News and Notes
From Fourth Grade
Spooky Learning
This week we went all
out. Since Halloween is a favorite
holiday among fourth graders, we devoted some learning time to festive
Halloween-themed content. In math,
we found patterns relating to the collection of trick-or-treating goodies,
while in reading we devoted time to recalling our favorite spooky stories. On Thursday the fourth graders joined
the Simonds School community for the annual costume parade. After the parade we came back to enjoy
some goodies from our amazing room volunteer, Diane Brunetti. We also demonstrated our artistic side
by decorating our own pumpkins and gourds. Fourth graders love diving into the spirit of the season,
and so this week we had some seriously spooky learning going on in our
classroom!
Questioning
The fourth grade readers are
asking questions. This week we
made the transition from simply wondering about things while we are reading to
asking direct and specific questions of the text. We collected our helpful “w” question words (who, what,
where, when, why,
and how). As we read together about animal
senses, we practiced asking questions about the content of a nonfiction
text. Independently, the fourth
graders continued this questioning strategy by recording questions in their
reader’s notebooks. While they
were reading about muscle cars and chocolate and the Beatles and all manner of
interesting things, the fourth graders were asking all kinds of important
questions. We took some time this
week to discuss why asking questions is important. The fourth graders were eager to share how having a question
in mind helps to motivate and direct their reading. It gives the reader a goal, the fourth graders said. We discovered that asking questions
while we are reading is kind of like making a puzzle. What a great way to dig deeper into our reading!
Kindness
This week the fourth graders
had a special guest – our very own guidance counselor, Mrs. Cermak. We had a special classroom guidance
lesson on the topic of kindness.
Mrs. Cermak read a great book title Each Kindness that made us all think about how we can show kindness
to others. The fourth graders were
then asked to brainstorm simple ways they can show kindness. These ideas are posted outside Mrs.
Ceramk’s office. We welcome you to
come take a look at the great ideas about kindness, and then see how the
students at Simonds School are putting these ideas into action!
