Monday, December 16, 2013

Holiday Book Exchange

2013 Holiday Book Exchange
This year our class will be partaking in a book exchange within our classroom for the holidays!  
Do you have book that you have read already, that is just gathering dust on a shelf?
Wrap it up, and bring it by Friday, December 20th for our Holiday book exchange!  
You’ll walk away with a new to you book, and someone will be able to enjoy the book you already read and loved!
Boys will gift to boys and girls will gift to girls!
Any questions? Please email me cbecker@marshallschools.org, or call me (608) 655-4403 ex 1222


Thanks! ~ Mrs. Becker


As a side note: Our holiday party will be Friday Afternoon :)

We've been Tweeted back again!


Friday, December 6, 2013

What's Happening in Room 222?

Hey all! Sorry for the delay in posts lately! Take a look at what is going on across all subject areas this month!

Reading:  We have just begun our next unit on Non Fiction.  We first learned that there are two main types of non fiction: expository and narrative.  Ask your student if they remember what the difference is!  We will first be focusing on ways to read expository fiction.  The 4th graders have also stocked their book boxes with all types of non fiction, but are also still reading battle books, and independent choice books.  We continue to individually conference during, but have also begun some different strategy groups and book clubs tailored to students needs.

Writing:  We have just begun our essay writing unit.  We started the unit off by learning about boxes and bullets (main idea and supporting details) as well as writing a thesis statement/ sentence.  We then began writing essays based on these thesis statements (in our box) and the supporting details we wrote down as our bullets.

Math: We have just began unit 4 which centers primarily on decimal points.  We are learning how to add, subtract, order, and turn fractions into decimals and decimals into fractions.  During math we have many groups working with these concepts in different ways, whether it be in a small learning group, with a teacher, with the use of technology, or in an extension.  Look for study links to come home on a nightly basis.

Word Work:  We started a new word program recently that focuses on word creation, word patterns, and word parts.  Students work through different activities with words and patterns at their level.  In general work within this program is done at school, but occasionally some home work may be given as practice.

Social Studies: Currently in Social Studies students see Mrs. Michalak every day, and are developing an understanding of WI geography.  Most recently they have been discovering the regions of WI



Important Dates:
12/6/13: Report Cards sent home: please let me know if you have any questions
12/9/13: Book Fair Begins (purchases can be made during both library time, or passes will be given during the day, the fair will also be open after both holiday performances on Tuesday and Friday)
12/11/13: Half Day
12/13/13: 3rd and 4th grade holiday performance.


Friday, November 22, 2013

Rise and Read



Be sure to join us before school from 7:30-8:30 on Tuesday, November 26th for Rise and Read!  Breakfast will be provided for families who join us for a morning of reading and sharing great books.  We hope to see you there!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Check out our Student Websites!


We have been working hard to put together our very own websites!  They are a work in progress but we will be updating them with extensions we have done in reading, and math and will also be displaying our writing! Be sure to click on the student websites tab at the top to access these great learning showcases!  


Friday, November 8, 2013

Bagels and Books Fall 2013

Today was Bagels and Books, and it sure was a lot of fun!  Thank you to all those who donated bagels, cream cheese, juice and milk! A special thank you to all those family members who were able to join us today!  We had a great time reading, sharing ideas, and enjoying a little breakfast!

























Thursday, November 7, 2013

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Readers of the Month!

Congratulations!

Congrats to our readers of the month Ahmed and Daysha!


Ahmed read 980 minutes in the month of October!
Daysha read 731 minutes in the month of October!

WAY TO GO!

Many students also read over 500 minutes, WOW!

Bryce, Dontay, Faith, McKenzie, Kasey, and Trevor


Friday, November 1, 2013

Had to Share!

Earlier today Izzy wrote a tweet to Katherine Applegate the author of The One and Only Ivan.  Just a short time later Katherine Applegate read her tweet and favorited it! HOW COOL!


We're on a reading roll!!

WOW! We are finishing books left and right! Take a look at some of the reading extensions we completed today!

Colby, Marcelo, Alaina, and Izzy tweeted authors, fingers crossed they tweet us back!



Bryce's Voki


Faith's Voki


McKenzie's Voki





Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!

We had a blast today!

We started the day off with a partner Halloween picture guessing game, which made us really think of ways we could describe some of these traditional Halloween symbols without actually using their names.





Later, we Trick-or-Treated with multiplication math facts.  The questions were placed around the room, and required the 4th graders to search for them.  After they successfully answered three questions they were able to go Trick-or-Treating, and then continued on to solve 3 more.






We wrapped up our extravaganza by making witches brew with dry ice! It was awesome to see it bubble and smoke! Later we did some fun dry ice experiments!










HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
From, 
Mrs. Becker's Class

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Writing Celebration!

Today we had a writing celebration to celebrate the awesome writing we have been doing in 4th grade! We are 3/4 of the way through our Realistic Fiction/Short Story unit.  The 4th graders had the opportunity to write, rewrite, revise, edit and publish a short story.  We worked through the process with various lessons to teach: idea generation, story arc, character development, setting, writing good leads, writing good endings, revising and rewriting, and editing.  We published our best story so far.  At the celebration we were able to collaborate with other members of our class,  we decided what we did best at while writing, we read our stories to our table, and we gave each other compliments.  We also shared juice and cookies!  Next, we will use what we have learned to write the best short story we can, but this time quicker and with self direction.  We cannot wait to compare our stories to see how we will improve!

Take a look at pictures from our writing celebration!!