Aaliyah and Angelis created a video to show everyone how to multiply by a one-digit number. You can see it below!
Fourth Grade 2014-2015
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
September 22, 2014
I handed out books to students last week that we will be reading in guided reading groups for about the next five weeks. Students have all been assigned a book, either Frindle, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Fudge-a-Mania, or Tiger Rising. We will be meeting two to three times a week in small groups to discuss the books, while working on visualizing, making connections, and asking questions. Students do have time to read the section that is due in class, but if they do not finish, they should read the book at home. This can count towards their reading log. I also wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who ordered from Scholastic! I'm glad the students will have books at home to read, and I was able to buy over thirty new books for our classroom library, too.
I was very impressed with the stories students handed in last week! We began writing a new story this week inspired by the book The Hundred Penny Box. Students made a timeline of their life and then chose three important events to write about. We're talking about how to show that something happened instead of just telling the reader it happened and other ways to add details to stories.
In social studies, we're studying economics. Each student is choosing a business idea, such as selling cookies or dog walking, and writing a business plan for this idea. They'll have to figure out their investors, profit, and resources they'll need for the business. So far, they've been great! We did a fun experiment on Friday about supply and demand. Students could see how the price of Sour Candy Kids (the most popular candy) rose because more people wanted to buy it, but then after several rounds of it becoming more expensive, demand changed and less people wanted to pay the new price.
We have a few tests coming up. This Thursday, September 25, we have a science test on classifying organisms, especially animals. We'll have a test soon in math, too, on using estimation to solve problems. This will probably be on October 6. As a reminder, we have no school on Friday since it's a teacher professional development day. That means our vocabulary test and times tables test will both be on Thursday. I am also sending home progress reports on Thursday instead of responsibility reports. After receiving the progress report, if anyone would like to meet to discuss your child, please just let me know!
Finally, we have our first field trip coming up! The Lyric Opera is performing an opera that was written just for students called "The Brothers Grimm." We'll be going to see it at Lane Tech on Monday, October 6. I'll send home that permission slip later on this week. Students each received a booklet with information about the opera last week, and we'll be doing a few activities to prepare for the trip.
I was very impressed with the stories students handed in last week! We began writing a new story this week inspired by the book The Hundred Penny Box. Students made a timeline of their life and then chose three important events to write about. We're talking about how to show that something happened instead of just telling the reader it happened and other ways to add details to stories.
In social studies, we're studying economics. Each student is choosing a business idea, such as selling cookies or dog walking, and writing a business plan for this idea. They'll have to figure out their investors, profit, and resources they'll need for the business. So far, they've been great! We did a fun experiment on Friday about supply and demand. Students could see how the price of Sour Candy Kids (the most popular candy) rose because more people wanted to buy it, but then after several rounds of it becoming more expensive, demand changed and less people wanted to pay the new price.
We have a few tests coming up. This Thursday, September 25, we have a science test on classifying organisms, especially animals. We'll have a test soon in math, too, on using estimation to solve problems. This will probably be on October 6. As a reminder, we have no school on Friday since it's a teacher professional development day. That means our vocabulary test and times tables test will both be on Thursday. I am also sending home progress reports on Thursday instead of responsibility reports. After receiving the progress report, if anyone would like to meet to discuss your child, please just let me know!
Finally, we have our first field trip coming up! The Lyric Opera is performing an opera that was written just for students called "The Brothers Grimm." We'll be going to see it at Lane Tech on Monday, October 6. I'll send home that permission slip later on this week. Students each received a booklet with information about the opera last week, and we'll be doing a few activities to prepare for the trip.
Monday, September 8, 2014
September 8, 2014: Pictures
Below, you can see a slideshow of pictures from the beginning of the year! The students are making observations about mealworms, practicing read to someone, drawing pictures with their buddies, and launching parachutes.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
September 4, 2014
We've definitely been busy this week in fourth grade, so hopefully everyone was able to rest over the long weekend! I enjoyed seeing so many people at Back to School Night last week. One thing I passed around then was a contact list that we will be sending home to students in the fourth grade that has families' phone numbers and emails. If you'd like your information be included on this list and were not at Back to School Night or forgot to sign it, please let me know before September 12.
We have our first math test tomorrow. It will cover place value, writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word form, comparing numbers, and finding patterns. Next week, we'll do a quick overview of multiplication and division using the third grade books, before starting our next unit on rounding, factors, and multiples.
We will also have a social studies test in about two weeks. Right now, I'm planning to have it on September 16, but this may change depending on how quickly we cover the material. For this test, students will need to know the regions and some of the major landforms in each one, the definitions of different landforms found in the United States, and the patterns of weather here (for example, people who east of a lake are more likely to have snow).
Students have been having a lot of fun in science! We're still talking about how the students are scientists and doing different experiments together. We had some visitors from the Nature Museum on Monday. The museum has given us all the great materials we've been using in science lately, so they came to see how the lessons were being taught. The students did a great job while they were there making claims about which brand of cookie has the most raisins. We're making parachutes now, and each group came up with their own question to test. Next week, we'll begin studying how to classify animals.
In writing, we've made word webs and beginning/middle/end books to help us organize ideas for stories. Students will be writing a paragraph using these next week, then revising and editing their work. In reading, we're continuing to practice our routines of read to self and read to someone, while learning different strategies to become better readers. We're learning how to write a reading letter, a letter students will write to me every other week throughout the year about a book they're reading. We'll talk about genres next week, and the week after that I hope to pass out our first guided reading novels.
We have our first math test tomorrow. It will cover place value, writing numbers in standard, expanded, and word form, comparing numbers, and finding patterns. Next week, we'll do a quick overview of multiplication and division using the third grade books, before starting our next unit on rounding, factors, and multiples.
We will also have a social studies test in about two weeks. Right now, I'm planning to have it on September 16, but this may change depending on how quickly we cover the material. For this test, students will need to know the regions and some of the major landforms in each one, the definitions of different landforms found in the United States, and the patterns of weather here (for example, people who east of a lake are more likely to have snow).
Students have been having a lot of fun in science! We're still talking about how the students are scientists and doing different experiments together. We had some visitors from the Nature Museum on Monday. The museum has given us all the great materials we've been using in science lately, so they came to see how the lessons were being taught. The students did a great job while they were there making claims about which brand of cookie has the most raisins. We're making parachutes now, and each group came up with their own question to test. Next week, we'll begin studying how to classify animals.
In writing, we've made word webs and beginning/middle/end books to help us organize ideas for stories. Students will be writing a paragraph using these next week, then revising and editing their work. In reading, we're continuing to practice our routines of read to self and read to someone, while learning different strategies to become better readers. We're learning how to write a reading letter, a letter students will write to me every other week throughout the year about a book they're reading. We'll talk about genres next week, and the week after that I hope to pass out our first guided reading novels.
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