Book orders were sent home last week! They are due on Thursday. Our class code is H3M9C if you wish to order online. Winter is a great time of year to curl up with a good book!
Math Workshop
Last week we started our unit on division. We started by using place value charts and manipulatives so that we could actually divide and move the manipulatives as we did so. Division can be a tricky part of math for fourth graders so being able to "move" what we are dividing and then discuss what we are doing seems to help it make more sense for kids. We have been solving word problems from the start of division so that kids have a real word understanding for dividing. We will continue to work on division this week as well. The kids will be starting a project this week in math!
Writer's Workshop
After choosing a story idea around the theme of bravery, the kids started writing the different scenes or parts of their story. We focused on writing step by step, which means to really stretch out or slow down the story. This helps to add in more specific details. We will continue to work in small groups this week to help kids get what they need as a writer.
Theme
This week during Reader's Workshop, students began learning about inferring theme in books. The concept was introduced using short animated films such as the ones produced by Pixar. They learned that the theme is the lesson or message in a text and that it will cover most of what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of a story. We will dive into many different picture books to practice inferring the different themes in texts this week. To build our own library of common themes that we can refer to when reading, we will also continue to watch short animated films during morning meeting.
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