Weekly Updates

This week we have had some fun and unusual learning experiences.   We’ve watched some music videos, studied the gubernatorial elections, virtually toured the outside of the Vermont State House and toured Washington, DC.  We have even had some free choice.  We have done less blogging, Global Read Aloud and taken a day off of science.  We also had Four Winds which is always a treat!

Writing:  Students have added to their story arcs by writing scenes for their characters. Third and fourth graders also took a local standardized writing assessment.  In fourth grade students had to write an informative article based on a non fiction  article about an animal.  They chose one of three animals to study.  Third graders had to write a persuasive essay based on some new information.  These writing prompts are aligned with the English Language Arts Common Core standards. They were administered in ways that approximate what we expect in the SBAC testing sessions.  

Math:  In fourth grade math we have been working on deepening students’ understanding of multiplication.  We have continued our practice with multiplication arrays.  From there we have used sketches and base ten materials to multiply single digits by multiples of ten.  We have also used ratio tables to understand multiplicative relationships.  Also,  throughout the week we have continued to work in Work Place stations to practice math facts and  multiplicative concepts.  

Students in third grade math have been working on strategies for multiplication.   Using the Great Barrier Reef as a backdrop, everyone practiced the strategies of doubling, repeated addition, and loops and groups.   The November Number Corner markers model the array strategy.   Students are encouraged to use freerice.com to make multiplication facts automatic.  

Reading:  Our reading remains largely independent except during science class when we have very guided reading in nonfiction texts.  We are just beginning to have guided reading groups.  

Science:  We finished our unit introducing the idea of variation among living things.  Thursday’s Four Winds session helped us revisit some of this thinking.

We continue to work on demonstrating expected behaviors.  The school wide reinforcers or SMART cells and their boosters have been in play this week-there is an added competition.

Next week's sharing theme is this: Share something important to you. It could be a memory, an upcoming event, a souvenir, Something. If you get a chance, please help your child prepare for this. Thanks!