I Wonder...

We have been in the Wonder Room a lot lately wondering about telescopes and the life of a water droplet as it goes through the water cycle. Here are some photos from our experiences:

Studying/Building Telescopes:

 

Traveling through the water cycle:

Week of March 23

Reading: We will begin our novel study on the book Shiloh and continue in our book clubs! With all books we will be looking at story elements, character traits, predictions, and inferences.

Writing/Language:   In preparation for the ACT Aspire writing test, we will continue looking at on-demand writing. We will also finally finish our tall tales!!

Math: We will be looking at conversions this week in the U.S. Customary system. We will continue to work on our Table of Measurements (TOM).

Science/Social Studies: In science we will continue in our weather unit with the water cycle, tracking weather, & tools. In social studies we will continue our unit on government by discussing the Const/African     Amer., early leaders, & political parties.       Anchor Down these Assessments/Due Dates Math vocabulary test- Thursday TOM Test #4- Friday SS test on early leaders & political parties- next Tuesday 100 Book Challenge Goals: Good- 319 steps Better- 580 steps Captain of the Week:   This week’s Captain of the Week is Ethan Bolding! Ethan has been working VERY hard and did an AMAZING job on his MAP test. He had the most growth on our reading test with +22 points! Wow! Great job, Ethan I am proud of you and all the other students who tried their very best on MAP reading! J Reminders from the Marina:   *Math MAP testing- Tuesday, March 24th *Field trip to orchestra- March 25th *Chic-Fil-A- March 19th *3rd Quarter Awards- March 31st at 8:30 *Students will have very little (if any) written homework this week so they can focus on studying for all of their tests (including MAP testing). Please make sure your child takes advantage of this time!

Week of March 16

Reading: After MAP testing on Monday, we will be starting a novel study on the book Shiloh and be starting our own book clubs! Be looking for a note home about this coming soon!

Writing/Language:   In preparation for the ACT Aspire writing test, we will continue looking at on-demand writing. In addition, we will begin writing our own tall tales!

Math: We will continue be looking at mean, median, mode and range this week, along with circles. Students should also be studying the MAP study log for math every night.

Science/Social Studies: In science we will begin our weather unit with clouds and the water cycle. In social studies we will continue our unit on government by discussing the Const/African     Amer., early leaders, & political parties.     Anchor Down these Assessments/Due Dates Bill of Rights/Citizenship (Thursday) & TOM test #3 (Fri) Study MAP study guides- MATH nightly! Lunar Log nightly Mon.-Thurs. 100 Book Challenge Goals: Good- 310 steps Better- 580 steps Captain of the Week:   This week’s Captain of the Week is Lucas Gaines! Lucas ALWAYS takes his time, focuses, and tries his very bests in class and on work/tests. He always has a positive attitude and is excited to learn. I know Lucas is going to do a fantastic job on both of his MAP tests coming up! Keep up the great work, Lucas! Reminders from the Marina:   *Reading MAP testing- Monday, March 16th *Math MAP testing- Tuesday, March 24th *Chic-Fil-A- March 19th *3rd Quarter Awards- March 31st at 8:30 *Students will have very little (if any) written homework this week so they can focus on studying for all of their tests (including MAP testing). Please make sure your child takes advantage of this time!

Fun Week

Between our Boosterthon Fun Run and Read Across America week, which included an author's visit and a character parade, this week was eventful and fun! Here are some pictures and a video from this week's excitement:

Boosterthon Fun Run

 

Author's Visit with Chris Rumble

 

 

Some of our boys even got to be part of his performance of his song "My Book"!!

Book Character Parade

 

 

Week of March 9th

Reading: We will be looking at different genres of literature such as fables and tall tales and discussing their morals. While doing this, we will also be preparing for reading MAP testing. Students should be studying every night for this!

Writing/Language:   In preparation for the ACT Aspire writing test, we will continue looking at on-demand writing. In addition, we will begin writing our own tall tales!

Math: We will continue be looking at mean, median, mode and range this week, along with comparing decimals. Students should also be studying the MAP study log for math every night.

Science/Social Studies: In science we will conclude in astronomy with the moon phases, shadows and tides. In social studies we will continue our unit on government by discussing the Bill of Rights,   citizenship, and the Const/African Amer.     Anchor Down these Assessments/Due Dates Moon phases test (Thurs), figurative language test (Fri), TOM test #2 (Fri) Study MAP study guides- READING and MATH nightly! Lunar Log nightly Mon.-Thurs. 100 Book Challenge Goals: Good- 299 steps Better- 560 steps Captain of the Week:   This week’s Captain of the Week is Colby Smart! Colby has been working very hard this week and makes excellent grades! He is always on his best behavior and does his best work. Colby displays the character traits of: Responsibility, respect, curiosity, friendship, and cooperation. Great job, Colby! Keep it up! Reminders from the Marina:   *Spring & Class pictures have been moved to Tuesday, March 10th *We WILL have school this Friday, March 13th due to a snow make up day! *Reading MAP testing- Monday, March 16th *Math MAP testing- Tuesday, March 24th *Students will have very little (if any) written homework this week so they can focus on studying for all of their tests (including MAP testing). Please make sure your child takes advantage of this time!

Week of March 2nd

Reading: We will be looking at different genres of literature such as fables and tall tales and discussing their morals. While doing this, we will also be preparing for reading MAP testing. Students should be studying every night for this!

Writing/Language:   In preparation for the ACT Aspire writing test, we will continue looking at on-demand writing. In addition, we will begin writing our own tall tales!

Math: We will continue in our unit on fractions this week with by converting fractions to decimals. Students will also receive a MAP study log for math to begin this week.

Science/Social Studies: In science we will conclude in astronomy with the moon phases, shadows and tides. In social studies we will continue our unit on government by discussing checks & balances,    the Bill of Rights, and citizenship.   Anchor Down these Assessments/Due Dates Branches of government- Thursday Study MAP study guides- READING and MATH nightly! Begin studying moon phases for next wk. Lunar Log nightly Mon.-Thurs. 100 Book Challenge Goals: Good- 288 steps Better- 540 steps Captain of the Week:   When we actually have a FULL week of school for me to watch and pick someone who has done something extra special, we will start back up Captain of the Week!! J   PS- Twitter still isn’t working. L Reminders from the Marina:   *Read Across America week is this week! Tuesday we will have an author’s visit and Wednesday students can dress up as a story book character for our character parade! *Spring & Class pictures have been moved to Monday, March 9th! *Students will have very little (if any) written homework this week so they can focus on studying for all of their tests (including MAP testing). Please make sure your child takes advantage of this time!

Genius Hour- 2014

At the end of the year, we did a project called Genius Hour. During Genius Hour, students were given complete freedom to pick a topic they were interested in to research and learn more about. Since this was our first Genius Hour experience, the fourth grade teachers decided to narrow down their choices to the subject of social studies. The students became "History Detectives" and immersed themselves in research and new information about their topic.

This is the list of suggested topics the students were given to help them with ideas, but they were not limited to this list. For example, some students chose the Egyptian Pyramids, which was their own idea. 

Students picked a variety of topics including minutemen, the battle of Lexington and Concord, the Korean War, the Egyptian Pyramids, September 11th, the War in Afghanistan, Lowell Mills, Hitler & the Nazis, and more!

Because of the sensitive material that come with some of these topics, we sent a note home to parents to get parent approval. If the parents were not comfortable with the student's choice, they sat down with their child and decided on a 2nd choice together. 

This is the graphic organizer students used to guide their research. Students had to focus on three specific questions they had about the event/period of time, along with other important information like who, when, and where. 

Finally, this was the list of project ideas we gave the students, but again, they were not limited to this list. Student creativity was encouraged! Just like with their topic choice, students were given free reign with how they wanted to present the information they learned to our class. 

We had a variety of types of final products including posters, models, songs/poems, PowerPoints, and PicCollages and Popplets (iPad apps). Here are some pictures of students presenting and some final products: 

The kids loved Genius Hour!! Here's what Kaden and Brayson had to say about it: