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.