Harvest Halloween

Thanks to everyone who helped make Friday such a great day!  Ms. Fisher and Sage joined us for much of it, which was a real treat.  We enjoyed the outdoor time at the third and fourth grade harvest party as well as our Stone Soup festivities.  The biggest surprise for all is that the stupendous students loved the stone soup.  After all that worry about having to taste it, most came back for seconds.  We may have to make that again.  The students were proud of their contributions: fresh corn, quinoa, peppers, onions, blue potatoes, white potatoes, fingerling potatoes, celery, and carrots, carrots, carrots and basil. We had two Readers' Theater plays that were great too!

As for the week in review...

This week, both our reading and science work focused on the concept of compare and contrast.  As part of the GRA, we read Sky Color by Peter Reynolds and students were asked to choose a second Peter Reynolds book to compare and contrast it with.    In science this week, students explored nonfiction text features including captions, diagrams, headings and photographs.  Students also wrote structured comparisons of two canines, the fox and the wolf.

Students made lots of progress in Xtra Math and on Digital Passports-many moving up a level in math or completing all of the digital safety work with an 80 % average or above. We are making great use of those Chromebooks!

In fourth grade math we had another assessment-this time of the Number Corner concepts presented. That spanned two days. We also had a band demonstration one day (see students' blogs). In the two days of instruction and practice, students explored the relation between linear base ten units and area. We used arrays to multiply multi-digit numbers. Third grade math also had what Ms. Ward calls a stop and go week. There were some assessments and some practice on how to take an assessment. Students began dabbling in multiplication.

In writing we continue to work on our realistic fiction. Students got to know and develop their characters by 'walking in my character's shoes.' These sketches are posted on Kidblog

Notes:
 - Fourth Grade Band Sign Up due Friday
 - Jessica Lamorey and Katie Cuttitta will return on Monday
 - Stephanie Bliss will finish on Monday as a Substitute
 - Monday will be an After-School Volleyball Demonstration by CVU