A Big Bite

The last week and a half has been exciting and fun in room 23.  A great start to the week was when we realized that one of our classmates has surpassed Mrs. W in height!  This usually doesn't happen until June. :)

We have been wrapping up many units of study.  We finished division in math and will move on to fractions in the new year.  Our study of Canada is complete and we will begin our journeys across the United States.  We even had the opportunity to participate in a mystery Skype call with another 4th grade class from Canada.  They live in Brampton, which is between Toronto and Ottawa.  It was very cool.  We have been writing rhyming couplets in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson and have been doing some opinion writing as well.  We completed two interactive read alouds, both about dogs.  We have been using the Chrome books a great deal across the curriculum.  Everyone is becoming technology experts when it comes to Google Drive and the tablets.  It is very exciting to see. We have completed a few December Holiday projects and are looking forward to the holiday break.  2015 will bring more learning opportunities and continued fun in 4th grade.

I would to extend my warmest and most heartfelt appreciation for the generous gift that the families in Room 23 made to Answer the Call, my favorite charity, in my honor.  It was wonderful to receive their email this morning informing me f your generous donation.  It is especially touching to receive it now, after the tragic events that took place in NYC this past weekend.  I am most appreciative and humbled.  Thank you.

Have a wonderful break and I will see everyone in 2015!

Mrs. W 

A Big Bite

December has been a busy month for 4th graders in Room 23.  We have started learning about Canada in Social Studies and we have begun a unit of study on  weather in Science.  This is a big unit that will take several months to complete.  Mr. Marzoratti came in to talk to us about his work as a scientist and how he    works with a team of other scientists to study heredity.  It was very exciting to learn about his job and all of the fun work that he does with the 3-D printer.  We have been so lucky to have two scientists talk to us this year!

In reader's workshop, we finished Little Dog, Lost by Marion Dane Bauer and are now researching the perfect dog for our families.  We will be using the Chrome Books and Google Drive to complete our research and to respond to open response questions.  We also had a "Dog Day," in which we brought in stuffed dogs, played Pictionary and watched Homeward Bound.  It was fun.We are incorporating many reading and writing standards across the curriculum with this interactive read aloud.  As a class, we have read 410 books so far this year.  This is amazing!!!  

In math, we continue to learn about long division.  Did you look at the video that was posted about "low stress," division?  It is helpful. :)We will have a test next Thursday in math on long division and a study guide was sent home.  Mrs. Jerrier came in to talk to us about proper hand washing and overall hygiene.   She even did a demonstration on the correct technique to use when washing hands. We also talked about the need to shower every day with soap and shampoo, use deodorant, and to brush teeth with toothpaste.  Fun stuff!

The chorus concert was great!  All of the children sang beautifully and the soloists did  a fantastic job.  We will be very busy during the next week and a half; there will be some tests, in class projects and lots of reading.  I can't wait! 

Juicy Nibble

Here is a video explaining the "low stress," method of division.  Please use this video if you are having trouble remembering how to use this method.

A Big Bite

Here are all of our speeches! Great job everyone!

A Big Bite

Here are some photos from the last two days.  We had a visit from Tom and Jamie, Vet techs here in Franklin and they helped us learn about pet care and the responsibilities of owning a pet.  It was a great connection to Little Dog, Lost, our interactive read aloud.  In addition, we completed several curriculum activities with a Thanksgiving theme. All of the students gave their first speech of the year and those videos will be posted soon.  Have a great Thanksgiving and I will see everyone on Monday.

A Big Bite

So much has happened in the last two weeks, where do we begin?  We finished our unit on multiplication and took the online test; everyone did a great job!  We will begin division after the Thanksgiving break.  We finished our unit on Mexico and will start learning about Canada soon.  The Haffenreffer Museum, from Brown University, visited all of the 4th graders.  We participated in a great archeology program and learned what it is like to be an archaeologist.  The museum will be back three more times this year as we study different Native American tribes of the US.  Thanks so much to the PCC for providing us with this enrichment program.  We finished our unit on Heredity and will take a quiz next week.  We have been writing drafts of fiction stories in writer's workshop and have been using the Chrome Books to create a special writing project as well.  It has been fun to conference with students electronically in the Google Docs application.  Digital learning at its best!  Our new interactive read aloud is Little Dog, Lost by Marion Dane Bauer.  Everyone is LOVING this book and we have been able to make many cross curricular connections to it throughout the day.  There are SO MANY reading skills that we are working on; ask your child to tell you about them.  We are on target to finish it by Tuesday and we were left off with a HUGE cliff hanger today.  The moaning was LOUD when I said that we would need stop reading and  continue reading on Monday; it was music to my ears. :)  In addition, Firefighters Keith and Chris cam to JFK to talk about fire safety and to encourage everyone to make an escape plan for their home.  Did you do your escape plan AND practice?

Mrs MacMurray has had the children create wonderful projects on Mixcraft-you can listen here.

Though next week is a short week, we have much to do.  We will be finishing our special writing project, crafting, taking a quiz on heredity and giving the Thanksgiving speech, not to mention finishing Little Dog, Lost.  

Have a great weekend and practice those speeches!

Mrs. W

A Big Bite

Our week started off with great speeches by ALL of the candidates for Student Council.  There were many great ideas and it was a tough decision for voters.  On Wednesday we voted and Ravin C. was elected to represent Room 23.  Congratulations, Ravin.  I liked MANY of the candidates ideas, but one in particular made me think about a change we could make in our classroom.  Sammy B. suggested that we do "Party in a Bag," once a month to celebrate all of the birthdays in our class.  I like it, and the children do too!  We are going to figure out a way to make this happen.

We are continuing to work on reading non fiction and close reading in reader's workshop while incorporating the goals of our Social Studies unit on Mexico.  This is tough work, but we are all hanging in there.  We brainstormed ideas for fiction stories and will begin writing them next week.  The students are excited to get started on this next writing project.

We started talking about heredity this week in Science and are learning about inherited and non inherited traits.  We used the Chrome Books to visit the AMNH site for children and looked at The Gene Scene.  The link is in the science gadget to the right.  In addition, Mrs. Merten set everyone up with a "Kid blog," which will go live next week.  The blogs will be attached to this blog. :)

In math, we are working on multi digit multiplication.  We have been using place value blocks as a way to use concepts of place value to solve multiplication problems.  I will post videos next week but know that we are making VERY GOOD progress with this skill.  Keep practicing those math facts!

On Tuesday, our nation will celebrate Veteran's Day.  We would like to say thank you to all of the Veteran's who have served our country and a special shout out to our families who have relatives who are Veterans.  THANK YOU!!!

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Williams