Our Week In Review

What a busy return from February vacation!  After our 4th grade meeting Monday morning, we jumped right into new learning!  We extended our learning about fractions to include multiplication of whole numbers by fractions.  We also began to explore how fractions and decimals are related.  We will continue this learning for the next few weeks.

We worked hard all week to complete our research on Washington, D.C. this week.  Each student conferenced with Mrs. Merten, and discussed research, and next steps. Ask your child about this.  If your child is scheduled to meet again with Mrs. M. on Monday (he/she should know this), please remind them to bring their project (or to share their facts via Google). 

We  are ready to publish our essays, and students will be finishing these up this week.  We will also finish reading Snow Treasure this week. This adventure story has been exciting for the students.  This week, we also had the opportunity to listen to an author Skype with the authors of the Hank Zipzer series.  Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver shared their routines for writing this series about a boy who has learning challenges.  Henry Winkler (you may know him as Happy Days' "The Fonz"), shared that he is dyslexic and had a difficult time in school  His message was powerful- that everyone has a strength, everyone is brilliant.  We wrapped up our literacy this week by celebrating Read Across America Day with our school community (Check out photos from the day here).  Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We discussed plant adaptations in science this week.  On Monday we were lucky enough to have Mrs. Crowley, a professor at Dean College and a parent of a 4th grader, share her knowledge about plants.  Students dissected flowers and looked at onion cells and pollen through a microscope.  Thank you to Mrs. Crowley, and  to all of our parents who were able to come into school to support this learning!  Later in the week, we learned about internal and external adaptations of plants.  We discussed the external adaptation of a waxy coat on leaves, and the internal stem.  We have been observing an experiment with celery and food coloring.  Your child should have a lot to share about these science events.

We are working on a creative project- designing tree houses!  Check out the start of our design process!

Students have enjoyed responding to some "Thoughtful Questions". Check out their responses below.