Monday, March 31

We made it through our first day back after break! We started our day with watching some videos from the Our Ohio series on economics in Ohio. Then, we began working through activities to learn more about economics. In Math, we continued our work with area and perimeter by making tape outlines on the floor and then finding the area and perimeter of our shapes. Students are doing pretty good with this concept. This week, their homework is to find the perimeter and area of the bedrooms! We began a new book for Read Aloud today titled, Granny Torelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech. I'm not sure how to describe how it is written-maybe a cross between a narrative and poetry. Then, in Reader's Workshop, we worked with comprehension of poetry through riddles. Ask your child what their poem was describing and how they knew what it was. We wrote poetry in Writer's Workshop and took a pre-test on homophones for Word Study. Vocabulary and context is extremely important this week!

TGIFriday, March 21

Happy Friday! Our day was a little out of the ordinary with preparation for our City of Ember museum. We began by taking our Math 4 Today test and then making any final touches on our research presentation and Ember buildings. In Math, we made 3 rectangles that fit within certain dimensions for perimeter and area. Then, we set up our city. After recess, students from all grade levels along with many parents, viewed our projects. Below are some pictures. Have a great week off!

Thursday, March 20

We had an EXCELLENT day! We started the day with Guidance and just talking about how we treat others and what the golden rule truly means for 4th graders. In Math, we viewed a power point about area and perimeter and then started some practice with finding area and perimeter. Students were shocked when I told them that part of their homework could be to play Minecraft... After a chilly recess, we visited the 2nd grade classrooms to see their marble tracks. The students loved to see their hard work and earned their 2nd potato head piece of the day for their respect during our visit. Once we returned to the classroom, we read our independent reading books, read articles from a Time For Kids, free wrote some poetry or met with me to read through a Reader's Theater. Afterwards, we headed down to the gym to watch the 1st grade musical--Jungle Party. Soo cute!

Wednesday, March 19

In Science, we finished our presentations and anything needed for our City of Ember museum on Friday. After music, we practiced a tornado drill in the bathroom--ick! Better to be safe though. In Math, we finished some work on line plots from yesterday and completed some more measuring and plotting. Students have done amazingly with this skill and are actually ahead of the game. Kudos! We will be moving on to area and perimeter tomorrow. After indoor recess, blah, we finished Love That Dog. Of course, another character died, Sky, Jack's dog, was hit by a car. However, a beautiful poem came from that tragedy which emphasized the point that poetry is feeling and emotion. In Reader's Workshop, we got a new StoryWorks magazine and read the poem inside and answered one of the close reading questions about a funny line. We also read silently, visited the library or worked on a Reader's Theater with me. We continued to write poetry in Writer's Workshop and practiced writing figurative language. Some students shared out their poetry and figurative language. We also have a "Poe-TREE" hanging on the bulletin board where kids can share poems they write or find.

Monday, 3/17 and Tuesday, 3/18

(I couldn't get blogger to work yesterday~sorry.)
Monday
We worked on completing the electrical construction of Ember. We will have our museum on Friday from 1:30-3:00 if you'd like to come and view our hard work. In Math, we worked with measuring and data in the form of line plots. Students read, interpreted and created line plots about many different topics where the data is reported with fractions. Ask your child for a situation in which this could occur. We began a new read aloud, Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech. This book is written in the form of poetry. Some of the children were very apprehensive about reading this book. Hopefully, they won't feel that way too long. In Reader's Workshop, we worked with the drama, "I Would Rather Die" about Frederick Douglas, where we found the theme of this drama as well as answered a couple of thought provoking questions about it. We also read independently and worked on summarizing the main points of their Ohio Studies Weekly about Specialization and Interdependence or Productive Resources. In Writer's Workshop, we discussed and wrote about poetry and ended our day with a refresher in figurative language.

Tuesday
Our day began with M4T and Technology Tuesday. Then, we shared out our summaries from our OSW's about economics. In math, we continued our work with line plots with interpretation and creation of line plots with fractions. We will spend one more day on this before moving on. We had a beautiful outdoor recess and read a little more from Love That Dog. I think kiddos were more interested in this book today. Through the main character-Jack's poetry, we are connecting to him and truly feeling his emotion. This has helped them to enjoy the book more, I think. Then...
We celebrated earning our final potato head piece with the movie, Frozen and frozen treats!! (ice cream sandwiches)

Friday, March 14

Today was the last day for construction on Ember. Almost everybody got their lights to work! We ended up using alligator clips to help make the connection stronger. In Math, we played computer games to practice measurement and conversions. Students also completed a more detailed exit slip so that I can see where misconceptions are happening. Keep working on those conversions at home too! After a beautiful outdoor recess, we finished The Real Boy! Lord Cooper pulled Oscar out and Callie nursed him back from his near-drowning. Together, Callie and Oscar helped to save the City children and instead of "patching up" the hole in the magic, they got rid of the magic altogether. Hopefully, that will keep all other monsters from growing. It was a different book but overall, well written and pretty good. What did your child think? Since we took the time to finish the book, Reader's Workshop consisted of reading silently and independently and getting caught up on the puzzles and work we've done this week. We had a fire drill but when we returned we finished up Ember or our fictional narratives.

Thursday, March 13

Our day began with Social Studies this day and discussing Ohio's economy. We worked with Ohio Studies Weekly newspapers and instead of only completing the crossword puzzles about the information presented. Instead, students read and took notes on the most important parts and then we will share out this information. In Math, we continued with measurement conversions. Students are very frustrated with this process and unfortunately, it is all memorization and practice. After another indoor recess, Oscar defeated the monster! Now, he needs saved... In Reader's Workshop students completed the comprehension work they have been working on throughout the week and we worked on narratives and dialogue in Writer's Workshop. Our day ended with sharing more ways that we can show kindness to ourselves, each other and our school.

Wednesday, March 12

What an icky day! Rain, snow, cold... We continued our work with Ember-both on the construction of our buildings and electricity as well as with our presentations from our research. In Math, today was all about the Metric System. We made Metric Staircases and practiced conversions among the units. Ask your kiddo about King Henry. We were stuck inside for recess but the class did great. Oscar has come up with a plan to help the City children AND save the rest from the "monster." Will it work? In Reader's Workshop, kiddos read about a Guinness Record and answered comprehension questions about what they read, met with me in group or read independently and worked with the Time For Kids magazines about symbols. In Writer's Workshop, students either worked on their fictional narratives (some have CHAPTERS instead of paragraphs!), kept working on their magical creatures zoo story or "rolled" a story for a prompt. We ended our day with more examples of what being kind to ourselves, kind to others and kind to our school looks like. Does your child do all of these examples?

Tuesday, March 11

The weather is glorious~I wish it wasn't ending tomorrow... We began our day with Math 4 Today and Technology Tuesday! I think this day is students' favorite day of the week (when it comes to morning work, at least.) In Math, we looked at measurement by way of elapsed time. Students were able to spin to create the time it took for different activities and then create a chart based on the elapsed time. **Ask your kiddo how long their school day ended up being! In The Real Boy, Callie and Oscar realized that Oscar isn't made of wood...the City children are! Will they be right this time? What can they do to help the City kids that are "sick"? In Reader's Workshop, we completed a puzzle that taught us some new vocabulary words (quintet, unison) but also synonyms and rhyming. We read a Time For Kids magazine about important women in history and now and completed a comprehension sheet about what we read. Since about half of the class is finished writing their fictional narratives, I gave them an exciting prompt to write about today: Describe a day at a zoo that specializes in magical and mythological creatures. I got more writing out of some kiddos than I have in a long time! What mythological creatures were in your child's zoo? Or are they still working on their fictional narrative? The questions you ask can tell you a lot about them as learners... Finally, we completed our day filling in more of our chart about what being kind to ourselves, each other and our school looks like.

Monday, March 10

We were electricians this morning in Science and began to run electricity to our buildings of Ember. Ask your kiddo how they felt about this process. In Math, we began measurement by taking a closer look at the ruler. We looked at inches and all the little marks between the whole inches~ask your kiddo about the different sizes of lines and what they mean. Then, we used what we know about decimals to measure in centimeters. Finally, we practiced measuring. After a brisk recess, we read from The Real Boy where Oscar encountered a MONSTER! Hmmm.... what could it be? How will Oscar remedy the situation? In Reader's Workshop, we read silently and worked on a word/number puzzle. Students are still struggling with reading the directions to figure out what to do and working until they figure it out. I gave some hints and advice and they did better. Some students from Mrs. Slatinsky's class came in to perform a Reader's Theater for us. We continued writing our fictional narratives in Writer's Workshop and ended the day coming up with ideas for how we can show that we are: kind to ourselves, kind to others and kind to our school in the different areas of school.

Thursday, March 6

We started our day with guidance and discussing self-discipline. Then, after Music, we went over our study guides for Math and practiced for our assessment tomorrow. Students seemed to do really well on the study guide and hopefully will do just as well on the assessment. After another OUTDOOR recess :), we read from The Real Boy and Oscar confronted Master Caleb about his shady behavior and if he was the one cutting down the trees... In Reader's Workshop, we completed another word puzzle and again, students needed to figure out what to do and work through it to complete the puzzles--they did a much better job this time. We also read silently or visited the library and completed the Writing Rescue in our StoryWorks magazines. To complete our day, we worked on our fictional narratives or worked on Ember, read or other work that might have needed accomplished.

Wednesday, March 5

Late Start: Our day started with Math. We finished looking at decimals with a linear model and area model and I introduced a regional model, which the children really liked. Tomorrow, we will go over our Study Guide and practice for the assessment on Friday. There will also be a page of review questions from fractions so don't let them forget to practice those too! Then, we had special, lunch and OUTSIDE recess! After recess, we had a LIVE webcast with the Google Doodlers. Ask your kiddo what a doodler for google does. We also tweeted with them and sent in some pictures and questions. There is a contest and many students are now interested in submitting their entries. For more information about the contest, visit: google.com/doodle4google . After our webcast, we read aloud from The Real Boy in observance of World Read Aloud Day. Oscar went searching through Caleb's workshop and found some troubling things and thinks that he was created out of magic!! Finally, students ended our short day by working on their fictional narrative or reading.

 Here is a doodle a student did along with the webcast of an "angry astronaut cat."

 You can view our tweets if you search for #Doodle4Google.

Tuesday, March 4

We began our day with Math 4 Today and then Technology Tuesday! Students are doing much better with accuracy on M4T. In Social Studies, we learned that Ohio's birthday was this past Saturday. On March 1, 2014, Ohio turned 211! We also discussed about Ohio'd growing economy after statehood and how Ohio became a leader in farming and industry. In Math, we continued our work with comparing decimals to the metric system using bead and meter sticks. Students are looking at decimals using a linear model, area model and region model. After another indoor recess (bundle up tomorrow because I think we'll be outside), we read The Real Boy. We found out about the wizards and the trees and the magic that has kept the plague out of Aletheia. I think we'll get more information tomorrow on World Read Aloud Day! We worked with word puzzles and a Time For Kids in Reader's Workshop and continued work on our fictional narrative is Writer's Workshop. We ended our day with a quiz of 16 more high frequency words.

Monday, March 3

Today was fairly productive. We completed the construction of the buildings for Ember and will begin the electricity on Friday. In Math, we used a calculator to "count" decimals by tenths and hundredths and began a look at correlating decimals and the metric system. Our assessment will be Friday over decimals. After indoor recess, we learned more about the sick children in the shining city. Things are looking very bleak for them but the people in the shining city should be protected by magic... In Reader's Workshop, we completed a crossword puzzle on the drama in StoryWorks and worked with math puzzles. Students are really struggling with problem solving and reading directions! They would rather just have a partner or me tell them what to do. Please try to help them become more independent with these skills by practicing at home. Next, we continued writing our fictional narratives in Writer's Workshop and ended our day with a little high frequency words quiz.