Wrapping Up Before Break!

This week (and last) we have been doing lots of group work.  In writing/social studies we have been working in groups to research our Missouri Regions.  It's so fun to see the kids assign each other different parts of the research and make it all come together.  Here are some pictures of us researching and preparing for our presentations.

In math, we have been solving different inquiry problems that keep building on each other.  The kids have enjoyed this, but today were happy to take a break for some birthday treats!  Here are some groups presenting their math strategies:

Weekly Newsletter

Hi Families!

We had a great week here in room 227!  The big news of the week was that we got our Kindness Secret Santas!  The kids were so exited and began planning immediately about what they would do for their special person.  On top of that, we packed a lot of work into this week!

Writing/Social Studies
We were super busy with writing this week.  This unit also integrates our current social studies unit about regions of Missouri.  In groups, the kids were assigned regions in which they would become experts!  The groups looked at different sources and took notes about the different landforms, major cities, resources, and more.  Then we cut up a big map of Missouri into different regions to make a resource map.  We drew pictures to represent different natural resources our regions produce.  Our culminating activity is a group presentation using Google Slides that we will air serve on the SMARTboard.


Math
We learned a new game this week called "Fill the Machine."  It required a lot of abstract thinking, so we played it for two days.  This unit we've been working on is division, but we've yet to introduce the traditional algorithm to the kids.  Right now kids are working on relating multiplication to division.  After Christmas we will continue working on division.

Daily 5
The kids have become obsessed with our read aloud (it's SO fun for me to watch them get excited when I start reading, and all but cry when I have to stop!  We finished it today and you should have seen the kids!  There was cheering, hugging, and a lot of "nooooooo!  It's over!"  For our mini-lesson focus this week, we studied more parts of speech.  On Thursday, we went on a word scavenger hunt to find different kinds of nouns, proper nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.  We ended the week with taking the STAR Reading test.

Reminders:

• Thursday, December 15th is the 4th grade choir concert at 6:30.  
• I will be in my room waiting for them to arrive at 6:00 
• Holiday Class Party is Tuesday, December 20th
• If you'd like to be a parent volunteer for Beulah Book Buddies, let me know ASAP 
• Notes went home on Friday Folders last week.  I am happy to send another one

Weekly Newsletter

Writing/Social Studies/Science
We have just begun our informational writing unit!  We decided it would be fun to integrate this unit with our social studies unit on Missouri regions.  Within our regions we are relating a lot of our information back to science and landforms as well.  This week the kids learned about regions in general, the regions of the United States, and then were placed in groups where they began researching a specific Missouri region.  They used online resources as well as text resources to find out all about their region.  Next week, we will start working on using our notes to make a fun presentation for our classmates about the specific regions.

Math
Inquiry, inquiry, inquiry!  This week was 100% dedicated to math inquiry and the kids loved it!  This unit is one of the district's "Contexts for Learning Mathematics."  On two separate days, I posed a multi-step problem for the kids to solve.  There were also different questions to answer in one problem.  I was blown away by the creative strategies kids used to solve their problems.  While this is a division unit, we aren't focusing on the traditional algorithm for division, but more figuring out what division means and how it relates to multiplication.

Daily 5
This week, 4th graders received their Interactive Language Notebook.  We focused on nouns and pronouns this week.  Next week we will look at verbs, adverbs, and adjectives.  We are continuing to read to Jack's Run and the kids are SUPER into it!  While I know the kids hate it when I stop reading it for the day, I can't help but to be happy that they are so excited about this book.  One of my kids said, "The good news is we will finally finish it this book next week, but the bad news is, it will be over.":)

Important Dates

• December 15th- 4th Grade Music Program (6:30-7:30)
• December 20th- Winter Party
• December 21-January 3rd- Winter Break
• January 4th- School resumes
• January 16th- NO SCHOOL Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• January 20th- School Spelling Bee
• January 30th- Beulah Ralph's 90th Birthday
• February 6th- NO SCHOOL (teacher work day)

Math Inquiry

We've spent the last two days working on a math inquiry problem!  All of the groups ended up getting the problem right on their own, but guess what... it was a division problem!!!  While none of the groups used division to solve the problem (because we haven't learned it yet), EVERY  group came up with a different strategy to solve for the right answer!  These kids really blow my mind sometimes!

Strategizing

Planning

Cooperating

Gallery Walk Comments

Presenting

Presenting

Presenting

Weekly Update

Hey Families!

We had a great week at BEU!  It started off with a bang on Monday for Grandparents'/Veterans' Day and didn't slow down one bit!  We worked hard and got a lot done!

Reading

   Students are still on the edge of their seats each day for our read aloud, Jack's Run.  This week, we worked on understanding theme within a book.  This is a tough concept for kiddos to understand.  We talked about how theme is reallyTHE MEssage the author wants you to take away from the book.  We have also talked about problems and solutions in a text.  This was a great conversation since last week we talked about cause and effect.  They noticed lots of similarities and differences between these two concepts.    

   Next week we are going to be doing some fun Thanksgiving readings and activities.  The week we get back from break, we will be talking about answering short response questions and beginning our study of words.  We will begin by talking about parts of speech.  Be sure to ask your child about words they are learning! 

Writing/Social Studies

   For the next few weeks, we are going to combine writing and social studies times.  When we return from Thanksgiving break, we are going to begin our study of the regions of Missouri.  In writing, we are beginning our study of informational writing.  We thought this would be a perfect time to combine writing and social studies.  Students will be writing about a specific region of Missouri.  They will study the region, take notes on the region, and teach the region to others.  Our final goal is for students to know how to research, write an informational piece, learn all the regions in Missouri and to teach others about what they have learned.  

Math

   We are now finished with our unit of study on multiplication.  Multiplying by a one digit number seemed super easy for this class.  Multiplying by a two digit number turned out to be a little more difficult.  We will continue to work on this as a class for those that need it.  I was impressed with everyone's hard work and effort.  For our short week next week, we are going to do some fun Thanksgiving multi-step word problems.

   After break, we are going to begin an investigative unit on division.  Students will be given situations and they will have to solve problems using any skill they can.  The objective will be to understand place value better and to introduce division.  I am super excited to get this started and let them dive into this unit.  

Etiquette

   This week we focused on dinner etiquette to get ready for our Thanksgiving feast.  On Tuesday, we talked about all of our favorite foods that we hoped would be at our feast:).  On Thursday we talked about table manners and Friday we talked about dinner conversation (hopefully the kids can help with any awkward silences at your Thanksgiving Dinner:).  

Important Dates

• November 21st- Thanksgiving Feast in our Class (thanks for all the donations!)
• November 23-25th- Thanksgiving Break
• December 15th- 4th Grade Music Program (6:30-7:30)
• December 20th- Winter Party
• December 21-January 3rd- Winter Break
• January 4th- School resumes
• January 16th- NO SCHOOL Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• January 20th- School Spelling Bee
• January 30th- Beulah Ralph's 90th Birthday
• February 6th- NO SCHOOL (teacher work day)

Busy Week!

We have been super busy this week!  On Monday we had our Veterans' Day/Grandparents' Day celebration and this place was packed!  It was so fun meeting all the kids' grandparents and special friends!  We were so proud of Lucas for being chosen by his 4th grade peers to read his "What America Means to Me" paper in front of the school and guests.  Thank you also to everyone who donated books to our class from the book fair!  What a treat!

Way to go, Lucas!

Have a great day!

Happy Three Day Weekend!

Hey Families!

First of all, thank you so much for the awesome Halloween party!  This was some serious fun!

I think this station was a favorite!

So fun that even that parents got in on it:)

Here's a rundown of the week:

Writing
Because we have our upcoming Veteran's Day/Grandparents Day Celebration, we are working on essays about "What America Means to Me."  We downloaded a new app and worked on planning out our ideas.  On Thursday we flash drafted, and next week, we will start publishing.  One student from each grade will be chosen to read theirs at the assembly.

Science
We took our science probe on erosion and weathering this week.  We've been studying these topics for a few weeks and we wanted to check in on how kids were comprehending this.  I'll send those home next week, but the kids did great!

Math
This week we took our multiplication test and the kids rocked it!  We reviewed on Monday and Tuesday.  On Thursday we spent time going over our mistakes and today we took a break to do some fun Halloween themed work.  We will move on to 2 digit times 2 digit multiplication next week.

Reading
This week, we focused on some super interesting non-fiction texts in small groups.  Some groups were reading about weather related books, while some read sporting books.  In our read aloud, we focused on comparing characters and how characters change.

Remember that parent-teacher conferences are coming up!  I can't wait to brag on these kids, so make sure you look to see if the assigned time I gave you works.  If not, no worries, just call the school office and they can easily reschedule you to a different time.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Allie

This Week's Happenings

Hey Families!

I just wanted to share a few pictures from this week!  Check back tomorrow for a weekly rundown to see in detail what we did!

We used the app "Explain Everything" to plan out our ideas for our essay "What America Means to Me."

Rory was our Citizen of the Month for October!  Way to go, sweet girl!!!

In September, the kids voted for awesome Annabelle as our Citizen of the Month!

These two are celebrating after our reading stamina went past 30 minutes!  Woohoo!

All in all, we've had a great week so far!  I'm pretty disappointed though that I forgot to take a picture of the funniest moment of this week.  One of my favorite candies is Good & Plenty.  I received some from my secret "Boo Buddy" and decided to share them with the kids.  I warned them beforehand that they were black licorice, but the kids just KNEW they would love them:).  Well, a couple of gags, frantic running to the trash can, and lots of extra drinks, I figured out that I do not need to share ALL of my candy.  Happy Thursday!

Weekly Update

Hi Families!

We had such a wonderful week in 4th grade!

Writing
Aside from our creative writing time at the beginning of the week, we gave students a personal narrative "on-demand" writing prompt.  They had to plan and write a personal narrative all on their own to show what they had learned during the personal narrative unit.  I'm so looking forward to reading these and to share them with you at conferences!

Science
We continued working on our weathering/erosion unit.  There's nothing better than students actually seeing the effects of erosion, so in addition to looking at the erosion outside of our school, we also looked at some picture that a 4th grade friend took while he was in Colorado recently!

Math
These kids are seriously knocking multiplication out of the park.  When we took this unit pretest to see what strategies students already had, most students used repeated addition to solve large math problems (ex. 45 x 9).  While some of them got these problems correct, the amount of work they had to do to get there was exhausting them!  Now, we are feeling super successful not only with the traditional algorithm, but also the "box method."  I'm so proud of how these kids don't back down from a challenge!

Daily 5
We continued working on our inferencing, predicting, and solving unknown words skills.  We took a review/pretest last week and went over that in reading groups this week.  Today, we took our reading post-test and not to my surprise, these kids dominated it.  I love working with these sponges- it makes my job SO fun!

Materials Request
Our class is almost out of loose leaf paper because we have been writing like crazy!  If you have any you'd be willing to donate, we would be very appreciative.  Thank you!

Important Dates:
October 25- 3-5 Citizen of the Month Assembly (2:40)
October 28- Fall Party (2:30)
October 31- NO SCHOOL
November 4- BEU Movie Night (5:30)
November 7- Parent Teacher Conferences (3:30-7:30)
November 8- NO SCHOOL
November 10- Parent Teacher Conferences (3:30-7:30)
November 11- NO SCHOOL
November 15- Picture Retake Day
November 23-25- Fall Break

Happy Thursday!

I hope everyone had a great half day yesterday!

Earlier this week we took a break from our intense personal narrative writing and just had a little fun with creative writing.  Kids wrote poems, songs, and fictional stories based on a Halloween-ish picture.  We even listened to some spooky music while we were writing!  The kids loved sharing these out loud with each other

Of course we had to turn the lights out!

.

In science we spent some time exploring our new National Geographic science books while we were reading about erosion.  The kids found some awesome science experiments that we may just have to do throughout the year.  I love how eager they are to learn- it makes my job so much fun!!!

  Have a good day!  

Weekly Update

Happy Friday Families!

Whew!  What an awesome week!  First of all, thank you so much to everyone who came to our breakfast this morning!  We had an incredible turnout and the kids kept talking about how wonderful it was.  I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us.  

It was a packed house!

We loved having our families here today!

Writing

We spent this week writing our final drafts of our personal narratives.  Kids used checklists to edit and revise and then conferenced with a teacher about their writing.  They worked SO hard and I was so happy with how they turned out!  Obviously the most fun part was sharing them with you!  After our personal narrative assessment, we will start working on some writing involving research.

Science

Last week we went outside for science and wrote down questions about the land around us.  Kids came up with some amazing questions!  We chose 3 to look at in more depth- 1)Why are there rocks lining the hill?  2)Why are there cracks in the ground?  3)Why is there netting over the grass and hay?  We spent some time hypothesizing about why these things happened and the kids had some great ideas.  This week, we watched a video about erosion and wouldn't you know... the kids connected what they learned about erosion to their questions from the week before!  They decided that the cracks were on the ground because of the weather changing from dry to wet and warm to cold.  They concluded that the rocks lining the hill were to PREVENT erosion from occurring, and the netting was to prevent elements of weather from washing away grass seed and hay.  These are some smart kiddos!

Math

We were all about multiplication this week!  We took our unit pretest and discovered that while we are very good at repeated addition, we are in need of some new strategies to solve multiplication problems.  This week, we learned how to use mental math to multiply multiples of 10.  We also used our rounding skills to estimate the answers to multiplication problems.  Today, we learned a fun strategy called the "Box Method."  We break apart our numbers by place value, multiply, and add.  Have your 4th grader show you using this problem:  54 x 5.

Daily 5

We started our new read aloud this week called Jack's Run.  This is the sequel to Zach's Lie, so the kids were super excited about it before I even read a page.  As we read these awesome read alouds, aside from pure enjoyment, we are also reading to work on reading strategies.  We are currently focusing on inferring, predicting, and strategies to solve unknown words.  We continued with Daily 5 rotations, but instead of chapter books, we are focusing on non-fiction articles (mostly science).  One of our articles told us that research shows it's actually the event that the sugar is present at that causes the hyperactivity, not the sugar itself.  Sorry that we had to bust that myth, but we all still agreed that it doesn't mean too much sugar is healthy!

Have a great weekend!
Allie

Wonderful Wednesday!

Hey families!
We have had an awesome start to our short week!  Of course, the kids were already excited that it was a 4 day week, but each day just keeps getting better!

We got our second to last shipment of our flexible seats that were so generously donated by you!  I cannot tell you how much excitement this has brought to our class during reading time.  We are so very appreciative!

Here is our newest seat!

We've got a fun rest of the week ahead of us! We are plugging away in our multiplication unit and it's been so neat to see the strong foundation that these 4th graders already have about it!  We will keep working on our problem solving skills involving multiplication- or as the kids call them... duh, duh, duh... Word problems!

Our first Citizen of the Month assembly is on Friday where each class has nominated a student to receive this award.  The kids voted with a secret ballot for who they thought was the best citizen.  I was so happy to see lots of different names, but we did have one winner!  This will be a surprise for the student (and the rest of the class) as only myself and this student's parents know.  Who will it be?!?!

Have a good week and check back on Friday for an update about the rest of our week and what's coming up next week!

Weekly Update!

We had another amazing week!

In case you hadn't heard, we started receiving our items from our donorschoose.org project!  Oh my goodness, the kids were SOOOO excited as box after box arrived in our room.  It was like Christmas in September!  Thank you for donating and making this happen for our class.  I can't wait to get everything set up so you can see it all.

It was such a busy week that I didn't get to posting as much as I wanted to, so expect a post overload next week!  Here are some fun pictures from our week though!

Here are some pictures of our new seats!!!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Recap

Happy Friday, families!

What an awesome week we had!

Writing
We focused on leads, imagery, and telling vs. showing this week.  Kids came up with at least 4 different beginnings they could use for one story.  These beginnings were incredible!  Then, we focused on adding imagery and finding places in our stories that could be better developed to engage our readers.  We ended this week's personal narrative focus by redrafting our stories.  We capped off the week with our weekend journal entries, so make sure to look for those in your 4th grader's backpack this weekend!

Working on our leads.  Ask your 4th grader if they recognize whose story this is;)!

Math
We worked on adding and subtracting (with regrouping) into the ten thousands this week.  I have to say, I am SUPER impressed by the kids' ability to pick up on regrouping across zeroes- do you remember how hard that was to learn as a kid?!  Of course, one of our favorite things this week was to get on our iPads during math rotations and work on ST Math.

Don't your friends give you a relaxing massage as you try to figure out a tricky math problem?

Social Studies
This week we took our quiz on continents, oceans, states, and Missouri geography.  The kids are in love with some of the videos we watched, so here's another one if you want to check it out.  Warning, it's pretty silly and you may want to turn down the speakers a bit when it's Africa's turn to talk;).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCYERpZ4Ujc

Reading
Well, in case you haven't heard, which may be impossible, we ended our week with our Reading Fort Party!  I have to say, in my 12 years of teaching, this is hands-down my favorite party!  We got a lot of silly looks carrying in our blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals this morning, but we didn't care one bit!  These kids just love cozying up with a good book.  The rainy weather even added to the ambiance!

The MegaFort

Extra Information
Remember that Friday folders come home each Friday.  Whether or not there is a comment in the comment section, please make sure you sign the folder so I know that you saw it:).  Also, kids should be bringing home their reading logs each day.  The goal with the reading logs are for kids in 4th grade to read at least 20 minutes each night (Monday-Thursday).

Important Dates

September 26- NO SCHOOL

October 4- Picture Day

October 5- 4th Grade goes to the Planetarium (RBHS)

October 19- Early Dismissal

October 28- Classroom Fall Parties

Have a great weekend!  Go Tigers!

Busy Week!

Hey families,

I hope you are having a fantastic week- I know we are!

 I sent an email earlier this week, but we are SO excited about earning our first party of the year!  The kids picked a comfy reading afternoon.  We will be spending the afternoon cozied up with our flashlights, table forts, pillows, blankets and stuffed animals.  Some friends also earned their personal goal of 50 Dojo points and will be eating in the classroom with me on Friday.  To say I'm excited about this Friday would be a complete understatement!

 Lounging during library

 Apparently this was the guys' corner of the library today

Pulling out our D'Rowe's menus again for some math practice

Have a great week!