This Week in Fourth Grade

Growth Mindset

This week, we continued our discussion about having a growth mindset and not giving up when obstacles occur.  We watched a video about a soccer team in a floating village in Thailand that had no place to play soccer.  Check out the video below to see how they overcame this obstacle to become regional champions for 7 straight years.  We would also love for you to ask your child how the video inspired them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU


Reader's Workshop

Students honed their retelling skills and ability to make mental movies as they read which is also known as envisioning.  After learning about envisioning, students enjoyed their own individual books and spent some time describing the movies in their mind on Flipgrid. 

Flipgrid is a website that allows students to respond to a question orally by making a video of themselves.  They have used this website in math and now in reading.  It allows the student to look back at their thinking, reflect and lift the level of that thinking.  It also allows teachers to have a snapshot into students' minds.  This greatly assists us in deciding next steps for instruction!  Below are some pictures of students recording the "movies in the mind" as they had been reading.

Social Studies Homework

This week students will be coming home with an assignment to support the learning we are doing during our immigration unit in Social Studies.  Students will be asked to interview a family member regarding how their family came to be in the United States.    I have copied and pasted the directions below in case you would like a sneak preview.  There are a few more details on the assignment paper which will come home on Monday.

Since we are learning about immigration in school, your homework this week is to ask a family member about how your family came to live here in the United States.  It may be that your parents immigrated here, or perhaps it was a grandparent or great grandparent.  If your family can tell you about a story they heard from another family member about their journey here or why they came here that is fine!  If you need to call another family member and ask them their story, go for it!  The purpose is to learn a little bit more about how your family came to be here in the United States.


Math Workshop

We started using vertical number lines in math last week.  We spent our "number talk" time of math workshop discussing how we would set up these vertical number lines.  This led to great discussions.  Kids were also practicing the strategy of using feedback to help them learn and revise their thinking.  This type of talk in math really helps to promote discussion and hearing the viewpoints of others.

This week the students will be introduced to one of two projects.  Some students will be "zookeepers" at the Franklin Park Zoo and others will become "travel agents."  I am looking forward to seeing all of the creativity and learning that will happen this week!  

Be sure to ask your child if he/she finished the Million Dollar project Flipgrid.  You are able to access the project with your child through their Google Classroom account.  If your child did not film his/her project, it can be done at home this week!

Writing Workshop

Students spent time sharing their opinion (thesis) about different topics last week.  We talked about when stating an opinion you need to give 3 different reasons that support the thesis and are different than the other reasons.  We then started to practice adding evidence/examples that support each reason.  Last week we focused on these questions:

• Should kids be allowed to have cell phones?
• How much recess should 4th graders have?
• How much homework should kids have?
• Should school be year round?

Learning the set-up of an essay using topics fourth graders are typically passionate about will help prepare us for writing Literary Essays or opinion writing about books.

Have a great week!

Jen and Jaime

This Week in Fourth Grade

Picture Day Is Tomorrow!

     

Fun Run

Our Fun Run was a huge success this year!  Everyone had a wonderful time running, cheering each other on, and even doing a little dancing on Friday.  As part of the Fun Run, students earned several class incentives for getting donations.  Tuesday will be PJ day and on Friday, students will be "Flashlight Friday."  Please send in a flashlight with your child on Friday of this week.

Reading Homework This Week

This week, students will still be expected to read for 20 minutes every day.  They will also be taking home a new assignment that goes along with their 20 minutes of reading.  The assignment will come home in a bound booklet tomorrow but we are including a link to the assignment here in case you would like a sneak peak.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10Pqsax_cVVYlszEs3tahUi7M9D0uzMSj8MjySBsVeUQ/edit?usp=sharing' 

We are Millionaires! 

Last week we won the lottery!  All of the millionaires got the chance to buy a house with their winnings.  This gave them a chance to practice writing numbers in different ways.  After "purchasing" a house, each student wrote a check to help them practice writing numbers in word form and standard form.  

Here is a picture of the kids holding their million dollar check!!

 

Flipgrid

Last week the students were introduced to a website called Flipgrid.  This is a place where the kids can go onto a safe website just for our class, record a video based on a question, and then respond to classmates.  We will be using Flipgrid throughout the school year.  If your child would like to show you our Flipgrids, he/she can sign in through their Google Classroom account.


It was great to see so many families at Open House last week!  Enjoy the first week of fall!

Jen and Jaime

This Week in Fourth Grade

And They're Off!

Just like the Fun-Run is up and running, so is our community!  We spent some more time getting to know the expectations and developing our abilities to work as a team this week.  Students learned what it means to read with intensity and how to track their thinking as they read.  Chromebooks were used with more ease and math groups were launched.  We are certainly off to a great start!  Below are some pictures of students playing "Cups and Downs," a team-building activity, on Friday.

Reading At Home

Thank you to everyone who helped their children read at home over the past two weeks and thank you for sending in pictures.  The pictures look wonderful hanging in our room.  If your child has not sent in a picture yet, please have them bring it in tomorrow.

This week students will be expected to read every night for at least 20 minutes.  We did talk in class about how life sometimes gets crazy.  If your child needs to skip a night, please have them do extra the next night.  I will be emailing in another week or so to see how things are going.  Please let me know if you need any help.


Reading Homework

This week students will be introduced to a way for them to track their thinking as they read at home.  We will spend time this week explaining and practicing the assignment in school and will start to bring this assignment home next week.

Math Workshop


Last week students were put into "teams" for Math Workshop.  Teams are made up of small groups of kids that are getting what they need each day with a teacher.  Students will be taught in small groups every day and will also get a chance to complete partner work to discuss their thinking and learn from each other.  Students will also complete independent work to show off what they understand.

The kids did a great job sending in/bringing in pictures where they or a family member use math in the "real world."  

Writing Workshop

We worked on stamina building in writing last week.  We talked about finding a comfortable and responsible seating choice so that we could do our best work.  Students also set goals for themselves as writers based off of teacher observations.  Ask your child what his/her writing goal is! Early this week we will be wrapping up our Personal Narrative mini-unit.  We will begin to think about what we know about essays or opinion writing.  We will soon be launching our Literary Essay unit. 

Writing Homework

Your child will be coming home with writing homework this week.  Each student will be given a checklist to complete while finishing their personal narrative writing that they have been working on in school over the last few weeks.  Please allow your child to be independent with this activity.  If your child has questions about how to log on that would be fine to help with, but I would love to see the writing part done by the students.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this.  The writing homework is due on Friday!

Open House

Just a reminder that we have Open House on Thursday this week starting at 6:30.  We are looking forward to meeting you and sharing our exciting plans for the school year.

Have a great week!

Jen and Jaime

This Week in Fourth Grade

Team Building

Our focus this week continued to be getting to know one another, the routines, and expectations for the school year.  We spent time thinking about what we value as a community and determined which ones we will live by this year.  Students also honed their ability to transition from one classroom to the other with all of their materials.  They will certainly be very organized students by the end of the year!  It is wonderful practice for Middle School.

On Friday, we stressed the importance of teamwork within our community and practiced this with an activity in the gym during morning meeting.  The pictures below show circles of students attempting to pass everyone though a hula-hoop without breaking the circle.  The shouts of encouragement and sights of students helping one another were wonderful!

Planners

Students got new planners this week to help them keep track of their homework every week.  Homework will be assigned on Mondays and the due date will be listed next to each assignment.  Most are due on Friday, giving students all week to plan and complete assignments.  Please take time on Mondays to review the assignments with your child and help them plan their week.  This will help them to build responsibility and hopefully learn to not leave everything for the last minute!  If your child is ever missing an assignment that is listed in the planner, please email us and we will be happy to send home another the next day.

Reading in the Edges

This week students learned that that it is expected that they read for at least 20 minutes every day for homework.  We talked about how they will not have a reading log this year because we don't believe that having to fill out a reading log each night increases the love of reading.....which is my ultimate goal for all students.  We also talked about how many students have hectic schedules after school which sometimes prevents students from finding a full, uninterrupted 20 minutes in which to read.

To solve this problem, we discussed how students can read in the edges of their day.  They may only have 10 minutes to read before football practice or dance and then ten minutes before bed....that adds up to 20!  Any way in which students can get in their reading minutes is acceptable!  All of those minutes add up.

This week students will continue to track where and when they read in their edges of their day.  This is the last week for this assignment.  Pictures of students reading in the edges of their day are also due on Friday.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Book Orders

Book orders are due on Thursday of this week.  Our class code is H3M9C if you are ordering online.  You can also send in the order form with a check made out to Scholastic.

Stories Around the Campfire

This week the students were able to tell stories around the campfire!  We talked about campfires being a place where many stories are shared.  The kids had the chance to build their own campfire and tell stories of memories that were important to them.  The other campers had the opportunity to listen in and learn a little more about  the members of our community!   This week they will use these story ideas to write a personal narrative.

    

Math Workshop

This week we started to learn the different parts of Math Workshop.  There are 3 parts that we will follow in math this year.  They are Work with a Teacher, Partner Work, and Independent Practice.  The students had a chance to practice partner work and independent practice this week.  On Friday, the kids got to play a game called Baby Snake where they had a chance to work with a partner and discuss their thinking.  There were lots of great conversations happening!  Friday afternoon some kids got the chance to work with a partner again in a game outside called Hop, Skip, Jump.  

Great conversation happening!

 

  

Hopping, Skipping, Jumping to an answer
(or walking like a penguin)!

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Monday, September 10th is a NO SCHOOL day for students.  We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday!

Jaime and Jen

A Great Start

A Great Start!

We had a fantastic (and hot!) start to the school year last week!  We spent time getting to know one another, our classrooms, and the expectations for the school year.  

We Can Learn Anything!

This year we will focus on having a Growth Mindset or a "can do" attitude.  To get us thinking about this, we watched a video that shows how each of us has the ability to learn anything as long as we put in the effort and don't give up.  Here is a link to the video that we watched...

https://www.khanacademy.org/coach-res/reference-for-coaches/how-to/v/you-can-learn-anything

We also learned that our brains have millions of neurons that get stronger with practice.  We emphasized that our neurons can be weak when we first learn something new and that as we practice new concepts and skills, they will get stronger!

Keeping this in mind, students each chose a motto to live by this year.  They began to illustrate these last week and will finish them this week.  Below are some pictures of some very hot, but determined students!  Stay tuned for the finished products.

Book Tasting

We dove into reading this past week by having a book tasting at "Leger's Lunch Spot."  It was a fabulous way to get books into students' hands and to give them a chance to try out genres that they may not have leaned toward in the past.  All students left with a book they are ready and rearing to read and a list of books that they are looking forward to reading in the next few weeks.  We also reviewed how students look for good books and how they make sure that they are choosing just right books.  

This week we will discuss expectations for reading at home and some information will come home about "reading in the edges."  Please let me know if your child ever reports that they are having difficulty finding a good book to read!

Math Workshop

Last week students were paired up to work on a number sorting activity.  Each group had the same set of numbers, however, many groups had different ways to sort these numbers.  Students were introduced to the idea of each student in our class having a different opinion or way of solving problems. This is one of the important parts of math in our class this year.  We will be learning how to agree and disagree with our classmates respectfully and understanding that we might have different ways of getting to the same answer and that is okay!

Writing Workshop

This week your child will need to decorate his/her Writer's Notebook for homework.  Your child will be asked to decorate the notebook to represent who they are.  This can be done with pictures, clip art, drawings, words, etc. The cover of the notebook will help to spark writing ideas throughout the school year.   Your child needs to have his/her notebook decorated by this Friday, September 7th. 

We will be doing an activity with flashlights on Wednesday this week.  If you have a flashlight, please send it in with your child by Wednesday.  (If you don't have a flashlight, that is okay too.  We will be able to share.)

Have a great week!  

Jen and Jaime