Aw Shucks!

First of all, let me thank the families of room 19 for the lovely flowers. What a nice way to start the day!

We had a productive day as usual. We began by checking and correcting and discussing all our homework plus some of the test prep activities from last week. I was really impressed by how the students asked questions when they had a wrong answer to discover why it was wrong. That is just such a great sign of maturity.We also read the climactic chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the White Witch kills Aslan.

In Science we are working not with Mock Rocks but with real rocks. The students worked on observing and describing the words today. Tomorrow they will be doing the scratch test to determine hardness. Since most of the rocks are white, that will be the key thing which will help identify them.

In math, we began our work on functions.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words ten times each in cursive and one sentence for each. The words today are boulder, campaign, hesitating, horizon, and loneliness. (2) Complete the study sheet for chapter 14 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do pages "Addition and Subtraction" pages 420-420 in the envision Math book. Also do "Tournament Time" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do "Fractions and Mixed Numbers 2." We will be reviewing this skill all this week and will have a test on it on Friday.

Thanks!

First of all, thanks to all the students and parents for contributing to our class project. I believe it went for a nice price on Friday night, and my congratulations to its new owner. Many thanks to the Nam and Kang families, too, for the always-in-short-supply copy paper, too. I do feel quite appreciated.

As usual, a very productive day. Since we had no homework to correct we went over our math tests from Friday. The results are on the gradebook. We read chapter 13 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We discussed compound subject and compound predicates in writing, and the students evaluated a writing sample for the trait of Organization, and they did a revision as a quickwrite.

After recess, we went to the auditorium to work some more on the play. It's coming along quite nicely. After lunch, the students reviewed nutrition in Health. We worked on batting skills in PE. And for math, we talked about formulas.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words ten times each in cursive and one sentence for each. The words today are affected, arrange, assaulting, audience, and awkward. (2) Complete the study sheet for chapter 13 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do pages "Formulas and Equations" pages 418-419 in the envision Math book. Also do "Cricket Weather" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do "Fractions and Mixed Numbers 1." We will be reviewing this skill all this week and will have a test on it on Friday.

We Are The World

Thanks to the always hard-working Alice Fries, we have a great auction item for Friday's Viva Third Street fundraiser. It's called "We Are the World" and it features our students portraying themselves in national costume or by something which indicates their particular passion. Thanks, Alice and class

Today was otherwise an ordinary Wednesday. We checked homework, read a chapter in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and we went to Tech Center. The students worked with Mr. Pratt in History and Drama. After lunch, we continued studying nutrition and went out to PE. I worked with the students, like I did on Monday, on baseball skills.

In math we're continuing to study coordinate pairs and graphing. Next week, we'll add Algebra and Functions to this mix. Isn't it amazing what students learn in fourth grade now?

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write one sentence for each. The words are pavilion, reindeer, repulsive, schemes, and  sensible. (2) Do Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe study sheet for chapter 11. Do "Length of Line Segments," envision Math pp 408-409 and "Amazing Grid" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do the division worksheet.

Another Great Day!

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence in cursive for each word. The words today are harness, immediately, loaves, mustache, and noticed . (2) Do the study sheet for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe chapter 10. (3) Do "Shapes on a Coordinate Grid," envision Math pages 405-406 and "The Other Side of the Line" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do the division practice worksheet.

Welcome Back!

I hope everybody had a nice Spring break. The dogs and I went up through the Eastern Sierra to Lake Tahoe and home through the Gold Country. It was fun.

We did the usual Monday things on this very productive first day school day of Spring. We began with some test prep stuff. We'll continue to do this for the next three weeks. We went on to read the ninth chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. For writing we worked on some sentence combining, evaluated a sample paragraph according to a scoring guide, discuss paragraphing, and started a rough draft. All in 45 minutes! Whew!


After recess we went to the auditorium and did some Oliver! practice. You could tell that it had been over a week.... But it will get better pretty quickly. After lunch, we talked about nutrition in Health. We had our usual PE rotations. I started baseball skills with the three classes. In math, the students are working on ordered pairs and coordinate grids. I never did that in fourth grade! Fortunately, it's pretty easy as long as you remember that the x-coordinate is horizontal and the y-coordinate is vertical.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence in cursive for each word. The words today are bruised, dazzling, delicate, delicious, and disappointing. (2) Do the study sheet for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe chapter 9. (3) Do "Ordered Pairs," envision Math pages 402-403 and "Treasure Hunt" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do the division practice worksheet.(5) If necessary, finish items 1-19 on practice test 3.

Getting Ready

Tonight is Open House, and I hope I have a chance to see many of our families there tonight. Open House is not quite the Broadway show it is in some other classrooms, but I hope it is a pleasant time for parents to see what their children have and are learning. We spent some of today - but hardly all of it - getting ready for tonight.

After we checked our homework, we took a look at yesterday's science project. The groups observed that the water had partially dissolved the mock rocks. The students again wrote wrote on their lab papers what they saw - and, in the case of our couple groups, smelled.

Then we poured the liquid into evaporation dishes. When they have dried thoroughly, they will use the hand lenses to examine the crystals which remain. 

Besides our "hands-on" work here, we read a chapter in the Science book and did some study questions. We also read another chapter in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We had play practice in the auditorium. The song "Who Will Buy" is starting to sound just beautiful!

We'll have a busy minimum day tomorrow. As usual, we will have a reading quiz and a spelling test. We will also have a math test. This will include, as usual, the "second chance" at the previous chapter. Please review both when doing homework.


Homework:  Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are precious, reliable, separate, silence, and wrenched. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 8 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do “Make a Graph” on pages 392-394 and "Test Prep" on pages 396-397 in the math book. Also do “Mystery Machines” on the back. (4) Do "Double Digit Division" worksheet.

Mocking

Today we did all the usual things, but we had particular fun in our Science time. We are starting our Earth Science unit on rocks and minerals. Now geologists spend a lot of time breaking rocks apart with picks and hammers and cutting them with diamond saws. Alas, those school district lawyers won't let us do that in the classroom! So we did those kinds of explorations with mock or fake rocks today. They look a little like cookies, but they're hardly tasty.

The students worked in groups to break them apart and examine the material the mock rocks are made of. A key understanding of this unit is that rocks are different from minerals. Rocks are composites of different minerals.

After breaking the rocks apart and describing the components on their lab sheets, the students added 50 mL of water to some of the material to see how it would dissolve. We will examine these solutions a little more in tomorrow and maybe after the break, too. 

In math, we looked at the difference between mean and median and also discussed range and mode.

Homework:  Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are occupant, permission, plunging, poisonous, and possibilities. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 7 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do “Median, Mode, and Range” on pages 390-391in the math book. Also do “Dazzling Data” on the back.

Mean!

Quick post today. We read the sixth chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe today. We also wrote the rough draft of a descriptive paragraph. We'll use that tomorrow to help practice revision and editing. In math we talked about "mean" which is the preferred term in math for finding an average. I made lots of jokes about being mean. We're starting on an earth science unit so read read and talked a little bit about geologists, too.

Students had ample time to get started on their work while their teacher worked on his. So don't be surprised if your child says he or she already completed it. It was a productive day for all.


Homework:  Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are expected, expedition, experience, general, and mentioned. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 6 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do “Mean” on pages 388-389 in the math book. Also do “Stamps for Sale” on the back. (4) Do the "Two Digit Division" sheet.Be sure to show all work including the check step.

Spring Break's Coming!

Well, as Spring Break draws near, it's harder for everybody to maintain focus, including the teacher! Still, we had a wonderfully productive day in room 19 - as usual.

We did not have much homework to check from Friday, so we were done with that in a flash. We continued on to reading the next chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In this chapter, Edmund denies going to Narnia and says that he was just pretending to have fun with Lucy. She is distraught, of course, and Peter and Susan begin to wonder if their parents' youngest child is losing her mind. So they go to the professor who surprisingly suggests that there are reasons for thinking that her story is true. We then finished our Quarter Three math test. In writing, we continued to examine real papers for their use of conventions and did a guided revision of a paragraph about an ugly crayon. It is a charming little story, but the author had a lot of problems with spelling, punctuation, and other mechanics, and we had fun finding these and correcting them.

We did a complete run through of Oliver! after recess. It went well, though it is still a mere shadow of how wonderful it will be in June. After lunch, we had our usual PE activities. We looked at line plots in math. This is a pretty easy skill - a way to make a quick bar graph on the fly. It has a way of showing up on the tests in May, too, so I could consider this as a bit of "test prep" as well.

Homework:  Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are apologize, apparently, arctic, consideration, and difficulty. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 5 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do "Following Directions," "Sequencing Events," and "Getting the Main Idea" reading skills sheets. (4) Do “Line Plots” on pages 386-387 in the math book. Also do “Life of a Hamster” on the back. (5) Do the "Multiplication Practice" sheet. Be sure to show all work.

A Bully Day

I am not sure that the English refer to something wonderful as "bully" anymore, but it was in that old-fashioned kind of sense a bully day. It was a bully day for another reason, too, but I'll get to that in a moment.

We began by checking, correcting, and discussing our homework as we usually do. The other day I had a meeting with the other third and fourth grade teachers here, and most of them were complaining about how they have so many students who either do not do homework or else do it poorly. I had to make them jealous by telling about how great our room 19 students are at this! We went on to take the usual spelling and reading tests. These should be graded and on the gradebook quite soon.  We then began to start the required Quarter 3 math test. This one is not really fair because it asks them about things that they will not study for a little while. So I gave them some help here; not the answers, mind you, but I helped them visualize the problems better so that they could think them through and find the answers themselves.

In the afternoon we had a very useful assembly on bullying from a woman from the district. She was good and really held their interest.

In the remaining part of the day, we had a short, and pretty easy, math lesson. Most all of them finished it during class or right after so I don't think there is really any homework this weekend. Enjoy!

The Double A Classroom

In westerns there always seemed to be some ranch named the "Double A." Well, today room 19 was a "Double A" kind of place -- assessment and arts. We took our math tests today, and the results are recorded and on the gradebook. That's "assessment". We also worked hard on a couple things related to Oliver! We did a vocal rehearsal on the polyphonic section at the beginning of "Who Will Buy?" just like we did on Tuesday. It's starting to sound pretty good. And then Momo's mom worked with all the orphans on the choreography for "I'd do Anything." It's really cute!

We did some other things, too! We checked, corrected, and discussed homework, partly to help us get ready for the test. We also read the fourth chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In this chapter, Edmund meets the White Witch and begins to fall under her spell. And we also started our unit on data analysis and graphing in math.

Homework:  Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are professor, several, squirrel, usually, and wretched. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 4 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do "Listening for Syllables" and "Finding Base Words." (4) Do “Data from Surveys” on pages 382- 383 in the math book. Also do “State Predictions” on the back. (5) Do the "Adding and Subtracting Fractions" study sheet.

Cool

After a couple of pleasantly warm, almost summer-like days, the clouds and fog hung around this morning, making it a cool day. We also did a number of interesting things today in room 19 today, so it was "cool" in that way, too.

As you can see in the picture, we went to Tech Center today. Students worked on their web pages about careers and activities related to technology. They worked really well in teams as they researched and composed their pages and embedded videos.

We also read another chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Again, students took turns reading the character voices with Eli, Megan, Olivia, Sarah, and particularly Austin doing stellar jobs. In the chapter we read today, Edmund makes his way to Narnia and meets the White Witch. We did a little test prep since it's getting to that time of year, and we worked more on problem solving skills in mathematics.

Homework: (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are knuckles, miserable, noticed, passages, and patience. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 3 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do "Changing Short Vowels", "Supplying Long Vowels", and "Making Compounds" skill sheets. (4) Do “Solve a Simple Problem” on pages 372- 373 and "Test Prep" on pages 376-377 in the math book. Also do “Tournament Time” on the back.

There will be a math test tomorrow. It will also have the "second chance" for test 14. There will be a History test on Friday. The students will be receiving their study sheets for this today.

Polyphony

After the field trip, back to the old grind! But what a productive grind it was today.


We corrected and discussed our homework first thing in the morning, as we usually do. Then we went on to read the second chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In this chapter, Lucy goes to Narnia through the wardrobe and meets Mr. Tumnus, the faun. The two characters here were beautifully voiced, including accents, by Nathan and Nurjannah. We did a little test prep stuff which also helped the teacher get ready for the next activity. In writing, we're looking at the trait of Conventions - mechanical correctness - and as part of that I gave them an actual student composition from another school with lots of mistakes on it. We read it over and they identified the errors. They'll be writing it correctly tonight as part of their homework. 


After recess, we went to the auditorium where we worked on the very challenging opening to the "Who Will Buy" song. The students are divided into four separate voices and they have to layer in and out. It's hard work, but it is going to be fabulous. It's amazing having fourth grade students doing polyphony isn't it? But that's how talented the students in room 19 are! 


In math, we're looking at how rectangles can have the same area but different perimeters. Similar to yesterday....


Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are enormous, gracious, imaginary, immediately, and inquisitive. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 2 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Correct and rewrite "Holidays". In addition to the spelling mistakes, be sure to correct the punctuation. Write in cursive.  (4) Do “Same Area, Different Perimeter” on pages 370- 371 in the math book. Also do “Rectangular Recreation” on the back.

Exploring Art

Today was our field trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It went really well. The docents were delighted with the students from room 19 and said they had seldom had such cooperative and intelligent students.

The group I went with had a particularly wonderful guide. Here, standing before the large - and to my mind rather ugly - Victorian mirror in the American wing she reminded the students that they are the future of the arts in this country and therefore the most important part of the museum's "collection".

We looked at a variety of different art works in many different genres. Here we looked at a sculpture by Remington.

After about 90 minutes of looking at art, not to mention a couple miles of walking there, the students were hungry. We had our lunch at the amphitheater area behind the museum in Hancock Park. After they finished eating, the students had a little time to play.

Of course, spending time with your friends is one of the best parts of lunch.

Returning to the school we had some time for reading and math. In reading we went began our latest book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In math, we are exploring how geometric figures, particularly rectangles, can have the same perimeter but different areas.


Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each. The words are adventure, arrangement, complicated, creature, and daughter. (2) Do the study guide for chapter 1 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (3) Do “Same Perimeter, Different Area” on pages 368 - 369 in the math book. Also do “Area by Design” on the back.

Cesar Chavez Day

Wow! It's like summer today! And, isn't it great that there's a three day weekend, too?Happy Cesar Chavez Day!

Today was a routine Friday kind of day, except it was on a Thursday. We checked, corrected, and discussed homework. We took our reading and spelling tests. All of these are graded and the results are on the gradebook. After recess, we went to the auditorium where we had our first complete beginning to end run through of Oliver! It's going to be fantastic, and we'll keep all the families posted about ways you can help with the show later.

After lunch,we finished watching the Gold Rush film. The students also studied how to break L-shaped figures into two or more smaller rectangles to figure out that area.

Homework:  (1) Do "Area of Irregular Shapes" pages 365-366 in the math book. (2) Do "More Division Practice" and "Adding and Subtracting Fractions" worksheets.

If any parents would like to accompany us on Monday's field trip to LACMA, please let me know right away. We can use volunteers to walk with us and also one or two to drive the lunches over to the park and meet us there at eleven o'clock.

Last Chapter

Summer seemed like it was peeking out today with temperatures back in the upper 70's and so much sunshine! Everybody was in a good mood today in room 19.


Wednesdays are usually fast days, and today was no exception. After checking, correcting, and discussing our homework, we went on to reading the last chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! Today Praiseworthy and Jack lost all their gold when the stern-wheeler on which they were traveling back to San Francisco exploded, but the two wily adventurers managed to earn a lot of that money back by selling cats which had been multiplying on the decks of the old Lady Wilma. And then, Aunt Arabella and Jack's sisters show up, and Praiseworthy finally gets the courage to ask a question....


In Tech Center the students continued to work in teams on their Tech Career web pages. The students are doing a variety of things here including learning to create short video blog segments and insert them onto a page. This should be great! We watched the third part of the American Experience film on the gold rush. This section dealt with the rather more troubling second phase of the gold rush when frustrated miners who failed to become rich struck out at anyone who was different, and did so with particular savagery with the Native American population. 


We did the usual activities in PE. In math we began looking at area. The students always find this a little harder to understand than perimeter, and always have problems remembering the idea that area MUST be measured in square units. Please check their homework here, if you would.


Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each word. The words are constitution, delegate, stern-wheeler, opponent, wrist, and eluded. (2) Do the study sheet for chapter 18 of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do "Area of Squares and Rectangles" pages 362-363 in the math book and "Perimeter Patterns" on the back. (4) Do Multiplication and Adding and Subtracting Fractions worksheets.

Trio + One

We started out by checking, correcting and discussing our homework. This always takes longer than I want it to, but I think it is one of the most important activities of the day for both the students academic skills and work habits.

A little before nine o'clock, we went to the auditorium where students from the Colburn School of Music had a chamber music concert for us. We had an oboe, a violin, a bass, and a violin. Chamber music isn't easy to listen to when you've never been exposed to it, but our students did pretty well. The violinist played a couple solo pieces - a Bach partita and a Paganini Capriccio - and the other three played a couple selections from a Bach trio. The students took a lot of questions and cheerfully explained how their instruments worked, when they first started to play, and how much time they practice each day, among many other queries.

In other areas, we read chapter 17 of By the Great Horn Spoon! In this chapter Praiseworthy and Jack, after making their fortune at Gravedigger's Hill, return to Hangtown where Praiseworthy has to fight the fearsome "Mountain Ox." But since Praiseworthy has been studying a book on boxing, he easily beats the larger man who is illiterate and therefore a mere "street brawler." We watched the second part of the American Experience film on the Gold Rush as well. In math, we turned our attention to perimeter, usually the easiest area of geometry for students to understand.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each word. The words are invincible, reprieve, vigilant, millimeter, decimeter, perimeter, and compromise. (2) Do the study sheet for chapter 17 of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do "Perimeter" pages 359-360 in the math book and "All the Way Around" on the back. (4) Do pages 29-34 in California Content Standards: Practice and Mastery book. You may mark in the book.

American Experience

It's been a couple busy days in room 19, so I apologize for a couple days without posting. The Concert in the Park event went really well, even if the rain-soaked ground forced it to be held in the auditorium, and our students received warm applause from everyone present.

Today we went over the math classwork from Friday - which was the closest we had to homework for the weekend - and that has been corrected and put in the gradebook. We also read another chapter from By the Great Horn Spoon! In the chapter today, Praiseworthy and Jack save Cut Eye Higgins from the gallows and make a very exciting discovery. We started to watch an episode from the PBS American Experience series on the gold rush. It's a really good film, though one not particularly designed for young viewers. I prepared a study guide to help them focus on the major points and significant details in the film, and they did quite well with it. We'll watch about 30 minutes of this each day this week.

After recess, we went to the auditorium where Mr. Pratt blocked the climactic last scenes of Oliver! It went really well, even if it was not always fascinating for the chorus members. We had Physical Education as usual after lunch, and in math we are turning our attention to mastering the metric system.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each word. The words are festivities, cantankerous, heinous, exuberance, dispatch, savor, and interfere. (2) Do the study sheet for chapter 16 of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do "Metric Measurement," pages 355-356 in the math book and "Measuring with Metric" on the back. (4) Do pages 24-28 in California Content Standards:  Practice and Mastery book. You may mark in the book.

Careers in Tech

Another productive day here in room 19. We had a good discussion, as we usually do, about our homework assignments as we carefully corrected them. We then read most of another chapter of Horn Spoon! We went to Tech Center where Ms. Richard is having them start to research careers in technology. They will be working in teams to develop a PowerPoint slide show on a career, and they will then be porting this to the school's website through the iWeb program.


After recess, they went to Mr. Pratt's class for History. In the afternoon, we talked about problem solving in math and we did our usual skill rotations in physical education. We also switched seats (which can be a form of problem solving....)


Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each. The words are solution, variable, integer, diagram, and Sierra Nevada. (2) Do By the Great Horn Spoon! study sheet for chapter  15. (3) Do "Problem Solving" pages 342-343 and "Test Prep" on pages 344-345  in the math book. Also do "Buried Treasure" on the back.

Just the Homework Today

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each. The words are free enterprise, entrepreneur, industry, territory, and isthmus. (2) DoBy the Great Hornspoon! study sheet for chapter  14.  Also do "Writing Home" and "Modern Gold Mining." (3) Do "Ordering Integers," pages 340-341 in the math book plus "Below Zero" on the back.

Drying Out

What a miserable day yesterday! Oh well, at least it wasn't a school day. But things were still incredibly wet around Third Street all day today and we were stuck with rainy day schedule during recess and lunch. I guess by the time it dries out on Wednesday or Thursday we should have more showers again.

It wasn't a miserable day in room 19, however, but a most productive one. We began by correcting and discussing our math from Friday. Negative numbers are often hard for fourth graders to understand, but our students seem to be grasping this concept admirably. We went on to take a quiz over last week's chapters in By the Great Horn Spoon! After this we went on to read another chapter of the book. In today's chapter, Jack accidentally buys a bushel of neckties at an auction, a move that Praiseworthy correctly see as being "brilliant."

We worked some more on last week's art project on perspective, using water color to finish off our drawings. We blocked and practiced some of the last couple scenes in the play. We corrected a math test from last week, and we did our usual exercises and skill rotations in PE. In math, we continued to learn about negative numbers.

So, into every life rain does fall, but learning still goes on.


Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each. The words are technology, discrimination, vigilante, population, and consumer. (2) Do By the Great Hornspoon! study sheet for chapter  13 plus "Similes" on the back. (3) Do "Comparing Integers," pages 338-339 in the math book plus "Countdown to Zero" on the back.

Walk-a-thon

Today was our Walk-a-thon and if you haven't heard already, it was a rousing success raising about 36,000 dollars for our school.

We were delighted in room 19 to have had the opportunity to participate, as you can see.

We did other things besides the Walk-a-thon, of course. We checked, corrected, and discussed our homework and Thursday's math test. We took a spelling test, and we checked and corrected that, too. We rehearsed scenes and dance numbers from Oliver! And we had an introduction to negative numbers.

The students all had ample time to get the math done during class time today, so I don't think that many should be taking it home. So, enjoy a rare weekend without homework!

Be Back Soon

We had a good day today and did a good bit of practice on the play, too. We went over our homework, first thing, as we usually do. Then we read the next chapter in By the Great Hornspoon! where the citizens of Hangtown learn about the just how far Praiseworthy can knocked a ruffian when he's sufficiently upset. He even gets a new name, "Bullwhip." We took a math test today, but we haven't checked it yet. The students worked with Aiden's mom on a really fantastic choreography for "Be Back Soon." This is going to be amazing!

Tomorrow is the Walk-a-thon. A big thank you to all the families who have already sent in their pledge form and money. If you haven't yet, please do so tomorrow.


Homework: (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence for each one. The words are ruffian, thievery, clung, compassionate, and tintype.  (2) Do the study questions for chapter twelve of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do the study questions over "Electromagnets Everywhere." (4) Do the “Simplest Form” and “Adding and Subtracting Fractions” worksheet.

Our Perspective

We began the day, as we usually do, by checking, correcting, and discussing each last night's homework. We then went on to read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! In the chapter we read today, Jack and Praiseworthy make it to the gold country only to almost be shot by an irate miner who thinks that Praiseworthy stole his washpan. In the end, though, the miner, named Pitch Pine Billy, proves to be an amiable fellow who shares his claim with the butler and the boy he nicknames "Jamoka Jack."

We usually have Tech Center on Wednesday and art on Thursdays but we changed that around again this week. Today in art we are continuing our look at perspective. We talked about foreground, middle ground, and background. The students did a little plein air sketching of second recess, and then they returned to the classroom where they turned some of these sketches into the beginning of a painting. We will finish these tomorrow.

We had PE after lunch, and we finished up our short algebra chapter today. We will have our test over chapter 13 tomorrow and along with that will be the second chance to improve the chapter 12 score. Please review for the test!

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 10 times each in cursive and write one sentence for each word in cursive. The words are notoriety, bedrock, fisticuffs, idly, and bandana. (2) Do the study sheet for chapter 11 of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do "Problem Solving" on pages 328-329 and "Test Prep" on pages 330-331. (4) Do the division practice sheet.

They're Playing our Song!

A very quiet, orderly, and productive day in room 19. We checked, corrected, and discussed our homework. I was really pleased that every single student had finished every piece of homework today. That doesn't always happen for a variety of reasons, good and bad. We read and discussed another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! We read a chapter in the Science text about how electromagnets are used in simple motors, doorbells, and in speakers. We also talked about how electromagnetism is used to create electricity, too. In math we talked about converting words into equations. That's not always the easiest of skills for fourth graders, but our students did quite admirably at it.

In Music, Mr. Lawton went over some of the best songs that the students have composed in the last couple weeks. In particular, the students had the pleasure today of hearing their songs played back to them on by the Sibelius computer program. It was fun for them to see the written notation on the screen and watch the cursor as it passed over the notes and produced a ethereal vocal sound.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence for each one. The words are elated, petrified, peering, elegant,  and exaggerated. (2) Do the study questions for chapter ten of By the Great Horn Spoon! (3) Do pages 325-327 in the math book. Also do "Symbol Acrobatics" on the back of the answer sheet. (4) Do the “Equivalent Fractions” and “Adding and Subtracting Fractions” worksheet.

The Big Wave

In light of the current tragic situation in Japan, we took a break from our usual reading schedule today. We talked about the earthquake and the tsunami this weekend. Most of the students were pretty well-informed about it,but we clarified some things. I then shared with them some things about the 1923 quake which leveled Yokohama. Pearl Buck used this earthquake and the tsunami which followed it as the basis for her 1948 book The Big Wave. We read a selection from this book and took time to talk about how people deal with great tragedy. The boy in the story has to deal with the loss of his family, and many, many people in Japan at this time will be dealing with that as well.

On a lighter note, we practiced some of the scenes and the choreography that the students learned last Thursday with our guest choreographers. We also worked on learning to multiply and divide decimals in math. Students were dismissed at 2:00 pm so that fourth grade teachers could have some time to begin work on report cards.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each and write a sentence for each one. The words are equation, hospitality, awesome, glance, and extract. (2) Do the study questions for "The Big Wave". For the letter be sure to have date, greeting, body, closing, and signature. The body should be about two full paragraphs. (3) Do pages 322-323 in the math book. Also do "Symbol Acrobatics" on the back of the answer sheet.

They Could Have Danced All Day

If yesterday was off schedule, today was really that way. Most of the students had the fantastic experience of working with two experienced dance teachers in the auditorium on two of the big dance numbers for Oliver! These parents are doing amazing things with the students, and both Mr. Pratt and I are really grateful for the fantastic participation and support.

The students also had the opportunity to have a couple recesses again so that I could attend our last library aide interview. It went well, and it looks like we will have a superb person in there. But I'll let Dr. Oh give all the details about this when it is all finished. The students who did not go to the auditorium in the morning went to Tech Center where they worked on turning their tuba stories into comic strips. They also went to room 7 in the afternoon where they watched more of the movie version of Oliver!

Homework:  (1) Do the final spelling words for the week. The words are necessity,  courteous, undertaker, commutative property, and impostor. The last one was somehow misspelled on the spelling list, but I did ask them to correct it on Monday. (2) Do the Great Horn Spoon! chapter 9 study sheet. (3) Do "Equal or Not Equal" on pages 318-319 in the math book.

Changes

Today was a little off schedule, as tomorrow will be, too. First of all, we did not go to Tech Center today as we switched, for a variety of reasons, with room 7. We will go tomorrow. Then, I had to take part in interviews for the new library aide. So the students had the opportunity to go to both recesses, and our PE was pushed ahead to 11:00 from the usual time. The two classes switched after lunch instead of after recess. That's a lot of changes for the students to have a day!

Despite this, we were productive. We checked homework, of course. We took our math test, though we have not yet had a chance to correct it. I worked with the students on their project for Mr. Lawton, trying to take it a bit more step-by-step for those who were confused. Finally, I ended the day by reading the next chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! to them.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 11-15 ten times each in cursive. Also write a sentence for each one. The words are obliged, exasperated, ambled, lunatic, and jostling. (2) Do the Great Horn Spoon study sheet for chapter 9. (3) Do the "Adding and Subtracting Fractions" and "Division" review sheets.

Tongva!

The last couple days have been pretty off schedule in room 19. That's not always a bad thing; in fact, for the students it's usually fun. For the teacher it's a bit unsettling, however.

First, yesterday we had a special assembly in the morning organized by Fred Escheverria, a parent in room 13, of representatives from the Tongva nation. These are the native peoples of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. They're sometimes also called "Gabrielino" since they were stationed at the San Gabriel Mission after conversion. They did a great presentation about their language, culture, and music. They even did a dance which I managed to catch a bit of on my camera.

We had to leave a little early, unfortunately, because we had our Music class. Mr. Lawton worked some more with the students on their songwriting project. After recess, the students went to Mr. Pratt where they are finishing their study of early American explorers in California and the Bear Flag revolt. After lunch, we had a quick math lesson.

We finished the day with a celebration of Mardi Gras. The DuMont family, originally hailing from the Crescent City, gave us the history of Mardi Gras and then provided our class and Mrs. Mark's class with King Cakes to share. It was a great opportunity for the students.

Productive

It was a most productive day. We read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! and we discussed it. We also wrote a short essay about the pictures that the students worked on last week. I have never had students actually write a composition about how they did their art before, but it was a surprisingly good way to force them to be aware of the techniques that we were using, and those that they could have used. I'll have some examples of this on the blog as soon as I can.

After recess, we went to the auditorium for some more play practice. They are getting really good at both acting and singing! The afternoon was devoted to Physical Education and Math. In Math, we are learning to multiply numbers with decimals. It's a pretty easy skill, particularly today's assignment.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 1-5 ten times each and write a sentence. The words are invasion, glum, lumber, morsel, and junk. (2) Do the Great Horn Spoon chapter 7 study sheet. (3) Do the "Latitude and Longitude" and "Butler" worksheets. Some of the maps did not photocopy that well, but do your best with it. (4) Do "Multiplying and Dividing Fractions" on pages 307-308 of the math book.

Also, be sure that the writing and art is finished. And, finally, make sure that the homework Mr. Lawton assigned for Music two weeks ago is finished.

Seussical

Today was the birthday of Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. But more about that later.

We read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! We also worked on creating telegraphs using our electromagnets.

We went to Tech Center where Ms. Richard had them completing their "How I Learned to Play the Tuba" stories. They will start using special software to make these into cartoon strips next week.

Then in the afternoon we paired up with the first graders in room 5 to read Dr. Seuss books. A great time was had by all.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 11-15. Write each word ten times each in cursive and write one sentence for each word. The words are inclement, ration, guava, Patagonia, and stalwart. (2) Do "Rounding and Estimating Decimals," pages 296-297 in the math book. (3) Do By the Great Horn Spoon! chapter 5 worksheet. Be sure to answer in complete sentences.

Writing Test

Today was the State Writing Test for fourth grade. This is the first part of our CST testing sequence. The reading and math tests will come as usual in May. This took up most of the morning before recess.

We also checked homework, corrected yesterday's math tests, and talked about rounding decimals. We had the extra hour today, so we did some more play practice.

Homework: (1) Write spelling words 6 - 10 ten times each and cursive and write one sentence for each. The words are becalmed, tarry, yard, languish, and exotic. (2) Do "Rounding Decimals," pages 292-294 in the math book, and also do "More than One Way" on the back of the answer sheet.

More Magnetism

Friday started out badly for me when I managed to break the frames of my glasses. I apologize for no blog on Friday, but I needed to get to Larchmont Optimetric as soon as possible!

One of the things we did Friday was to finish some of our pointillist paintings. They were really good!

Today we corrected and discussed our math homework. We read chapter four of By the Great Horn Spoon!. We also worked on Science. The students worked in small groups as usual. They made electromagnets with different numbers of twists to see if more wire twisted around the steel core would improve the strength of the electromagnet. To nobody's surprise, it did. The students recorded the results of their experiments on a t-chart and then put those results in a bar graph.

After recess we went to the auditorium for some more play practice. After lunch, had physical education and the students took their math tests.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each word. The words are latitude, horrendous, monotony, banshee, and impending. (2) Do the Great Horn Spoon worksheet over chapter four. (3) Do the Division and Fraction review sheets. Since today was the test, there is no assignment from the math book.

IMPORTANT:  Tomorrow is the fourth grade state writing test. Please make sure your child is here on time. They usually do not do well on makeups. Also, tomorrow is REGULAR schedule. The students will dismissed at 2:30, not 1:30.

Pointillism

Thursdays are usually art day in room 19, and today was no exception. We are in our unit on Color right now, and today we talked about how our eyes blend individual colors into hues. This led us to a discussion of Georges Seurat and the technique of pointillism. I showed the students a couple of his most famous works, and then we decided to do a bit of our own pointillism.

As with the great French master, distance tends to blend the points together into a scene with some depth.

Many of the students are not finished with their paintings yet, so we'll have a little more time to work on these tomorrow.

In addition to the art, we did the usual school things. We checked, corrected, and discussed homework. We read another chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! They went to Mr. Pratt for History while his class came to me for Science. In math, we continued our work on fractions and decimals.

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words ten times each in cursive and do one sentence in cursive for each word. The words are balance, whistle, clamor, scoundrel, rogue, and ooze. (2) Do "Sea Routes." Students should use the maps in the back of their history books to help with this. (3) Do the By the Great Horn Spoon! study sheet for chapter 3. (4) Do pages 282-283 in the math book. Also do "Bright Ideas" on the back of the answer sheet.

There will be a spelling test tomorrow and a quiz over the first three chapters of Horn Spoon.

On the Number Line

Wednesdays usually pass by quite quickly and pleasantly, and this one was no exception. We began by checking, correcting, and discussing our homework, as usual. We then went on to reading the second chapter of By the Great Horn Spoon! We went to Tech Center. After recess, the students went to Mr. Pratt for history where they are learning about the Mexican War. We had PE after lunch as we usually do. With me, the students are practicing foot dribbling, a soccer skill. In math we're connecting fractions and decimals to number lines. This is one of those frustrating activities which never adults are never asked to do with numbers, but it is a designated standard and it's going to be tested so we do our best to teach and learn it.
Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 8-14. Write each word 10 times in cursive and write one sentence in cursive for each word. The words are dispirited, lurch, baffled, fierce, molting, penetrate, and despicable. (2) Do the chapter two study sheet for By the Great Horn Spoon! Be sure to answer in complete sentences and use a dictionary as needed to help with vocabulary. (3) Do "Fractions and Decimals on a Number Line" pages 278-280 in the math text. Also do "A New Measure" on the back of the answer sheet.

New Things

It sounded like everybody in room 19 enjoyed their three day weekend in honor of Presidents' Day.

We started reading By the Great Horn Spoon! as our main reading this week.The previous emphasis at our district level on using the Open Court Reading series - and pretty much only that curriculum - seems to have diminished significantly, so until our hands are slapped we will be using texts which I think will be much more interesting and meaningful to students. It is a good bit more work for me, but frankly it is worth it. By the Great Horn Spoon! is a story about the California Gold Rush so it also helps the students master key history concepts as well.

In math we are learning to convert decimals into fractions and vice versa. Not really that hard a concept after a little practice, but it does require the fourth grade minds to jump through a few unfamiliar hoops. Although many of the students may say they are done with their work by the time they come home, it would be a good idea for an adult to spot check it to see if the concept was really mastered.

Homework:  (1) Write the spelling words 10 times each in cursive and write a sentence in cursive for each word. The words are slake, imperative, suspicious, inundated, dire, cholera, and anxious. These are taken from the novel we are reading. (2) Do the By the Great Horn Spoon! chapter one study sheet. Students may need a dictionary to help with the vocabulary section. Be sure to answer in complete sentences. (3) Do "Fractions and Decimals," pages 276-277 in the math book. Also do "Shady Spot" on the back of the answer sheet.

Just Deserts

Most of our morning was devoted to taking the district-mandated Quarter Two math test. It went quite well, in part because I forced the students to go at my pace through the questions and we read each one aloud. If only I could do that on the CST in May....

Thursday is our usual Art day, and we did some desert scenes today. We'll be doing some writing inspired by this tomorrow.

We also went out and played some kickball with room 7 today since we'll probably miss PE with the rain tomorrow. We started decimals in math. This is a hard concept for the students at first, so please review their homework here.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words ten times each plus one sentence. The words are courage, muscles, customers, ammonia, and pneumonia. (2) Do "Decimal Place Value" pages 270-271 in the math book.

Rainy Days and Wednesdays

Ah, after a long streak of nice weather we had some rain again. Great for nature. Not so good for teachers.

Nevertheless, we had a good day. We did our math tests, and we'll correct them tomorrow. We did the final draft of a composition. We went to Tech Center. We had a blustery PE time, and we read a chapter from the Science book.

There may seem like a lot of homework tonight, but each assignment is pretty simple. 

Homework:  (1) Write spelling words 10 times each in cursive and write one sentence for each. The words are thoroughly, through, threw, throw, and matador. (2) Do the "Comparative and Superlative Adjectives" worksheet. (3) Do the "Following Directions on Graphic Sources" worksheet. (4) Do the "Maps and Atlases" worksheet. (5) Do the "Magnetism = Electricity" study sheet. Be sure to use the book. (6) Do the "Factors" and "Simplifying Fractions" worksheets.

Electromagnetic!

We explored the relationship between magnetism and electricity today. I showed the students a large rivet and showed them that it could not pick up steel washers. I then touched a bar magnet to the same rivet, and suddenly the rivet could pick up the washers. I challenged the students to figure out a way to make a rivet magnetic without using a magnet. Each group had a circuit base, a switch, a couple wires, and a D-cell. With an occasional prompt, the groups discovered electromagnets.

We'll be doing more with electricity and magnetism throughout the week. We then went to Music. Mr. Lawton began by demonstrating the banjo and having the students make up lyrics to "Streets of Laredo".

This led them to working in songwriting partnerships. They'll be doing some more with these songs as Mr. Lawton's program continues.

After recess, we finished reading the "Shadow of a Bull" story. After lunch, we concluded our short math chapter on adding and subtracting fractions. Tomorrow there will be a test over Topic 10 and there will also be another chance at the Topic 9 test. Students should review everything in both chapters about fractions because the grades on the last test were not that great overall and they have a fantastic chance to improve their scores tomorrow.

Homework:  (1) Do the spelling words 10 times each and use each one in a sentence. The words are feeble, listlessly, bandage, gauze, and scrubbed. (2) Do "Using Reading Strategies" paper with the post-it notes. (3) Do "Draw a Picture and Write an Equation" pages 261-262 in the math book. Also to "Test Prep" on pages 264-265 in the same book. Also do "Crazy Quilt" on the back of the answer sheet.

Shadow of a Bull

We started reading "Shadow of a Bull" in the reader today. This is an excerpt from the Newberry-award winning book of the same name. It's not a completely easy story for the children to get because the social world of Franco-era Spain is pretty distant from that of contemporary Los Angeles, but they certainly enjoy the blood and guts that accompany bullfighting.

We also went to the auditorium again for more play practice. After lunch, we checked last Friday's reading quiz. We went to PE. In math we're doing subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.

A few kids brought Valentine's Day stuff, so we passed that out at the very end of the day.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 1-5. Write each word ten times each in cursive and write one sentence for each word in cursive. (2) Do "Subtracting Fractions" on pages 258-259 in the math book. Also do the "Fraction Action" on the back of the answer sheet.

Another Quick One

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 16-20. (2) Complete the Study Guide for "Susan La Flesch Picotte". Be sure to use complete sentences. (3) Do "Adding Fractions" on pages 253-255 in the math book.

Just the Homework Today

Just a quick post today with the homework....

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 11-16. As usual, write each word 10 times in cursive and also write a sentence. Not that "reluctantly" should have the t crossed. (2) Do the "Using Reading Strategies" paper. (3) Do the "Capitalization of Titles" worksheet. This is review, but all the information needed is in the box. (4) Do the division and multiplication worksheet.

Almost a Tweet

A short post today because we have a meeting in here after school and I need to get ready for it! So short it's almost a tweet!

Today we worked on the final drafts of the "Sewed Up His Heart!" story. I'll post some examples tomorrow. We also went to music with Mr. Lawton. We reviewed fractions; we'll be having a test on this tomorrow.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 6-10 in the usual way. (2) Do "Problem Solving" on pages 243-244 and do "Test Prep" on pages 246-247 in the envision Math book.

Once More

Today we spent much of the day working on the second rough draft of our newspaper story about the "Sewed Up His Heart!" story. It's not easy as a teacher to admit that your directions were not that good when you first gave the assignment, but the students did so poorly on it that I had to figure out that I needed to go over what I wanted more carefully. So we divided the story into sections and we reviewed it and made notes together for this. We will do the final draft tomorrow combining it with an art project.

We did some other things. We reviewed finding common denominators as we corrected Friday's homework. We rehearsed a bit more for the play. We worked with foot dribbling in PE. And we talked about ordering fractions as part of today's math.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 1-5. Write each word ten times each in cursive and write a sentence for each one. (2) Do Word Knowledge and Vocabulary for the "Susan La Flesche Picotte" story. Ignore the printed directions and use a dictionary or glossary for the definitions. (3) Do "Ordering Fractions" pages 240-241 in the math book.

Also, be sure that your homework for Mr. Lawton is done.

It Zoomed By

It was a fast day! I had an IEP (special education) meeting in the morning, and Sandra Choi, our coordinator took the class. We had play practice after lunch, and that went quite well. In the afternoon, we worked on comparing fractions with unequal denominators. That was a hard concept for the students, but with the help of the cross multiplying trick, I think they got it.

Homework:  (1) Do Negatives, pages 232-233 in the Language book. (2) Do "Comparing Fractions," pages 238-239 in the envision Math book. (3) Do the Division worksheet.

Lunar New Year

Today we celebrated our of pan Asian heritage by composing Japanese poems, painting a Korean celadon vase, and doing it all on the Chinese New Year! As you can see in a couple examples below - it was not always easy to get a good photograph of a complete student work - the students wrote Haiku about a branch of a flowering white cherry tree I had brought in from my yard. They then sketched the bough and the Korean vase in pencil, went over the lines in sharpie, and used watercolor to finish. Some of their work was astoundingly good!

That took up a surprising amount of the day, and students who finished early - quite a number of them - had a chance to start homework. In math, we worked on mixed numbers and improper fractions. It's not that hard a concept, but it's a new one to the students and it took a bit of time for it to sink in. 

By the end of the day, they were tired, I was tired, and we pleasantly spent the last 30 minutes in free play on the yard. 

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 16-20 as usual. The words are :  appetite, banister, canister, subscribe, and fisticuffs. (2) Do the "Making Inferences" worksheet. (3) Write the words to "Food, Glorious Food." This helps the children learn the words to the song and practice their handwriting! (4) Do pages 236-237 in the math book. (5) Do the Equivalent Fractions and Division Practice worksheets.

No Internet Today

Quick homework via phone since our network is down...

Homework: (1) Spelling - facilities, superstition, reception,
pressure, and sense. (2) New Doctor study questions. (3) Commas, pp
244-245 in red Language book. (4) Math pp 234-235. (5) Math worksheet.

Sent from my iPhone

Singin' the Blues

Today we started a new story in the reader. It's called "The New Doctor" and it is hardly one of the more fascinating selections. It deals with how a new medical doctor comes to a small New Mexico town about 30 years ago and how she learns from the old herbalist, Manuelita. We did not finish it today; we'll do that tomorrow.

Tuesdays are Music days, and Mr. Lawton had them singin' the blues today in honor of February being Black History Month. The started out by having them do some body percussion to get a better sense of the rhythmic peculiarities of the blues style, and then led them to understand the classic twelve-bar blues progression. Students will be writing song lyrics for a blues song as this week's music homework.

In math we started equivalent fractions. This is not an hard concept, but students have difficulty mastering the algorithm or procedure. They keep forgetting that the numerator and the denominator can be changed an infinite number of times, but that both must be treated identically, i.e., multiplied or divided by the same number. This is important beyond merely fractions as it is both a key algebra concept and their first introduction to the world of rational numbers.

Homework:  (1) Do spelling words 6-10 ten times each in cursive and write one sentence for each. The words are instrument, furiously, gossamer, profusely, and threshold. (2) Reread pages 30-34 in the Science Resources book. Answer the questions on the study sheet. Be sure to use complete sentences.  (3) Do the "Diseases" crossword. Be sure to use the letters already provided and the words in the word box! The clues are written in "doctor talk," so they are not easy to understand. (4) Do "Equivalent Fractions," envision Math pages 231-232. Also do "Playing the Part" on the back of the answer sheet.