Welcome Back

Hi everyone! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas break. My family just got back from visiting relatives in California about a week ago and I still feel like I haven't got over the time change. It also doesn't help I caught some kind of bug the last day of my trip.

I do want to remind everyone to take a look at Center Connections. On February 15th, we are having all day Student-Led Conferences. These student-led conferences are put together by your children as they articulate what they have learned this year so far and their goals for learning for the remainder of the school year. We will begin working on preparing for these conferences in the next few weeks. At that time, I will send out sign up sheets for times.


  • In math, we have begun working on decimals. The concept of decimals has been tricky as students try to connect their new understanding of decimals to their prior knowledge of fraction. Students are beginning to learn that .3 is the same thing as 3/10 thus helping them make links between decimals and fraction. This week we are focusing on comparing decimals and ordering them.
  • In social studies, we just finished creating time lines of the information we have collected so far this year. We are using a website called Tiki-toki that lets us create beautiful time lines using photos, videos, and links. Since these are completed, we are moving into the colonization of what will eventually become the 13 colonies. I will begin reading one of my favorite read alouds called Blood on the River which is the story of the founding of Jamestown. 
  • In reading, we will take a more in-depth look at non-fiction including types of non-fiction sources and the graphic features non-fiction often uses to share information such as graphs, charts, captions, headings, etc.
  • In writing, we will continue to practice writing in paragraph form using indention, organized sentence structure, correct spelling and grammar, etc.
  • In science, we have finished looking at weather and will begin exploring how to collect weather data. This will lead us into our inquiry into climate change.
I wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts you showered me at Christmas time. Your support has been so tremendous and I am very thankful to work with such a great bunch of parents.

Also, Ms. Victoria will be our new MAT this year. She will join us as a full time MAT when USC returns to school next. Next time you stop by, please introduce yourself.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More "Balanced / Unbalanced" Activities

Image
Today we continued playing around with balanced and unbalanced forces. So today we an activity in which students sat laid down on chairs with their heads on another person's lap. The chairs were pulled out. If forces were balanced, students should be able to stay up (not for long).  Here are some pictures of students laying down in chairs then having the chairs pulled out while balancing.
Read more

A Couple of Things for this Short Week

I hope that everyone is having a restful Labor Day weekend. 1) Remember that T hursday, September 6 (6:30-8:00 ) is Opening Picnic . We purposely hold Opening Picnic after Labor Day so that students become acclimated to school and feel comfortable showing you around the classroom and school. After we all gather for the picnic, students and parents will head into the classroom. I'll give students the chance to show you around before I spend a few minutes talking about a few items you as parents will want to know such as homework and discipline policies. Other than that, I'm more hoping to get to know all of you so we can quickly start relationships that will benefit the academic success of your child. 2) On Friday, September 21 at 2:20 will be our first 4th grade gathering. We will most likely be sharing about current studies such as student poetry, our study of Native Americans, and weather. 3) MAP testing in math will be this Wednesday, September 5th . 4) Have student
Read more

First Week of School

We made it and everyone is in one piece! We got our first week of school and our first week of the new loop is out of the way. During this time we accomplished quite a bit: We started discussing our expectations for the new loop, We immediately began moving into new routines and schedules, As issues came up in class students began the task of taking on classroom jobs, We are reviewing math while I'm getting to know your child as a mathematician, Students are creating a presentation of things they  think I should know about them, Students got to meet our new MAT Mrs. Meredith, We are getting back into the flow of reading and writing by doing  real reading and writing. This helps me get to know them as readers and writers, Our Chromebooks are all set up and accounts have been created. Really, this list is simply about getting procedures down and setting up expectations for the next two year. This is a critical part of the class because it's these expectations that
Read more