May Flowers

Happy Spring! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather! Here's what we have been up to in room 306:

• We finished up Hoot a few weeks ago, and celebrated with our pancake breakfast. We will be starting a new literature circle next week. We are all very happy that state tests are done in ELA and Math, and the students enjoyed their morning breakfasts. Thank you to all who contributed!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Students have been working to make a movie trailer about the myth that they are researching on the iPads. We have been working in class and during library time. The trailers are coming out great!

• In math, we are working with units of measurement. The class was able to circle through stations last week. 
• In science, we are just beginning a unit on simple machines. The class will learn what simple machines are, and how they work. Students will also build simple machines. 2 weeks ago, we dissected owl pellets in lab. Here are some photos:
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• Tilly and Nelly were mystery readers. We were very excited to have them in class!
• The class tried fennel during our Good Eats presentation. You can tell by their reactions how they liked it : )
• Mr. Gilker has been in twice for Junior Achievement. The class has been learning about how to start up a business. We are very thankful that Mr. Gilker has dedicated so much time to us!

Happy Spring!

We have been VERY busy in room 306! Here's what we have been up to:

• In ELA, we have been learning about figurative language. Students have been creating different examples of figurative language, as well as identifying it. We have also been reading the novel Hoot as our class literature circle. The book encourages great discussions, and so far everyone is enjoying it! We have also been practicing responding to reading using a claim and 2 supporting details from the text. Finally, we have been reviewing paragraphing as we write practice essays.
• In science, we are still studying electricity. In lab, we made circuits with a battery, copper paper, and an led bulb. The students were able to keep their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) creations. Please look for them tonight!
• In math, we have been learning about geometry. We have been reviewing angles and geometry vocabulary words. We also learned how to make a line plot to represent information. We are still working on area and perimeter. Next week, will continue on with geometry and math review.
• Students have been working on creating a movie trailer for a myth that they are researching during library time. They are off to a great start!
• I generally stay after school and offer math help. If you think your child would benefit from some extra practice, let me know and I will keep them.

Have a great weekend, and thank you for your support! Check out our photos from lab today!

Melissa, Caitlin, Sydney, Laurel, Jazmyn, Victoria and Chloe K

on their silly dress up day!

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!