Happy Friday!

Hey families!

Today was the day!  We got our iPads!  As you may imagine, this was a very exciting morning for us.  I'm sure you'll hear all about it tonight!  I've had some questions regarding iPad usage.  For fourth graders, iPads will stay at school this year.  Also, iPads will not completely replace everything we are doing in the classroom (chapter books, textbooks, etc.), but rather they will be used a supplement to what we are already doing.  The kids are super motivated by them, so I plan on incorporating them as much as possible.  These will be used for instructional purposes, so the app store is actually disabled on these devices.  Teachers will be the only ones allowed to put any apps on these.  Please let me know if you have any questions about these.

Mrs. Fitch helping us set up our iPads

Writing
This week we focused on identifying story elements in personal narratives.  We worked on finding the "heart" of the story (the climax) first, then looked for the other elements that surrounded it.  Kids then coded their own personal narratives to look for these elements.  I was super impressed that kids were able to identify what story elements their papers were missing and then made goals to improve on these areas!

Partners coding personal narratives

Math
We started Topic 2 this week (adding and subtracting whole numbers).  We took our pretest to see what we already knew and then took off running with our math groups.  We primarily focused on mental math this week.  That's not a comfortable skill for everyone, but we are definitely making strides in the right direction!

Reading
This week we worked on rotating through our stations.  In our small groups, we made reading goals and set meeting norms.  We are going to start our book clubs next week and the kids are super pumped about reading some new books!

Practicing "Read to Someone"

Social Studies
We worked on learning the states that surround Missouri and also did some review on all 50 states.  We will be taking a quiz late next week over the continents, oceans, and Missouri.  Look for a study guide to come home on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Lots of kiddos told me they're going to the football game.  I will be watching it from the comforts of my own home with two wild and cranky three year olds worn out from tailgating.  Go Tigers!