I can't believe this will be my last blog post for 2020. I'm happy to be saying goodbye to this year, but surprised at how fast time has flown by!

Despite the fact that the students are all ready for a vacation, we managed to get some good work done this week. We finished up our multiplication and division unit! Of course, we will never completely stop multiplying and dividing -- that work will continue through math menu until later in the spring, when we will have a similar unit with larger numbers. After vacation, we will begin a unit about addition and subtraction with large numbers (into the 10 and 100 thousands!) We will learn to regroup and use the standard US algorithm ("carrying and borrowing.") This unit is my favorite -- everyone is always successful, and learning about place value really helps with every other kind of math!

Our literacy units will both continue into January. This week, the students practiced finding the main idea and supporting details in parts of the books they are reading. They took notes and tried to figure out what was really important to write down. They also learned a few different strategies for elaborating in their own writing. They are begging for writing time, which is lovely!

Today we had our first "Maker's Space" day. The students really enjoyed being creative with a huge variety of craft items! Many surprise snowflake gifts are finished and wrapped! We will have another hour of crafting time on Monday so that we can make sure everyone has a chance to finish. I love this kind of activity -- everyone can find a way to participate!

I am still waiting on a few parent conference sign up sheets. If you can't find yours, feel free to email me and we can find a time for your conference. I have a schedule ready to share with you, but I am hoping to hear from everyone before it is finalized.

This week's vocabulary words were scrutinize, immense, and serene. We didn't get to put all of them into our visual dictionary, but we did try to use the words. See if you can use them too!

I probably won't write a blog post on Tuesday (although I might...) If you don't hear from me, I hope you all have a wonderful vacation!

Happy Friday!

I have so much enjoyed being back with the students this week. There's lots to tell you about, so here goes!

Math: I am incredibly impressed with the progress we are making in our understanding of and strategies for double digit multiplication!  The students are using place value and also their multiples of 10 to efficiently multiply. Here are 3 beautiful examples for 16 X 16:

These 3 strategies are so much more efficient than skip counting, and pave the way for multiplying with larger numbers. I am taking my time to make sure everyone is comfortable with this before moving on -- although my guest teacher did a wonderful job moving the kids forward! 

Reading: We have been reading nonfiction books since after Thanksgiving and will continue with that until mid-January. So far, we have learned how to choose a book and make a connection to it, how to commit to learning from it, and how to preview it so you get a good understanding of how it is laid out before you dive in. We have also thought about what messages our brains give us when we are learning new information (such as "Wow!" or "Really?" or even "Eww, gross!") When we notice the messages, we are able to decide which information to write down in our notebooks. Students are reading, learning and taking notes. Many of them prefer fiction, but such is life!

Writing:  The students have all planned their expert books and they have started drafting. We used a table of contents to do our planning (similar to the "outlines" we used when we were in school) and a mini table of contents to plan what goes in each chapter. We are getting the basics written now, and then we will begin learning how to elaborate next week. I love this unit as I think the structured method really helps kids learn to organize their thoughts as they write.

Word Study: Before vacation we learned about all the various long vowel patterns for each vowel. The week I was gone, the kids played games with those same vowel patterns on Spelling City. This week we learned about using Y as a vowel. Next week we move into learning about r-controlled vowels and how to use them to help us decode. Good stuff!

That's it for academics!

Here are a few other bits of information:

Thank you to those who have already sent in conference forms or been in touch with me about them. Please remember to get those from your children and get them back to me by 12/22.

Thank you also for your generosity with crafting materials. We are excited to have our Maker Space next Friday and the following Monday. I miss the days when I could ask you to come in and help! We chose names today, and we'll see how good the class can be at keeping secrets! We also made a list of what each student likes, so their peers can think about what to make them. The list is on the Bitmoji classroom in case the students want to access it over the weekend as they think about what to make. All the making will happen here in the classroom, but they can certainly plan at home!

We had visits from both Mrs. Graf and Nurse Lindsay this week. Mrs. Graf came in to talk to us about the appropriate ways to use the CHAT feature on our chromebooks. She explained to the class that they should not chat anything to anyone that they wouldn't say to them in person, and she asked all the students to tell an adult if they witness anything unkind on chat. I also encouraged them to ask YOU before they get on chat with a friend. It is a good tool, but we want to keep our eye on it to make sure they are using it appropriately.  Nurse Lindsay came in to remind us all about the importance of keeping our distance and wearing our masks. As the pandemic drags on, this gets harder and harder for the kids. I feel like I spend so much of my day policing them, and that is hard for all of us. We are all doing our best, and that includes them!

This week we only added 2 new words to our class dictionary. The words are embellish and oblivious. Try using those around your kitchen table!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

 It's a gray and gloomy Friday, but we have had a lot of fun in the classroom with our pajamas and stuffies and blankets! I even wore my bathrobe over my clothes most of the day, and it was cozy! The class was incredibly quiet and focused during both reading and writing today -- quite a feat on a Friday!

Here's the scoop:

Math this week was challenging! We moved from multiplication into division, and this always causes some anxiety! Starting yesterday, we learned about division with remainders, and that is another level of difficulty as well. It's hard to figure out the remainder, and then it's even harder to figure out how to "deal with" the remainder depending on the story context. For example, when dividing 44 by 8, the mathematical answer is 5R4, but if the story problem asks how 8 friends can share 44 crackers, you can break the crackers in half so each gets 5 1/2! This is new thinking, and we WILL all get it eventually! I try really hard not to move on until everyone feels ready, so we will take our time.

We are finishing up our first writing unit, and many of the students are sad about this! I have explained that all writers have deadlines, and that they can continue to work on their pieces from home or during our occasional free writing times. Today we learned about endings and how it is important to make sure our loose ends are tied up. Next week we will do some revising and then some editing. We will have a publishing party on Friday. I miss the days when I could invite parents to join us!

We are also finishing up our reading unit, and we will move onto non-fiction books after vacation. Today we learned about debatable ideas and how readers can debate with themselves while they are reading. The focus of our reading in Grade 4 is all about developing ideas as we read. As the students are reading, I am doing some assessments so I can give you all information about your children's decoding and comprehension skills soon!

This week the students each researched an animal and made and presented a poster about the animal's special features  -- or its body structures and their functions. After vacation, we will learn about some human organs and their functions as well.

During our social studies time, many heavy and mature issues have come up as we read picture books about a variety of topics related to race and justice. The students have brought up the notion of systemic racism, sexism, diversity, and equity. We have started SLOWLY discussing some of these issues in a measured and nonjudgmental way. Your children may come home with questions on their minds as we tackle these issues when they come up!

This week we learned 4 new vocabulary words -- all of which can be seen in our video dictionary on the google classroom. The words are livid, implore, elated, and blatant. Good luck fitting these into your dinner time conversations!

I hope you all enjoy a restful weekend. Stay safe and healthy!

 Happy Sunny Friday!  This weather is super exciting, especially after the exciting snow from earlier in the week.... Let me just say that our moods have definitely been affected by our weather -- lots of excitement all around!  It has been really nice to have our windows open and be outside the past few days.

Here's the brief rundown:

In math, we continue working on 1-digit by 2-digit multiplication.  The focus is to break the larger number into smaller chunks, either using a model (an array) or equations. I gave an exit ticket this week and was pleased with the results. Next week we will move onto division, which is a little tricky at first. We'll be mastering long division before we know it!

We have not done a lot of new work in literacy this week since we had Tuesday off and focus on math on Wednesdays. The students are still reading, writing me letters, thinking about the characters, and writing their first drafts of their narrative stories. Next week we will focus on debating to develop rich ideas and also on revising our stories to make them even better.

We have started having phonics instruction twice a week. One group is working on suffix rules (doubling consonants and dropping silent e) while the other group is reviewing/learning a variety of patterns for spelling long vowel sounds.  We have learned about patterns for long a and long e, and we will do long o and long i next week.  I'm excited about this work and think it will help the students as spellers AND as readers!

We made terrariums today!  Thank you to the parents who bought supplies for us!  Most of the students put 2 plants into their terrariums, but some chose to only put in one plant. They are all watered and ready to be put in a sunny location. They shouldn't need to be watered very often.  I ordered some fun little figurines to put in them, but they have not arrived yet. I will send the figurines home when they arrive. Our study of plants is over, but we have moved onto learning about the interesting structures of various animals and their functions. Stay tuned!

Don't forget to check out the video dictionary from time to time so you can see our new vocabulary words. This week we only had 1 new word -- blatant. I hope you can find ways to incorporate it around your dinner table!

Original Works and order forms are coming home today. I believe you all got directions for how to order in an email. Let me know if you have questions.

I am so enjoying this class! They are curious and engaged and excited about learning. We laugh a lot each day, and they make give me hope for the future of our planet!

I hope you all enjoy this sunny weekend!

 Hello Everyone!

We have had a wonderful week in the classroom! The class is working hard, but they also know how to have fun together.  Here is a run-down of our academics this week:

Math: We are starting double digit multiplication! This sounds a lot scarier than it is, and we will take it one step at a time. This week, we worked hard to understand that 13 X 8 is the same thing as 10 X 8 PLUS 3 X 8.  As I always tell the students, 10 is our best friend, and breaking double digit numbers into tens and ones makes everything easier.  Some students still prefer to draw out their equations and count by ones, and this is perfectly okay and developmentally appropriate. But we will keep pushing into more efficient strategies as they are able to understand them conceptually. 

Reading: Our work this week was all about figuring out how the characters in our book are complicated, just like real people. We thought about ourselves and how we are complicated -- for example, we are different at school than we are with our cousins or our friends. The character in our read-aloud book, Ghost, is also complicated. The students are working to figure out how the characters in the books they are reading are multi-faceted and complicated as well.  

Writing: Today we started writing the drafts of our narrative stories, and the class is so excited! They have done a lot of planning -- thinking about their characters, their problems and the scenes that make up the story arc. Now they are ready to get writing! Next we will tackle the hardest parts of writing -- revision and elaboration!

Science: Thanks to many flower and plant donations, today we dissected flowers (I totally forgot to take pictures!) We identified roots, leaves, stems, and flowers and discussed their functions. Then each student got to dissect 2 flowers and discover the goodies inside. Mr. Bouchard brought in his digital microscope so we could REALLY see the stamen, pistil, stigma, seeds, etc.  I was impressed by how much the class already knew, but there was a lot of new learning as well. Next week, we will get to make our individual terrariums, complete with little plants!

Social Studies: This week we learned about implicit bias. We learned that we all carry opinions and attitudes that come from somewhere -- the media, advertisements, friends, family, etc. We got into a wonderful conversation about advertising and the notion of beauty. These kids are perceptive! Then yesterday we revisited our identity maps and tried to make a distinction between the parts of our identities that we really own and the parts that others have "labeled" us with. This was heady work, but I was proud of the deep thinking the students did!

Today we also made some harvest crafts. Forgive me if you get straw all over your house this evening!  Our little terracotta pot scarecrows are perhaps a little messy... you should see the classroom floor!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween weekend.

We have made it through our first week of full-time instruction! I am amazed at the resiliency and flexibility of this lovely group of students. They smiled and learned and generally rocked every day this week!  It definitely makes me think "We've got this!"

Here's a quick run-down on academics this week:

Math: We finished up our first multiplication unit and are moving directly into a second one. In this unit, things get a little more complicated as we begin multiplying double digit numbers and learning more about division. We will take it slowly and make sure we don't leave anyone confused!

Reading: We are still reading our fiction books and learning various strategies for comprehension. These include noticing the behaviors and habits our characters exhibit, paying attention to setting, and thinking about character traits. The students all wrote me letters today, and I was impressed at how much they are noticing as they read their books.

Writing: We are working slowly on gathering ideas for our narrative stories. The students are anxious to begin actually drafting their stories, but I am making them hold off until they have done a lot of planning. The more they plan, the easier it will be for them to write an organized and understandable story later!  It's like holding horses back at the races, but I will prevail!

Science: We did 2 more fun labs this week, starting with bubbles and finishing up with mixing yeast with hydrogen peroxide to create heat. We learned how to use a thermometer accurately and wrote down all of our observations. Next week we will begin a science unit on plant structures and their functions. I am hoping to have each student make a terrarium, so I am looking for 2-liter plastic bottles (like the kind soda or seltzer come in.) If you ever have bottles like that at your house, please rinse them and send them in!

In other news, we lost our first fish yesterday... It was hard for the students to see one of their pets die, but we talked a lot about the fragility of fish and how short their lives tend to be. We have 2 new fish in the tank, and I will try to get a few more once I know there is no lingering disease in the tank.  I guess even the sad events teach us something!

We have started a video class dictionary! Be sure to ask your children about this. Our first words are savory, perspective, and obscure. Please try to use those words around your dinner table or as you run errands. The more they hear them being used in normal conversation, the more likely they are to learn them well enough to use them in their own speech or writing!

I will not be sending any homework home for the foreseeable future unless there is important work that doesn't get completed during the school day. This may change in January, but for now I hope the students can enjoy their after-school and weekend time playing outdoors and connecting with family. Of course I highly encourage reading every single night so that it becomes a habit!

As always, contact me with any questions or concerns. I am loving being with your children every day!

 

 Hello everyone. I am excited about having everyone here together on Monday! Of course, we will need to spend some time getting to know each other, reviewing safety protocols and procedures, and figuring out how to operate in a large group. Although the classroom is not fully set up yet (that will happen over the weekend) my plan is to have only desks, all 3 feet apart (side to side and front to back) and a laundry basket for each student in the hallway for backpacks, coats, etc.  I think this will work well to keep us safe and comfortable. Of course, things change quickly and we will all need to be flexible! Please let me know if you have safety concerns or any questions about how things will look next week.

In academic news, we worked hard this week! The students found all the factors of 100 (all the equations that equal 100) and then used those to find factors of 200, 300, 400, etc. Understanding how to do this is a critical foundational skill as we get into more difficult multiplication. It was tedious work, but well worth it!

We also worked hard as writers. We learned about how to make a complete sentence and how to write a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details. We will come back to both of these over and over this year! Punctuation seems to be our nemesis…. I’ll be doubling down on that this year!

In reading, we have worked on a variety of comprehension strategies. We have discussed the importance of visualizing what is happening in our books, and we have learned some ways to move beyond retelling the story to building some ideas about our characters.  Now that we are going to be back in the building full-time, I have ordered physical Reader’s Notebooks for everyone. We will keep the digital ones as a back-up in case things change, but I would always prefer to have the students use a notebook than a screen!

We continue learning about the scientific process during science class. Mostly, we are learning about fair testing and how to make sure we have constants and variables. This week we figured out which paper towel was the most absorbent, and Bounty won! Next week we will work on figuring out which paper towel is the STRONGEST, which is an entirely different question and needs a different procedure. On top of having fun, the students are learning how to hypothesize and collect data!

Our social studies curriculum for the next few weeks will be entirely focused on kindness and community. We have already read a few books about the importance of names. We will also discuss implicit bias and its implications, and of course we will continue to talk about ways we can be kind and inclusive in our small classroom community as well as in our larger town community.

I have put the weekly schedule on the google classroom, but I will also send you a link to it. We have Music as our unified art subject right now, but that will change to Art or Spanish later in the year. PE, Guidance, and Library should stay the same (if ANYTHING can stay the same, that is!)  We will keep our current sharing schedule.

I had told the students to bring their chromebooks and charging cords to school because I was told we would be keeping those here. Today I heard that we are going to continue having the students take home their chromebooks daily, just so we are prepared in case we switch back to Stage 2 or Stage 1. Please continue having your children charge their chromebooks overnight and have them bring them to school (fully charged) each day.  The routine we have established seems to be working, so we will keep it just the same. I apologize for the change in communication!

Tuesday is "bedtime day!" Students can wear pajamas, wear their slippers and socks while in the classroom, and bring one stuffed animal or blanket. They will need to have proper outerwear and shoes for PE, however.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy the sun!