News and Notes 11/22

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Problem Solvers

At the end of each math unit in fourth grade there is a lesson focused on problem solving. With each lesson comes a different strategy for how to solve problems. This week we explored the problem solving strategy of making a list or table. The fourth graders were given some tricky questions and asked to use this, and other strategies to find the solution. Working in pairs, the fourth graders read their assigned problems carefully and determined what their best approach would be. It was impressive to watch the effort and determination these mathematicians had during this potentially challenging time. By the end of the lesson the class sat in a circle and presented their problems and solutions to each other. It was neat to see how many different ways students found to solve problems. It was also exciting to see connections being made between different strategies and problems. This room of problem solvers is becoming more and more confident in their problem solving skills!

Changes

In our continued look at story structure, this week in reading we focused on characters. We looked at a few different read aloud books in class and discovered how characters change and grow in stories. We identified main characters in the stories and then followed their progress through the pages of the book. We identified the different conflicts and forces that caused the characters to change. The fourth grade readers did a great job of making connections to the characters as they were reading, which demonstrates a deeper understanding of the story. During our independent reading time we focused on identifying and describing the characters in our own texts. We made sketches of the characters and also made lists of characteristics we observed in these characters. It is fun to dig more deeply into our understanding of the stories that we are reading!

Lots of Potential

Potential and kinetic energy were on display this week in fourth grade. To begin our study of forces and motion, we were introduced to a few key scientific terms: potential energy and kinetic energy. The fourth graders defined potential energy as “stored” energy while we discovered that kinetic energy is energy “in motion.” Using tennis balls, the fourth graders demonstrated their understanding of potential and kinetic energy. As we look at simple machines in the coming weeks, it will be important for us to continue to think about work and effort in relation to these different types of energy.