This week in review!

I apologize for the lack of posts...but we are back on the horse now.  The past two weeks have been filled with learning and opportunity!  We have kicked off a new unit, added some new share strategies, worked with subtraction, practiced adding endings to our writing, worked as a team, used a new piece of technology and so much more!
We are beginning a new unit focused on Vermont.  Throughout this unit we will be learning about the history of Vermont, as well as, how Vermont has changed throughout it's history.  This unit is beginning with an investigation of the first people in Vermont.  For this investigation we are using a research technique called "The Super 3."  This technique focuses on three steps for research; plan, do, reflect.  We are currently in the "plan" stage and have been working to define our task (create a question we want an answer to).  All of the students have come up with profound questions to attempt to answer.  We also will be using a new technology and online resources to find these answers. 
This new technology is very exciting, as it is text-to-speech technology.  This will allow all students to access many more resources than before.  It will also allow them to focus on finding informational sites, and listening to information, rather than relying on reading their way through everything.  Speaking of "teachnology", we have begun using voice recording applications to record ourselves reading, and then self assess our reading fluency.  This sort of self-reflective work is so powerful for students as they hear their own reading and authentically change their practice to improve.
Subtraction, subtraction, subtraction.  We are working with three digit subtraction with the aim of mastery.  We are working  on regrouping, as well as identifying the distinction between; finding the difference and taking away.  As we work through this subtraction students are sharing their thinking, using manipulative's, and learning from one another!
As I said earlier this has been a great week, and we look forward to many more!  As always if you need to contact me please do.  There is a new contact tab at the top of the blog, this will give you all of my contact information here at school.  Also check back later today for some photos!

A great week and information about conferences!

Below you will find some photos from the week, notes on what we have been doing, and information about conferences.
CONFERENCES: In your student's Friday folder you will find a sign up sheet for conferences. Please find a slot that is blank and fits your schedule, add your name to that slot and return it with your student on Monday. As I get sheets from you, I will update the schedule and send home copies on Friday. I am working to embed this schedule in our blog, if and when I figure that out a copy will be there as well!
NOTES FROM THE WEEK: This week we did all sorts of learning. On top of everything we had the NECAP assessments, and all students in our class did their best work, and were mindful of others in our class who worked at different paces. We also continued work on writing, book groups, the American Algorithm, and butterfly investigations.
During writing time we have been working on writing complex characters and narratives, as well as self assessing our work, creating "fourth grade" pieces of writing and focusing on punctuation and spelling. The work students are putting into planning their writing and adding the above complexities is fantastic. These photos show some students in the writing process.

Using a "story arc" to plan writing!

During the NECAP students worked hard to show what knowledge they have. The following images are of students working with RELEASE ITEMS, but give you a sense of their intensity while working with materials like these.

Finally, the American Algorithm. We have been working with this for the past few weeks and are beginning to master the conventions associated with it. Students are beginning to work efficiently with this algorithm and really understand how this algorithm is used.

Thanks again for another great week and if you need to connect with me, drop me an email or call at extension 318! Enjoy the long weekend, Dave.

What a terrific week.

Throughout this week we have worked on creating new pieces of writing from story arcs, practiced with the American algorithm in math, prepared for our NECAP assessments and so much more!

Story arcs are ways of planning our writing. We are using these atcs to outline the 6 components that we focus on in fourth grade writing. These six components are catchy lead, turning point, strong ending, dialogue, character struggle, and character development. All of these components have different purposes in our writing, and for more information on all or any of these check with your student for clarification about what each is for.

The American algorithm is a math convention we are all familiar with. If you would like mire information check with your student for the conventions that we think about when using this algorithm. Also ask your student to transform this number sentences into the American algorithm: 437 + 243 = _____.

Finally we are preparing for the NECAP assessment that we will be taking part in next week. I find it important to preview the format for these tests before the kids work on the "for real." The format can be tricky, and orienting students ti the multiple choice, and short answer format is helpful for student's relaxation during these assessments.

As always, I hooe you have a restful and relaxing weekend and if you need to get in touch with me for anything drop me an email at dwillard@u32.org, or call at 223-7936 x 318. Thanks, Dave.

 

Photos from the previous week!

Fo clarification on any of these photos, check with your student...they will certainly clarify for you!

 

OPEN HOUSE!

Tomorrow is Open House from 6-7 p.m.  I hope to see all of you there!

The start to another great week!

Throughout last week, and into this one, so much fantastic stuff has been happening.  We have worked on creating stories from story arcs, practiced different word patterns, worked on adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers, had our first 4 Winds, and so much more.
In literacy we have been working hard with a serious focus on writing.  We are working with story arcs.  These are organizers that we use to plan our stories.  Within these arcs students are planning and using different story elements; catchy lead, turning point, strong endings, character development, character struggles and dialogue.  Using these arcs students are increasing the volume and depth of their writing as well as discovering how much detail they can create!  We are also working with word patterns and syllable rules.  Two days a week we have mini-lesson groups for syllable rules, and are lucky enough to have these sessions co-taught by Sheila Paterson!  We have also been working lately in non-fiction books groups learning about and finding examples of different features in non-fiction text that we can use to help navigate it.
In math we continue our work with 3 digit numbers.  We are working very hard on place value and adding and subtracting three digit numbers.  As you see your students bring homework home feel free to interact with them while they work on it. The concepts we are working on focus on efficiently solving three digit expressions, and if reading some of the problems to your students makes the material more accessible for them please feel free to do so. 
I will update with some photos of our work tomorrow, and hope to see all of you at open house starting at 6!

Dave

Another great week of learning

We have continued our work with caterpillars (larva) and are hoping they will pupate soon. This week our surviving larva were moved to a common tank, and we are hopeful they will pupate soon. Before the move we took some time to observe them out of a tank for one last time. During this time students made some watercolor paintings of their larva.

We have also started some work investigating nonfiction text. For this work we will be using books to find features of nonfiction, magazines to extract features, and our notebooks to keep records of different features and what can be learned from them. This week we focussed on captions and that a caption is "words that need the picture to make sense." These photos show students work in their notebooks!

We also had a PBIS celebration this week. Throughout the year we will have celebrations as our "chip bucket" fills up. Throughout the school we are using small wooden chips to recognize when students are following expectations in different areas. Thus far we have had 3 celebrations, this week's celebration was a "pinata-extravaganza!"

There is so much more to share, but for now I will leave you with a few more images of what we have been doing! Thanks again for your continued support, and if you need to contact me feel free to email or call!