News and Notes 3/28

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Measuring Mathematicians

After many, many weeks of exploring the world of place value, numbers, and computation, this week the fourth grade mathematicians changed their focus.  We began a new topic of study: measurement.  Now is a good time for exploring this topic because not only does measurement give us a good place to apply our number sense and computation skills, it is also a fun, practical, and hands-on branch of math.  The fourth graders did a great job exploring and beginning to apply concepts related to customary units of measure.  From inches and feet to ounces and pounds, the fourth graders were introduced to lots of vocabulary.  These first few days are setting the foundation for the coming days and weeks when we will develop our skills as measuring mathematicians.

Poetry in Action

As we conclude our study of poetry, we took time this week to make poems come to life.  Each student selected one poem.  They analyzed their poems for different types of poetic language.  They wrote their poems with line breaks and pauses.  Then, they practiced and practiced reciting their poems.  Once the poems were stuck in their minds, the fourth graders found creative ways to visually represent their chosen poems.  Finally, the end of the week came and we were ready to present our "Poetry in Action" projects to our peers.  What a fun time of pulling together all of our poetry-reading skills! 

Attractive!

There are certain topics that tend to put a little twinkle in the eyes of a fourth grade learner.  This week, as we began our study of "energy" in science, we pulled out our kit of magnets.  Just one look at all the fun objects in the bin made the whole class come to life.  The fourth grade scientists did an amazing job questioning, predicting, exploring, and forming conclusions about magnets and their properties.  It was so exciting to see how enthusiastically the students approached this new topic of study.  In the coming weeks we will add light, heat, and electricity to our list of familiar types of energy.  Needless to say, the fourth graders found the study of magnets very "attractive" (pun intended)!

Researching

We have reached the time in fourth grade when the writers are faced with their first formal research project.  This week we started the process by selecting topics of personal interest - everything from pop stars to underwater sea creatures.  We then formulated lists of questions we had about the topic.  These questions will help guide us through the world of research.  In the end, we will have interesting facts formed into a formal five paragraph essay.  The fourth grade writers have started this exciting journey with great effort and enthusiasm!

Bully X

The students at Simonds took part in a very creative and powerful anti-bullying campaign.  Along with countless children from around the world, our students wrote or drew messages of hope and friendship on small pieces of red paper.  These papers were combined to create the largest anti-bullying symbol in history. Today we were able to watch the video and see the final result. What a great symbol of our commitment to show kindness and respect to everyone!

BULLY X DESERT 2014 VIDEO from justin spencer on Vimeo.

News and Notes 3/21

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Curriculum Fair

This week the families and friends of Simonds School students were invited into the school for our annual Curriculum Fair.  The energy in the school in the days leading up to the Fair proves how much the students value this event.  As they spend all day, week after week digging deeply into their learning, it is so much fun to be able to share all this hard work with families and friends.  The fourth graders walked into the classrooms and proudly shared their work and learning adventures with their families.  It was so rewarding to see the community involvement and overall enthusiasm for the great learning taking place at Simonds School.  Many thanks to all the families and friends who took time to celebrate with these amazing students!  Your involvement gives us one more motivation to do our best with every challenge!

Painting with Words

In conjunction with our recent study of the reading comprehension strategy "making inferences", this week the fourth grade readers took some time to explore poetry.  We looked at the different poetic language tools that writers use to create poems.  We discussed how poetry is like painting with words.  We discovered some essentials of poetic language including simile, metaphor, and hyperbole.  The fourth graders did a great job identifying these different elements in the selection of poems we are studying.  They also were able to try their hands at writing their own similes, metaphors, and hyperbole.  Learning about the different literary elements of poetry helps us to better understand the poems that we are reading.  We are certainly enjoying learning how to read and understand these word paintings!

Home Sweet Home

In our continued adventures in American history, this week the fourth graders explored homes and communities in Colonial America.  We discovered the differences between different homes based on their location in the 13 original colonies.  We also looked at how the natural resources impacted the daily living of Colonial Americans.  We built models of colonial homes and villages.  It was a fun time of traveling back in time in our imaginations and identifying how different life was in Colonial America. 

MultipliACTION

As we conclude our study of long multiplication, the fourth grade mathematicians worked hard this week on some final assessments.  They finished their long multiplication stories and worked through a variety of performance tasks we called "Multiplication Mania."  After weeks of studying and scaffolding concepts upon concepts, it is rewarding to see how proficient these fourth graders have become with long multiplication!

Long Multiplication Stories

The fourth grade mathematicians are moving right along with their long multiplication skills.  Here are a few videos we've created to show how we can use long multiplication in our everyday lives...

News and Notes 3/14

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Step by Step

As the fourth grade mathematicians continue to move ahead in their understanding and ability to solve long multiplication problems, we move into application mode. Not only do we need to know how to solve long multiplication problems, we also need to know when long multiplication will be useful. This week the fourth graders started creating their own word or “story” problems involving long multiplication. In this creative endeavor they were asked to compose a digital story that demonstrates their understanding of how to solve long multiplication and also shows that they know a real-life application for this essential math skill. As we continue to find this year, the more we can mix creativity with math concepts, the deeper and more enduring our understanding will be!

Poetic Language

Rhyme, alliteration, and rhythm are all words that were flying around our classroom this week as we investigated the world of poetic language. We have recently been practicing the comprehension strategy of making inferences. As poetry is often filled with clues and hidden meanings, it only makes sense to practice our inference skills with this unique genre. This week we looked at the toolkit of a poet and discovered that there are many different tools that a poet uses to create a poem. The “poetic language” we have explored so far have to do with the sounds of the words a poet selects. As we have defined poetry as using words for both their meaning and their sounds, it is important for us as readers to be able to identify characteristics like rhyme patterns, alliteration, and the meter or rhythm of a poem.

Performing

This week the fourth graders participated in the annual Kearsarge Chorus Day. What a treat it was to be able to listen as the fourth graders' voices were united with the voices of middle and high school choirs! The fourth graders did a great job during rehearsal and their efforts paid off with an impressive evening show. Thanks to our friends and families for your support of our fourth graders! There were some very excited students who proudly sang their hearts out during this special event!

Practice, Practice, Practice

As the fourth graders continue to develop their computation skills, we have added long multiplication to the list of skills that we need to become more proficient with.  We have found a variety of fun and interactive ways to practice, practice, practice...

Problem Solving Fun

Fourth grade is a wonderful mixture of cooperative community, academic content, and life-long learning skills and work habits.  Today while many of our classmates were out of the classroom working with other teachers, the small group that remained decided that they wanted to solve a Sudoku puzzle together.  What a fun way to practice those extremely important skills of problem solving, endurance, and trial-and-error!  

Long Multiplication- Standard Algorithm

After learning the expanded algorithm, we discovered there was a standard, or "short-cut" method we could use to solve long multiplication problems...

Long Multiplication- Expanded Form

In math class the fourth graders have been exploring different strategies for solving long multiplication problems.  Here is a video showing our skills with the "expanded" form.

News and Notes 3/7

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Computation Champions

The fourth grade mathematicians are working hard and digging deeply into their study of long multiplication. This week we made connections between the different strategies we've been working on. We ended the week by finally exploring the standard algorithm (short-cut) for long multiplication. We have been building up to this strategy in a very intentional way so that the fourth graders understand the concepts behind the computation. It is exciting to see how much mental math and estimation students are using in their practice work. The awareness of place value is an essential piece to success in long multiplication. We've also been highly motivated to memorize our multiplication snap facts, which makes the computation process much easier. We will continue to push forward with more computation skills and strategies, and it is certain that these fourth grade computation champions will continue to succeed!

Visualizing

As we continue our study of comprehension strategies, this week we spent some reading time focused on visualizing. To visualize means to get a movie or picture in your head while you are reading. A strong reader will be able to visualize the story they are reading,which helps with comprehension. The fourth graders marked places in their books when they visualized, and even spent some time drawing pictures of the things that they visualized while reading. In the coming weeks we will continue to apply the strategy of visualizing to a new type of text: poetry. It'll be fun to see what we picture in our minds as we enter the world of imagery and poetic language!

Colonial

In our ongoing study of history, we've reached the time of the colonization of the “New World.” The fourth graders did a great job this week of connecting their prior knowledge of the European exploration of North and South America. In the coming weeks we will explore what life was like for people in Colonial America, as well as discover the forces at work that will eventually lead to the American Revolution.