Below are our candidates for Student Council. We will be voting for this position tomorrow, Friday. The speeches the students wrote were fantastic! In our comments, take a minute to wish the candidates good luck!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Homework Help
Below is a video from teacher tube which shows the steps we learned for the partial quotients algorithm. It may help with tonight's homework.
Friday, November 1, 2013
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.
.
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.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Author Alert ~ Part 2
Mrs. Williams and I waited in a LOOOONNNNGGG line to meet her (we saw Mrs. Swan there, too). She was lovely, and took a few minutes to chat with us while she was signing her new book, Gifts of the Heart. "When you read this book to those children," she said, "please tell them that this is the most true to accurate story I have ever told. The ending, "she went on, "happened just the way I wrote it. And we never could explain it."
I just loved meeting her, and couldn't imagine a better way to spend my Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to share this new book with you.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Author Alert!
Popular children's author, Patricia Polacco, will be at Wellesley Bookstore on Sunday October 27th at 2:00 to sign her new book, Gifts of the Heart. She is the author of
Aunt Chip and the Triple Creek Dam Affair
and
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother
(and MANY MORE) and is also one of my FAVORITE authors of all time. The children will recognize her name from some of the books we have read this year. Thanks to Mrs. Williams for bringing this to my attention! Hope to see you there!
Note from the bookstore: PLEASE NOTE: To enter the signing line you must purchase a copy of Gifts of the Heart from Wellesley Books.
Friday, October 25, 2013
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!
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!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Spotlight On...
Jack! Congratulations to Jack's Hockey Team! His team won the Halloween Classic Tournament! His game went into overtime and ended in a shootout!
And Spotlight on Sammi!!!!On Sunday Sammi won the game MVP shirt for playing exceptionally well on defense. She also got 2 assists during the game and show great sportsmanship!
!
And Spotlight on Sammi!!!!On Sunday Sammi won the game MVP shirt for playing exceptionally well on defense. She also got 2 assists during the game and show great sportsmanship!
!
Well done!!!!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Our Week In Review
We have been working hard learning new ways to multiply! On Wednesday we posted a video to help with math homework. Many of the children used the video for support. Today Sarah helped to create a video demonstrating "Window Boxes". This is another way to solve multiplication problems. We will learn/review Partial Products next week. The children have been working on the process of solving these problems. We have learned that it is important to get the correct answer, but it is also important to understand the process. As your child is working on math homework over the next week, these videos may help to guide him/her.
Our multiplication assessment is scheduled for Friday 10/25. The gadget to add our studyguide link isn't working, so you can find our study guide here.
The One and Only Ivan is still keeping us excited! This week was a sad one for our readers. Your child can explain why we were all sad reading. We have been working on tracking character traits of Ivan and of some of the other characters. We are just starting to see Ivan begin to change in this book. We have also been working hard at finding similes in our reading. Some of the children are even starting to use them in their writing!
We have had many children continue to sign up for book talks. We love to hear what they think of their books!
We had our first Social Studies test yesterday. Everyone worked really hard to show their understanding of maps and latitude and longitude. We will begin our next unit about Mexico next week.
Creative Arts Fridays continue to be our favorite part of the week! During poetry with Mrs. Williams, we have finished up our list poems and are all working on publishing them. Today, another list poem was born...Things To Do At A Teacher Sleepover. We did a poem swap with Mrs. Roberts' first grade, and cannot wait to see what they came up with. Next week we will write some Halloween Haikus!
During technology, we have been working on creating our Power Point Presentations. Today we learned how to search for images safely and how to narrow our word choices so that we get what we're looking for. We learned how to put the images we find into our presentations. The children are really enjoying this, and doing such a great job combining their reading comprehension with their new technological skills!
Our multiplication assessment is scheduled for Friday 10/25. The gadget to add our studyguide link isn't working, so you can find our study guide here.
Window Box Video
The One and Only Ivan is still keeping us excited! This week was a sad one for our readers. Your child can explain why we were all sad reading. We have been working on tracking character traits of Ivan and of some of the other characters. We are just starting to see Ivan begin to change in this book. We have also been working hard at finding similes in our reading. Some of the children are even starting to use them in their writing!
We have had many children continue to sign up for book talks. We love to hear what they think of their books!
We had our first Social Studies test yesterday. Everyone worked really hard to show their understanding of maps and latitude and longitude. We will begin our next unit about Mexico next week.
Creative Arts Fridays continue to be our favorite part of the week! During poetry with Mrs. Williams, we have finished up our list poems and are all working on publishing them. Today, another list poem was born...Things To Do At A Teacher Sleepover. We did a poem swap with Mrs. Roberts' first grade, and cannot wait to see what they came up with. Next week we will write some Halloween Haikus!
During technology, we have been working on creating our Power Point Presentations. Today we learned how to search for images safely and how to narrow our word choices so that we get what we're looking for. We learned how to put the images we find into our presentations. The children are really enjoying this, and doing such a great job combining their reading comprehension with their new technological skills!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Spotlight On...
Will and Sarah! They both ran in a 5K this weekend, The Run for Spud! This race was run in memory of Will's Grandfather. The event raised over $23,000 for Dana Farber! Will actually beat both of his parents, and Sarah beat her dad, too!
Congratulations to some other Kennedy fourth graders who participated ~ Cormac & Kiley from Mrs. Adams' class, and James from Mrs. Williams' class. Way to go everyone!
Congratulations to some other Kennedy fourth graders who participated ~ Cormac & Kiley from Mrs. Adams' class, and James from Mrs. Williams' class. Way to go everyone!
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