Weekly Highlights

Another busy week in 4th grade!!

The 4th graders started off the week with a motivational meditation on setting behavioral goals. Each student then set a short term goal and later reflected on how successful they were!

Our team building activity this week focused on communication skills. The students were paired up (back-to-back) and one of them was given a picture that they described in detail so their partner could draw it. It was really interesting to hear the details they thought of! Some of them started off by telling their partner to change the orientation of the paper to horizontal and began with the objects that were in the middle of the picture.

Reading: We've started a new Interactive Read Aloud and the class was VERY excited to learn that we would be reading Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech! As we read, we're developing ideas about the characters by their actions, what they say, and their thoughts. Small groups are tracking specific characters in the story as we read this wonderful story!

Math: The class has been hard at work on fractions. We've converted from improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa! Next, we focused on adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers and will be having our Topic 12 assessment this Thursday.

Writing: We have finished our nonfiction research on dogs and are now drafting a persuasive essay about the best dog for our family. It can be tricky to organize all the details from their research but they are definitely up for the challenge!

Social Studies: The students have been working in groups researching the Northeast Region of the U.S. and created a slideshow presentation that they'll be giving this week.

Our dancers of the week!!

Weekly Highlights!

The students are working together in groups on several research projects so we will be doing some team building activities over the next few weeks. This week, the challenge, Magic Carpet, was to work as a team to flip over a "carpet" while standing on it! Afterwards, they reflected on what worked (or didn't) and how they communicated throughout the challenge.

In Science, we explored how insects' mouths have adapted to their food source. They simulated eating with different types of mouths to determine which ones were best for consuming its food.

We've started working in groups researching the Northeast Region of the United States. Each group will be creating a slideshow to present to their classmates. Before beginning to work in groups, several volunteers did a fantastic job demonstrating the skills needed for successful teamwork!

The class was SO excited to get letters from their new friends in Mexico!! Some of the letters were in Spanish so we learned how to use Google Translate. They can't wait to write back to their new friend!

Here are our dancers of the week!!

Weekly Update

One of the highlights of the week was the Chorus Concert! The students worked so hard to get ready for the performance and it showed!

We kicked off our new Life Science Animal Adaptation and Plant Structures unit with a Skype visit with the Buffalo Center of the West in Wyoming which highlighted the animals and habitat of the greater Yellowstone region. Everyone was very surprised to learn that Bighorned sheep have airbags in their head to protect their brains!

We also began the Regions of the United States unit with a Northeast Region presentation. The students will be researching each of the 5 regions and making presentations to the class.

Here are our Dancers of the Week!!

Hour of Code Link

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Highlights of Two Weeks in Room 21!

Happy New Year!! Can't believe it's 2020!!

Our dancer of the week before the break!!

One of the things the class REALLY enjoyed was the Hour of Code! This is a one-hour introduction to computer science and computer programming for students. Per their request, I'm adding the link to the Hour of Code site to this blog.

The class had a lot of fun making their holiday ornaments!!

In Reading, the students are learning how to identify the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction text. They'll be practicing this skill as they read about dogs. Based upon this research, they will be writing a persuasive essay about which dog would be a good pet for their family!

In Math, we have started our fractions unit and it's been really nice to see how much the students remember what they learned in 3rd grade about fractions! They really enjoyed using pattern blocks to fill a whole with different sized shapes. This helped to strengthen their understanding of how different, but equivalent fractions, take up the same amount of space.

In Science, we are wrapping up our Earth Science unit which included an activity that demonstrated how water can make significant changes to land over time. By creating a model of how a canyon is formed, they were able to see how landforms can be changed slowly.

Weekly Update

We had a pretty busy week in Room 21! On Tuesday, we had the wonderful news that Mrs. E. Williams had a baby boy named Benjamin! We all agreed that he was a very cute baby!!

Here's some other highlights of our week.

Math: We wrapped up the division unit early in the week and spent a couple of days reviewing before the test on Friday.

Reading: When we started our nonfiction unit this week, it was great to see how much the class remembered about nonfiction from 3rd grade! First, we talked about how important it is to make connections between what you already know and care about to the text. In addition, we've been looking at the text to identify what its structure is (cause/effect, problem/solution, etc.) which can help them understand the important information.

Social Studies: The class has some background knowledge about our new unit, Canada. A few students had traveled there and it was interesting to hear about their experiences. They also had A LOT of questions and are motivated to learn about their neighbor!

Science: We did a couple of activities this week that focused on the impact of weathering and erosion on our land. In the first activity, the students were given 3 samples of sand from different parts of the world and asked what differences they noticed. We then had discussions about why the colors and textures were different. It was interesting to hear them talk about how climate and types of rocks could be the reasons. In the second activity, in order to understand how waves can cause erosion, the students made a model of a beach being eroded by ocean waves. They even had houses on the beach and were so surprised to see how beach erosion impacted them!