Student reflections in the blog this week!

This week's post will be made entirely of student reflections!  I am simply copying and pasting writing from student's Google drives.

11/20/15

This week we started Band olympics. It is something we do in band to win prizes who has the most minutes they practices the most minutes.

Then we get to start basketball next week in P.e. M.r Blanchard told us  on monday.

We started abenaki research for a mini museum. (Joe)

What I liked this week is that I tuned my ukulele strings.  I didn't just tune it I learned a little bit how to play it.  Also the strings all have a different sound.  If the Neck is pointing to the left then the string on top is G.  The second one down would be C. The third one down would be E.  last of all the bottom one is A.  If the neck is pointing to the right then the strings are just reversed.  That is something that I learned and thought that is very important to know. (Madyson)

This week was very interesting because we had a lot of stuff going on. I love it when there is a lot of stuff going on because there is always something to do it makes it so  you are not bored. it is very easy to get bored when you are doing stuff for a long time!   That  is why I loved it this week.   This week we worked on the abenaki and more discussion protocols what is kinda boring because we kept doing it but other then that it was all fun. (Sawyer)

11-20-15         Since we are done with State Symbols, we are now working on a Abenaki work in discovery. We are making historical narratives about how it was like back then. When we are done with the historical narratives, we will make sculptures on what the story was like. Right now, I’m working still on my narrative, I want to look up a traditional ball game Abanaki children would play. I havn’t found anything yet about it, but I am still looking. Soon, it will be finished. (Greta)

In Discussion this week, we learned about a new protocol called Written Conversation. I sort of like it, and nobody talks (unless you're deciding who gets who’s book.) Here’s how it goes: First, like every other protocol, you read a book. Then, you write about the book. Next, you switch books with somebody in your group. They comment on it. Again, the writing switches to another person in your group. You keep repeating this process until your writing comes back to you. Finally, you look at the comments and then you comment on the comments. So, that’s my blog!

-Aaren

11/16 to 11/20

Abanaki research was productive this week with lots of writing and hard work.  (Tag)

Enjoy your weekend!

-Dave

A bit dreary but productive week.

As you have noticed the weather this week was a bit dreary.  We, however, had a  very sunny week in our room.  Students are being extremely engaged in our work and are deepening their understanding in all academic and social areas.

We have been investigating Vermont State Symbols. Along with this work we are also learning about different features found in non-fiction text.  Students have been working on books, we are using Google Slides for this work.  They have also practiced taking notes from resources, changing those notes into text, and finally choosing which words in this text to embolden and define in a glossary!

Another focus has been retelling and summarizing the books we are reading.  We have returned our focus to the difference between these two skills, and students are working on remembering that a retell is full of details and a summary is based on themes.

In math place value and digits have been our focus this week.  We have been looking at multiplication algorithms, like 243 X 10 = ____.  From this we have been figuring what the largest place value in the product will be, as well as the digit that will be in that place value.

Our discussions have also taken a turn, we have been working with Mrs. Christy to nurture discussion protocols with students, as well as to have students lead and choose the discussion protocols to use.  This happened this week!  Students chose texts to read, read and investigated them, met as a group, chose which protocol they thought would be most appropriate and finally used the protocol in a student directed manner!  This ownership of learning and engaged underlines the effort these students are putting into our discussion work.

As always, have a restful and relaxing weekend.

Dave

Working up to Halloween!

Man, another week, another bunch of learning and hard work.  This week we have been working on multiplication of digit and one digit numbers.  The foundation for this is fluency in one digit by one digit multiplication facts.  All next week your students will be coming home with homework to practice "products," and "factors."  They know how to play these games, so just ask them to explain how the game works, and enjoy!

We also have finished our narrative writing unit.  We will be compiling and sending home some of this work today, loo for it in the Friday folders.  We are also getting ready to dive into a unit on VT state symbols and research.  Be prepared to hear alot about the Hermit Thrush and the Morgan Horse.
This week also saw the continuation of our discussion protocols with Mrs. Christy.  We are working toward independence and student led and facilitated discussions.  In the future we hope to have students select the protocol that will be most appropriate for them to use based on what they are discussing, or what their goal for discussion is.

Student reflections from the week:  Students have really enjoyed art and PE this week.  Many students had a bunch of fun at the monster mash, many are looking forward to Halloween, and finally we are having an all school celebration today and kids are stoked!

Have a great weekend,

Dave

Starting to get chilly!

As the cool weather approaches, we continue our hard work, and anticipate some upcoming events.  We have been working hard this week on using different discussion protocols.   Through this practice, students are learning to share their thoughts, synthesize the thoughts of others, and respond in a thoughtful manner.  We have been using these strategies with books read aloud, as well as books read independently.

Speaking of books, we have begun our first book groups of the year.  The choices for this round are Danny Champion of the World, and George's Marvelous Medicine/James and the Giant Peach.  Students are digging into these books and sharing the ideas and insights that they take from reading each night.

Finally, we have begun working with the standard American Algorithm in math.  This is an exciting and fun time, as we learn to master how to "carry" and multiply 2 digit numbers together!

I hope this finds you well and that you have a restful and relaxing weekend.

-Dave

A short but productive week!

This week a lot has been happening.  One of the things we have been focused on is discussion.  We have had the opportunity to have Mrs. Christy join us anh help us learn discussion protocols.  Thus far we have worked on the "jigsaw," and "save the last word for me."  Both of these encourage engagement, and give students the time and space to share their views and thoughts, as well as to respond to the views and thoughts of others.

One of the strategies was used during our writing time, as we split into groups to investigate different aspects of a writing checklist.  After expert groups reviewed certain aspects of the checklist they "jigsawed" to share the information they had just gleaned.  This is a great way for students to synthesize and share new information.

Speaking of new information, we have been investigating the pattern of repeated addition and how this influences multiplication.  We have used the algorithm: 4 + 100 x 5 = _____ for this discussion.  Check with your student to see what they think the answer is to this, and ask how they arrived there.

Student reflections:  This week students have been really excited about math, engagement has been high, and discussions have been lively.  Many students are also stoked about the specials we have, especially P.E.  Lyddie has also been a big hit, we are nearing the end of the book, and many students are being carried along by this beautiful story.

As always, I hope you have a relaxing and refreshing weekend!

Dave

Ukuleles and math

We have continued to work hard this week in all aspects of academia.  This post, however, will focus on the work we are doing in math, and our uke-club.  As I outlined last week, many students in fourth grade participate in band.  Many, however, is not all therefore, this year all of those who are not participating in band will still be learning to make music, as we are building our own ukuleles!  These little instruments are fun to play and are proving cool to build.  We have affixed the necks of our ukes to the bodies, and will be gluing fret-boards next week!  Hopefully by January our room will be filled with "sounds of the islands."

This image is of our ukuleles drying!

The following images are of some of the models we have been building in math.

We have continued to work in math on solving multiplication algorithms.  We are working to master to concepts of multiplication by using models.  The premise we are working from is that all multiplication algorithms can be solved using the area of a rectangle, and we have been building these rectangles!  To build them we are using cuisenaire rods and hundreds blocks.  This model allows students to gain a sense of what is happening in multiplication that they can extend to the algorithm that many of us are familiar with...then one that involves "carrying."

As always, I hope you have a restful weekend, and look forward to seeing your students again on Wednesday.

-Dave

Lots of new things happening this week.

This week has seen alot of new action in our room.  We have taken delivery of some new tables!  These things are fantastic, the tops fold up for quick storage, and the surface is large enough for 5 students to spread out on!

These really increase our usable space!

We are also beginning a parallel program to band.  As you know not all students choose band, and this year, those who don't will be making ukuleles!  We will be working for the next four of five weeks to build and finish our ukes, and when they are done, we will learn to play!  At the end of the year, any participants from our "Uke-club" will be able to purchase their instrument if they wish (the cost is $46.00).  

As usual, I will wrap up this post with some reflections students have had about the week.  These take on a few themes, the most prominent of which are homework, and chromebooks.  We began our homework program this week, and it is off to a rolling start. Nearly all students are practicing at home, and all are eager to share what they have done.  Also we have a 1:1 ratio for Chromebooks this year.  Each student has a machine assigned for their use, and they will be using these for the duration of this year and in years to come.

I hope this post finds you well and that you have a relaxing and refreshing weekend.

-Dave