Gingerbread House Fun and Beyond the Cover Project

Gingerbread House Fun!
    
  Thank you to everyone that was able to help out for our Gingerbread House Project!  We had more than enough supplies and the kids had to do a ton of problem solving along the way.  Each day last week there was a lot of excitement and anticipation of when they were actually going to be able to use the floor plans that they created to build the house!  The link below contains all of the pictures from our project!

 Gingerbread House Fun!

      We had so many graham cracker supplies leftover, so during one of our community meetings we discussed what we could do with all of the leftover materials.  The kids decided that donating them to Mrs. Mielke's office would be a great way to help children in the school who do not come to school with a snack.  Each of the kids was able to drop off a box of graham crackers to her office so that she can pass them out to children in need!  The kids were very excited to be able to help out our school community in this way!

     Ask your child about the other way that they spread kindness last week to some of the first and/or third graders!  

Beyond the Cover Literary Essay Project
     Last week the kids worked hard to finish the Beyond the Cover final project for our writing unit on Literary Essays.  Many of them were able to finish taping their screencast.  Some of the kids ran out of time, but will have a chance to finish after vacation. 
     The projects that were completed before vacation have been uploaded to Google Classroom. To view, please have your child log onto Google Classroom and you will see the links for the screencasts. 
     

     Enjoy the rest of 2017!  

This Week in 4th Grade.....

Math Workshop

We started working on division last week in math.  The kids were able to use what they know about area to help them solve division problems.  They are really starting to make connections between area, multiplication, and division.  Making these connections helps to build the confidence that the kids have when solving problems.  

This week we will starting our Great Gingerbread Challenge.  I am really excited to watch the kids apply what they have learned so far in math especially around the topics of area, perimeter, and multiplication.  

Thank you to all the parents that have offered to send in graham crackers and/or royal icing.  If you can send in the graham crackers and/or royal icing by Tuesday, that would be great!  The royal icing should last for a week and we will have no problem using it up before that!    

Similes!

This past week students learned how to write similes by having a simile snowball fight and creating a gallery of similes.  A simile is a figure of speech that compares two completely different things using the words like or as.  We discussed how this figure of speech helps to make their writing more descriptive and keeps the reader interested.  Students were then asked to put their learning to use and add similes into journal entries they are writing during Social Studies.  Below are some pictures of the fun!

Lunch with Leger & Lewis

To continue to foster positive relationships within our community we began inviting students to join us for lunch a couple of weeks ago.  At some point this year everyone will have a chance to join us for lunch.  We really enjoy this time with our students and learn so much from them!

Writing Workshop

Many of the kids are just about ready to move onto the final step of the Beyond the Cover literary essay project.  Each screencast that is created will be uploaded onto Google Classroom.  My hope is that by the middle of the week there will be some videos on Google Classroom to view and comment on!      

We hope that you have a wonderful holiday! We are looking forward to what 2018 has to offer!

Jen and Jaime

This Week in 4th Grade...

Reader's Workshop

This week we wrapped up the character change portion of our fiction unit.  Prior to the wrap up students learned about the language we can use to help us write about character change and practiced this sort of reading response.  They looked at responses they had previously written and assessed their own writing and lifted the level of their work.  

We ended the week by developing debatable ideas about the books we are reading.  We will continue this instruction next week and then head into theme.  As you read with your child at home, ask them about lessons that they think their books are teaching.  The more they talk at home about the books they read, the more they will be able to write at school!

Mystery Readers Wanted!

Friday, December 22nd is a full day of school and is also our annual Mystery Reader Day!  Each year we invite families to sign up for a time in the afternoon to come and read a picture book to our class.  The fun part is, we keep the readers a secret!  Students will not know who has signed up until you walk through the door!  We are happy to provide a book for you to read, or you are welcome to bring your own family favorite in.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings or family friends are also welcome.

We will be doing this activity by homeroom, so there will be separate sign ups for Mrs. Leger and Mrs. Lewis' homeroom.  If you are interested and able to come in for a 15 minute block between 12:30 and 2:30 on December 22nd, please let us know!

Math Workshop

Last week we continued to practice multiplying larger numbers.  By the end of the week the kids were learning how to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers.  Many of the kids felt prepared for this because they were able to take what they know about multiplying 3 and 4 digit numbers by a 1 digit number.  

We also started to take a closer look at our Math Errors. The kids learned about the 3 types of errors that they can make in math.  Here is an example of the chart that we have in our classroom.  Along with each type of error, the kids learned about what they need to do to fix each type of mistake and how to revise their thinking.  We will continue to use this chart as we move forward.

This week we will start our work with division.  We have already been preparing for division at the beginning of each math lesson for the past couple of weeks.  I am hoping the kids will start to see the benefits of all of this practice!  

New Math Homework

We have officially finished all of the multiplication fact practice pages!  I am certainly seeing a difference in fact fluency in the classroom.  This week we will change up the homework a little bit.  I will be explaining this new homework to the kids tomorrow. They will need to access Google Classroom for this homework.  Children that don’t have access to the internet will be given an alternative homework assignment.  This homework will still be due on Friday.

We hope everyone enjoyed the snow this weekend!  Have a great week!

Jen and Jaime

This Week in Fourth Grade....

Hopefully you enjoyed the first full weekend of December!  It is crazy to think that we are 1/3 of the way through the school year!  

                             Character Change

This week we honed our abilities to identify how characters change in texts and began learning the language needed to discuss and write about these changes.  We will wrap up character change next week and move onto developing defensible ideas about texts with reasons and evidence.  We will debate these ideas with each other to really emphasize the need for evidence.

                     

Immigration Journal

We are wrapping up our immigration unit in social studies with a collaborative project!  The students are taking on the perspective of an immigrant who is traveling from Russia to Ellis Island in the late 1800's.  Using the information we have learned in this unit, each team has to write a journal entry about a different portion of the journey through the eyes of the immigrant.  Throughout the project students will be practicing other ELA skills including utilizing research to write a fictional account (historical fiction), and using similes and metaphors to enhance the craft of our writing.  Below are some photos of teams researching and planning their journals. 

Math Workshop

We had a very successful week practicing the Area Model for multiplication.  Each of the math groups were able to get a lot of practice in a small group, with partners, and independently.  As we worked through these problems last week, I was finding that most kids understood the concept of the area model, but many of their mistakes came with multiplication fact errors.  This week we will focus on slowing down and checking our work before moving onto another problem.  


This week small groups will also be working collaboratively on word problems.  Each student will have a chance to participate in the problem solving process.  The kids will be encouraged to discuss what they are thinking in terms of solving these 2 and (sometimes) 3 step multiplication word problems.



Writing Workshop

Many of the students were starting to set goals for themselves as writers last week.  We were using the Mid-Unit Assessment that was given to help us determine what kids still need to work on when writing a literary essay.  The students will be working with other classmates that have the same goal.  As part of working towards our goals, we will be able to learn from our classmates that already have a grasp and use them as mentor texts.  

Students were also introduced to our Literary Essay final project last week, called Beyond the Cover.  The essays will be based on a picture book and will be published online in Google Classroom for classmates and parents to see!  I can't wait to see how they come out!


Just a reminder that Wednesday, December 6th is a half-day of school.  Have a great week!

Jaime and Jen