We had a nice first week back from a two week vacation. I am so proud of my learners. Great job friends!
This week will be another productive week. In math, we will be continuing our study of division. We have a test on Chapter 9 Tuesday and will learn longer division next week.
We have picked our topics for our Personal Essays and laid out the organization. Making a plan makes writing so much easier! We have started collecting mini-stories that fit into the "reasons" to back up our thesis statement. We are going to continue to collect stories, facts, and evidence this week. This is hard work and it takes good focus.
Reading workshop focused on characters last week and we will continue this next week as well as starting a unit on summarizing. I am noticing while reading book letters that it is not always clear when they summarize what is happening in their book.
Our study of colonial New York will continue this week as well. It has been interesting to learn how the Europeans immigrated to New York. Some worked as tenant farmers, endangered servants, or even slaves. We have learned what adults do for jobs and what children do as part of their chores.
I have been sneaking into choir rehearsals for the last few weeks and I am really impressed with the quality of singing your students are capable of - just wait until the concert. You will be so proud!
I look forward to another great week of learning!
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
January 2014!
Happy New Year Friends!
This year is going to start off with some great and challenging work for our fourth grade class. I look forward to getting back on a regular classroom schedule and watching the great minds at work.
In Math, we will begin DIVISION on Monday. This means that those mathematicians who do not know their facts will be struggling. (Not with the concept, but with the computation.) Please keep up the fact practice through this unit on division! Xtra Math provides great practice and is linked above. We will begin with simple division and by the end of the week we will be working with remainders.
In Reading Workshop, we will be starting a character study. We will be using the same Boxes and Bullets structure in our reading as we have been using in Writing Workshop when developing essays. My readers will take a deeper look at characters: who they are, how they change, and try to stand in their shoes and truly understand their actions.
In Writing Workshop, we will be choosing topics for our Persuasive Essays and develop our thesis and examples that support our thesis. This is going to be challenging for some writers but once our topics are chosen, it will become easier to write.
Our Social Studies curriculum takes us from Explorers to Colonial NY. New York has been discovered and it is time for it to become settled with immigrants from Europe. This unit will take us several weeks to work through. They will enjoy watching NY grow and change.
Thank you to all of my friends who chose to complete the extra credit work for the SS test. Grades improved greatly with those points.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy vacation. The snow is piled up today and I hope you are staying warm. Happy final weekend. Thank you again for your generous gifts (I bought ski boots from Amazon over the break!!!!). I am so lucky to have such a generous and hardworking group of students.
-Laurel
This year is going to start off with some great and challenging work for our fourth grade class. I look forward to getting back on a regular classroom schedule and watching the great minds at work.
In Math, we will begin DIVISION on Monday. This means that those mathematicians who do not know their facts will be struggling. (Not with the concept, but with the computation.) Please keep up the fact practice through this unit on division! Xtra Math provides great practice and is linked above. We will begin with simple division and by the end of the week we will be working with remainders.
In Reading Workshop, we will be starting a character study. We will be using the same Boxes and Bullets structure in our reading as we have been using in Writing Workshop when developing essays. My readers will take a deeper look at characters: who they are, how they change, and try to stand in their shoes and truly understand their actions.
In Writing Workshop, we will be choosing topics for our Persuasive Essays and develop our thesis and examples that support our thesis. This is going to be challenging for some writers but once our topics are chosen, it will become easier to write.
Our Social Studies curriculum takes us from Explorers to Colonial NY. New York has been discovered and it is time for it to become settled with immigrants from Europe. This unit will take us several weeks to work through. They will enjoy watching NY grow and change.
Thank you to all of my friends who chose to complete the extra credit work for the SS test. Grades improved greatly with those points.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy vacation. The snow is piled up today and I hope you are staying warm. Happy final weekend. Thank you again for your generous gifts (I bought ski boots from Amazon over the break!!!!). I am so lucky to have such a generous and hardworking group of students.
-Laurel
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Welcome Sofia!
We have a new friend in our class! She fits right (in as you can see)!
Welcome Sofia!
Welcome Sofia!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Vacation is FAST Approaching!
And we have LOTS to do before then…
Today we had "go with the flow Monday!". It proved to be very popular and just meant that we did things in a strange order and some for longer than others. Doing this, we were able to get a few things completed before our NEW STUDENT starts with us on Wednesday.
Check our our Explorer bulletin board (below). Each pair of students did a great presentation on their explorer today. We all took notes and we will have a test on Wednesday. There is also a study guide coming home today (just in case the notes were not a thorough as they should have been). I am proud of the research and hard work that went into this project.
Today we learned the standard algorithm for two digit x two digit multiplication. You may now speak about it with your mathematician. Phew! We will spend a few days working on practicing this and reviewing this year so far.
In reading workshop, we will be wrapping up the NF expository text structures and working on smaller NF readings. My readers seem to be enjoying themselves with this unit!
Our Essay topics will be chosen tomorrow for their BIG essay. We have spent a lot of time looking at ways to generate ideas/topics and develop their thoughts. We have a nice list of phrases that help with this in our Writer's Notebooks. We will have writing HW Tuesday and Wednesday this week about elaborating our thinking.
Thank you for everything you do at home to support your learner!!!
Today we had "go with the flow Monday!". It proved to be very popular and just meant that we did things in a strange order and some for longer than others. Doing this, we were able to get a few things completed before our NEW STUDENT starts with us on Wednesday.
Check our our Explorer bulletin board (below). Each pair of students did a great presentation on their explorer today. We all took notes and we will have a test on Wednesday. There is also a study guide coming home today (just in case the notes were not a thorough as they should have been). I am proud of the research and hard work that went into this project.
Today we learned the standard algorithm for two digit x two digit multiplication. You may now speak about it with your mathematician. Phew! We will spend a few days working on practicing this and reviewing this year so far.
In reading workshop, we will be wrapping up the NF expository text structures and working on smaller NF readings. My readers seem to be enjoying themselves with this unit!
Our Essay topics will be chosen tomorrow for their BIG essay. We have spent a lot of time looking at ways to generate ideas/topics and develop their thoughts. We have a nice list of phrases that help with this in our Writer's Notebooks. We will have writing HW Tuesday and Wednesday this week about elaborating our thinking.
Thank you for everything you do at home to support your learner!!!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Writing… longer and longer essays!
This week we have focused a lot of attention on reading Non-Fiction and the text structures that authors use to convey their thoughts. We have worked on definition, description, and process so far and will conclude the week with classification and comparison. All of this great work in reading non-fiction is really helping us come up with great ideas for our writing unit on essays.
The focus of this week has been coming up with great ideas for essays. We have been concentrating on writing long (free writing)and really developing our ideas. This will continue through the week as we begin to pick our first essay topic to be published.
In Math, we started a combination chapter on Topics 7 and 8, multiplication of two digit numbers. Please refrain from showing your child the standard algorithm before it is taught in school. This week we will be focusing on alternate strategies to multiply including drawing models, estimating and finding compatible numbers. Today we even learned to use an expanded algorithm (check out their HW to see their hard work). Tomorrow they will learn about the "0" placeholder and finally on Friday the "Standard Algorithm"!
Explorers are the big idea of Social Studies this week - including appropriate ways to do research online and CHECKING sources! Thanks to Eric - they found a "Fake" explorer site in the mix! Students will make a poster presentation of their assigned explorer tomorrow and Friday.
Thank you for sending in Holiday Items for the collection box. We did a great job as a class!
I hope everyone is staying warm. Thanks for all that you do for Team Jones!
The focus of this week has been coming up with great ideas for essays. We have been concentrating on writing long (free writing)and really developing our ideas. This will continue through the week as we begin to pick our first essay topic to be published.
In Math, we started a combination chapter on Topics 7 and 8, multiplication of two digit numbers. Please refrain from showing your child the standard algorithm before it is taught in school. This week we will be focusing on alternate strategies to multiply including drawing models, estimating and finding compatible numbers. Today we even learned to use an expanded algorithm (check out their HW to see their hard work). Tomorrow they will learn about the "0" placeholder and finally on Friday the "Standard Algorithm"!
Explorers are the big idea of Social Studies this week - including appropriate ways to do research online and CHECKING sources! Thanks to Eric - they found a "Fake" explorer site in the mix! Students will make a poster presentation of their assigned explorer tomorrow and Friday.
Thank you for sending in Holiday Items for the collection box. We did a great job as a class!
I hope everyone is staying warm. Thanks for all that you do for Team Jones!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Three Weeks
We have a great three weeks ahead of us before winter break. It will just fly by.
In Reading Workshop we are beginning our study of Non-Fiction. We will be covering four different types of writing, five different strategies for organization, and the best ways to read and take notes of information learned.
We began our next writing unit of Essay on Monday. We wrote an on-demand prompt on a topic of their choice. Today we had Essay Boot Camp and learned the skills to write a well organized essay. We all wrote on the topic: I love ice cream! We will be working very hard on this unit over the next few months.
Our math unit is focusing on one digit times multi-digit numbers. This is a quick one and we will be completed by Friday. Following that we will be starting a combination chapter on Topics 7 and 8, multiplication of two digit numbers. Please refrain from showing your child the standard algorithm before it is taught in school. This week we will be focusing on alternate strategies to multiply including drawing models, estimating and finding compatible numbers. Students will be continuing their fact practice at home as well.
Our unit on Explorers begins tomorrow. Students will be completing research on an explorer and presenting this to the class. We have spent a good deal of time on how to complete research so it should be no problem at all. I look forward to their presentations.
I have enjoyed hearing about your Thanksgiving breaks and I hope to see you soon!
In Reading Workshop we are beginning our study of Non-Fiction. We will be covering four different types of writing, five different strategies for organization, and the best ways to read and take notes of information learned.
We began our next writing unit of Essay on Monday. We wrote an on-demand prompt on a topic of their choice. Today we had Essay Boot Camp and learned the skills to write a well organized essay. We all wrote on the topic: I love ice cream! We will be working very hard on this unit over the next few months.
Our math unit is focusing on one digit times multi-digit numbers. This is a quick one and we will be completed by Friday. Following that we will be starting a combination chapter on Topics 7 and 8, multiplication of two digit numbers. Please refrain from showing your child the standard algorithm before it is taught in school. This week we will be focusing on alternate strategies to multiply including drawing models, estimating and finding compatible numbers. Students will be continuing their fact practice at home as well.
Our unit on Explorers begins tomorrow. Students will be completing research on an explorer and presenting this to the class. We have spent a good deal of time on how to complete research so it should be no problem at all. I look forward to their presentations.
I have enjoyed hearing about your Thanksgiving breaks and I hope to see you soon!
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