Wednesday, October 31

Happy Halloween! I was going to write about our normal day but, there was no substitute for Mrs. Bowers so we didn't havevArt today. Instead, we had free art in the classroom with whatever supplies I could scrounge up from my cupboards. They seemed to enjoy it, so no worries there! In Math, we worked with true and false number sentences, parentheses and open sentences. These skills, added to basic multiplication and division and the earlier math vocabulary we learned, will be assessed in a quiz on Friday. Please help your child to practice! In Nightmare at the Book Fair, we read the genres of easy reader and animal fiction--fun, fun! In Reader's Workshop, I read "I Need My Monster" to the class. The students listened carefully for clues about the monster and then were able to draw or describe his monster. Then, they created their own monster. In Writer's Workshop, they then wrote descriptive paragraphs about their monster and why it was special to them. They had time to share these with the class. We were lucky to be the audience in a performance by our buddies in music which was cool! Finally, we looked at voting rights and laws in preparation of the upcoming election.

Tuesday, October 30

Brrr! We did quite a bit out of our norm today. We took the OLSAT. This assessment looks at how kiddos think. It is a "fill in the bubble" assessment that focuses on patterns and thinking differently. It is used as one more piece of information we get as teachers to help guide our instruction. It is also used as a screener for all 4th grade students to "catch" any of those students that show cognitive gifted ability. They did great with it and I see it as just one more opportunity to increase their stamina and practice testing. We also had some visitors from Central Office come in to see us use the Smart Response System...unfortunately, the technology wasn't cooperating and they didn't get to see these amazing students at work. Oh well-it is what it is! So, we did do some math practice, reading, writing and word study. We also took advantage of Superstorm Sandy to help teach part of our weather unit!

Wednesday, October 24

I watched the fall concert rehearsal this morning and it is amazing! I can't wait for you all to see it! Extra kudos to our Ashley on her solo without accompaniment and she sounded beautiful! There were even tears from some adults... This afternoon, we took a Geography assessment using the clickers. I thought it would be simple and review but almost half of the class thinks that Virginia is a state that borders Ohio, a third of the class thinks that the United States is a continent and the majority of our class is unsure about the hemisphere in which we are located. I feel that these are life skills and necessary common knowledge so please help your child learn, recognize and understand the current event and life skills that deal with our state, country and world along with what we do in class. Then, we read and completed some vocabulary and informational text work. Next, we worked on writing directions. The students are writing a paragraph on how to make one of their favorite foods/snacks. It's amazing how they always forget to state the obvious! Finally, we ended our atypical day with Guidance about bullying.

Tuesday, October 23

Well, we began the day with Music Rehearsal from 9:30-11:45 and then went to recess and lunch. Then, this afternoon we used the Smart Response System (clickers) to practice/assess basic multiplication facts. We read for a little bit of time and some visited the library and then, we talked about what we are responsible for in the way of Research according to the Progress Report. We finished our day in the Media Center with Mrs. Dorr learning how to research, generate a topic and begin a plan for researching this topic. All in all a good day but very disjointed...

Monday, October 22

Good day today! In Math, we were a little split up because we had gym at a different time but we were able to work on multiplication facts and arrays. In Nightmare at the Book Fair, we learned about Science Fiction and started into humor with Captain Obvious and the Exaggerator! It is a fun chapter! In Reader's Workshop, one of the tasks for Workboard was an OAA passage as a mini assessment to see where we still need work with informational text. We also worked with sequencing. In Writer's Workshop, some still needed to finish up from last week while the rest did some free writing. Finally, in Social Studies, we read about Ohio's natural resources.

Thursday, October 18

Today is our Friday and we made it fantastic! We played games in Math-Multiplication Tic-Tac-Toe, Multiplication Jenga and Knock it Off-to help learn our basic facts, met up with our 1st grade buddies and did some getting-to-know-you activities and Mr. Whitt from COSI came to show us some really cool stuff. Thank you Caroline for sharing your awesome dad with us! Wow! It was a fun but full-of-learning day!

Wednesday, October 17

In Math today, we moved on to BASIC multiplication and division. We found in previous years that while learning addition and subtraction, it is best to move onto basic multiplication and division facts before moving into the place and value of decimals and working with fractions. Hopefully, this will make things easier for future lessons. This will be a short unit and will consist of basic fact practice and assessments. In Nightmare at the Book Fair today, we read about Sports Fiction and Adventure--ask your kiddo about Trip's adventures. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on vocabulary of some of our spelling words, buddy reading to practice our fluency while some met with me to work on non-fiction text skills or completed a response to non-fiction text. In Writer's Workshop, we continued our "Diary of a _____ " stories. For Science, we discussed and learned about the water cycle.

Tuesday, October 16

Phew! I am beat--feels like we did a lot today! In Math, we took our assessment and I am pleased to announce that more than the majority of the class "passed" by the state standards of 73%. Look over your child's test with them and help them to understand the ones they missed. Do they understand and just made silly mistakes or are they unsure of how to complete the problems? In Read Aloud, we began reading a new book by Dan Gutman. It discusses the different genres of literature in a fun and amusing way. Nightmare at the Book Fair will be our introduction to different genres of literature. With this, a Book Bingo will come home tomorrow and students will be encouraged to read different genres of books to create a Book Bingo for a special prize. Then, we read B is for Buckeye which is an alphabet book with facts about Ohio. We then went to the computer lab to learn more about collaboration and sharing documents with Google Apps to create an "Ohio ABC" book. The students are having a great time with this and don't realize how much they are truly learning too. In Science, we watched a video about wind and clouds. We are lucky to have a parent that works at COSI in the 4th grade that will be coming in on Thursday to teach us some cool stuff about Weather.

Monday, October 15

Tomorrow is our Math Assessment over whole numbers--place of numbers (ones, tens, hundreds, etc.), value of numbers (10, 300, 6,000, etc.), ROUNDING numbers to the nearest, writing numbers in written and standard form, addition and subtraction. It seems that after going over the review sheet today, distinguishing between place and value, rounding and subtracting were biggies that need practiced. We finished reading Loser by Jerry Spinelli in Read Aloud~great book with a great message by a great author! In Reader's Workshop, we worked with responding to informational text as well as practiced our fluency by reading with a buddy. In Writer's Workshop, we listened to Diary of a Worm and focused on not just sequencing but also journal writing and taking informational facts about something and making it fun and humorous. To show this, students are writing short "Diary of a ____"journals. Next, I'm hoping they can begin journal writing themselves in their Writer's Notebooks. We got new words in Word Study and finished up our work with Chapter 1 on Ohio's Geography in Social Studies.

FRIDAY, October 12

Right now the room is crazy but quiet with everyone enjoying their electronics. We even earned a new piece today toward our next celebration. I wonder what that will be... In Math today, we practiced and reviewed for our assessment on Tuesday. I noticed that some of us still need practice so please encourage your kiddo to practice at home this weekend--place, value, rounding, writing numbers in different ways, addition and subtraction. In Reader's Workshop, we finished up our workboard from this week and some met with me for Guided Reading. We are still focusing on Informational text and responding to all kinds of literature. Today was the last day to finish our Roll-a-Stories in Writer's Workshop. I'm looking at their presentation, paragraphing and sentence fluency. Finally, before our celebration, we played games for word study. I saw some great learning!

Thursday, October 11

Today was a normal day according to our schedule, however, we had students coming and going and out for many different reasons. If at any time your student misses something and feels overwhelmed because of this, please help them to come talk to me. So far, I haven't seen this to be an issue but as the year progresses things will get more challenging and go quicker. In Math, we worked with really big numbers. We used Ohio's populations since 2000 to round and talk about estimation and then ordered large numbers. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on Ohio Studies Weekly and vocabulary while I met with Guided Reading groups. We finished our stories in Writer's Workshop--I'm focusing on presentation, sentence fluency and paragraphs. Please help your child to always remember conventions even when writing on kidblog. Finally, in Social Studies, we reviewed the first unit on the geography of Ohio.

Wednesday, October 10

The students are discussing responsibility currently, with Mrs. Vidic in Guidance...no more 'normal' days... Anyway-great discussion! In Math today, we continued our practice with whole numbers and I really see more and more students showing secure understanding. There will probably be an assessment next week sometime so be sure to keep an eye out for this in the planner. In Reader's Workshop, we worked on our Time for Kids and vocabulary Rock-n-Roll. Ask your student if they learned any new words today. We are finishing the writing process focusing on sentence fluency, presentation and paragraphing with our stories in Writer's Workshop.

Tuesday, October 9

I have one at home with strep so today I was only present this morning. We had an bnormal schedule due to music practice so we began the day with Math. On their menu today: computer games, Manga high, practice, practice and practice of place, value, rounding, addition and subtraction. Mr Martin, the same substitute as yesterday, is there this afternoon and will be doing some vocabulary work with them. The day. Will be concluding with a lesson with Mrs. Dorris about book reviews.

Monday, October 8

Like I said, there are very few "normal" days anymore... In Math, we were really differentiated in what we did as I found that we are very differentiated in our understanding of whole numbers. Some students are secure in place, value, rounding, adding and subtracting. Others need intense researching of one or more of these skills and the majority of the class just needs more practice and a little reteaching. Ask your student which category they fell into and how their learning was different today. This will continue throughout the week and groups may change depending on how quickly students grasp concepts. After lunch is where things were out of the ordinary. Instead of Read Aloud, students had an extra music practice. In Reader's Workshop, I read, It's a Book and then students compared and contrasted technology with books. It was a great thought provoking book and a great discussion as well. Then, I had to go to a meeting to learn about a great new writing resource so Mr. Martin was the substitute. In Writer's Workshop, students continued with the writing process focusing on sentence fluency and paragraphing. We are rounding out the end of Unit 1 on the geography of Ohio so students began reviewing the concepts they had learned. Good day-wish I could have been there all day!

TGIF!!! October 5

I am starting to think there aren't "normal" days anymore... Today was fire safety so we met with Lt. Lewis to watch a video and talk about fire safety. This is really important and we think our 4th graders know what to do but please be sure because unfortunately, some do not know phone numbers and addresses which are super important in case of emergencies. Take the time to go over these things and your evacuation plan just in case. In Math, I told a great story about my friends Juan (one), Tim (tens), Harry (hundreds) and Theo (thousand) and how Juan shops at Giant Eagle so he buys singles of things and Tim shops at Sam's Club so he buys in bulk and Harry goes to Costco, etc. to help them better understand subtraction. (They said the substitute really confused them.) If you see your child struggling at home with subtraction, ask them about my friends-it should help. In Reading, I met with a couple groups and went over fact and opinion and informational text. In Writer's Workshop, they continued their story using appropriate paragraphing and sentence fluency. At the end of the day, Evelyn shared rice kris pie treats with the class-thank you! (Thanks also to Max for sharing cookies yesterday.)

Tuesday, October 2

Overall, today was a pretty typical day. In Math, we discussed addition. 2 + 2 = 4... Why? What does that mean? Show me. Prove it. Then, we completed a few addition problems. After we fixed any mistakes we made, we finished our Math Menu from yesterday by playing Addition Top-It and doing some partner work on dry erase boards. For Read Aloud, we went to the Media Center where Mrs. Dorr showed us and introduced the nominees for the Buckeye Children's Book Award. In Reader's Workshop, some kiddos received their special treat for completing their Reading Minutes card. Everyone read or perused the books Mrs. Dorr showed us. In Writer's Workshop we learned how to stretch our sentences. We used what we've learned about parts so speech to help up do this. Then, we took our stretched out sentence and developed it into a paragraph using sentence fluency-and discussed what this is. We sorted our words in Word Study to find that this week's words have long vowel sounds with a silent e at the end. In Science, we created a barometer to measure air pressure after discovering and experiencing pressure yesterday in class.

Monday, October 1

Well, today was a little out of the ordinary as I had an appointment this afternoon and there was a sub-yes, there was a sub today! So, you'll have to ask the students what their afternoon was like. In Math, we practiced addition facts and prepared our minds to move from place and value into using those values to add and subtract multi-digit numbers. It may at first seem easy but this work with whole numbers is still building the foundation to be later manipulated with large numbers and decimals. Well, hopefully, I'll be at school all day tomorrow and can write more then.
Take care,
Heather