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!