Fourth Grade – The New Year News!

Reader's Workshop: Hard at Work

Writer’s Workshop: After the break, our focus in Writer’s turned to our reading letters.  Students spent two weeks focused on the guiding question, “How can we make our reading letters more effective and more interesting?”  The reading letters are a great way for teachers and students to communicate about literature.  The reading letters are also a useful tool for teachers to asses a student’s progress in regards to reading comprehension and proper use of writing conventions (punctuation, capitalization, spelling, etc.).  Now we are beginning our new unit on essay writing.  We are honing in on the world around us – living like writers and asking ourselves the question, “What makes my world unique?”  Students’ observations lay the foundation for big ideas, which we will work to craft into thesis statements.  As we make this shift from narrative to non-narrative writing, we answer the question – how are the genres of stories and essays different?

Math:  In the days leading up to winter break, students began a unit on decimal concepts.  Students studied the relationship between decimals and fractions, learned how to compare and order decimals, and also learned how to round them to the nearest tenth or whole number.  You can help reinforce your child’s understanding of decimals by weighing objects on a digital scale, or by comparing, ordering, or rounding prices on a shopping receipt.

After completing our unit on decimals, we briefly studied the relationship between positive and negative numbers.  Students played hands-on games such as “Fantasy Hotel,” “The Game of Many Changes,” and “All the Way to the Bank” to study how numbers increase or decrease as they move up or down a number line.  Each of these activities helped reinforce the concept of “Net Change” meaning the difference between two negative or positive integers.  We learned that a positive net change is created when we experience an increase in quantity or value, and that a negative net change is created by a decrease in quantity or value.  You can help your child reinforce this concept by recording changes in temperature on your thermostat, or by calculating the net change between the High and Low temperature on the weather report.

Math: What we've learned so far this year

DWoK: In our current DWoK unit we are discovering what our past teaches us about today.  Students are researching the Native peoples of California.  Students began by learning about primary and secondary sources, asking the question –  how can they help our research?  Students divided into groups and began researching an aspect of daily life of Native Californian groups.  Students are presenting their projects following a given rubric for their presentation.  The final projects provide not just information for the class, but also an activity or “Living History Exhibit” to fully and authentically engage the class.

Science: Our FOSS Science curriculum has been in full swing since November.  Thus far, each of our investigations have centered on the theme of “Environments.”  Students are learning about the various components of an environment by doing a series of hands-on experiments that allow them to observe the life cycles of various organisms.  Throughout November and early December, students grew plants in terrariums and learned how their growth was affected by environmental factors such as soil, water, light, temperature, and other living organisms.

In December and early January, students grew brine shrimp in hatcheries.  They learned that brine shrimp eggs’ ability to hatch is determined by the salinity of the water.  They determined the brine shrimps’ range of tolerance for changing salinity levels by mixing a different amount of salt into each of their four hatcheries.  This experiment helped students gain an appreciation for a real-life situation in which rising salinity levels in Mono Lake (California) caused the brine shrimp population to decrease significantly, which consequently affected all other populations in Mono Lake’s food web.

For the past two weeks, our classrooms have been invaded by bugs!  Students have constructed runways to observe live Darkling Beetles, Pill bugs, and Sow Bugs.   Observing these organisms allows us to learn about their environmental preferences –  the conditions in which they choose to build their habitats.  Ask your child to explain whether or not pill bugs and sow bugs are insects, and ask them to tell you one of the defining characteristics of a darkling beetle.

Theater Arts: Student actors are busy writing, directing and rehearsing their adapted fairy tale plays.  We also have backstage crews who would love help from more parent volunteers as we design background scenery, gather costumes and make props.  Please let us know if your knowledge and skills would come in handy!  Performance date coming soon.

Computer Lab: We began using Jiji on a regular basis in early November.   This program proves to be a valuable tool for reinforcing the key concepts of our math curriculum.  Jiji is now available at home!  Your student’s teacher will pass along the appropriate access information.

In Their Own Words:
“We’re getting together and putting our creativity into this years Artwork for Education cards.  They are looking great!  Also, Valentine’s Day is coming up and there are even more cards to make, give and receive.  DWoK was really fun and we were making presentations about the Chumash and other Native Tribes.  We found out about their clothes, food, homes, beliefs, and community life.”

Fun facts we discovered:



Fourth Grade – October News!

Reader’s Workshop:  We launched Reader’s Workshop and students are now familiar with their responsibilities during that time.  By writing weekly reading letters to their teachers, students have the opportunity to discuss the books they are reading.  Students are also keeping a detailed record of the books they read.  We would like to thank families for all of the generous book donations!  Our library is steadily growing because of your contributions and because our Scholastic book orders arrived.  Thank you to all who are helping our library come together!

Writer’s Workshop: The opening unit of our Writer’s Workshop focused on a review of the tools and strategies writers use for personal narrative writing.

Writing Partners: Soulana & Hadassah

The last week in October was filled with students sharing their work through “Author’s Chair”.  During “Author’s Chair” students have a chance to read their work, receive positive feedback, and hear constructive questions and suggestions from their peers.

Chasi reads for Author's Chair

In November we will begin a new unit that focuses on raising the quality of narrative writing.  We look forward to reading and listening to more student stories.

DWoK:  Our project-based history/social studies program, Different Ways of Knowing, started off by reflecting on what it means to discover.  This month we focused on what it means to explore and be an explorer.  Students participated in an “exploration walk” of the new school building.  They used their senses to make observations and jot down notes with clip-boards in tow.  In small groups, the students presented their findings through various modalities.  Students chose to paint pictures, build models, create songs and original skits.

Matheo creates a model of the school

Fourth Grade – Welcome back to school!

Reader’s Workshop:  Fourth Graders have jumped right into Reader’s Workshop.  We are revisiting what it means to be a reader and thinking about the tools and strategies readers use.  Dicken’s Den holds the one library for the whole Learning Village.  As library ambassadors we are learning how to care for the books and how to best share the library among five classes.  We are still looking for more books to fill our shelves.  If you have any books that you think might be age appropriate, we’d love to take them off your hands and put them into the hands of our students.

Writer’s Workshop: Writers can write deeply about what they know and what they experience.   We are asking our students to begin this year’s Writer’s Workshop by writing about their own lives.  The students are in the process of focusing on one idea and nurturing the idea through to a finished draft.  It is an exciting time as we watch these “seed ideas” grow.  We all look forward to “Author’s Chair” when the students will read their works to each other.

Math:  Our math unit began with a review of place value.  We now continue on to rounding and estimation.  Math lessons are incorporating hands-on activities to engage students.  For example when studying place value, students created human number lines.  Most recently students examined real-life scenarios to determine when it is appropriate to make an estimate. In the upcoming weeks we will be studying prime numbers and reviewing our multiplication facts. We would like to recommend that students practice their multiplication facts at home each night.

DWoK:  Our project-based history/social studies program, Different Ways of Knowing, started off by exploring what it means to discover.  The fourth grade classes recently collaborated to create a scavenger hunt.  Students brought in personal objects to contribute to the hunt and as a result, they each had an opportunity to discover classmates’ objects.  Because it is important to reflect on any discovery, students are choosing creative ways to respond to the idea and process of discovery.  Some students are writing poems, others are painting and drawing, and still others are writing short stories and plays.  All 4th grade students will have a chance to display and perform their final creations in the “Discovery Museum.”  We look forward to experiencing all the different ways that students chose to reflect on the idea of discovery.

Science: While we talked about discovery in DWoK, science class found students using their senses to discover more information about their surroundings.  In our first lesson, students honed their visual skills by writing detailed descriptions of a selection of random classroom objects within a limited time period.  In a subsequent lesson, students created “sound maps” – tuning into the sounds in the world around them.  Most recently for the sense of touch, students attempted to identify mystery objects hidden in paper bags.  Students will rely heavily on observation skills as we move into content-specific science lessons in the coming weeks.

Music: Mr. Kello guides students as they explore the meaning and structure of music.  Our classes are having interesting discussions about what exactly is music.  Mr. Kello charged us to become active listeners and to pay attention to the noises all around us.  This musical focus goes hand-in-hand with our science and DWoK units as we explore and discover the world around us through our physical and artistic senses.

Visual Art: With art teacher Ms. Serrano, students began the year by exploring their dreams and aspects of themselves that they wanted to share with their classmates.  More recently, we looked closely at the details of paintings and drawings.  Using viewfinders and picture books, students focused their looking on illustrations.  By choosing specific parts of the illustrations to draw, the resulting student work was varied and beautiful.

Theater Arts: This year classroom teachers are taking charge of this subject area.  Fourth and fifth grades decided to collaborate on a curriculum where Theater Arts is linked with reading and writing.  Fortunately we have last year’s theater arts teacher Ms. Heneise on the team along with other knowledgeable teachers who have diverse theatrical experience.  We are confident that theatre arts will provide numerous interdisciplinary connections and that students will have a fun and fulfilling experience this year.

Dance: Mr. Poze started us off strong in dance class.  Each week half of each class experiences an hour of imagination and collaboration through movement.  We created half groups in order to allow the best possible environment for movement in the space we have.  The response from the students is extremely positive and we look forward to integrating what we learn in dance into other content areas.

P.E.: Mr. Wenger is building up our endurance with running and stretching.  We are getting in shape for the Spring Jog-a-thon and also, because exercise is fun and good for you!  Each grade chose a team name for themselves.  Ms. Heneise’s class will be known as The Gods. Ms. Parkhurst’s class will be known as The Legends, and Mr. Edwards’s class will be known as Zombie Gnomes.

Computer Lab: The Mind Institute has had a huge impact on our students with the Math program Jiji.  I am sure you have heard your child mention Jiji at some point.  Parent volunteers are working hard to completely set up the computer lab for the school’s use.  The fourth graders would like to send out a big shout out to all of the parents who are helping in that arena.  We were able to use the computers this week for the first time, but we know there is still work to be done.  Thank you for your hard work and effort; we look forward to Jiji in the near future!