We’re Melting!

Today was just too hot! We all felt like we were melting.

We worked on descriptive writing and on subject and predicate first thing, and then we read and discussed an informational article about the origins of The Arabian Nights. This was paired with our story of “Ali Baba Bernstein”. Some of the students left for CELDT testing, so I gave those who remained the opportunity to start on the reading review questions.

Our students went to Mr. Pratt for History where they learned more about reading maps and the different areas of California. After lunch recess, they listened to a really great chapter from Island of the Blue Dolphins and they practiced their food chants in music. They’ll be performing those tomorrow, and I will put a few of the best on the blog.

Students went to Mixing, and we worked on identifying too much or too little information in math problems.

Homework:  (1) Study spelling. Test is tomorrow. (2) Do the cursive  worksheets to practice O and P. (3) Do pages 30, 31, and 32 in the Practice Book. (4) Finish the review questions for “Ali Baba Bernstein.” All the material that will be on tomorrow’s quiz is on this review sheet. (5) Do the final subtraction with regrouping. (6) Do “Too Much, Too Little” on pages 34-35 of the Math book.

Quick Post

Just the homework for now.

Homework:  (1) Study spelling. (2) Do pages 23, 26, and 27 in the Practice Book. (3)  Do “Estimating Larger Numbers” on pages 32-33 of the math book.  (4) Do the subtraction worksheet.

In the Groove

We’re definitely in the groove right now. Today went pretty smoothly other than having to have all the students’ heads checks for the pesky little things this morning. (I’m happy to say that there were no unpleasant surprises.) We worked a bit on descriptive writing and we learned some new vocabulary words. The students went to Mr. Pratt for the first time for History and his class came to me for Science. In the afternoon, we read a rather heartrending chapter of Island of the Blue Dolphins and we studied mental math.

Homework:  (1) Study the spelling words. (2) Practice cursive M and N on the worksheets provided. (3) Do “Long A” page 21 and “Vocabulary” page 22 in the Practice Book. (4) Do Island of the Blue Dolphins chapter 7 review sheet. (5) Do “Using Mental Math” on pages 28-31 of the math book. (6) Do the “Subtraction with Regrouping” practice sheet.

After the Big Night

We had a great turn out last night! 22 out of 27 families were represented, many by more than 1 parent. Several people asked if I could put my PowerPoint online for reference and for the parents who could not attend. A big thank you to Jake’s dad for showing me how!

 

Go to Meeting Day

Hope to see all parents tonight at our Fourth Grade Orientation Meeting. We will start promptly at 5:00 and end by 6:00 – a friend has invited me to the Bowl this evening and much as I love talking to our families I’m not going to miss dinner in the box!

Students had MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME to finish all homework assignments. They really should have nothing tonight. Of course, it never hurts to double check the work.

Homework:  (1) Study the spelling list. There will be a test tomorrow. (2) Do the cursive K and L pages. (3) Do the “Addition with Regrouping 4” worksheet. There will be  a quiz on this skill tomorrow. (4) Do “Understanding Rounding” on pages 24-25 of the math book and “Animal Speeds” on the back of the answer sheet.

Mock Rocks

Today we did a couple really fun things – in addition to the usual stuff.

We started working in Science groups today and we did our first science investigation. We worked with “mock rocks.” A mock rock, as seen below is a fake rock that helps that students to understand what rocks are.

Today the students worked in groups to examine each mock rock. The observed it and carefully drew it. They measured its diameter, circumference, and depth in centimeters and they used scales to measure its mass in grams.

Tomorrow they will be breaking the mock rock up for further examination and dissolving some of its pieces in water to help determine what it is made of.

Another fun thing we did today was to start on Hands-on Equations. This program helps introduce Algebra concepts and procedures in an age-appropriate way to students. They use pieces that look like pawns from a chess board to represent “x” and they use number cubes. They are placed on either side of balance. The balance imagery helps them to understand that what they do to one side of an equation they need to do to the other side as well.

We also read selections from the Treasures book and from Island of the Blue Dolphins. The students worked some more on identifying complete sentences and fragments. They also took a math test. We will grade that tomorrow.

Homework:  (1) Study the spelling list. (2) Do the letter I and letter J cursive review papers. (3) Do “Short Vowels” on page 17 and “Sentences” on page 18 of the Practice Book. (4) Do Island of the Blue Dolphins chapter six study sheet. (5) Do the “Addition with Regrouping” worksheet.  Since we had a test today, there is no homework from the math book.

Computerwise Kids

Today was our first day in the Tech Center. We have a new teacher there this year, Mr. Riko. He works for a company called “Computerwise Kids” that Friends of Third hired to run the computer lab. He was quite amiable and kept the class focused on learning skills. I think it will be a great year in Tech Center.

Other than that, a pretty ordinary day. We worked in our journals, read a story called “My Diary from Here to There” from the Treasures reading book, and worked on making lists as a problem-solving strategy in math.

Homework:  (1) Study the spelling list. (2) Do the letter G and letter H cursive review papers. (3) Do “Making Inferences” on page 11 and “Time Lines” on page 14 of the Practice Book. Skip pages 12 and13. (4) Do Island of the Blue Dolphins chapter five study sheet. (5) Do the “Addition with Regrouping” worksheet. (5) Do “Making an Organized List” on pages 16-17  and “Test Prep” on pages 18-19 of the math book. Also do "Separate the Dogs" on the back of the answer sheet. There will be a math test tomorrow.

Quick Post

Just the homework for today….

Homework:  (1) Study the spelling list. (2) Do “Phonics” on page 9 and “Vocabulary” on page 10 of the Practice Book. (3) Do Island of the Blue Dolphins chapter our study sheet. (4) Do the “Addition with Regrouping” worksheet. (5) Do “Understanding Zeroes” on page 14-15 of the math book and "Number Game" on the back of the answer sheet.

Double the Fun

Today with our Thinking Maps we focused on the Double Bubble Map. This is an updated version of Venn Diagrams used to indicate similarities and differences. We began by having a class discussion comparing and contrasting two favorite foods:

After this, the students did their own double bubble maps comparing themselves and a friend. They wrote rough and final drafts of “My Friend and I”.

After recess, we finished the art project that we had started yesterday. The final results of the gesture drawing were pretty impressive!

In the afternoon, we listened to another chapter of Island, and studied comparing and ordering larger numbers in math. Students were given a lot of time to finish any assignments.

Homework:  There really shouldn’t be any. But a few people are still finishing up the math and the Island of the Blue Dolphins study sheet.  The math pages were 11-13.

Thursday Thoughts

What a great day!

We started out reviewing homophones. After that, we checked and corrected our math homework. In our work with Thinking Maps, we reviewed the Circle Map and then went on to look at the Bubble Map. The Bubble Map is used for description. The students wrote rough and final drafts of a paragraph about “My Character.”

After recess, we started on another art project. We’ll use this time starting next week for Science and Social Studies and we will be working jointly with room 18 on these areas. Our work today – which we will finish tomorrow – was on gesture. The students studied some artists’ work here. They then posed for each other and drew quick line sketches.

At 11:00, when second recess was over, we went out and played kickball with room 18. We’ll start regular PE next week. I hope it is a little cooler then!

In the afternoon, we read another chapter of Island of the Blue Dolphins. We did some activities to develop the ideas of beat and meter in music. And, in math, we looked at the millions place.

Homework:  (1) Do the letter E and letter F cursive review sheets. Letters should be written 9 more times, sentences 5 more time. (2) Do the Island of the Blue Dolphins study sheet. Please put answers on a separate sheet of paper. (3) Do “Millions” on pages 8-9 of the math book, and “Puzzling Place Values” on the back of the answer sheet. There is a mistake in page numbers on the answer sheet; the students were told to correct it. (4) Practice the multiplication and division facts on the sheet. Remember, this is the same paper that will be given as a quiz on Friday.

First Real Day of School

The second day of school is the first day in so many ways. This is when the students start using the textbooks; this is when the real work of fourth grade begins.

We had a pretty good “real first day.” We started working on Thinking Maps. These are graphics which help students become aware of 8 essential thinking skills and to use these cognitive skills throughout the curriculum. Today we worked on the Circle Map. This helps students work on brainstorming. We used it to help write a paragraph called “All About Me”. As we do each of the eight maps, students will complete some short writing assignments. These will be compiled into a book the students will proudly show their parents at Back to School Breakfast next month.

We also worked on an art project dealing with different types of lines. After looking at the work of a couple contemporary American artists and discussing how they used lines in their paintings, we practiced making the five different types of line – horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zigzag, and curved. The students were then challenged to create posters for a favorite cause and to use as many of these types of lines as they could in their drawings. Here are a couple examples.

We also began reading Island of the Blue Dolphins. and looked at the thousands period in numeration in math.

Homework:  (1) Do the letter C and letter D cursive review sheets. Letters should be written 9 more times, sentences 5 more time. (2) Do the Island of the Blue Dolphins study sheet. Please put answers on a separate sheet of paper. (3) Do “Thousands” on pages 5-7 of the math book, and “Changing Places” on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Practice the multiplication and division facts on the sheet. Remember, this is the same paper that will be given as a quiz on Friday.

Welcome

I would like to welcome all our students and families to the 2012-2013 school year.

We had a most productive first day. I had a chance to meet many of the parents as the day began, and while I was talking to them and doing the usual paperwork the students completed information sheets and and interest inventory. They also completed a reading skills test that we will correct tomorrow. We went over lots of rules and procedures. The students interviewed each other. They went used the information from their interviews to writer short compositions. We did rough and final drafts.

The students also drew each other and used oil pastel for color. Many of the results were excellent!

In the afternoon, the students finished their portraits and worked on a math placement test.

I want to make sure all the parents know about the evening orientation meeting on August 23 at 5:00 pm.

Homework:  (1) Do the A and B cursive review sheets. (2) Do the multiplication and division practice sheets. The students will do these papers for homework today, tomorrow, and Thursday. They will have the same paper for a test on Friday. It will be timed then.