A Big Bite

Well, it was a busy week, as predicted! We had our second algebra lesson with Mrs. Y and took the mid-year test in math. Everyone did a great job! We started "fraction of" problems and will be adding and subtracting fractions soon. We have continued our weather unit by reviewing the water cycle. Next week we will do an experiment on disappearing water. Our journey across the United States continued with a stop in Washington D.C. We saw a video on the monuments and memorials and next week we will go to the tech lab to take a virtual tour of D.C. We viewed MCAS writing samples from last year and started to write our own "helpful stories." Our new book count is 699 books so far this year. We all groaned loudly when we saw the number but quickly realized that we will hit 700 next week. Our interactive read aloud, Snow Treasure is getting really exciting. The characters finally met the Nazis this week and they seemed pretty frightening. We are really learning a lot about figurative language, there are so many examples of it in this book! We are looking forward to more visitors next week, which should be exciting!
On Friday, we had Open Circle and Jake gave us an update on Student Council. We are going to set some goals for the second half of the school year around work habits and focusing. Everyone can use some attention in this area. We also talked about personal hygiene and bad habits this week. We are going to try to remember to wash our hands more frequently and to keep our hands away from our faces.
A notice went home about the Valentine's Celebration. We will be celebrating with "Party in a bag."
Mrs. W

Bookworm Buzz

Dear Reader,

It has been a few weeks since I have written to you about some of my favorite books, but trust me, I have been reading plenty. First of all, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, has won the Newberry award! I read this book last summer and reviewed it on Read and Roll. Rebecca Stead will be at the Wellesley Free Public Library on Tuesday February 9th. You know that I will be there! The first book that I want to tell you about is Greek Myths by Deborah Luck. It is a great introduction to Greek myths and just right for all of us in room 23. I like the pronunciation guide and the glossary. Some of the most popular myths are told in an easy to understand manner. I also have read the first four books in the High Rise Private Eyes series by Cynthia Rylant. These books would be vacations for us, but a good way to get into the mystery genre if it is a new genre to you. I have two favorite picture books this week. The Lion and the Mouse, a wordless picture book by Jerry Pinkney, which just won the Caldecott Medal, and Mudball by Matt Tavares. The Lion and the Mouse is beautifully illustrated and the lack of words requires the reader to infer much about the story, especially if you are not familiar with the fable. Mudball, is from the historic fiction genre, and tells the story of Andy Oyler, a baseball player who does something miraculous in a baseball game. I enjoyed these two books this week because they are connected in their theme, "even small creatures can do great things!" Let me know if you think there are any other universal themes in both of these books. Finally, I have just finished Babymouse #12, Babymouse Burns Rubber. Lots of great lessons about hardwork, winning and friendship in this book. What can I say? You know that I love Babymouse!

Until next time,

Read on, readers!

Mrs. W

A Big Bite

Ellie with Acadia National Park

Kiran with the Empire State Building

Nick with Mt. Greylock

Jack with the U.S.S. Intrepid

It was a short week in room 23. We finished chapter 6 in math and did the test. Mrs. Y came in to work on MCAS questions and she is coming back on Monday for algebra and hands on equations. On Thursday, we went to the computer lab to work on multiplication and division facts. In science we finished learning about weather maps and tools and there is a test on Tuesday. We are done learning about the northeast and some of our classmates made great projects! These pictures are just some of the projects. We also saw Dorchester Heights, then and now, by Andrew, The Brick School by Jolie, the Rose Kennedy Greenway by Laura and Rockefeller Center by Justin. Everyone worked very hard! In reading, we continued Snow Treasure and it is very exciting! We have read 644 books as a class. Mrs. Williams tells us that we will be having more visitors for reader's workshop during the upcoming weeks. Next week looks very busy!

By Hayley, Jack, Bryan and Jake

Juicy Nibble

The results of the Ben and Jerry's test taste are in! The overall winner is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough! YUM!!!

A Big Bite

What a great week in room 23! We took a virtual trip to Norway to see the fjords and we were able to check out the live web cams at some fjords. This goes along with our new interactive read aloud, Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan. McSwigan uses the "cliffhanger" as part of her writing style and we are on the edge of our seats already! We also have read 629 books so far this year. Visits from other schools to our reader's workshop continued, with the principals of Davis Thayer and Parmenter. The reading specialist and head teacher from Davis Thayer also came. They thought we did an awesome job! We also spent time in writer's workshop writing a compare/contrast essay on the book Stone Fox and the movie Stone fox. In math, we continued working on low stress division and Mrs. Williams had four moms attend her afterschool session for adults. We also started using full circle and half circle protractors. The math test will be next Thursday! In science, we continued to monitor our barometers and started weather maps. Our journey around the Northeast included a "taste testing" of four flavors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. The video above shows us in action. Look for the results of the survey next week. On Thursday, the 4th and 5th graders watched a Power Point presentation about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was very interesting. We have off on Monday to celebrate Dr. King's birthday and we have off on Tuesday because the teachers have a professional development day. Even though next week will be a short one, it looks to be very busy!

By, Hayley and Jack

A Big Bite

Learning the Steps

Happy New Year! It has been a very productive week in room 23! We have begun long division in math and everyone is starting to get the hang of it. It is very different from the method I learned as a child, but I like this method. This skill will take some time for us to master. We have begun our journey across the United States, and the US regions project was introduced. It looks as if the there will be very exciting and interesting projects this year! We made barometers in Science as a continuation of our unit of study on weather. We watched the movie Stone Fox with Mrs. Merten's class and have begun writing essays comparing the book and the movie. Some students prefer the book to the movie and vice versa. This writing assignment ties in with Reader's Workshop. Our new book count is 588 books read so far this year, WOW! We have been reading some picture books and short texts in order to practice some skills that we have been working on, and to prepare for our next interactive read aloud. Everyone's book bag is complete and full of a variety of reading choices. Awesome job everyone! In Art, our Totem Poles are finished, but they may not be "going home for good." The 4th grade tile project will be coming up soon, hint, hint!

I have made some changes to the blog over the holiday break that should help students and parents with reading and literature choices. I will be shutting down my Read and Roll Blogspot, and moving all of the components to this blog. Be on the lookout for entries titled "Book Worm Buzz," as they will relate to literature. In addition, there are some new gadgets on this page that were from the old blog, I hope you will enjoy looking them over.

On Friday, we had an extra PE class with all of the 4th grades, Mr.Macarthy's Kindergarten class and Mrs. Vicente's 5th graders. Mrs. Perry and some 4th graders showed us all how to do the Cupid Shuffle and got our blood pumping on a chilly morning. This activity was a great deal of fun and really helped everyone focus and listen well for the remainder of the day. Click on the videos above to see our fun Friday morning.

Until next week,

Mrs. W

Bookworm Buzz

Dear Reader,

I have just finished the graphic novel, Robot Dreams by Sara Varnon. This is a wordless novel that requires the reader to pay close attention to the pictures in order to infer the meaning and sequence of events in a story. Remember, an inference is using background knowledge and clues from the text, in this case, pictures, to make an inference about a story, or in other words, draw a conclusion about the story. Robot Dreams has won several awards, including the Kirkus Best Book of the year. It tells the story of friendship, making tough decisions and moving on with your life. If you need some more practice making inferences and drawing conclusions, this is the book for you. If you like stories about friendship, this book is for you. Thanks to Mrs. Richards for getting it for us. Let me know if you want to add it to your book bag.

Read on readers,

Love,

Mrs. W