A Sweet Day in Fourth Grade!

Happy Valentines day! We celebrated all of our hard work by watching "Holes," and having some sweet treats this afternoon. I am very impressed at the effort the kids put in to making their Valentine's Day boxes. See below for some photos of our Valentine's Day party. Here's what else we have been up to in fourth grade:

• We are finishing up our American Revolution unit. We have created several pocket books learning about the causes of the war. Students worked in pairs to research a female patriot. They then wrote a summary about why the woman was important, and created a poster to present to the class. The posters and presentations were very well done! After break we will be learning about Paul Revere, and we will also be reviewing.
• In ELA the class has been learning many new concepts, as well as reviewing concepts already covered this year. This past wee we focused on theme, and and found the theme of several books. We also reviewed author's purpose and point of view. Our read aloud book is called Out of my Mind, and the class has been enjoying the book, and we are having some great discussions about the book.When we return from break, students will be learning how to write an essay to compare and contrast. 
• In math the class has been working very hard to model draw fractions. They also learned how to find equivalent fractions using multiplication and model drawing. After break we will focus on comparing and ordering fractions. As always, multiplication and division fact practice is encouraged at home. 
• In science lab, the class has been learning about electricity. They have been learning about what materials conduct, and how circuits work. After break we will be spending a lot of time in class learning more about electricity and building series circuits.

Have a great break!

Happy New Year!

I hope that you all had a great holiday break, and are off too a great new year! This first week back from break, we have been very busy in room 306. Here's what we have been up to:

• In ELA, students continue to read their fantasy books, and write me letters about what they are reading. This week's focus was on character traits. All students completed new word sorts this week, and will continue to practice applying their new spelling rule for their test next Friday. We also reviewed main idea. Students worked in groups to find the main idea of a social studies passage. Our new concept for this week was foreshadowing. I just started a new read aloud and the class has been practicing identifying where the author uses foreshadowing. Next week the class will be learning about point of view.
• In SS, the class has been learning about colonial times. This week, we focused on colonial trades and schooling. Students also learned about the 13 colonies and labeled them on a map. Next week, the class will be learning about the causes of the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. 
• We are just finishing up Unit 9 in math. The class has been focusing on division and division rules. Yesterday students practiced dividing with remainders. The class also cycled through math stations. Next week we will be moving on to long division. As always, please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication facts, as this will make the process of learning long division much easier. 

Please see below for a few photos of our field trip to see "A Christmas Carol," at Sage. Have a great weekend!

Checking out the trap door in Scrooge's bedroom.

Keith and Cooper in front of Scrooge's office.

On the set of "A Christmas Carol."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time is flying in fourth grade! I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving! Here's what we have been up to in fourth grade:

• In science, the class has been learning about the solar system. We spent time last week learning about how the Earth's rotation causes day and night, and the Earth's revolution around the sun takes one year. The class also learned about what causes seasons, and about the moon. We went outside today and set up a scale model of the solar system so that students could see how enormous the solar system is. 
• In math, we continue to learn about multiplying 3-4 digit numbers by one digit numbers. The class learned the expanded algorithm, and the standard algorithm. Students also learned to estimate products by rounding, so that they can check to see if their answer is reasonable. We will continue multiplying in the coming weeks.
• In ELA, we have finally finished up Boy in a Girl's Bathroom, and the book Holes. Students created paper bag projects as a culminating activity and presented the projects to the class. Also, students compared and contrasted the 2 books. Students learned about author's purpose last week, and learned the acronym PIE to help them remember persuade, inform, and entertain. Today Miss Papuzza taught the class how to make a claim, and support it with evidence. We will be starting to learn about the fantasy genre after Thanksgiving break. Finally, we started writing a new essay about things that we are thankful for. 
• The Halloween party was a big hit! Thank you for sending in treats and for assisting at the party : ) I have added some photos of the party below. 
• We had Good Eats today, and the class learned about potatoes and sampled some mashed potatoes. 
• We are enjoying having Miss Papuzza, our student teacher, in class with us. She has been a big help, and is a great teacher!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Julien's Mom was our mystery reader!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 4th graders have been working very hard these past two weeks!
Here's what we have been up to:

• In ELA the class has been practicing responding to questions using text based evidence. We have been continuing to work on paragraphing, and are publishing final copies of our "special people" essay. Students continue to practice independently editing and revising written work.  We will be finishing Boy in a Girl's Bathroom next week, and the class will be completing a project for this book in class. We also continue to practice close reading to identify the main idea and details of a passage.
• The class did great on their social studies test! Next week, we will begin to learn about European explorers and students will work in groups to research an explorer. We will start the solar system unit in a couple of weeks. 
• In math, we are practicing rounding to estimate. Students cycled through stations twice this week. We just started to review subtracting with regrouping. This is something that many students still need practice with. Please encourage your child to go on IXL to practice math topics being covered.  
• Next week we will be getting a student teacher from SUNY Oneonta, her name is Devin Pappuza. We are very excited for her arrival!
• Reminder: Next Friday will be our Halloween party at 1:45. Students are allowed to send costumes to school to change into for the party. Please leave any weapon props at home.

Here are some photos from our trip to the Huyck Preserve! We learned a lot about ecosystems!

Red Back Salamander 

Checking out an old cemetery.

Having Fun in Fourth Grade!

I hope that everyone is enjoying this nice fall weather! We have been busy in fourth grade learning lots of new concepts!

• In ELA, we are continuing to read There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. The class continues to buddy read this book, or listen to it being read out loud. We have been practicing making inferences using this book, along with our read aloud book Holes. Students have also been learning how to determine the main idea and details of short passages. The class continues to practice paragraphing. We started writing an essay about special people. 
• In social studies, the class has just started to learn about the Algonquian and Iroquois. We will spend the next couple of weeks learning about similarities and differences between these two tribes, as well as how they used the natural resources of NYS to survive. 
• In math, we just started unit 3, which focuses on place value. The class had a unit 2 assessment last week, and they are working on corrections. We have been cycling  through math stations, and working on our fact fluency. We will have a multiplication facts quiz on Friday. 
• PLEASE SIGN UP FOR REMIND 101 IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY : )

Here are some photos to check out!

Our Save Fred! Science Experiment

 Groups Practicing Paragraphing 

Main Idea and Details Group Activity!

Working Hard!

It was so nice to meet you all at parent night! Thank you all for coming. The class has been working very hard the past two weeks! Students have been introduced to several new concepts, and  have also reviewed many topics covered in third grade. Here's what we have been working on:

• In social studies, the class spent a few days learning about NYS geography. We spent time finding different cities, mountain ranges, rivers etc. on a NYS map. The class also learned where NYS is located compared to other states. Students also learned about NYS symbols, and early people of NYS.
• In ELA, the class has been reviewing parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, and homophones for word work. We have been reading from There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom together, and have been practicing summary writing. We are also still practicing paragraphing. Students learned some reading comprehension strategies and applied them during read to self and read to someone time. The class was just introduced to main idea and details, and will be practicing this concept in the coming weeks. 
• In math we just finished up unit one and took our unit 1 assessment. We will be starting unit 2, which focuses on continuing number patterns. It is very important that your child is fluent with their facts through 12. 
• Reminder: Please sign up for Remind 101 to receive text message reminders!

Last week we tasted 3 types of Melon with the "Good Eats" program. Here are some pictures of our experience!

In line to try melon!

Matt loved the melon!

Sydney and Julien also enjoyed the melon!

Welcome to 4th Grade!

Welcome to my blog spot! Please check here for bi-weekly updates.

The class has been very busy adjusting to the new routines in 4th grade. We just started the Daily 5, and students have been practicing read to self, read to someone, and work on writing. We have also been reviewing paragraph writing including topic sentences, supporting details, and closing sentences. In the future, we will be learning about how to write essays on different topics. This week we will be reviewing parts of speech. We started Unit 1 in math, which covers properties of multiplication and division, and review from 3rd grade. The class is learning about the geography of NYS, and our state symbols. Here are some pictures of read to someone time: