Our Week in Review

This was a very busy week in Room 24!  We continued to work on learning about place value and we practiced addition and subtraction.  We are really focusing on using the "traditional algorithm" to add and subtract.  Your child will be able to show you this method, and you probably will remember this from your own childhood!  We have our second math test on Tuesday.  A study guide went home, and you can also find one in our important documents gadget to the right.

In writing, we have been working on writing some seed ideas. The children are familiar with this, and it has been a good way for me to see their writing skills and to hear their voice!  We have finished writing goals for this school year, and some of the children were proud to say they have already accomplished one or more!

In reading, we continue to focus on reading strategies and thinking while we read. I have continued to remind the children that the same book should be read at school during reading zone and at home for the nightly reading.  Regular reading of the same material allows the children to focus on plot, characters and their traits, and other higher level reading skills.  I'm looking forward to starting our first interactive read aloud in a week or so.

This week we worked diligently to prepare for our puff mobile races.  We worked in groups to:

• work cooperatively
• practice the engineering steps 
• create a puff mobile

This ended with a rousing race in the gym.  Your child can tell you the specifics, but our class did REALLY WELL!  

The beginning of the design process

Testing designs

Testing our designs and choosing a puffer!

choosing jobs and beginning our design

ready to race!

Classroom winners

ready to race!

ready to race!

Classroom winners ~ boys

Classroom winners ~ girls

ready to race!

Our winning group

BEFORE THE RACE!

Here are a few videos from the race!

 










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

We had a busy week in Room 24!

In Reading we reviewed how to write in reading journals.  The students are reading a LOT. We have worked at filling bookbags, and in the next few weeks I will finish meeting with everyone about their reading choices.  It takes a while for the routines to become natural, but the children are doing a great job practicing these!

In Writing we finished writing our goals for fourth grade.  Mrs. Merten has been helping us edit them for publishing.  We also began writing about an important person in our lives.  Next week we'll continue to write about important places and objects.  We are also working on our poetry with Mrs. Williams.   You can read more about that in our Creative Arts Chronicles.

In Math we've been reviewing place value, and learning some new strategies for reading and writing BIG numbers (to the billions place).  The best way to improve at this is practice, practice, practice!  Mrs. Merten has also encouraged us to practice our math facts using our Math Fact Practice Link (located under the curriculum link).  We can earn chips for this!

 

This week we had our Summer Reading Reward Show, Bubblemania.  Fourth grade had 100% of the students return their reading logs!  Way to Go!  We enjoyed the show, and our very own Declan was put inside a bubble!  It was really fun!

We have also been working on our Puff Mobiles.  We can't wait to race them next week!

 

The Creative Arts Chronicles

Our first month of Creative Arts Fridays has been a huge success.  The children are adjusting nicely to the routine and enjoy the independence involved in switching classes.  It has been fun for us to get to know another group of students as well.

            In Poetry workshop, we have written Bio Poems which will be on display at Open House.  Some of us have even written bio poems about characters from our books. We have begun studying Walt Whitman.  Click here to listen to a wax cylinder recording of Whitman as he reads from “America.”  Everyone agreed that it was cool to hear Whitman read his poem, especially since he has been dead for over 120 years! We learned that Whitman often wrote in the style of free verse poetry and used the poetic technique of “catalogue,” to write some of his poems.  We began preparing for MCAS by answering questions about “The Runner,” and discussed some test taking strategies when answering poetry questions. We will be using Whitman’s poems as mentor texts, as well as a collection of poems by Georgia Heard, called Falling down the Page, to write list poems in the coming weeks.  Too much fun!!!

            The children are excited about chorus and sound really good already! The concert in December will be great, we can just tell.

            It is so exciting that we get to have Art class on Fridays with Mrs. Hess!  Who wouldn’t want to spend forty minutes creating art and letting the creative juices flow? We are so lucky! In Art class, Mrs. Hess has been discussing elements of art and has been working on a unit on Value.  Grandma Moses is the artist of the month for 4^th graders!  The students have been working with colored pencils and they will be creating landscapes by painting. Today was our first day painting! The next focus will be on using Value and Form with three dimensional shapes.  There will be a sculpture component to this next phase of the Value unit.  We can’t wait to see what is created.

            We are really excited about working in our technology lab.  This summer we got new computers in there, and we are learning how to use them.  We have learned to sign into the computer using our user name and password.  It is exciting to think that everything we save in our folders will be available to us next year, and even after we leave Kennedy School!  We have learned how to use Microsoft Office in order to format and type our biopoems.  In the next few weeks we will begin to learn about different Internet websites.  We are very excited about this!

~Artfully Yours,
Mrs. Merten & Mrs. Williams

Our Playground Dedication!

Today we had a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate our playground.  It was a great day! We even performed our Kennedy School Song for the first time!

Thanks to Mrs. Williams for these awesome videos!

Our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Our New School Song

Our Week in Review

Last week was quite a week in room 24!

In Math, we continued to study geometry.  We talked about different attributes of shapes and made some polygons out of twist ties and straws.  We also learned about convex and concave shapes.  Be sure to ask your child about this.  Our first math test is this Friday.  It is on Unit 1 in Everyday Mathematics.  Students received a study guide today.  In addition, your child may find the following page a good resource for preparing for the test. (Be sure to click on Unit 1).

Math Study Resources

In Writing we began to write goals for fourth grade.  We also worked on our poems about ourselves with Mrs. Williams. We have worked out our schedule and the rules for Reader's Workshop, too.  We did a lot of talk about how to choose a "Just Right" book.  You can find the information on how to choose a just right book below.

We had our first visit from our "Engineer in Residence", Mr. Adams on Friday.  He spoke with us about the importance of having a design plan when you are faced with a project.  We will use the engineering design plan in order to create a "Puff Mobile".  This is a vehicle which moves by "air power" only (puffs of breath).  We will be working on these for the next few weeks, and will have a fourth grade race in October.  Below are pictures Mr. Adams' presentation.  Here is the video Mr. Adams showed to us on Friday.

Below are some pictures of the first few weeks of school.



Yesterday was Constitution Day. This is the day we honor the signing of the US Constitution, and this year was the 225th anniversary of the signing. We did some activities in our class today, and watched a few short videos.  One of the videos you may remember, Schoolhouse Rock ~ The Preamble.

From the Teacher's Desk

In reading last week, we discussed choosing "Just Right" books. The children are learning to independently choose books that are "just right" for them. I have asked them to take the following steps when choosing a book~
1. Look at the cover ~ notice things that are familiar, authors they love, or titles they've been hoping to read.
2. Read the back ~ this is so important! Check to see if the book is interesting to you!
3. Do the 5 finger rule (I'm sure your child can explain this well!)
4. Look for clunks

You may notice that the books your child reads are shorter and may look easier than you are used to. It is important that the children are able to finish a book in 2 weeks in order for me to cover important skills and strategies in reading.

I hope your child has adjusted to the beginning of fourth grade. I have really enjoyed getting to know them, and I'm looking forward to a great year.

Guest Reader

Today we were joined by our assistant principal Mrs. Dressler.  She read a funny book to us called School Picture Day, by Lynn Plourde.  We loved hearing about Josephina and her troubles at school on picture day!

Our First Week

Our first week was a great success!  We learned all about what fourth grade will be like, and we got to know each other better!  We started to learn about geometry in math, and began Reader's Workshop. We were very excited to look through the books on our bookshelves and to borrow them!

Friday is going to be Creative Arts Day!  This past Friday we had a poetry workshop, art and chorus. We are excited about starting "Technology Friday" next week as well!

Last Friday we also learned that we are allowed to learn to play a variety of instruments such as strings, brass and woodwind.  Here is a link to the Franklin Public Schools String School. We were treated to a demonstration of these instruments by the Franklin Music Department.  You can see a video of the instrument demonstration below.




Next week we will be learning more about geometry in math.  We will begin Writer's Workshop and read much more!  


From the Teacher's Desk:
I am looking forward to seeing you at our Parent Information session on Wednesday after school.  I will begin our first session promptly at 3:00 so that I'll be prepared to begin our second session on time.  If you are unable to attend, please let me know, and I will send home the information I discuss with your child. 
~ Katie Merten