Middle School Visitors

The fourth graders were visited by some awesome middle schoolers.  The topic of this visit was respect, bullying, and school community.  The middle schoolers organized and led the whole morning with discussions, fun games, cooperative problem-solving challenges, and repeated messages about friendship and belonging.  It was a great time to remember that we are all welcome in school and that school should be a place where everyone feels safe and respected.

News and Notes 3/27

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Practice Makes Perfect...er

Learning is a process.  This truth is both comforting and frustrating.  This week the fourth grade mathematicians continued working on long division.  When we face a challenge this complicated, it is easy for us to want to give up.  There are too many steps!  It's too difficult!  I keep messing up!  These refrains could easily dominate the climate of our classroom.  Instead, we've spent a lot of time this week talking about how our practice with long division is helping us to refine and "perfect" our computation skills.  Of course, we all make mistakes, but the more we practice this important math skill, the more capable we are becoming!  What an exciting moment when a fourth grader solves their first long division problem on their own!  More and more this week we were seeing moments like this!  And so forward we march, digging deeply and showing grit and making sure that we practice, practice, practice!

Jobs

The fourth grade colonists have arrived in the "New World."  As they begin working on establishing their colonies, one of the essential things they need to do is determine what jobs will need to be fulfilled to make sure that their colony survive.  We know that in order for the colony to grow and thrive, we must all do our parts.  Some of us are governors who facilitate the group discussions, some are auditors who make sure that everyone has the right information, while others are mappers and negotiators.  In the end, this colonial simulation is giving the fourth graders a great experience of history as well as exposure to what it means to be a productive member of a society that depends on each other! 

Energy

If you've not spent much time in the fourth grade classroom, you may not realize just how much we could use the word "energy" to describe our room.  The students are amazing learners who come in each morning overflowing with energy.  In some ways this can be a challenge to tackle in the school setting, but in other ways it makes the learning process exciting and engaging.  This week in science we took this term energy and tried to look at it from many different angles.  We spent one afternoon in science just sharing connections we can make to this word.  From sunlight to batteries to recess, we realized just how many different ways we use the term "energy."  In the coming weeks we will be exploring a few different types of energy and will learn how this energy is used, how it changes, and how we can conserve it.  Needless to say, this energetic class of fourth graders is very excited to study more about energy!

In Combination

In reading workshop lately we have been making inferences.  The fourth grade readers are doing a really great job of collecting clues from narratives and then "reading between the lines" to form conclusions that aren't explicitly stated.  This week we took our skills of making inferences and combined them with our story structure analysis strategy.  Reading comprehension strategies are there to help us understand a text, but when we put them together in combination, we find our understanding increases greatly.   Using simple read aloud narratives, we practiced monitoring our understanding of characters and plot and then made inferences about these elements based on clues from the text.  How exciting to see the depth of understanding when we practice our reading comprehension strategies together in combination!

News and Notes 3/20

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Learning from Each Other

The fourth graders participated in a really special Kearsarge community event this week.  The leadership team from the Kearsarge Regional Middle School came to our classroom to talk with our students about community and bullying and how to be a good friend.  The middle school students lead the fourth graders through fun activities and games.  They talked with them about the definition of bullying, how to stop spreading rumors, and how to stand-up for each other.  The room was full of giggles and friendly conversation.  The fourth graders were highly engaged in the conversation as they were hearing from "bigger kids" instead of the familiar (and sometimes droning) voices of adults!  It was fun to stand back and watch the fourth graders listen respectfully to the visitors and share their ideas about bullying and friendship.  In a few years I can see these fourth graders coming back to the elementary school to lead this program.  What fun it is to learn from each other!

Welcome!

The fourth graders were very excited this week.  It must be because we had Curriculum Fair!  It is one of the highlights of the school year, when the students get to welcome their friends and families to their classrooms.  The students get to share their learning and their classroom community.  Many thanks to all the friends and families who took time and energy to come out this week to the Curriculum Fair!  Your involvement in our learning is an essential piece of success for each student!  Thank you for your show of support for our learning by being present!  We were so happy to welcome you to fourth grade!

The Family

In math this week we met a very special family - the Long Division family.  As we continue learning more about division, this group of mathematicians loved getting to know the long division family because they helped us know all of the steps of long division:

Dad = divide

Mom = multiply

Sister = subtract

Brother = bring down

Rover = repeat or remainder

Chester = check

With some practice, some grit, and the help of our friends the Long Division family, we are well on our way to becoming long division experts!

Math Day Monday

We started out the week with a day dedicated to math.  Math Day Monday was full of problem-solving and creativity and lots of amazing math skills.  We covered so much math territory in our day including factors and prime numbers, and divisibility rules.  We also found ways to integrate math learning into other subjects.  We read selections from the book G is for Googol, we started writing a math dictionary, and we even did some serious computation in our social studies colonial America simulation.   The day was so much fun and so productive that we've decided to have "Math Day Monday - Take 2" next week.  Stay tuned for more great math learning!

Poetry in Action

The fourth graders took to the stage this week.  After analyzing for poetic language, memorizing, and visually representing them, they finally presented their "Poetry in Action" projects for your viewing pleasure!

Chorus Day

The fourth graders across the Kearsarge District participated in the annual Chorus Day along with the Middle and High School Choirs. What a fun day of music and togetherness!

News and Notes 3/13

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Recitation

One of the most common fears is that of public speaking.  Even the most self-assured and confident people are known to suffer from anxiety produced by speaking in front of a crowd.  While it is a very common and relatable fear, it is also an important skill to have - the ability to speak to a crowd.  This week the fourth graders had a chance to practice their public speaking skills in a very specific way... they recited poetry.  After working for weeks on making inferences while reading poetry and analyzing poetic language, the fourth grade readers took to the stage to recite a poem of their choosing.  With inflection and emphasis, with sing-song voices and dramatic pauses, the fourth graders did a fantastic job reciting their poetry.  Not only does this activity help them sharpen their skills of public speaking, it also increases their reading fluency.  Reading and memorizing poetry is a great way to increase both reading comprehension and reading fluency, two of the essential skills of a "reader." 

Practice, Practice, Practice

The fourth graders got to practice this week.  They logged in to their computers and took some practice Smarter Balanced Assessments.  These tests, which we will be taking in April, are the current standardized tests adopted by the state of New Hampshire.  What is different about these "SBAC" tests as compared to the NECAP tests of the previous few years?  The biggest difference for our students is that the tests are completed online.  Instead of filling in bubbles, the students were practicing how to show what they know on a computerized assessment.  The good news is that many of our technology concerns were settled as the network and technology all worked quite well.  The fourth graders are all very tech-savvy also, which will help increase their comfort levels on the actual testing.  Although it may look and feel different from other tests we've taken, these practice tests proved to us that we can do it!  The fourth grade learners are simply extraordinary, and the SBAC will be just one more way for them to show what they know!

Leftovers

Leftovers brings to mind tupperware and microwaves, but for the mind of the fourth grade mathematician, it should conjure images of division.  This week we started working on solving long division problems with remainders.  We worked through a variety of "real life" scenarios that would require division.  Then we analyzed our answers (quotients) and tried to explain what the "remainders" would mean.  One example we enjoyed was imagining taking our class of 23 students and splitting them into 3 teams for an ultimate game of capture the flag.  The question we asked was, "How many students will be on each team?"  We worked through the steps of long division and found that there would be 7 students on each team with 2 remainders.  But then we had to ask, what does 2 remainders mean?  At first we were stumped, but with a little discussion and cooperative thinking, we realized that it just meant that we had 2 students who wouldn't be assigned to a team.  We said maybe they could be subs or work as referees.  Whatever the case, we recognized the importance of the "leftovers" in long division.  Hopefully this means that none of the fourth grade mathematicians will leave out their remainders as they practice their long division skills!

News and Notes 3/6

News and Notes

From Fourth Grade

Poetry in Action

After weeks of studying poetic language and exploring different samples of poetry, this week the fourth graders began work on bringing poetry to life.  Each fourth grader selected a poem of personal interest.  Using their smarts about similes and metaphors, rhyme and meter, they analyzed their poems for poetic language.  Then they prepared for the "in action" part of the project.  They took to quiet corners to practice reciting their poems aloud.  They marked pages with pauses and underlined words to emphasize.  Next week we will take to the stage and show what poetry looks like in action!

Smart and Balanced

Going home this week from our principal was a letter to families about the Smarter Balanced Assessment that our students will be taking very soon.  This week the third, fourth, and fifth graders started the process by completing a practice assessment.  This new assessment is simply another opportunity for our students to show off all of their great learning and abilities.  The difference between testing this year and in the past is that our new testing is completed online.  The fourth graders showed great enthusiasm for this new format for testing.  This season of testing will certainly be full of challenges and bumps in the road, but it is a great chance for us to work together and to prove that the students at Simonds School are certainly "working hard and getting smart!"

Setting Sail

This week the colonists of fourth grade prepared to set sail to the "New World."  Working in their colonial groups over the past few weeks, the fourth graders have earned "wealth points" for their colonies.  This week they tallied up their total points and began plans for setting sail.  They had to work cooperatively as colonial groups to determine what kinds of supplies they would need to establish a successful colony in the New World.  This colonial simulation teaches our fourth graders so much about history and geography, while at the same time showing them how skills of collaboration, respectful discussion, and compromise are useful in all aspects of life.  Now that we've set sail, we will be confronted by all kinds of "fate" challenges that the historical colonists would have faced.  Together we can make it to the New World and begin the work of establishing our colonies.  It'll be a tough road, but it is very certain that their hard-working and cooperative colonists are cut out for the task!

Divisive Mathematics

Fourth grade can be full of controversy.  This week in math we've been working on some very "divisive" mathematics... We've begun work on division, that is.  In the coming weeks the fourth graders will continue to build on their computation skills and place value concepts as they relate to division.  This week the fourth graders showed that they were indeed ready to begin diving into the world of division.

Long Multiplication Stories

The fourth grade mathematicians have created their own "real life" problems that can only be solved using long multiplication!