Post #25

Empathy.... Walking a Mile in Our Shoes

Ask your daughter about empathy. We are participating in the Newsela initiative, "Walking a Mile in Our Shoes." The girls will be reading Newsela articles about different perspectives and experiences: rural communities and refugees, Native Americans and immigrants, veterans and Muslims, groundbreaking women and courageous people with disabilities, and much more. They will write a summary statement for each article and encourage empathy by decorating the bulletin board outside our classroom.  

The girls had some fun with Wordly Wise creative writing this week. They wrote on their partner's slide and then created an animated avatar. You can take a look:

 Next week's creative writing will be "Student Choice," Storybirds, Piclits, Vokis, faux chatting, Google Story and more.

An immigration project was started this week. The girls used ancestry.com and explored their family history. They are using the information to create an interactive presentation in Buncee. I'll share these next week.

We wrapped up unit 5 in math. The girls were assessed on Thursday and made test corrections today. Look for these tests in next week's work folder. The test included some tough problem solving but at least the problems were about Fuzzbert and friends.

The next unit focuses on division and coordinate graphing. The girls are doing a great job with fact fluency, accuracy and speed are on the rise. Please encourage your daughter to focus on the "Pick 8" side of the fact contract. I'm noticing some careless errors. 

Next Friday is a half day and it's our second Innovation Day. Everyone is asked to bring a shoe box top or something similar to use as a platform for the project. Dismissal is at noon on Friday and lunch will not be served. We eat at 11:00 so I imagine the girls will be pretty hungry. The Fourthies will picnic on the Green (weather permitting) and then have recess. Girls should bring a bag lunch or a hearty snack.

The girls are all a flutter about the Fourth Grade Play-Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  Roles will be distributed on Monday. Dr. Kapetanis spoke with the girls about being a team player and supporting each other. I know they will do a great job. The rehearsal schedule is posted on the blog. Thanks in advance for doing your best to have your daughter present during practices.

A few notes:

* Special Week Sign-up Ellie will be our next Special Week girl.

* Homework is posted for the week for family planning. Please remember "Growing Up Healthy" and Spanish homework.

* Carpool Helper Calendar- Ibby and Madigan will represent our class this week.

* Play rehearsal schedule

* "Insider's View to Middle School" for parents 3/28 @ 8:30. Dorothy Suskind will send additional information as the time gets closer.

Girls- Your mystery blog question...... What was Friday's chapel about?  Post your answer here and be specific. 

Post #24

A week filled with friendships, fun and LEARNING!

 #it'sgoodtobeus

Let's start with the hashtag. I remind the girls often (if not daily) that it is good to be us. It's good to be a student at St. Catherine's and it's good to be a teacher at St. Catherine's. I remind them how fortunate they are to have all that they have. When someone is having a difficult time or comments that something isn't fair, I remind them that at the end of the day it is awesome to be them- to be us! 

We are reading A Song for Harlem by Patricia McKissack. The setting is 1928 in Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance is in full swing. The girls are summarizing the chapters beginning with a descriptive hashtag and adding key events. This activity is in your daughter's Google Drive. We are celebrating Black History Month by reading picture books in https://www.getepic.com. This is a fabulous tool and we use it to project stories on the SmartBoard. Often a picture book about a historical event is the perfect introduction to a History4Fourthies lesson. Epic is a great site for younger kids too. Take a look; you might want to create a home account.

We began each math lesson with a "love themed" musical moment. The girls practiced calculating and got into the spirit of Valentine's Day. Double digit multiplication was the math focus in problem solving and centers. All are comfortable with the "wrestling" technique and we are now working on the traditional method. I posted a how to video on the Fourthie site for added reinforcement. Some of the girls think the turtle is creepy (I think he's kind of cute:)

We also worked with rounding large numbers and adding decimals. Next Thursday the girls will take a formal assessment on double digit multiplication and problem solving.

This week's writing lab was all about using quotation marks correctly. They looked at a muted clip of animals and imagined the conversations they were having. We will spend time revising and editing next week. There was more emoji writing and faux chatting with Wordly Wise words. Here's Molly's example:

And drumroll....... San Francisco earthquake movies are finished! The girls researched, wrote scripts, and created a dramatic retelling of this historic event. The girls were proud of their product and so was I. Click here to see the documentaries.

A few notes:

* Special Week Sign-up Ellie will be our next Special Week girl (week of 2/27).

* Homework is posted for the week for family planning. Please remember "Growing Up Healthy" and Spanish homework.

* Carpool Helper Calendar- Alice will represent our class this week.

* "Insider's View to Middle School" for parents 3/28 @ 8:30. Dorothy Suskind will send additional information as the time gets closer.

Girls- Your mystery blog question...... What picture would you like to write about for a creative writing assignment?  Post your answer here and be specific. 

Post #23

Lady Gaga first thing Monday morning? Of course that was how the Fourthies started their week. We began with a Musical Moment and practiced calculating to a Lady Gaga song, thanks for the suggestion Leslie. The girls practiced estimating products, problem solving with monarch butterflies, and lots double digit multiplication reinforcement. Their multiplication skills are taking off. I love the collective growth mindset of these Fourthies. The girls are reworking equations (sometimes 3 or 4 times) until they have a correct solution. You may see messy "EdPuzzle" handouts in their work folders. Commend your daughter for her determination and resilience! More fact speeding tickets were issued this week. Did your daughter earn one?

Animal book projects were completed. The girls used their notes to write a first person summary about the animal they read about last month. Then the fun happened. Take a look here.

We celebrated Buncee Buddies with a streamed concert that was taking place in New York City. It was a little corny but neat to be watching it with kids all around the world. The girls reacted to Mahatma Gandhi's quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." They created a Buncee demonstrating what the quote meant to them. This was an optional enrichment activity. Completed Buncee Buddies are here.

We began our immigration unit in History4fourthies. The girls listened to "Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears" and watched immigrants entering Ellis Island. The girls are using this Immigration Explorer to learn more about immigration in the United States and completing math activities at the same time.

Next week we will celebrate Valentine's Day- FUN! To get in the mood, the girls calculated distances from one love themed town to another. 

A few notes:

* Valentine's Day Celebration on 2/14/17. Everyone should bring a container to hold their valentines.
* Valentine's Day is also Wordly Wise Dress-Up Day!!! 💖💖💖
* "Insider's View to Middle School" for parents 3/28 @ 8:30. Dorothy Suskind will send additional information as the time gets closer.
* Special Week Sign-up Leslie will be our Special Week girl.

* Homework is posted for the week for family planning. 

* Carpool Helper Calendar- Elizabeth will represent our class this week.

Girls- Your mystery blog question...... What Fourthie suggested a Lady Gaga song for Monday's Musical Moment?  Post your answer here. 

Post #22

Friday's Schedule

Post #21

Spirit Week was lots of fun and the cheer rally was a blast! 

We all missed Emily and hope she is feeling better.

The girls did a great job on their cumulative math tests. I added an audio component to the assessment and had the girls read large numbers and decimals. They were accurate and articulate. We explored the power of ten this week and began multiplying double digits using the wrestling method. In this algorithm, numbers are exposed and broken into tens and ones. See if your daughter can explain.

They read about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. With their weekly partner, they practiced note-taking and summarizing. The notes became dramatic scripts about the earthquake and its aftermath. iMovies are in the works and will be posted on next week's blog. We'll be moving into the 1910's next week and beginning an immigration project.

I was having a hard time coming up with Wordly Wise practice sentences so the girls took control and submitted their own sentences from this week's creative writing. They wrote interesting tales about pancakes. Not the round kind but rather- pancake arthropods, pancake cephalopods, pancake butterflies, pancake sharks. The girls get a kick out of reading each other's work and seeing their writing improve. Take a look at your daughter's creative writing book when you get a chance.

It is the month of love and we have some fun Valentine themed activities planned. The girls will be using two Fourthie sites during math and language arts. Here they are: http://fourthiesvalentine.weebly.com/ and http://weekofchocolate.weebly.com/

Sloan Hiscock and I are presenting at the Virginia Children's Engineering Conference in Roanoke next week. Our workshop will address the connection between music and math and using media to bring relevance to instruction. I'll be gone Thursday and Friday but plan on touching base with the girls via a Padlet.

A few notes:
* Lend a Helping Paw- Outreach Project ends on 2/6. Click here for details.
* Please ask your daughter if her headphones are in working conditions. We use them many times throughout the day.
* NEAP Testing- Please click here to read the details.
* "Growing Up Healthy" class begins on Monday. The course website is now live.
* Valentine's Day Celebration on 2/14/17. Everyone should bring a container to hold their valentines.
* Valentine's Day is also Wordly Wise Dress-Up Day!!! 💖💖💖
* "Insider's View to Middle School" for parents 3/28 @ 8:30. Dorothy Suskind will send additional information as the time gets closer.
* Special Week Sign-up Madigan and Farina will be our Special Week girl.

* Homework is posted for the week for family planning. 

* Carpool Helper Calendar- Please check for your week.

Girls- Your mystery blog question...... What days will I be absent next week?  Post your answer here.