Wind Video- Bill Nye the Science Guy

Here is the link to the Bill Nye video about Wind.  The video will help to illustrate the concepts we learned in school.

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".

Our Week In Review

 Our week was filled with science activities.  We have been closely monitoring our growing grass seed, and have found that some of our hypotheses were right on the money!  We will continue to grow and water our grass for another week or two, and then develop a conclusion to our experiment. We also had a chance to look in microscopes at salt and at pond water.  We worked with Mrs. Williams' class and enjoyed sharing our water samples.

 

We also learned some new games in math to help us to practice our multiplication facts. This week we had a chance to play Baseball Multiplication and Multiplication top it.  Both of these games can be played at home with dice or playing cards, and are excellent ways to practice math facts.

From the Teacher's Desk:

Our first science quiz/assessment is scheduled for Tuesday.  The children have a study guide, with the vocabulary needed written on the back.  I have asked all students to bring home their science folders.  In addition, we took some time today to look at the test, so that the children will not be surprised when they see it.  I have explained that tests are not to "trick" students, a test is simply one way to determine what they are learning.

I have seen some improvement with students completing homework and returning it to school, however it continues to be a struggle for some children.  Please check in with your child to see how homework is going. Remembering to pack it is just as important as completing the assignment.  If you are looking for some suggestions on helping with homework, you can find some here.

School hours ~
Our school opens the doors at 8:15 each morning. This allows the children to enter the building, arrive at their classes and unpack before school officially begins at 8:30 AM.  Many of the children are entering our classroom at 8:30 or later.  If the children enter the classroom later than 8:30, they are marked late for school.  Additionally, I begin some type of announcement or discussion after the school wide announcements in the morning.  If your child is arriving at 8:30, taking 5-7 minutes to unpack his/her bag and get settled, he/she is missing some important information for the day.  Often times assignments required at that morning time are not completed, and the day begins with a challenge.  I've been encouraging the children to arrive sometime between 8:15 and 8:25, so that they have ample time to get organized and unpacked before instruction begins.  I realize that this isn't always possible, and that the morning time can be hectic, but I wanted to be sure all families were aware of this.