News and Notes 1/30

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Find Out What It Means to Me

Every couple of weeks the fourth graders read biographical information about a "great mind."  This is someone who has changed the world by using their thoughts and actions.  It could be a famous athlete, musician, scientist, or activists.  Recently we've learned about a few great minds who all have a common theme of respect.  These great minds include Malala and Gandhi.  In connection with our recent work in persuasive writing, the fourth graders have begun persuasive writing pieces on the importance of respect.  Using their own life experiences as well as the information they have gathered from different historical and contemporary figures, the fourth graders are building a strong defense of the idea of respect.  As we work our way through the writing process, it is certain that everyone will learn more about what respect means to the fourth graders!

A Part

In math we've been working our way through the stages of understanding to develop a strong foundation for long multiplication.  The fourth graders have discovered a great deal about the two essential "tools" in their mathematician's tool belt: place value and math facts.  We've looked at how geometry (and specifically the formula for finding the area of a rectangle) is related to multiplication.  This week we moved into what is often called the "partial products" method of solving long multiplication problems.  In this stage of the process, we've begun applying our math facts and place value concepts to the steps of long multiplication.  We record each individual "partial" product below the long multiplication problem and then add all the parts together to get the final product.  The level of awareness of place value concepts in the fourth grade classroom is extraordinary.  It seems clear that they are not only well on their way to becoming proficient multipliers, but also have grown tremendously in their understanding of place value, which will help in long division, fractions, and decimals.  How exciting that learning the process toward multiplication in parts is helping develop these fourth graders into strong all-around mathematicians.

We're All in This Together

The colonies have been formed.  The "wealth points" are being earned.  The simulation is well underway.  As we enter our study of Colonial America, we start with a time of groups working together to act out the history we're discovering.  The fourth grade colonies will work together to prepare, set sail, land, and establish colonies in the "New World."  This simulation is a great chance for students to understand on a more tangible level the experiences of the people we are studying.  We discover quickly that the colonists had to work together to survive and thrive.  Important lessons of cooperation are interwoven in this hands-on history experience.

Long Distance Learning

Today was the second Blizzard Bag day for the 2014-2015 school year.  Check out how the fourth graders were working hard and getting smart from home...

Spelling Bee

The fourth and fifth graders at Simonds School participated in the annual Simonds School Spelling Bee.  They did an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G job!

News and Notes 1/23

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

The Hidden Meaning

The fourth grade readers have done a wonderful job this week of collecting clues and finding the hidden meaning while reading.  They have been working together through poems with all kinds of hidden meanings.  The reading comprehension strategy of making inferences is a great practice of seeing how much of the text we are understanding.  Poetry is a perfect genre for making inferences.  The meanings come in layers and there is always more to discover as we read and dig deeply into a poem.  Over the next few weeks we will continue making inferences and developing our reading comprehension skills.  The key now is remembering to practice these skills during independent reading.  Asking ourselves what the "hidden meaning" of a text might be is a best practice for all readers!

Geometry and Computation

Generally speaking, fourth graders tend to enjoy geometry over computation types of math problems.  Given a choice between a pile of math fact flash cards and a bin of pattern blocks, students will inevitably gravitate toward the colors, shapes, and patterns of geometry.  This week we began work with long multiplication.  We started this work not with the steps of the standard algorithm, but with geometry.  We reviewed the connection between area of rectangles and multiplication.  Then we started to solve double-digit by double-digit problems using arrays.  This requires that we know place value concepts and our basic multiplication facts.  Sometimes students will question why we don't just start by learning the "short cut" (standard algorithm) for long multiplication.  The answer is a difficult one.  The simplest defense I give for why we start with arrays is that we want the fourth grade mathematicians to not only know the steps to finding the right answer, but we want them to be able to understand the process that leads us to the  right answer.  This week we saw the geometry-computation connection causing light bulbs of comprehension to shine brilliantly around the classroom.  This foundation of understanding will help as we apply these concepts to the more efficient algorithms for solving long multiplication problems.

Where in the World?

Where are we?  The fourth graders were asked this question this week.  Where in the world do you live?  We started very small, with our homes and classrooms.  From here we built out to larger communities of neighborhoods and schools.  Then we moved to towns, counties, states, regions, countries, and continents.  To begin our study of geography, it is important that the students see all of this terminology that we use to describe places.  As we move forward to discover different map skills and look at the different ways people move about on the earth, we will discover that the question "Where in the world?" informs so much of our lives.  This mini-unit on geography will also help set the stage for our study of history as we look next at the colonial period of American history.  

News and Notes 1/16

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Too Much Information!

Test makers can be tricky folk.  This week in math we talked about what to do when a test gives you too much information.  We determined that sometimes they seem to be playing a silly kind of game where they want to see if you really understand the question.  They do this by sticking in extra information as a kind of distraction.  The fourth grade problem solvers had to read through different math word problems and determine what information was essential and what information was just there as a distraction.  Once we sorted through what the important information was, we were then able to answer the questions.  To complete this task we had to rely heavily on our reading comprehension skills, as well as our math vocabulary and concepts.  Just knowing our math facts and how to solve multi-step computation problems isn't enough to be a successful mathematician.  We have to be on-the-ball, ready for anything, problem-solving kinds of thinkers!

The Best Part

As we continued working on our persuasive writing skills, this week we focused on writing paragraphs responding to a prompt.  The prompt asked the fourth grade writers what the best part of school was.  We worked through the stages of the writing process to develop an opinion statement (our topic sentence).  Then we built up our argument with strong supporting details.  We tested to make sure that our details were both relevant and accurate.  Then we looked for a strong take-away sentence that would summarize our opinion to close our paragraphs.  We tidied up our paragraphs by putting in strong sentence starters to help the reader follow the flow of our arguments.  By the end of the week we were editing and revising our paragraphs with small tweaks.  Next week we will have a class full of published persuasive paragraphs.  From recess to winter carnival to guitar club, the fourth graders will be able to defend so many of the "best" aspects of their school experience!

Painting with Words

To make an inference is to "read between the lines."  We have been working in reading workshop on how to understand a text more fully.  One essential reading comprehension strategy is making inferences.  A reader must collect clues to determine truths about the text that aren't explicitly stated.  The fourth grade readers have begun to sharpen their skills of inferencing by reading poetry.  In poetry the reader is often asked to make some leaps of understanding based on the limited clues given in the text.  Unlike prose, poetry is more music and art, so there is lots of room for interpretation and inferencing.  We have already seen that the fourth grade readers enjoy reading poetry - painting with words!

Halfway

As we close up the second quarter of fourth grade next week, I wanted to note that we are halfway through the school year.  Unbelievable!  If fourth grade families have any concerns or questions and want to schedule a conference to talk about progress and goals, please feel free to let me know!  Looking forward to a second half of fourth grade filled with learning and growing with these amazing students!

Industrial Engineering

The fourth grade engineers took their knowledge of the engineering design process and assembly lines to create their own paper pencil holders.  We were working!

News and Notes 1/9

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Engineering Process

Ask.  Imagine.  Plan.  Create.  Improve.  These are the steps of the engineering design process that the fourth grade engineers have been using this week.  The task given was to create a pencil holder.  The materials available were various types of paper, tape, staples, and glue.  The fourth graders worked in engineering teams and followed the steps of the design process.  We worked through more than just engineering and science skills in this activity.  We also focused on cooperative learning and brainstormed how to work collaboratively with different people.  In the end, the fourth grade engineering teams created models of their designs and also made plans for how they will break the manufacturing process into steps.  Next week we will turn these single models into a larger scale manufacturing challenge as the fourth graders create their own assembly lines.  Science, math, engineering, cooperative learning, and a bit of imagination all come together for one fun and hands-on fourth grade learning adventure!

Arguing...Respectfully

At Simonds School we have three major school rules: be safe, be respectful, be responsible for learning.  Even the youngest of students is able to recite these rules within the first few weeks of school.  The fourth graders could easily restate these rules in their sleep!  So this week when they were told they were going to learn how to argue, red flags of warning went up that they would be breaking the "be respectful" school rule.  However, after some clarification, we learned that we were in fact going to learn a very important writing and speaking skill: the ability to form and defend an opinion statement.  This week the fourth graders started work on a simple prompt to begin their work in persuasive and argument writing: What is the best school activity?  Why do you think so?  As is our habit, we started working through the steps of the writing process beginning with brainstorming.  We narrowed down our brainstormed list to one activity and then each writer carefully crafted a strong opinion statement that will serve as the "topic sentence" for our persuasive paragraphs.  Next week we will focus on forming supporting sentences that will use facts to defend our opinions.  In the next couple of weeks we will work together to sharpen our writing and speaking skills of persuasion, with the understanding that we will use these skills in an academic setting, and will, of course, remember to argue respectfully!

Self-Monitoring

Fourth grade is a special year for so many reasons.  One amazing aspect of our development is the awareness of ourselves as learners that begins to flourish in fourth grade.  This week we talked about being "self-monitored" readers.  We discussed how we should be asking ourselves questions as we read to make sure that we are really understanding what it is that we are reading.  What an exciting time of learning when we transition from learning to read to reading to learn!  This is a life-long pursuit and it's so fun to be able to be here for the fourth graders from the outset!  With each book they read, as they develop their self-monitoring skills, they will grow and learn in unprecedented ways.  How exciting it is to be a part of this community of fourth grade readers!

Festival of Trees

The town of Warner has a holiday tradition.   Every December various organizations across town are given a Christmas tree to decorate.  Before heading home for the Christmas break, the fourth graders enjoyed a quick trip down to Town Hall to enjoy the creativity and festivity.

Grit Goals- Guitar Club

At the beginning of the school year, everyone in the fourth grade created "GRIT" goals.  These were individualized goals that we could only reach by being intentional and demonstrating perseverance.  Miss Whitman's grit goal has been to learn to play a full song on the guitar.  The fourth grade students in guitar club invited her to join in their learning adventures with Mr. Mitchell after school on Thursdays.  Although Miss Whitman's goal isn't met yet (by any means), this is a little sample of everyone's progress as demonstrated right before the Christmas holiday.