Yikes! It's November!
Hello 4H Families. I have to apologize that it has been a whole month since my last post. As it turns out, October was quite busy. I hope that you are all well and continue to enjoy a happy fall! Here's a little update on what we've been doing and where we are going.
We have continued to learn and practice Comprehension Strategies using Historical Fiction and Informational Text. We have been working on Determining Importance and ways to take notes in a meaningful way to connect our experiences and thoughts with the text. In addition, as of today we have started Literature Groups to read and discuss some of the Massachusetts Book Award Nominees. We will meet once a week to share our reactions, questions and thoughts about our reading.
In writing, we have finished our first realistic fiction stories and are now tweaking our character to include more personal nuances or experimenting with the creation of a new character before starting a new story. Once these stories are finished, we hope to invite all of you in for a Short Story writing festival. Right now December seems to be a likely month, although that may change.
In math we have moved into the awesome and fearful territory of multiplication; factors, multiples and arrays oh my! In class, we are using arrays and familiar math facts to solve more difficult problems and playing lots of math games. For those of us with fact mastery already, we will jumping ahead into the distributive property. In addition, on Fridays, the entire fourth grade is participating in mixed up math around fractions to ensure that every fourth grader gets what they need in order to create a solid foundation in fractions.
In science, we are nearly finished with building background knowledge around weather and are ready to jump into engineering and observation. We begin by observing clouds and weather patterns but will soon be constructing our own instruments. In fact, look for materials that we need donated in your child's backpack as well as on this site. In social studies, we continue to develop geography vocab and to hone our map-reading skills. Soon we embark on our journey through the Northeast. In the meantime, we travel to Teosinte, El Salvador during Research and Extensions as we compare our lives to the families from Teosinte. We are making a stained glass window with the vibrant colors of El Salvador.
I want to thank Kellie Pini for organizing our party and Thanks to Jenn, Emily, Kelly and Stacey for coming in, running activities and helping out with the food and clena up. There were pumpkin passing games, mummy wrapping and treats galore. Everybody had a great time and they even mummified their teacher. How much have we all wanted to do that while in school?! Our next party will be prior to the December break I will let you know as soon as we have a definite date.
Coming up this month:
Progress reports go out on November 22, which also happens to be our field trip to the Harvard Peabody Museum.
Wednesday, November 27 will be an early release for Thanksgiving.
Conference sign ups will be available soon. Please sign up as soon as you see the link, the night conference slots in particular will go quickly. I look forward to having time to talk with each family about your child.
Finally, just an FYI : On Friday January 1 , we will travel to Lowell Mills to learn about the impact the Industrial Age had right here in Massachusetts. This is a fantastic trip for fourth grade and usually one of our best. Stay tuned for permission slips and volunteer requests.
I am still working out the whens, wheres and whys for classroom volunteers. We can always use help in math, reading and writing. Contact me if you have a subject or specific time available and we can make a plan.
Until the next time... happy November!
We have continued to learn and practice Comprehension Strategies using Historical Fiction and Informational Text. We have been working on Determining Importance and ways to take notes in a meaningful way to connect our experiences and thoughts with the text. In addition, as of today we have started Literature Groups to read and discuss some of the Massachusetts Book Award Nominees. We will meet once a week to share our reactions, questions and thoughts about our reading.
In writing, we have finished our first realistic fiction stories and are now tweaking our character to include more personal nuances or experimenting with the creation of a new character before starting a new story. Once these stories are finished, we hope to invite all of you in for a Short Story writing festival. Right now December seems to be a likely month, although that may change.
In math we have moved into the awesome and fearful territory of multiplication; factors, multiples and arrays oh my! In class, we are using arrays and familiar math facts to solve more difficult problems and playing lots of math games. For those of us with fact mastery already, we will jumping ahead into the distributive property. In addition, on Fridays, the entire fourth grade is participating in mixed up math around fractions to ensure that every fourth grader gets what they need in order to create a solid foundation in fractions.
In science, we are nearly finished with building background knowledge around weather and are ready to jump into engineering and observation. We begin by observing clouds and weather patterns but will soon be constructing our own instruments. In fact, look for materials that we need donated in your child's backpack as well as on this site. In social studies, we continue to develop geography vocab and to hone our map-reading skills. Soon we embark on our journey through the Northeast. In the meantime, we travel to Teosinte, El Salvador during Research and Extensions as we compare our lives to the families from Teosinte. We are making a stained glass window with the vibrant colors of El Salvador.
I want to thank Kellie Pini for organizing our party and Thanks to Jenn, Emily, Kelly and Stacey for coming in, running activities and helping out with the food and clena up. There were pumpkin passing games, mummy wrapping and treats galore. Everybody had a great time and they even mummified their teacher. How much have we all wanted to do that while in school?! Our next party will be prior to the December break I will let you know as soon as we have a definite date.
Coming up this month:
Progress reports go out on November 22, which also happens to be our field trip to the Harvard Peabody Museum.
Wednesday, November 27 will be an early release for Thanksgiving.
Conference sign ups will be available soon. Please sign up as soon as you see the link, the night conference slots in particular will go quickly. I look forward to having time to talk with each family about your child.
Finally, just an FYI : On Friday January 1 , we will travel to Lowell Mills to learn about the impact the Industrial Age had right here in Massachusetts. This is a fantastic trip for fourth grade and usually one of our best. Stay tuned for permission slips and volunteer requests.
I am still working out the whens, wheres and whys for classroom volunteers. We can always use help in math, reading and writing. Contact me if you have a subject or specific time available and we can make a plan.
Until the next time... happy November!