News and Notes 2/21

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Winter

Life in New Hampshire has a few certainties, one of which is the inevitability that winter weather will cause us to move to “Plan B.” In the Kearsarge District, this means having students work on Blizzard Bags on the days when traveling through the weather would be unsafe. The families and students at Kearsarge have done an extraordinary job of rising to the challenge of three Blizzard Bag days in three weeks. I am happy to report that our fourth grade participation was excellent and the work that was turned in from Blizzard Bag days was very impressive. Of course we would much prefer to have school in the traditional sense, but it is exciting to see how the fourth graders are able to take ownership of their learning and be engaged in academic pursuits outside of the school building. Many, many thanks to the families and friends who worked so tirelessly to support their fourth graders in their Blizzard Bag work. Here's hoping for sunny and spring-like weather soon, and also that we'll all be able to enjoy the winter while it's here.

Geometry and Number Sense

Generally it seems that fourth grade students find certain mathematical pursuits more appealing than others. One area of math that is generally well accepted is geometry. Maybe it's the very tangible quality of the study of shapes and space, but for whatever reason, geometry seems to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of math in fourth grade. This week we took advantage of this idea and tried to help the fourth graders connect their enjoyment of geometry with their growing understanding of long multiplication. We used the “partial products” method of long multiplication and made a visual representation of the process using an array. Basically we are trying to draw the bridge between area of rectangles and the multiplication of two products. This connection was a challenging one, but over multiple interactions, the fourth grade mathematicians have begun to demonstrate a strong understanding of the link. As we move forward to different and quicker methods for solving long multiplication problems, these concept-building activities will help with the foundational understanding stage of the path to being multiplication experts.

Spirited

In spite of the winter weather, the students and staff at Simonds were able to celebrate school spirit this week. What fun it was to be able to enjoy some creative and out-of-the-box expressions of school spirit! This week of fun and learning was just another reminder about why Simonds is such a great place to be!

Engineering Club- Egg Drop

The fifth grade Engineering Club is at it again.  This time they've met the challenge of dropping an uncooked egg out a second story window and see it survive unscathed.  The follow photos and videos show the great work of these engineers...

 

News and Notes 2/7

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Story Detectives

This week the fourth grade readers started work on a new comprehension strategy: making inferences. As we circled up for reading workshop, we read stories aloud and tried to pull together clues and draw conclusions about our reading. Making inferences is all about reading for details and connecting reading to prior knowledge. The fourth graders took up the challenge of becoming story detectives and did an amazing job with their first making inferences challenge. As we continue to dig more deeply into our fourth grade reading, comprehension strategies like making inferences will become second nature for all of our reading adventures.

Parts of the Whole

Multiplication is one of the biggest focal points of mathematics in fourth grade. This week the fourth grade mathematicians reached a new level of discovery as we began work on double-digit multiplication. Before moving into the “traditional” double-digit algorithm, we first built on our prior knowledge. We used what we know about basic multiplication facts and place value to solve long multiplication problems using a strategy called the “partial products” method. Although this strategy takes more time to find the final product, it is an important piece in understanding the concepts behind multiplication. The partial products method also allows the fourth grade mathematicians the opportunity to solve more complex multiplication problems using mental math. It was exciting to see how our understanding and success with the partial products method grew as the week progressed. As we move ahead towards the more efficient and “short-cut” methods of long computation, it is important to have these concept-building strategies in place to build upon. Not only are we finding the right answers to problems, we are able to explain how we arrived at these answers.

Map Skills

The fourth graders took some time this week to explore the world of geography. As we enter a new unit in social studies on Colonial America, we first take some time to build up our understanding of geography. We worked together in small groups to complete various map challenges that helped us review concepts like the compass rose, map keys or legends, and longitude and latitude. These map skills will help us in our study of history as well as the practical need to get from place to place using a map. So, if you're ever lost, we have a class full of map-reading experts who can help you on your way!  

Games for Learning

As we dig deeper into our study of multiplication, the fourth graders have taken some time recently to play games and practice their growing computation skills.  Check out the mixture of fun and learning...

Story Structures

As we conclude our recent study of narratives and the structure of stories, we created a "story village" complete with our own unique "story structures."  The fourth grade readers put together their knowledge of characters, settings, plot, and author's messages in a creative project format.  

Simple Machine Projects

As a way to extend our learning about simple machines, the annual fourth grade simple machine project was assigned for the month of January.  The fourth grade scientists were asked to work at home on creating their own simple machine projects.  See what their amazing science knowledge and creativity produced, along with some much appreciated assistance from our amazing fourth grade families!