Reading This week in reading we will work on inferences and predictions. I want students to not only be able to make inferences and predictions, but also to distinguish between them. Inferences are ideas we form about the story and characters from both text clues and background knowledge, it is more like putting together a puzzle than a prediction. A prediction uses text clues to determine something that is likely to come in the story, or even past the scope of the story. We will be reading one of my favorite stories as we practice this skill: Patricia Palacco's Chicken Sunday. Science This week we will finish up our study of structure's and functions of the human body by exploring the structures and functions of the eye. They will make a model eye and experiment with the way light enables vision. Student's completed very awesome body system infographics this past week, (as seen below). Writing Though students are still working on growing their collection of ideas and starts for writing, we will begin to move toward focusing on the personal narrative genre this week, and mining our own lives for stories. Students really enjoyed both Grandfather's Journey and The Bicycle Man, by Allen Say last week. One more of his stories will serve as our final example of personal narrative: Tea with Milk. A sub one more time: I will be out this Thursday (Oct. 6th) and this Friday (Oct. 7th). I promise I have no other known absences on the horizon. Homework *Some students will turn in their current events assignment this week. Check to see if your student has current events due next week. Upcoming Events Hoover Fun Run is this Wednesday (Oct. 5th) at 9:30 for our class. Students our collecting pledges after they have run. This week is CV's homecoming and we helping them celebrate by joining them in their theme days"
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In the last week of September we make the transition from introducing ourselves, new procedures, and new learning tools (like iPads) to using the community we have built and our tools in our 4th grade academic pursuits. Students will attend their first math class this week, continue to investigate body systems and dive into the world of personal narratives in reading and writing. To be aware of: I will be absent this Friday (September 30th). I will also be absent the following Thursday and Friday (October 6th and 7th). I promise this is not something I make a habit of, a number of important life events just happen to all fall at the same time for me this year. Luckily, our sub will be Mrs. Lampi, who often subs at Hoover, and who knows many of the students. Reading In class this week we will read Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey as part of our continued study of journeys and story elements. This week we will focus on the setting of stories. We will make setting maps for some of the stories we have read in class and students will create setting maps for other stories they are familiar with. Ask your student about the time and place of stories they are reading or watching. Ask them to share details about the setting. Often times we have to infer aspects of the setting. For example, in Wonder we can infer that Auggie, the protagonist, lives in Manhattan because he talks about his friend moving out of the city to live in Bridgeport, CT. Additionally, I will ask students do one reading homework assignment this week. All students need to continue practicing summarizing. After we read Grandfather's Journey in class students will be asked to summarize this for homework. The homework assignment will go home on Wednesday and is due on Monday, Oct. 1st. Writing This week we will continue to build our writing community and our habits as a writer. We will look at a few Jack Perlutsky poems and think about how they can inspire us to write, whether poems or prose. We will also read more of Allen Say's stories as we begin to investigate the genre of personal narrative. Ask your students about Tea with Milk and The Bicycle Man in the coming days. I’m Sorry Science We are continuing our study of body systems this week. Students will be making an infographic about a body system they are investigating (Skeletal, Muscular, Nervous, or Respiratory). Last week students read about their body system and really enjoyed watching videos about their body system and reading more here. We have discussed the importance of infographics as a tool for communicating scientific information to the public. Spelling and Grammar All students took a developmental spelling test at the beginning of the year. Different students need to work on different letter and sound combinations. In the coming months I will work with students specifically on their areas of spelling need. This week some students will work on differentiating between the "er", "ir" and "ur" sound. If this is something your student works on this week I will send home their work, so you are aware. All students have been working on learning parts of speech, identifying them in sentences and parsing them. So far, we have covered nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and articles. This week students will learn about conjunctions and prepositions. Upcoming School and Classroom Events
Growth Mindset One of our focuses this week will be on having a growth mindset. Students will learn about what a person with a growth mindset says and thinks. We will be doing a sorting activity, celebrating our mistakes, and watching a video series. You can watch the video series at this link: www.classdojo.com/BigIdeas Math This week we will continue to use our number corner curriculum to review place value, multiples, and yards, feet and inches. At home you can: ask students how they are using Ancient Egyptian symbols to review place value and talk about big numbers that you see and what place values are in the numbers. Students will also learn who their math teacher will be. On Tuesday night, you will have the opportunity to visit with your student's math teacher. Next Monday, September 26th, students will begin attending math class with this teacher from 12:30 to 1:30 everyday. Google Classroom This past week students got to use their iPads for the first time. They only used them for 30 minutes each day as they learned basic functions. The most significant tool they were introduced to is Google Classroom. This is a tool that we will use frequently as a class. For example, this week students will turn in their "vocabulary" and "writing about reading" assignments via google classroom. You will be receiving an invitation to join our classroom. You will have the option to have daily or weekly updates from Google Classroom. I personally recommend choosing weekly, since we will not have major daily activity on the site. Science This week we will continue our study of the structures and functions of life that we began last week with the brain. We will explore the skeletal and muscular system. Students will make a robot finger and then choose a body system to investigate further. We will not be dissecting chicken wings, but students will see a video of a chicken wing and foot dissection and it something you could try at home. I will also send home the template to make a robot hand if students wish to grow their finger into a full hand. Reading Students will work on the skill of summarizing narratives this week. We will use an acronym to help us construct detailed and organized summaries: SWBST. This stands for Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then; and I like to add "so what?" This encourages students to write about characters and their desires, the conflicts they encounter, how they solve the problem, and the resolution of the story. The "So what?" encourages students to elaborate further on the message of the author or their take away from the story. If you read with or discuss books with your student I encourage you to ask them about SWBST. Writing Last week students worked very hard to produce a writing work sample that described either a best day or best event from their summer. I was very impressed with how hard students worked on their writing. This week we will begin to explore what writers do and where they get their ideas. As we explore examples of great writing we will mine these examples for ideas to inspire our own writing. Reminders and Upcoming events
Wow! Week 1 was a blast! It was incredible to get to know the students in our classroom. I thought that some of the most exciting discussions we had were about all the books we love to read and what is in our brains! It was fun to play games together, to decorate our writing journals and to vote on our first class read aloud. This week students participated in a number of activities that helped build cooperation skills, such as: pasta tower building, word prediction and practicing classroom procedures. Cooperation will be a skill woven throughout most of our learning this year. This is what is to come in week 2... Me Bags Students will present their Me Bags throughout the week. Me Bags are a chance for students to share a few stories from their life with the class. The items in our Me Bags can also inspire ideas for writing, as they remind us of exciting events in our lives. (Students should try to bring their Me Bag in on Monday but we will continue to present through Friday.) The Brain We are continuing to study the brain, which relates to one of our science standards (the structures and functions of life). Students are learning the parts of the brain as well as how different parts of the brain process and share information. This will lead to our study of neuroplasticity and growth mindset. Read Aloud Students voted last week and our first class Read Aloud will be Wonder by R.J. Palacio. In my experience students completely fall in love with this story. Our daily read aloud is an opportunity for students to practice reading standards, as well as develop and discuss ideas and theories about literature, through a shared authentic reading experience. Number Corner We are beginning our study of place value using our Number Corner curriculum. In September this curriculum will help us review multiples as well as the concepts of multiplication and division. Reading and Writing Throughout the following two weeks students will continue to practice the reading and writing routines of our classroom as well as explore ideas they have about what they like to read and write. In reading students will learn routines around independent reading, fluency, vocabulary, grammar and writing about reading. In writing we are continuing to examine the world around us for little nuggets that inspire our writing. Hopes and Dreams
Thank you for returning the parent surveys that went home this past week. It is beautiful to read all of your deep insights and hopes for your child. Students filled out their own hopes and dreams survey last week and we will continue to reflect on our hopes and dreams, setting one big hope for this year. Please feel free to e-mail or call with any questions or concerns. |
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