Thursday, September 14, 2017

Welcome to 4th Grade

Welcome to Mrs. Pennington's 2017-2018 fourth grade class! We are going to have a wonderful year. Last year I used this blog as a newsletter, but this year I will be communicating what is happening in our classroom through a weekly newsletter. Feel free to email me if you ever have any questions at apennington@cpsk12.org.  Follow me @Mrs_APennington on Twitter to see pictures of our class throughout the week!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Service Learning Video

Check out the 4th grade service learning video that shows our project from start to finish!  You may see a few familiar faces in there!

Service Learning Video

Friday, May 12, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

Social Studies
   This week we spent some time working on finishing our research for our Famous Missourian project.  Remember that kids can bring these home to work on!  We will start presenting these on Friday, so that should give everyone enough time to finish!

   Kids will still have some time to work on these in class next week as well.

Writing
      This week we spent time finishing up our poetry notebooks.  We went through our checklist of poems and made sure everything was great for our poetry share! 

Math
   We took our final math STAR test this week and the kids did great! We also started our new math inquiry unit.  I love how excited the kids get when they know they’ve got a touch problem to solve.
   We will continue with this inquiry unit next week.  We will focus on working with fractions with unlike denominators. 

Science/Health
  We started our health unit this week.  Kids worked in groups to take notes on functions of our different body systems. 
  Next week we will learn about hormones and the different glands in our body.  On Thursday, we will split up into girls and boys and watch the puberty videos.  I’m sure you can imagine how excited all of the kids are for this!

Reading:
      This week we finished up our reading assessments!  It’s been amazing to see how much these readers have grown since the beginning of the year!
     Next week, we will continue to read our super silly read aloud, Sideways Stories from Wayside School.  In reading groups, we will read some fun articles and short stories. 

Here are some pics from our event today:




Friday, March 17, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

Talk about a busy week!  With gearing up for the Walk-A-Thon, burying ourselves with fractions, decimals, and percents, Makerspace, STEAM Bus, and finishing our read aloud- we have earned our weekend!  I should also mention that we have raised OVER $2000 for our "Miles for Moms" fundraiser!  The service coordinator at First Steps was absolutely blown away when I talked to her.  We are so proud of these kids!

Science
   This week we focused on communication with waves and devices that we use to communicate. 
   Next week we will discuss technology and how it’s changing.  We will also review the unit and take a short quiz.

Writing
   This week we began to publish our editorials on The Oregon Trail.  We discussed adding voice and using precise word choice.  On Friday, we took a break from our editorials and learned how to proper “Thank You” notes to send to those who donated to our service learning project.
   Next week, we will take our opinion writing post-test.  We will watch a video, read articles, and take notes on a certain topic.  Then, students will independently write an essay using a rubric as a guide.  

Math
    This week we focused on word problems with fractions.  Students used what they knew about fractions and percents to answer different problems about pizzaJ.  We also learned a new decimal game and practiced adding decimals.
    Next week, we will focus on changing fractions to decimals.  We will also work on ordering decimals with numbers through the thousandths.

Reading:
    This week we finished our read aloud, Mighty Miss Malone.  Oh, how bittersweet it was to finish!  The kids loved this book and sparked some great discussions in our class.  Our mini-lessons focused on capitalization and using commas and quotation marks in direct speech. 
   Next week, we will focus on commonly misspelled words and keep track of those in our Interactive Notebooks.  We will also read some fun poetry/picture books during read aloud to help us gear up for our next writing unit on poetry!

Here are some fun pics from our Makerspace today!






School Reminders:
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 22nd- Spirit Club (grades K-5)
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
·        April 7th- Runge Field Trip
·        April 12th- PTA Meeting at 6:30
·        April 14th- St. Louis Field Trip (more information to come later)
·        April 29th- Flash’s Big Top Circus (more information to come)
·        May 1st-May 4th- MAP testing

Friday, March 10, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

Science
   This week students have spent a lot of time looking at different aspects of sound.  They researched properties of sound like sonic booms, live music, sonar, echo location and more.  Be sure and ask your child what they researched and taught the class.

   Next week students will be learning about communication waves and how technology has changed what we know about sound.  Friday students will be taking a short quiz over everything they’ve learned about waves. 

Here we are presenting our information on different sound waves:



Writing
      This week students have spent time looking at great examples of research-based opinion writing.  This helped them notice great leads and conclusions.  Students then looked at the rubric to help them think about drafting their own pieces. 
   Next week students will draft their opinion piece on why people should or should not go on the Oregon Trail.  We will spend time discussing how to add voice in a research piece as well.  

Here are some pictures of us reading student examples of editorials and grading them with our rubric:


Math
   This week in math we have spent time comparing, adding fractions and breaking apart.  Students have played lots of games that have helped them realize similarities in fractions. 
   Next week students will be applying what they know about fractions in word problems.  We will also introduce decimals!

Here we are playing "Capture the Fraction":


Reading:
      This week we have spent a lot of time talking about homophones.  These are words that sound the same, but have different spellings and meanings.  We have worked in our interactive notebooks to help us remember differences in these words and when to use which word. 
   Next week we will be finishing our read aloud, The Mighty Miss Malone.  It will be a sad day when we have to say goodbye to these characters! We are going to work on capitalization.  Be sure and ask your child how M.I.N.T. helps them remember what to capitalize.  

Look at how much money we've raised for our service learning project so far!


Walk-A-Thon Tips:
·     Bring a water bottle to fill up
·     Wear tennis shoes and walking/running clothes
·     Bring sunscreen if you need it
·     Bring hat or sunglasses if you’d like
·     It’s St. Patrick’s Day--- WEAR GREEN!

School Reminders:
·        March 12th- Daylight Savings Time Change J
·        March 14th- Beulah Math Night 6:00-7:30
·        March 15th- Spirit Club (grades K-5)
·        March 17th- Miles for Moms Walk-a-Thon
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 22nd- Spirit Club (grades K-5)
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
·        April 7th- Runge Field Trip (more info. to come later)
·        April 12th- PTA Meeting at 6:30
·        April 18th- St. Louis Field Trip (more information to come later)
·        April 29th- Flash’s Big Top Circus (more information to come)
·        May 1st-May 4th- MAP testing

   

Friday, March 3, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

We had a great week at BEU!  We were super busy and had a lot of fun.  We got to begin our Friday with a fun time at MakerSpace!



We also celebrated Dr. Seuss!





Here's a recap of some of the learning that went on in the classroom.

Science   This week we began studying sound waves.  We read about how sound waves work and kids learned about echolocation and the parts of an ear.    Next week we will continue studying sound waves and will focus on how communication happens with waves.


Writing
   This week we continued building more background knowledge of the Oregon Trail.  We gathered lots of information and then held another class debate.  We came up with topic sentences for each of our body paragraphs and wrote 3 supporting details for each.      
   Next week we will study examples of good editorials.  We will write our introductions and conclusions.  At the end of the week, we will discuss adding voice and word choice.  Then, we’ll finally start drafting!

Math
    This week we looked at fractions and how they can be shown on a clock.  This allowed us to look at different equivalent fractions.  We also began adding fractions (even with different denominators).  We capped off the week in math with taking the STAR Test.
    Next week, we will work on ordering fractions.  We’ll learn this by playing a fun game in partners!

Reading
    This week we studied elements of a complete sentence (subject and predicate).  We practiced writing simple sentences and compound sentences.  We also looked at sentence fragments and run-on sentences as well.
   Next week, we will introduce the kids to some MAP prep websites we will begin utilizing during our Daily 5 rotations.  We will also focus on frequently confused words and when to use them.  And of course, we will continue reading our awesome books in reading groups! 

School Reminders:
·        March 7th- Early Out
·        March 14th- Beulah Math Night (more info to come)
·        March 17th- Miles for Moms Walk-a-Thon (1:15-2:30)
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
·         April 7th- Runge Field Trip (more info. to come later)
·         April 12th- PTA Meeting at 6:30

Friday, February 24, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

We have had a great week here in room 227! Friday was just the best!  Our class got to go to a makerspace session with Mrs. Fitch and we capped it off with a pajama/movie/popcorn party!





Science
   We continued learning about waves this week.  Kids learned about how the further away a wave gets from its energy source, the more the amplitude decreases.    

   Next week we will begin studying sound waves!

Writing
   This week we continued to learn more about “Research-Based Editorials.”  We compared different essays and even held class debates to get us in the persuasive spirit.  We built background knowledge about the Oregon Trail since our next persuasive essay will involve researching the Westward Expansion.
   Next week, we will continue learning more about the Oregon Trail in order to start deciding what position kids will take on whether or not they would travel on the Oregon Trail.  We will participate in another class debate and start planning our essays.

Math
    We are continuing to plug away on our fraction unit.  I am super impressed with how hard the kids are working on this unit- it’s tricky stuff!  We spent a lot of time studying the relationship between percents and fractions.  We found equivalent fractions and ordered landmark fractions.
    Next week, we will start relating fractions to a clock.  We will also start working on adding fractions.  

Reading:
    This week we started back up with our Daily Interactive Grammar Notebooks.  We spent time reviewing the different parts of speech and even got to play Jeopardy during reading!  Kids learned about progressive tense verbs as we added to our Interactive Notebooks. 
   Next week, we will focus on elements of complete sentences.  We will also focus on fragment and run-on sentences.  We will be continuing our read aloud, The Mighty Miss Malone.  The kids are loving this book!


School Reminders:
·        March 2nd- Dr. Seuss Dress Up Day
·        March 7th- Early Out
·        March 14th- Beulah Math Night
·        March 17th- Miles for Moms Walk-a-Thon (4th grade service project)
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
·         April 7th- Runge Field Trip (more info. to come later)
·         April 12th- PTA Meeting at 6:30

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Happy Thursday!

 Like every week, we sure have been busy!  Here are a few snaps of the week!
Vday


Working on fractions

Using Popplet to discuss our new books.


Science fun!


Friday, February 10, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

We have had a great week filled with fun and learning.  The hot topic this week was all about our "student-led" conferences.  I can't wait to watch the kids sharing all they've accomplished this trimester!  Make sure if you need to reschedule your conference you let me or the office know and we would love to give you a different time!  Here's a look at what we've done this week and what's coming up next week:

Previewing our awesome book fair!

Science
   We have had so much fun learning about waves.  We have talked about amplitude, wavelengths, frequency and even energy and force.  We have used Slinkys, ribbon, water and more to create and study different waves. 

   Next week we will continue our study of waves and talk about how the amplitude of waves changes as it spreads out, how objects move on waves and then we will begin learning about sounds waves. 

Writing
   This week we have finished up our study of informational writing, Students have published their piece on the Missouri city they were studying and have written a post-assessment on the Oregon Trail. I am really impressed with all they have learned about the organization and structure of informational writing. 
   Next week we are going to jump into our new study of persuasive writing. 





Typing on a new program!





Math
    This week we took our pre-assessment on fractions.  We have A LOT to learn.  J They are super excited.  We also spent some time looking at all the data we have and everything we have accomplished as mathematicians this year.  Your kiddos have a lot to be proud of.  Students also set goals they would like to share with you during our conference time together!  Next week we will begin our fractions unit!! 

Puzzle Day!

Reading:
    This week we have spent time reviewing how to monitor and clarify what we are reading.  We discussed how to reread, ask questions, visualize and more.  We also talked about how to notice when we are confused about something we are reading and how that shows us we aren’t understanding what we are reading.  As student’s reading levels increase, so does the content of the books they are reading. 
   Next week we are starting new book club books.  We are super excited to start new chapter books!    

School Reminders:
·        February 13th- Parent Teacher Conferences
·        February 14th- Spring Class Party
·        February 16th- Parent Teacher Conferences
·        February 17th- NO SCHOOL
·        February 20th- NO SCHOOL (President’s Day)
·        March 7th- Early Out
·        March 14th- Beulah Math Night (more info to come)
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
·         April 7th- Runge Field Trip (more info. to come later)
·         April 12th- PTA Meeting at 6:30

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Celebrating Beulah Ralph's Birthday!

Today was a super, fun day!  We started the day making hats for Mrs. Beulah Ralph's 90th birthday celebration.  It was so fun to watch the kids wear their hats all day, but I must admit it was difficult to take them seriously with these huge, silly hats on:).  We explored waves in science today- here are a few pictures of the kids making different kinds of waves.  Have a great night!









Happy birthday, Mrs. Ralph!

Friday, January 27, 2017

Weekly Newsletter

What a busy, busy week!  Thank you to all of the parents who shared your careers with us- we loved getting to learn about what you do!

Writing
We are finally done taking notes on our cities in Missouri.   This week we learned about thesis statements and topic sentences.  Students have been given a graphic organizer to help them organize their researched information.  This week we started planning our final piece and next week we will plan on writing, editing and publishing our pieces. 

Social Studies
This week we discussed the purpose of our government.  We talked about what types of departments a government has and how they are all connected.
Next week we will be starting our new Science unit on waves.  We will learn what waves are, where we see them, what the amplitude of waves is and what effect frequency has on wavelength.         

Math
I am beyond impressed with the effort your kids put into learning division.  They asked for practice, worked at school and home to understand it.  I am blown away!  There are many students that need to keep practicing those flash cards each night! 
Next week we will be reviewing and testing over our unit on division.  Be watching for that review guide to come home on Monday night.  We will test Tuesday and spend the remainder of the week practicing division facts and going over the test before starting our new unit on fractions!! 

Daily 5
This week we have continued with our read aloud book, The Mighty Miss Malone.  I am very impressed with the conversations and questions they are having about the Great Depression.  We have begun discussing what a good summary is and the purpose of a summary.  Next week students will get a graphic organizer that will help them organize information about what we are reading so we can easily write a summary.        


Here are some fun pictures from today's MakerSpace!  We had a blast creating circuits!





Important Dates
·        January 31st- Beulah Ralph’s 90th Birthday!
·        February 3rd- Neon & Bright Day
·        February 6th- NO SCHOOL (teacher work day)
    February 10th- Yearbook Orders & Six Flag Reading Minutes Due
·        February 13th- Parent Teacher Conferences
·        February 14th- Spring Class Party
·        February 16th- Parent Teacher Conferences
·        February 17th- NO SCHOOL
·        February 20th- NO SCHOOL (President’s Day)
·        March 7th- Early Out
·        March 14th- Beulah Math Night (more info to come)
·        March 22nd- Jefferson City Field trip
·        March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK