Another great week!

This week saw a lot of focused work in our room.  Throughout the week students have reflected on work they have done, thought about our learning intentions and set goals for action that they need to take during work time.  This sort of authentic engagement always results in quality work, and this week proved this.
Students have been working on two pieces of writing.  Both of these are pieces of non-fiction writing, but the focus and purpose of each is different.  One of the pieces of writing is about land-forms.  In this piece students have worked on researching different land-forms, citing sources, and paraphrasing information.  The other piece of writing is about Vermont.  In this piece students chose a topic related to Vermont that interests them.  These topics range from the Vermont state symbols, to the Green Mountains, and span everything in between.  This piece of writing is focused on creating an engaging piece of informational text that engages readers as well as teaches readers important and interesting facts.  Our reflection during writing time hinged on thinking about the steps needed to complete these types of writing pieces, self-assessing what parts students have already done, and then determining next steps to follow in order to complete the task at hand.
In math we have continued work on multiplication. Our big focus has been on solving multiplication expressions using the standard American algorithm and procedure.  We have been working on solving expression with 2 and 3 digit multiplicands, and 1 and 2 digit multipliers.  Through this work, we are practicing using the basic foundation facts (1-digit X 1-digit) and place value to help us solve problems.
During our reflection time, of which we have three daily, we are thinking about the interactions and thoughts we have with one another during our time at school.  This practice is to increase self-awareness, and help students understand that the way they treat one another has a direct impact on their own well-being.  This process is one that is embraced by many of the students, as they all see to look forward to it.
As always, I hope you have a restful and enjoyable weekend, and if you need to contact me please feel free to!

-Dave

Zoinks! So much happening....

The past weeks have seen a lot of action. One action filled day was yesterday, our first winter fitness fun day of the year!  This was a resounding success, as I chatted with students this morning nearly all had glowing reports, and we still have 4 more of these days to look forward to!  We had students who had never skated before gliding on the ice, and kids enjoyed beautiful ski conditions at Bolton, while some nordic skied at Morse Farm, and still others enjoyed sledding and snow games here at school!

We also have been working hard in our classroom.  We are in the midst of an informational writing unit, and are creating some books about Vermont.  We have worked hard this week on adding stories and elaborated text to our writing, rather than just presenting a "dry toast" piece of writing rich with only facts.

Dividend, divisor, and quotient have been our words of the week!  We are working with division and understanding and identifying these parts of a division expression are terribly important.  For a refresher (if you need one) check with your student and they will fill you in about which is which.

We are looking forward to another fantastic week next week, and please remember that there is no school for students on Monday and Tuesday.  If you need to contact me, please feel free anytime, and as always, enjoy your weekend!

Dave

As we approach the winter break...

...we are beginning to tie some things up, as well as have some ongoing projects to work on when we return.  We have been working on a min-unit about landforms.  This unit has focused on research skills, paraphrasing, source citation, and of course text creation.  The culmination of this unit will be some full-color books!  These are looking good so far, and we hope to have them finalized before the break!

We are also using the skills listed above in an investigation of Vermont.  Students are working on topics of their choice, researching them, and writing about the connections these topics have to Vermont.  Topics range from mountains to agriculture.  The culmination of this work will also be a book, but with a focus on the audience, rather than simply to convey knowledge.  We are currently in the research and initial draft portion of this work, and we will take these initial drafts and craft them toward the audience we are hoping to capture.

Math has seen alot of work recently.  We have been working on building automaticity with the foundational facts in multiplication.  We are working on these facts in groups, and practicing using cuisenaire rods.  Along side this we have been working on identifying the dividend and divisor in division word problems.

As always I hope this update finds you well, and you have a restful and rejuvenating weekend and break.  There is a possibility of significant snow next Wednesday...let's keep our fingers crossed!

Dave

A new week, bring new investigations!

We are moving forward as always.  This week we have been working on researching VT history, as well as different landforms.  Right now the purpose of our research is two-fold. We are working, of course, to gain information and understanding, but we are also working to practice paraphrasing, choosing interesting bits of information and citing sources.  This work will result in a couple of differently formatted books, one for each topic respectively.

Math is another area where new investigations are beginning.  We are working on reading and deciphering comparison statements as they relate to math, and from these statements finding equations that match, and ultimately writing word problems that ask the mathematician to compare. An example is as follows:  A man has 7 coins, his friend has 4 times the amount of coins.  His friend has 28 coins.  The equations that relate to this are: 28/4 = 7, 28/7 = 4, 7 x 4 = 28, and 4 x 7 = 28.  A potential word problem relating to that could be: If a man has 28 coins in his pocket and his friend has 4 times less, how many coins does his friend have?

We are moving into the winter season, please remember that all students need all of their winter gear each day.  As always I hope this finds you well, and you have a relaxing weekend.

-Dave

Snow and new units!

Hey, I hope all of you are enjoying the snow!  I am really excited about it.  Throughout the winter I will continue to assign kids 20 minutes of outside fun for homework, so please encourage them to explore the winter landscape.

We are wrapping up our unit on squishy circuits.  We are publishing some accordion books to show our understanding.  These will be displayed outside our classroom, so the next time you are here, check them out!  As this unit wraps up we are moving into some new ones.

In writing we are beginning to explore informational text.  We are currently doing this by reading about and taking notes regarding some of Vermont's history.  This reading and unit will concentrate on pulling information from sources, citing sources, and creating pieces of writing about Vermont's history.

We are also beginning and investigation of landforms.  This investigation will focus on online research, source citation, paraphrasing, and of course landforms.  We will be looking at several examples of different types of landforms, and finding examples that exist in Vermont!

I hope this post finds you well, and that you are prepping for a rejuvenating Thanksgiving break.

Dave

This is the week of beginnings!

All beginnings, mean of course, some endings.  This week we have been wrapping up a few units from the fall, and launching into some new one for the coming months.  We are wrapping up our unit on narrative writing, all students have increased their story-tellers voice and added to the skills that they have in narrative writing.  Moving forward in writing we will be working on creating pieces of non-fiction writing.  For this work we will be focusing on the changes Vermont has gone through during it's history.  We will also be working on the skills involved with performing research, paraphrasing and citing sources.

We are also beginning some new work in math.  We are currently tackling two parallel strains of math concepts.  We are working to develop our mastery of foundational facts, and working to applying these to "multiplication problems." Your students can clarify these terms for you if need be!
Another unit we are putting the finishing touches on is "squishy circuits." During this unit we investigated electricity and circuits, created some fantastic models, and are culminating with some beautiful books.  After this unit we will be working with some we-do Lego robots and creating programs to these robots so they can perform different tasks, as well as modifying programs to modify the actions of the robots.

Finally, it was so nice to meet with many of you over the past two weeks.  If you have any further questions please contact me so we can set up a follow up meeting, or if anything arises in the future, please check in and we can have a quick chat!

-Dave

Next Friday November 7th is our Spanish restaurant simulation!

                                                                                                                                              

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

Students in the fourth grade have been learning how to order at a restaurant and ask others what they would like to order in Spanish.  As a culminating project, students will participate in a restaurant simulation where our classroom is set up as a restaurant and they order food from a menu in Spanish. I will be providing some of the menu items and wondered if there were any families that would be willing to contribute an item as well.  If this is something that you would be willing and able to do, could you please return this form with your name and what you are able to contribute? We will be having our simulation on Friday November 7, 2014 in the afternoon. All meals, snacks, and desserts welcomed!

Muchas Gracias,

Señorita Gray

Yes, I ___________________________________ am able to contribute ___________________________ to the menu.