Boston Information Coming Home...

...as well as some classroom updates. 

First off, I will apologize for the lack of posts in the past month. Throughout this month we have seen a bunch of strong work here in our classroom.  We have worked on adding fractions with like denominators, designing and testing bridges that can span a 24 inch gap, reading intensely in books of our choice, and identifying different topics that we can write about to express our opinions and hope to convince our readers of something. 

We practiced adding fractions with a common denominator by changing our unit.  For instance often times the unit we use is one, therefore we count by one.  However if we change the unit to five, we can quickly see that what used to be "one," is now 1/5.  We used this idea to practice using different denominators, and different numerators, and add them together.  In the forthcoming week we will be working on what to do with the improper fractions that we get as a result of this addition.

Our bridge work led to lots of reflection and refinement in design.  We had bridges that held pounds of added weight, while others simply held their own weight, all of these met the learning intentions for this project, as the goal was to span a gap of 24 inches.

Also, please keep your eyes open this afternoon for some paperwork coming home about our Boston Trip.  Two forms will be coming home, one is a general permission form with emergency contact information and things like this, everyone should fill this out.  The other form is for prescription and/or over the counter medication.  If this one applies to your student please fill this form out as well (this latter form needs to be filled out even if you will be chaperoning with your child).  We also will be making some distinctive t-shirts to wear on our trip so we can easily spot each other.  For this we ask that everyone bring in a white t-shirt that is 100% cotton, and has been pre-washed.  We will collect these shirts throughout next week, and will be decorating them on the week of May 7th.  Also if any of you who are chaperoning need access to a plug in the night for a CPAP machine, please let me know so we can plan accordingly.

I hope you have a great weekend,

-Dave

A quick note from the library:

From the library;

The wet and mud of Spring often results in wet and muddy library books.  We will encourage students to wrap library books in plastic bags during wet Spring days and will help out with this as much as we can. If you have some plastic bags that you would like to donate to this effort, please send them in with your student. 

Thank you!

 - Arlyn and Mrs. Badger

Happy Spring!

We are cruising into spring!  We are working on division during math, reading a beautiful book and learning about characters and theme in reader's workshop, writing our opinions, and so much more.  We have also begun to do some serious reflective work.  We are thinking about some of the standards that need to be met in fourth grade, and thinking about our progress toward them.  Students use evidence, exemplars and each other in this reflective work.  This reflection will serve as the basis for our student-led conferences that are coming up in a few weeks.  Speaking of those, there is a link to a live sign up document on the top of this blog, and I will be sending a paper copy home this afternoon.  These conferences are a little different and we can accommodate up to four students and families in each time slot.  Please sign up for the time that fits your schedule best!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and see you all April 6 for our conferences.

Dave

Sign up for Student-led conferences

Spring Student-Led Conferences

Below you will find the link to a sign up for  parent-teacher conferences this spring. You can also find this link on the conferences page of my (this) blog. Please note, you should be able to just add your name write to the document, please do so.   I look forward to meeting with all of you. Our Spring conferences are a bit different than our fall ones as they are led by students. If you would like a little private time to chat with me, that can easily be arranged, please just let me know.  Otherwise sign up for the slot that fits your schedule best!

Please note: There can be up to four conferences happening in the room at one time.

Thanks,

Dave

Link to Student-Led Conference sign-up

Information coming home...

I will be sending some information home tonight regarding our Boston trip that is scheduled for later this spring.  On the pink piece of paper you will find information about being a chaperone, the amount your student raised through our sock sale, as well as the remaining balance for the trip.  There are also a few individual fundraising ideas outlined on this communique.  If you have any questions about this trip, please feel  free to contact me so I can clear them up for you. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Dave

Another busy week! And an apology...

...let's start with that.  I would like to apologize for the lack of new photos.  I am not a natural photographer, and have set a goal to take and post more photos but have fallen short on this goal as of late.  I will work to take and post more recent photos as I know how interesting and valuable they can be.

As for busy-ness, we have been.  During math we have been focused on noticing and extending patterns.  We are looking at different patterns, how they progress, and how these patterns can be used to deconstruct large numbers.  We are also working on the relative size of numbers.  That is to say that if on the tenth step of a pattern you have 41, that on the 20th step you would have 82, and on the 100th step you would have 410.  We are using group discussion to uncover some of these patterns, as well as to build communication within our ranks.

Students are also working on biographies of people of interest.  We will hope to wrap these up by next week, and have full color published copies out for inspection at our celebration of learning!  There will also be a black and white copy coming home as soon as they are finished. 

The City of Ember is the dystopian novel that we are in the middle of.  We are working on the nuance of reading a book like this, as well as trying to understand the ways the author helps us readers to feel the dystopia.  This book is super-engaging, and if you are looking for a read for yourself, you might check it out. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Dave

Fractions, facts, and dystopia...

We have starting reading a dystopian novel entitled The City of Ember, this book can be a wonderful introduction to the genre of dystopia without being too heavy.  Throughout our reading of this book we will focus on some of the "moves" that the author uses to really make us feel that Ember is a not-good place.  Dystopian novels are great for this because students really need to reflect to find out what the author is doing to project the feeling of foreboding that accompanies reading a book like this.

We have also been working on researching people for biographic writing.  This short foray into reading and research is always interesting for students as they work on the art of identifying what facts are relevant to the stories that they want to tell about people.  We also use this opportunity to practice writing in a factual way that is more engaging than simply a list of facts.  To do this we are using mentor biographies to see how other author's craft this sort of writing. 

We also have been working with fractions.  We are cultivating the notion that fractions are a piece of a whole, and and equal piece at that.  We have been exploring these through discussion, with strips of paper, and drawings.  We are using all of these tools to understand the aforementioned idea, as well as to build the notion of equivalent fractions.

We are also looking forward to Winter Wellness which starts next week!  Students will bring home information about which group they are in with them today, and if there are any questions please let me know.  Please also keep in mind that Wednesday February 21 is our P.E. lab at Morse farm, and Thursday February 22 is our celebration of learning. 

I hope you all have a restful and rejuvenating weekend!

Dave