be something to help with this as well.
Though I've posted the tips below before, I wanted to share them again. Sometimes making one adjustment to homework time can make a big difference. As always, please contact Mrs. Merten with any questions or concerns specific to your child.
GENERAL HOMEWORK TIPS FOR PARENTS
(Reposted from the Department of Education. You can see the full article here.)
✪ Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do homework.
Avoid having your child do homework with the television on or in places with other distractions, such as people coming and going.
✪ Make sure the materials your child needs, such as paper, pencils and a dictionary, are available. Ask your child if special materials will be needed for some projects and get them in advance.
✪ Help your child with time management. Establish a set time each day for doing homework. Don‘t let your child leave homework until just
before bedtime. Think about using a weekend morning or afternoon for working on big projects, especially if the project involves getting together with classmates.
✪ Be positive about homework. Tell your child how important school is. The attitude you express about homework will be the attitude your child acquires.
✪ When your child does homework, you do homework. Show your child that the skills they are learning are related to things you do as an adult. If your child
is reading, you read too. If your child is doing math, balance your checkbook.
✪ When your child asks for help, provide guidance, not answers. Giving answers means your child will not learn the material. Too much help teaches your child that when the going gets rough, someone will do the work for him or her.
✪ When the teacher asks that you play a role in homework, do it. Cooperate with the teacher. It shows your child that the school and home are a team. Follow the directions given by the teacher.
✪ If homework is meant to be done by your child alone, stay away.
Too much parent involvement can prevent homework from having some positive effects. Homework is a great way for kids to develop independent, lifelong learning skills.
✪ Stay informed. Talk with your child‘s teacher. Make sure you know the purpose of homework and what your child‘s class rules are.
✪ Help your child figure out what is hard homework and what is easy homework. Have your child do the hard work first. This will mean he will be most alert when facing the biggest challenges. Easy material will seem to go fast when fatigue begins to set in.
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