Our Week In Review

What a great week!  The Red Sox won the World Series, Trick or Treating, and we are almost finished reading  The One and Only Ivan!

We were all happy with how the story is finishing up.  We have learned about tracking characters in a story and monitoring their character traits.  We talked a lot about the difference between a feeling and a trait.  This story is rich in vocabulary and language and has offered us the ability to think deeply about our first book.  The children did a great job with it! 

Since we have just about finished reading this book, we all know how it will end (SPOILER ALERT!).  Here is a page from Zoo Atlanta, where Ivan eventually ends up. They have outlined the "real Ivan's" life in a timeline, pictures and a video of him. We will view this page on Monday. 

In Math we have started to learn about division.  We will use many of the same strategies for solving division problems as we learned for multiplication.  Once the children see the connection between the two, learning division should start to feel easier.

In Science we have started our unit on Heredity!  We had the opportunity to share photos of our ancestors (and/or our parents).  We enjoyed noticing some similarities we have seen with our classmates and their families and had a few great discussions about inherited and non-inherited traits.  Though we have just started this unit, an extra page of vocabulary was sent home with your child this week.  If he/she would like to being making flashcards or preparing for our test, this is a great way to get ahead.

We have arrived in Mexico!  We are learning about the geography, art and culture of this country.  On Halloween we learned about the Day of the Dead (el dio de los muertos) and about the celebrations that take place in Mexico on November 1st.  

From the Teacher's Desk:

Overall the students are 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, or leaving materials at school.  At the end of each day we have a 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.  If you have been returning to school regularly after hours to collect materials for homework, please let me know. Checklists or an added teacher check could be something to help with this.  

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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.

One more thing... our teachers dressed up this Halloween as four of the Power Rangers! We loved seeing them this way!

And...Spotlight on Sarah!  The teachers just LOVE her shirt.

Our Week In Review

We began our week with our "Poem Swap".  Last week, during poetry workshop, we wrote a list poem "Things to do at a Teacher Sleepover".  Mrs. Roberts' first graders wrote about the same topic (2 pages!).  We enjoyed sharing our poetry and meeting some new friends.

In Science, we took a quiz on using the Scientific Method and the Water Cycle.  We will begin our unit on Heredity next week.  One thing that we enjoy in our class (as part of our Heredity Unit) is looking at pictures of our ancestors.  The children will have homework on Monday to bring a picture of an ancestor (or two) to school on Wednesday.  We will be sharing the pictures and looking at the traits that we've inherited from our family.

In Social Studies, we began to learn about Mexico this week.  We have learned about the geography and climate of this country, and many of us would love to visit!

During writing we have wrapped up our drafts of our narrative writing.  We will revise and edit and then publish this piece.  During poetry, we have finished our list poems and are working on haikus - with a Halloween theme.  Here are some of the fun leads we wrote about Mrs. Merten's favorite personal narrative.

We continue to make our way through The One and Only Ivan, and Mrs. Merten is working at not crying when she reads!  This book has opened our eyes to animals and their feelings, as well as how some humans treat animals.  It is rich in language and content, and we have truly enjoyed it!  We will need another week and a half to finish reading and discussing this book.  Below is the "book trailer" that we saw before we began reading this book.  Once you see it, you will see why we were immediately hooked!



Book talks continue to be a big hit!

Today we had our unit assessment on the topic of Multiplication.  The children have learned to solve multiplication problems in various ways, and they are able to explain and teach another how to use their strategy.

 Next week we will begin to learn about division.

Our power point presentations are coming along nicely. We will have one more week, and we hope to finish.  Many of the students have chosen to "practice" using power point at home as well.  Mrs. Merten is very impressed with our work!

Our Week In Review

This has been QUITE a busy week in fourth grade!  We have really gotten into our book, The One and Only Ivan. The students are truly enjoying this book, and making valuable connections with themselves, other books and the world.  We have looked at pictures of the "real" Ivan, and some have even found his story online.  Here is one video I found, from the Atlanta Zoo, of Ivan in his zoo habitat.




Many students have signed up to give a "Book Talk " to our class.  We are excited to hear about the new books our friends are choosing to read!  Some students have even picked up some books that they may not have chosen a few weeks ago.  Mrs. Merten is proud of us for giving some different genres a try!

In math, we have been focusing on multiplication strategies, and we had our first quiz earlier this week.  We are learning a new way to multiply using the "area model".  This is a new way to solve multiplication problems.

 Below is a picture of one of the problems we did this morning in math.  Your child can give you the full explanation about how this model works.

 

In Science this week, we continue to discuss the scientific method. We will be completing a few more activities next week, and then we will have a quiz on this topic the following week.  As you know, we have been practicing our observation skills with the "Gorilla Cam".  We had the opportunity to practice these skills further this week with Mrs. Williams' class. We enjoyed using the microscope to observe tiny organisms from local ponds.  

Today, students took home a study guide for our Latitude and Longitude test, which will be next Thursday.  Though we haven't formally practiced using lines of Latitude and Longitude, we have covered all of the other material on the study guide, and the children have a complete vocabulary list. 

From the Teacher's Desk ~

The students have adjusted very well to the expectations of fourth grade. As you know, we are focusing largely on independence and responsibility. To that end, I have stopped checking assignment notebooks, with the exception of a few students. Students have been responsible for bringing home their materials and writing in their assignment books. I have checked the books on Friday when I check for a parent signature as well.

I wanted to mention our homework policy. You can also find it in our student handbook. Each term, students are all given a "freebie". This is one missed homework assignment, no consequence, the student just has to bring it in the next day. After the freebie, a student who misses an assignment a second, third or fourth time, must make it up (in some cases redo it) at recess. After that he/she can play. After that fourth miss, the student must miss the recess, do the homework, and write a letter to you to be signed. This is so that you are aware of the missed homework assignments and is a clear way for me to communicate that to you. Homework includes: the nightly written assignment, his/her library book, his/her nightly reading book (to be brought to and from school), the reading log (due Friday) and the parent signature in the assignment book (due Friday). The written assignments must be complete.

I know that as the year goes on, this will become second nature to your children. At this point, several students have used their "freebie" plus at least one more assignment. I'd appreciate it if you take a minute and talk with your child about his/her homework progress. If your child has missed assignments, sometimes it is helpful to set up a regular location for homework, and to have some type of checklist to be sure items are packed correctly. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this.


Enjoy the long weekend!
~Mrs. Merten

Our Week In Review

It seemed for a minute that summer had returned this week!  We were lucky enough to enjoy the warm weather while we made our terrariums in science.  As most of you saw last night at Open House, we have created a mini ecosystem which clearly demonstrates the Water Cycle. Your child will be able to clearly explain what is happening in his/her terrarium.  We will observe these terrariums throughout the year, and your child will bring it home toward the end of the school year.  I'm sure you will be impressed with the results!

In math this week, we continued to work on strategies for solving multiplication problems.  We have also been working on strategies to solve word problems, and how to explain our mathematical thinking.  We have been talking about some new math vocabulary words. Students should be fluent using the following words:

• factor
• multiple
• product
• prime number
• composite number

We will be having a quiz next week on the topics we have been learning in math during this unit.  

In Writing we have been "trying on" a variety of topics with our "quick writes". Your child can tell you all of the topics we have been discussing.  Next week we will choose one of the topics and draft that topic.  I'm excited to see where these stories will go!

We began our first Interactive Read Aloud this week.  We will be reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  This book won the Newbery Award in 2012, and you can find some information about this book here.

The main character in this book is a silverback gorilla named Ivan.  As part of this thematic unit, we will be working on our observation skills by watching real gorillas through "gorillacams".  We have started discussing the difference between scientific, factual observations and observations with feeling, such as "The baby gorilla is cute."  We will be using the camera from the National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo. I have posted the links to the cameras on the right under important links, and have also posted the links below.



San Diego "Ape Cam"

National Zoo "Gorilla Cam" (This camera is not currently working, however, I hope it will be up and running soon).

We have also started to learn how to create Power Point Presentations during our technology time on Fridays.  We will be creating presentations about this book.  The students (and their teachers) are very excited about this unit!!!

We had our Puff Mobile Race this week as well. Mrs. Merten was very impressed with how well we followed the engineering process, as well as how well we were able to work together in a group.  Our Puff Mobiles all moved, and the races were pretty close!

And the big news?  Our class won the "GOLDEN BROOM" award for leaving our classroom neatly at the end of the day.  Mr. Rousseau and Mr. Howe said we are the "MOST IMPROVED".