Our (2) Weeks in Review

It has been a very, very busy two weeks in Room 24!

Last week, we learned about the water cycle.  We created water cycle wheels, and then created our terrariums.  We can see the water cycle in action in our terrariums, and can even see precipitation.  These will continue to grow in our classroom throughout the year, and we will continue to observe the water cycle.

It was great to see so many families attend Open House last week!  Thank you for taking the time to tour our classroom with your child.  I know they were excited to share their classroom day with you. A link to our parent/teacher conference sign up was sent home last week.  If you haven't had a chance to sign up, you can do so here.

Race Day!

Top 3 Boy/Girl Puffers

The Winning Design!

In the past two weeks, we have been practicing using the Engineering Process while building our Puff Mobiles  We learned a lot about engineering, and about working with each other.  This awesome learning opportunity wrapped up on Thursday with our Puff Mobile Race!  Our class had the winning design!  You will find more pictures of our race on the Fourth Grade News site.  Check out our "tweets" as well.

During Reading, we have really begun to share our love of books!  Students have voluntarily signed up to share a book that they love.  Book Talks are given every day during reading!  Check out some of our brave fourth graders!  Awesome work!  We have also been practicing choosing "Just Right" books.  We went over the steps students should take earlier this year.  After several weeks of practicing this, we had a review session! Students checked the books in their book bags with a friend to determine if they were "Just Right" for them.  This is something we will continue to work on.

We have been learning about multiplication and division in math.  Students have been doing a great job explaining their thinking to one another.  Students should be practicing their multiplication facts regularly in order to develop automaticity.  This will be very important as the year progresses. During technology today we learned how to use the website quizlet.com.  This site allows students to create electronic flash cards.  Many flash card sets have already been created.  The site also has an app that can be used  on an ipad or ipod as well.  This is just one way to practice multiplication facts in a fun way.

Looking Ahead:

• Our next math assessment will be October 25.  This assessment will cover topic 1: Multiplication
• We will begin our first Interactive Read Aloud next week.  Stay tuned for pictures and tweets about this next week!
• We will continue to work on Map Skills in Social Studies and Weather in Science.  (Check out the Important Dates Gadget for scheduled test dates).

SURVEYS

If you haven't had a chance to complete our survey, please do.  I appreciate all of the feedback.

Please take a minute to share your feelings about fourth grade. Choose the appropriate link to complete:

• Parent Survey
• Student Survey

Open House- Thank you!

Thank you to all who participated in our "Think About It Thursday" (parent edition).  The children loved reading your responses!

From the Teacher's Desk

Please contact Mrs. Merten if you haven't been receiving parent emails.  To sign up for a parent/teacher conference, please view sign up here.

Parent Conference Sign Up

Click here for the parent/teacher conference sign up.  Please let me know if you have any difficulty signing up.

You will receive an email reminder a few days before your scheduled date and time.

Thank you!

T-Shirt of the Day

Yes, she is!

Hey there everyone!  This week we will be learning about weather tools that meteorologists use when forecasting the weather.  Check out these videos to see what we will be learning.  Anyone want to try to write their own weather tool song?  See Mrs. Merten! 

Author Alert!

In October, An Unlikely Story Bookstore in Plainville has several author events.  Typically, the authors give a presentation, answer questions and sign books.  All events require preregistration. More information about these events can be found at the bookstore's event page here.

• October 4 ~ Rick Riordan (this event seems to be sold out)
• October 5 ~ Patrick McDonnell- Author/Illustrator of Tek: The Modern Caveboy

• October 15 ~CeCe Bell - Author of El Deafo and the NEW Inspector Flytrap Series

• October 18 ~ Nick Bruel - Author/Illustrator of the Bad Kitty Series

• October 24 ~ Chris Grabenstein- Author of Escape from Mr. Lemincello's Library 

Our Week In Review

Fall has finally arrived!

Our mantra this week was "Always Stick Together".  We applied this mantra while working on our puff mobiles this week.  We are almost ready for our race!

We wrapped up our 2nd math unit about addition and subtraction this week. Our test today was a HUGE success!  Way to go 4th graders!

We continue to learn about prefixes, and how to use our knowledge of root words and prefixes to figure out the meanings of unknown words.  Students have started to use these skills in their reading.

On Thursday we enjoyed a fabulous Skype with author Amy Nielander, author of The Ladybug Race. She shared her process of writing, and the steps she takes when writing a book! What an interesting story she shared! Ask your child about the steps she took to get her book published.

This week, students began sharing their love of books by giving book talks to our class.  When students share books they love, other students get excited about reading the books as well. Though it is hard to speak in front of your peers, two brave students volunteered this week.  We now have 7 more students signed up for book talks!  We can't wait to hear more about what books our friends love!

Our fourth graders worked this week to help stop hunger.  This month, Midas participated in a program to "Drive Out Hunger".  For each "meal" drawn on a plate and tweeted, Midas will donate a meal to Feeding America.  Here are a few of our "meals".  Stay tuned for a picture of ALL of us!

If you would like to participate, share this video, and Midas will donate a meal!

SURVEYS

Please take a minute to share your feelings about fourth grade. Choose the appropriate link to complete:

• Parent Survey
• Student Survey

Looking Ahead ~

We will continue with our Map Skills unit in Social Studies.

We will create our terrariums and observe the water cycle!  We will also explore weather instruments.

We will continue reviewing personal narratives in writing

We will begin learning about multiplication in math

Conference dates have been confirmed, and next week you will receive a link to sign up for parent/teacher conferences.

The Water Cycle

We have been learning about the water cycle during science this week. Below are some videos we have seen to help us to understand this concept.

Our Week In Review

Our week began with our whole grade Community Meeting.  Our mantra,  "Be an Engineer!" was particularly important this week, as we had a visit from our new Engineers in Residence, Mr. Andrew Leenhouts and Mr. Peter Gill.  Both of our engineers are graduates of Franklin High School, and Peter even had Mrs. A. Williams at JFK!  Our engineers shared a lot about their jobs as civil engineers, and then talked with the students about the design process. 

 After we learned about the design process, we began to plan for our first project, "Puff Mobiles".  Here we are planning and discussing our Puff Mobile designs.  The finished products should be fantastic!

During reading, we continue to learn and practice finding evidence about the narrative elements in a story.  We have read some fun books!  Next week, we will wrap this up, and move onto our first Interactive Read Aloud.

During social studies, we began to learn about the hemispheres of the Earth.  We will continue to learn advanced map skills, and how to use latitude and longitude to find exact locations on a map.

In science we began to learn about the weather.  The students in our class already have a great deal of knowledge about this topic!

We already know a LOT about weather!

Looking Ahead ~

We will continue with our Map Skills unit in Social Studies.

We will continue learning about the weather, specifically the water cycle.  This will lead into the creation of our terrariums!

We will continue working on our Hopes and Dreams during writing, and begin to write narratives (both personal narratives and fictional ones).

We will assess our understanding of addition and subtraction skills with our second math assessment next Friday.

As soon as conference dates are confirmed, you will receive a message along with a link to sign up for a date and time that is convenient for you