Snowflake Similes

Today we learned all about similes and how they are used to compare two unlike or unrelated things.  We talked about how similes use words like as or like to help connect and compare those two things.  The students then created similes about snowflakes from descriptive words we came up with to describe the snowflake.  Some of our awesome examples include:

The snowflake is as relaxing as the sunset.

The snowflake is as white as snow.

The snowflake is as light as a feather.

The snowflake is as fragile as glass.

The snowflake is as breakable as I am.

We attached these similes to snowflakes we created and they are now hanging up in our classroom!

Come take a look :)

Changes to Spelling

I have decided to make some changes to spelling based on updated materials and curriculum we are now using in 4th grade.  Your son or daughter may have come home in the past weeks talking about cutting apart words and sorting them by different characteristics, sounds, or patterns.  They may also have mentioned that they are able to pick different activities based on these words to work with in the word work section of their literacy notebook.  We will now be melding this with spelling to make it more seamless and relevant.  Each week or so (dependent on specials schedule, days off, etc.) we will get a new word sort.  Your child will sort these words into predetermined characteristics, sounds or patterns to identify why these words sound and are spelled the way they are.  The next day we will again sort these words and enter them in to the word work section in our literacy notebooks.  On this day students will be given 5 of these words from the sorts as spelling words.  The other words will come from a variety of places.  Each child has been separated into spelling groups based on their current spelling needs.  These groups will get words from different locations based on these needs.  For example one group might concentrate on getting the rest of their words from their writing, some may need more experience with 4th grade high frequency words, or academic vocabulary words, and some students may need a challenge with higher level words or spelling bee words.  These groups will be flexible and will change based on the needs of each individual student.  These lists will then go home as normal spelling lists as in the past.  We will test on a determined dated based upon when we made our list.  The rest of the week we will work on different activities to strengthen our knowledge of the word sort words we are working with.  I will also meet with groups of students to work on words that may have similar characteristics but are not already a part of our sorts.  We will conclude our study each week (or set of days) with a test on the words that were sent home.  As always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email!

Disguise the Turkey Project

Before Thanksgiving the 4th graders were tasked with disguising a turkey at home with their families to ensure it was not eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.  We teamed up with Miss Price's class to award each turkey with special Thanksgiving ribbons.  The students also wrote about their turkeys and either gave a description or wrote about their turkey as a character in a fiction story (as a book blurb).  Later the students were able to voice over their turkey picture with their writing and their products are below!

Take a look at the fun we had with Miss Price's class as well as our Turkey writing!

Belle's Turkey Writing

Peyton's Turkey Writing

Tavian's Turkey Writing

Trent's Turkey Writing

Battle of the Books!

We are excited to start participating in Battle of the Books this year in Marshall!  We kicked off this endeavor on Tuesday when Mrs. Landers our TAG coordinator came in to our classroom to introduce Battle of the Books and give us the book list!  I will have copies of as many of these books in our classroom that I can get my hands on, but they can also be checked out in our library as well as at the public libraries in the area.  Check out the parent letter below, or print off a copy to see specifics :)

As an extra incentive I have place a graph on our data wall to keep track of how many of the books each student has read.  I will also be reading the books and will post which book I am reading in our classroom.

Let the battle begin!!!

Battle of the Books Parent Letter 

Paragraph Writing

This week we really got in to what makes a sentence a good sentence, and how it should start (most of the time).  We reviewed how great sentences use subjects and predicates, start with capitalization and end with punctuation.  We really practiced using subjects at the beginning of our sentences and leaving *and* *but* and *because* to connect our ideas together, instead of to start our sentence.  Take a look at the blog post we made, answering the question.....WOULD YOU RATHER.

Character Traits

Over the past two weeks we have been working on using character traits to determine what a character feels and why the character may act a certain way.  This is leading us to the characters role in a stories plot.  It is important to fully understand the characters we are reading about as it helps us understand the plot of the story with deeper meaning.  In our notebooks this week we discussed the learning goal and what we already understand about characters and their traits.  We also glued in a character trait tool to help us keep track of the traits our characters possess.

Students Explain how to Subtract

This week the students used the Show Me app on our Ipads to explain the process they use for subtracting.  Take a look at what we know!

Sean's Subtracting Method

Maggie's Subtraction Method

Skyla's Subtraction Method

Tavian's Subtraction Method

Tyler's Subtraction Method

Blayde's  Subtraction Method

ClassDojo

Our Class has started a new behavior management system.  It is a web 2.0 tool called Class Dojo.  I have seen its success in other classrooms and I am excited to start it in our classroom as well!  I will use this tool to help build your student’s learning habits and classroom behaviors in an engaging way.  Student will each receive and individualized character or “avatar”, then throughout the day each student will have the opportunity to earn Dojo points for excellent behaviors.  Students can also lose points for off task or inappropriate behaviors.  One excellent features of Class Dojo is that I am able to collect and analyze behavior data.  From the data I collect I will be able to make data driven changes in our classroom to support engaged learning.  Another cool feature is my ability to share behavior data with you.  I will be able to share behavior reports to allow us to work together to reward excellent behavior or guide a student in need of support. Each student will have a login to the site for you to access from home. I will also be able to email reports, or send home hard copies as well.  As always please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions on this new system.

Class Dojo Login

ScootPad

We have another exciting new website to share with you at home! ScootPad!  This site is an engaging opportunity for your student to practice their reading and math skills backed by the Common Core Standards (the standards all schools will now use to focus instruction) Each time your child logs on to play they are answering questions that are 4^th grade relevant and go hand in hand with what we are learning in the classroom!  It is also a great tool to motivate extra practice on 4^th grade skills!  Your child will have a login to an account on Scoot Pad and is welcome to use it from home at a time agreeable to you.  It is not required, but an excellent motivator. Students with and without Internet access at home will also have some opportunity to work with the site here at school.  

ScootPad

Making Predictions

This week we worked on making predictions.  We started Monday by writing the learning goal and what we already know about making predictions.  Tuesday we will use the anchor chart below to help us better understand how and why we make predictions.  We will utilize this information while we practice this skill in a read aloud.  On Thursday we learned how to use a tool that will be in our Literacy Notebooks, to make predictions in the books we are reading.  Making predictions is a skill we can use to continually think about what we are reading!

Data Wall in Our Classroom

We have started a data wall in our classroom.  It includes different types of information pertaining to different subjects and how well we are doing individually and as a class.  Currently we have data graphs for math, books we have read, and minutes we have read at home.  We will also soon add graphs for spelling, and reading fluency (cardinal time).  These graphs do not include any names but use stickers, pictures, lines, etc to represent where our class fell on certain tasks.  For example for the Unit 1 math test, a sticker was put up in a box 4, 3, 2, or 1 to represent how our class did.  For the books we have read graph, every time a student finishes a book they put a sticker up to represent that book being finished.  We will use these graphs and others to set classroom and individual goals for the future.  The hope is that our classroom motivation will skyrocket! Take a look at them when you are here at conference, we are already seeing positive results!

Home Book Log

Here is the link to our Home Book Log, just in case your kiddo misplaces theirs or runs out of room.


Home Book Log

Personal Narrative

We are finishing up our unit on Personal Narratives this week and next week.  Wednesday, we wrote personal events that happened to us on a graphic organizer.  Thursday, we looked at examples of personal narratives from other 4th graders, and discussed why it is important to add detail (so we can get a picture in our mind).  Friday and Monday, we will be picking ideas from our graphic organizer to write 2 or 3 drafts.  On Tuesday we will work on revise one draft of our choosing and adding in more detail. Thursday, we will be editing for spelling, punctuation and capitalization.  On Friday we will have a publishing party and will write our final drafts.  We will type them on the computer and share them with the class!

Scholastic Book Order

Scholastic Book Orders went home this week.  If you are interested in ordering online please go to the Parent Resources Tab and click on the Scholastic Book Orders Link.  

Book orders will be due October 3rd.  

The link below includes the September Book Order letter.  This has the class activation code on it for ordering online :)

September Book Order

Unit 1 Math Test/ Beginning of Unit 2

Our unit 1 math test will be on Monday, Oct. 1st.  The test will cover topics like: Lines, Line Segments, and Rays, Polygons (reasons why a shape is or is not a polygon), Geometric Figures and their properties, Obtuse, Acute, Right, and Straight Angles, Circles (concentric, congruent, radius), Convex and Concave shapes and addition and subtraction with one digit.  We did a review packet in class, which was sent home.  Please review this packet as the test is almost identical :)! After the test students can elect to try the Unit 2 pretest.  If they are able to test out of certain lessons on this pretest for unit 2, they will be given extension activities.  Unit 2 Family Letter will also be coming home monday.

If you need extra copies of the Family Letter or your child has misplaced their study link packet, you can print out extra copies from the links below:

Unit 2 Family Letter
Unit 2 Family Letter Spanish
Unit 2 Study Link Packet

Check For Understanding

This week during our reading block we worked on the strategy Check For Understanding.  To start off I modeled how this strategy looks by stopping and talking out loud about what I remembered from the section I had just read.  When we check for understanding we stop at the end of a sentence, paragraph, page, or chapter (depending on how long we can go before our understanding breaks down)  and we retell the events of that section.  The next day I modeled how I could write down bits of information on a post it note to help jog my memory when I check for understanding.  The class practiced this all together with our read aloud book Fourth Grade Nothing.  Currently, the 4th graders are practicing this strategy with their independent books.  They stop at a sentence, paragraph, page, or chapter to make sure they understand what they have read and they jot down a few notes on a post it, which can be stored in their 5 subject notebook.

Buzz About Books!

Today we will start a series of mini lessons on Buzzing About Books.  Buzzing about books is the way we talk to our friends and classmates about the books we are reading.  This skill helps us to recall important story elements from the books we are reading.  It also works on speaking and listening skills! We may also see and hear about books we may want to read in the future.  Take a look at our anchor chart below.  We will put a copy of this in our literacy notebook.  Under it we will be able to jot down notes about what we may want to Buzz about!

Snack Schedule and Brain Bar

This is our Snack schedule for the whole year.  We will have a "brain bar" or food choices to make each day.  Each week 5 students will be responsible for bringing in the snacks to add to our Brain Bar.  Below is the snack schedule as well as an information sheet about Brain Bar

Classroom Schedule

The link below will take you to our classroom schedule.  We will still be running on a 5 day schedule which will have effect on when some things happen during our day.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Welcome Letter

Here is the welcome letter sent to each student before the school year. It includes a bit of information about me as well as some things you can expect to find out in the coming days and weeks. Take a look! ~

Unit 1 Math

9/19/2012

We are currently making our way through unit 1.  There are some topics that are really tricky, mostly because they come with so much new vocabulary!!! Parallelograms, trapezoids, polygons, properties, the list goes on: sometimes they all seem to run together!  We are currently working hard to come up with ways to remember them :)  Today we also talked about math extension activities for those who fully understand the concepts during a lesson quickly.  Math extension packets will be available for those who need an extra challenge.  Next unit we will start with a pre-test, to determine who may be able to work at a higher level during various lessons in the unit.  Look for the Unit 1 test to come at the end of next week!

Literacy Notebooks

Week of 9/17/2012

This week we are really getting in to our literacy notebook.  Not only are we using almost all the sections already, but we have learned almost all the routines that go with each section! Whew! I really expected it to take much longer to get the notebook going, and I am so impressed at how well the students are doing with it!

The sections in our literacy notebook include:
 Logs (reading logs, finished book logs, interest logs, genre logs etc.) : We use this section to keep track of what we are reading each day and how much, what books we are finishing, what books we want to read, our interests, and the genres we are reading.
Reading Response:  In this section the students will respond to what they are reading in letters to me each week.
Interacting with reading (Reading Strategy Anchor Charts): In this section we will be gluing in the anchor chart that was the basis for our lesson.  Under the anchor chart they will be able to show their understanding and progress in the strategies we are learning.  This section is also a great tool to utilize when we blank out on what a useful strategy might be, or how to go about practicing it..
Writer's Craft:  In this section we will practice how to develop our writing.  The purpose of this section is to break down writing and to practice different skills related to a writer's craft.
Spelling: In this section we will pull words that we are spelling wrong in our writing as well as words that we still need to practice out of the 2nd- 4th grade sight word list.  Spelling tests will be comprised of these words in the order of need.  i.e. if a word is currently being spelled wrong in a child's writing it will be entered into the notebook and will show up on a weekly spelling list to be practiced.

This weeks strategies and lessons include: thinking while we read and buzzing about books

Activities We Have Been Doing

I've been anxious to get my pictures uploaded on to my computer to share some of the activities we have been doing.  Once we have the permission forms sent for permission to put kiddos on the web, I will be sure to share very cute pictures of them in action as well.

This week we were involved in an activity called Fast Friends it is loosely wrapped around  "speed dating".  Each child had a partner and they sat facing each other.  They were given a subject to talk about with each other for 2 minutes.  At two minutes a bell sounded and they had to move to a new person and talk about a new subject for 2 more minutes.  This really worked on our speaking and listening skill, and was also a great way to get to know each other, especially with some questions that might not normally be asked.  We did a great job, and learned alot!

 

We also did an activity with post its.  Each person was given 6 post it notes and the job was to answer 6 different questions.  The post its were then posted on 6 different question posters.  We were able to see what people thought about a bunch of different topics like:  How I learn best, Why school is important, What do I still have questions, about, and What I will need to do to be successful this year.  Take a look !

Daily Routine Officially Beginning 9/13/12

I really hope your half day proved to be relaxing!  Tomorrow we will be beginning what will generally be our normal routine and daily schedule.  New tomorrow will be the beginning of our Cardinal Time groups.  This will allow us to get on schedule for reading and writing as well.  We spent a good portion of the first few days building our classroom community and practicing different routines and classroom expectations.  We did such a great job and now we are ready to begin to dive in to our normal schedule.  

Literacy Page Updated: Building Stamina

Week of 9/4/2012

Today we started building Stamina in reading.  Building Stamina means we are training our brains to be able to read for an extended period of time.  We started this by exploring examples and non examples of how we build stamina.  Examples included: staying in the same place, continuing to read and track the words with our eyes the whole time, saving our conversations with others for another time.  Non examples were fun to demonstrate!  They included: moving all over during the reading time, talking to a friend, flipping through the pages instead of reading them, and looking around the room instead if at words/pictures/pages.  As a class we did an extraordinary job!  We were able to read for 3, 4, and 5 minutes showing great examples a good reading for the entire time.  We will continue this week and next week building to longer and longer periods of time!

Classroom Information Page Updates

The classroom information page has been updated to include information about Brain Bar as well as our Snack Schedule for the whole year.

Classroom Schedule

The link below will take you to our classroom schedule.  We will still be running on a 5 day schedule which will have effect on when some things happen during our day.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Classroom Schedule

Welcome!!

Welcome to a new year!  I am so excited to begin :)  Equally exciting to a new year is the beginning of a brand new blog.  The goal of this blog is to be a communication center for families about what is happening in our classroom and school.  Soon you will be able to find information about what we will be learning, important calendar items, specials schedules, snack etc.  Currently this whole blog thing is a work in progress, and I hope to have many of these resources up and available as soon as possible!
Until then, I look forward to beginning a new year with 22 wonderfully bright students on Tuesday!