It is amazing how a head cold can knock you off track! I am well rested and feeling much better...I really hope I didn't pass my germs on to any students. Make sure you take care of yourself, get a good night's rest, and wash your hands a lot. I want everyone healthy so we can learn!
Last week we spent time in reading discussing context clues. We were detectives and we searched for context clues to help us identify unknown and unfamiliar words. We had to prove our work by underlining and talking about the clues we found. I am very proud of our detectives. They got really good proving their thinking!
This week are focusing on cause and effect. We now realize that one cause can have lots of possible effects. We put on our detective hats again but this time we were looking for our clue words such as so, next, then, because. These words helped us decide which event happened first (the cause) and which event happened second (the effect). We will be practicing this skill all week!
Math has been lots of fun. We have been working on developing good survey questions so we can gather, record and analyzing data. Line plots are one way that we've recorded our data. We found out that 8 people in our class have never had a cavity! Way to go!! This week we will continue working with gathering data by creating our own survey questions and polling our class for the answers. I hope to have our results hanging up on our bulletin board later this week. I am excited to see what information the students want to learn about from their classmates!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Wow, we are through with another week of wonderful learning! We have been taking a piece of writing through the writing process. Today's step was editing. The students learned that they can use a process called colored pencil editing to help them make sure their papers are looking good and sounding good. Next week they will publish their first piece of writing! How exciting! Look for them hanging up in our hallways.
Science was filled with warm and coldblooded vertebrates. We learned the difference between them and made a really nice brochure explaining the different classes of vertebrates. There are lots of animals that share the same features!
Multiplication was on our mind during math. We have discussed how to break down multiplication facts into smaller, easier facts. For example, 12 X 8 is challenging. We know that 12 is just a 10 + 2. We also know that 10 X 8 = 80 and 2 X 8 = 16 so now we can add 80 + 16 to get our answer of 96. These short cuts are amazing! The kids have a set of multiplication flashcards that they will be bringing home. Please keep them in their backpack as we may use them during class time for different activities.
Our reading has been filled with DRA testing and learning how to find and enjoy a good book. The testing is over and groups will start next week! I am looking forward to meeting with small groups of students to focus on individual skills. This week we focused on the story elements of charachter and setting. The setting can help define the mood of a book or help explain how a character is acting. Good readers are good thinkers!
We had our first Fine Dining Friday today. It was a fun, sticky lunch! The whole class was invited today. Next week, I will be inviting those students who have shown good choices, hard work, turned in all assignements and completed all homework. I am hoping to have another full house!
Book orders were submitted today. It usually takes 5-7 days for the books to be shipped to the school. I will pass them out as soon as possible.
Congratulations to Nelson! He won the poster competition for our class. He made a wonderfully detailed poster of how to help stop bullying.
I also forgot to congratulation our wonderful student council representatives for getting elected. We had 5 brave students prepare and read a speech in front of the class. We were able to vote 2 of our classmates as the representatives of our class. It was a VERY close race but our winners were Riley and Kathy. Congratualtions, I am so proud of you!
Science was filled with warm and coldblooded vertebrates. We learned the difference between them and made a really nice brochure explaining the different classes of vertebrates. There are lots of animals that share the same features!
Multiplication was on our mind during math. We have discussed how to break down multiplication facts into smaller, easier facts. For example, 12 X 8 is challenging. We know that 12 is just a 10 + 2. We also know that 10 X 8 = 80 and 2 X 8 = 16 so now we can add 80 + 16 to get our answer of 96. These short cuts are amazing! The kids have a set of multiplication flashcards that they will be bringing home. Please keep them in their backpack as we may use them during class time for different activities.
Our reading has been filled with DRA testing and learning how to find and enjoy a good book. The testing is over and groups will start next week! I am looking forward to meeting with small groups of students to focus on individual skills. This week we focused on the story elements of charachter and setting. The setting can help define the mood of a book or help explain how a character is acting. Good readers are good thinkers!
We had our first Fine Dining Friday today. It was a fun, sticky lunch! The whole class was invited today. Next week, I will be inviting those students who have shown good choices, hard work, turned in all assignements and completed all homework. I am hoping to have another full house!
Book orders were submitted today. It usually takes 5-7 days for the books to be shipped to the school. I will pass them out as soon as possible.
Congratulations to Nelson! He won the poster competition for our class. He made a wonderfully detailed poster of how to help stop bullying.
I also forgot to congratulation our wonderful student council representatives for getting elected. We had 5 brave students prepare and read a speech in front of the class. We were able to vote 2 of our classmates as the representatives of our class. It was a VERY close race but our winners were Riley and Kathy. Congratualtions, I am so proud of you!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Character Traits
Our class is filled with outstanding readers! We have been working on reading to ourselves and building stamina. Everyone is doing an amazing job! Today during a lesson, we discussed character traits. I read the book, Tops and Bottoms, and we realized that Bear was lazy and greedy while Hare was tricky, smart, and greedy. A well rounded character has many traits.
Our goal was to go back to our book and describe one of the characters we have read about. Here is a list of character traits that we came up with: scary, crazy, creepy, nice, funny, grumpy, mean, helpful, smart, caring, kind, sad, lonely, selfish, exciting, positive, willing, sweek adventurous, loving, strong, and brave.
Wow...we are reading a wide variety of books!
Keep up the Great Reading 404!!
Welcome!!
Welcome to fourth grade! We've spent the past 2 weeks learning our new rules and procedures. We are off to a great start! Now that we know our expectations for learning, the real fun begins!
Each day our fourth grade binders will go home. Inside the binders is an agenda notebook. Students will be writing down skills they worked on each day. They will also be writing down any assignments they need to complete as homework. I need parents to check and sign this binder each night. This will give you the opportunity to have a discussion about schoolwork with your child and assist them with their homework when needed.
Starting September 7 I will be sending home a weekly reading log. The reading logs will go home on Friday and be due the following Friday. It is required that students read a total of 4 nights at home for at least 20 minutes each night. There will be a section where each student will respond to a favorite reading for the week. All reading logs need to be signed or initialed by a parent.
We will also be doing math homework throughout the week. Our new curriculum has math homework built in so students can practice skills that were learned in class. Those assignments will be due the day after they are given. I will not be grading homework so please, check your child's work and help them with it.
To celebrate our hard work, the class will be earning tokens for outstanding classtime in their specials. When we reach 40 tokens, we will celebrate with a class social. The students have helped me brainstorm many ideas which include: popcorn party, game time, extra recess, create a craft, and social time just to name a few. We have a total of 5 tokens so far. I can't wait to see what the month of September brings!
Fridays we will also celbrate our accomplishemnts with Fine Dining Friday. Those students who have made good choices in class and around the school, completed and turned in all their homework, and completed all classroom assignemnts will get the opportunity to eat lunch in the classroom with the teacher in our classroom. We are all very excited for this to begin. Our first Fine Dining Friday will be on September 7.
I am looking forward to another great week of learning! I will update our blog weekly, more often if we have something special to announce. Please post a comment if you'd like. This is our community board so all comments are open to all parents in the classroom. You can always email me at keena.flock@k12.sd.us if there is a private matter you need to discuss with me. You can also call the school at 367-6150 to leave a message for me. Have a great week!
Each day our fourth grade binders will go home. Inside the binders is an agenda notebook. Students will be writing down skills they worked on each day. They will also be writing down any assignments they need to complete as homework. I need parents to check and sign this binder each night. This will give you the opportunity to have a discussion about schoolwork with your child and assist them with their homework when needed.
Starting September 7 I will be sending home a weekly reading log. The reading logs will go home on Friday and be due the following Friday. It is required that students read a total of 4 nights at home for at least 20 minutes each night. There will be a section where each student will respond to a favorite reading for the week. All reading logs need to be signed or initialed by a parent.
We will also be doing math homework throughout the week. Our new curriculum has math homework built in so students can practice skills that were learned in class. Those assignments will be due the day after they are given. I will not be grading homework so please, check your child's work and help them with it.
To celebrate our hard work, the class will be earning tokens for outstanding classtime in their specials. When we reach 40 tokens, we will celebrate with a class social. The students have helped me brainstorm many ideas which include: popcorn party, game time, extra recess, create a craft, and social time just to name a few. We have a total of 5 tokens so far. I can't wait to see what the month of September brings!
Fridays we will also celbrate our accomplishemnts with Fine Dining Friday. Those students who have made good choices in class and around the school, completed and turned in all their homework, and completed all classroom assignemnts will get the opportunity to eat lunch in the classroom with the teacher in our classroom. We are all very excited for this to begin. Our first Fine Dining Friday will be on September 7.
I am looking forward to another great week of learning! I will update our blog weekly, more often if we have something special to announce. Please post a comment if you'd like. This is our community board so all comments are open to all parents in the classroom. You can always email me at keena.flock@k12.sd.us if there is a private matter you need to discuss with me. You can also call the school at 367-6150 to leave a message for me. Have a great week!
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