Tuesday, December 13, 2016

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:




Friday, December 9, 2016

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

Friday, December 2, 2016

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)