Three of the high points of the week occurred on Friday. Students went to Jump Rope for Heart. Those who went expressed pride for having raised money to help people affected by heart disease. Meanwhile back at the ranch, so to speak, students participated in their math class. Next they had seventy minutes to create a slide show about a topic of their choosing. I suggested a slide show to accompany their persuasive essays but encouraged them to choose a topic they were interested in. The only stipulation: students could not choose a topic they'd already used many times (hockey comes to mind...) This student centered, self directed project brought out the best in students. They produced some of the best work they've done. Soon I'll post their slide shows but first we need to learn about and create source lists.
In other writing news students have been working on their second persuasive essays. We will use these ones to assess students ability to construct a well organized persuasive essay. Students have used a graphic organizer to plan for these essays. The topic is "My favorite Red Clover Book."
Fourth grade math students started a new unit this week on Geometry. We used pattern blocks to problem solve measurements of different angles. Our new vocabulary includes: right angles, acute angle, obtuse angle, straight angle and zero angles. Third graders continue to work on measurement and calculations.
Reading groups have continued to meet and we did plenty of SBAC preparations. In grade level groups students met to take practice tests. This week we had one session of collaborative work. Students in grade four had discussions about what animals need to survive. Third graders discussed ideas related to our solar system. The following day each group entered the 'secure portal' to take a language arts test related to the topic of their age groups. Student encountered nonfiction complex texts and were asked to answer questions about the texts. Some were multiple choice while others were essay questions. The tests are rigorous and interesting. It is good that we have these practice sessions!
Monday, March 30, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Vernal Equinox Today
Our Morning Meeting leader, Avery, eagerly told us that today (Friday) marks the vernal Equinox. It is especially fun to talk about the Equinox when one is part of a group with the same name. We wish the real spring would arrive soon! We'll be learning more about what the Equinox is on Monday.
In writing this week students tinkered with the final drafts of their persuasive essays. Many students posted them on their blogs. Students shared them in class in a 'round robin' sort of arrangement. In our class meeting after the shared readings, students clearly articulated that reading each other's work helps them reflect on their own. Other themes emerged too. Students were able to reflect on the whole process-how long it was and sometimes discouraging and the delight they now feel in having a finished piece. That is helpful as we return to our realistic fiction and then move on to a report writing piece. More about that later!
In math, Ms. Ward reports, "Third Graders are exploring measurement concepts including volume, mass and length this week. An adventurous work place was introduced; focusing on hands-on opportunities for estimating amounts and measuring to find the exact quantity. Number Corner involves measurement of time intervals and ideas about fractions." In Grade Four students learned about metric conversions. Specifically they learned about conversions from grams to kilograms, meters to kilometers, milliliters to liters. They also reviewed all of the math content in Unit 4. This included many methods for calculating multi-digit addition and subtraction problems, elapsed time, using data from ratio tables to solve problems and measurement. On Friday, students completed the Unit 4 assessment.
We have renewed our interest in expanding our vocabulary. We are using words that come up in Red Clover books as well as those identified in reading groups.
We look forward to our parent teacher conferences which begin on Monday. Please remember, no regular school for students on Monday.
In math, Ms. Ward reports, "Third Graders are exploring measurement concepts including volume, mass and length this week. An adventurous work place was introduced; focusing on hands-on opportunities for estimating amounts and measuring to find the exact quantity. Number Corner involves measurement of time intervals and ideas about fractions." In Grade Four students learned about metric conversions. Specifically they learned about conversions from grams to kilograms, meters to kilometers, milliliters to liters. They also reviewed all of the math content in Unit 4. This included many methods for calculating multi-digit addition and subtraction problems, elapsed time, using data from ratio tables to solve problems and measurement. On Friday, students completed the Unit 4 assessment.
We have renewed our interest in expanding our vocabulary. We are using words that come up in Red Clover books as well as those identified in reading groups.
We look forward to our parent teacher conferences which begin on Monday. Please remember, no regular school for students on Monday.
2015 Be Money Wi$e Poster Contest, submitted by Ms. Baker
2015 Be Money Wi$e Poster Contest
Each year the State Treasure's office and the VT Bankers Association have a poster contest to celebrate April as financial literacy month. The poster is judged on expressing the theme, artwork, content, and creativity. The theme of this year’s contest was, “To Build a Money Plan, I will . . .” The State Treasurer will recognize the student poster contest winners at an April 9thceremony. Students placing first in each division win a $100 cash prize and their school a $100 cash prize.
When I spoke with the contact from the treasurer's office, she told me that WCS artists have really outdone themselves. She stated that WCS artists showed perseverance and grit. She said that it was obvious that our students read directions, understood the theme, and pushed themselves.
3 honorable mention students:Friday, March 13, 2015
Writing, Writing, Writing
Phew! Students made a huge effort to complete their persuasive essays this week and most were able to! Today they shared their work with some of their peers and a short 'round robin' of reading. As you may have noticed, the expectations (standards) for third and fourth grade writing are rigorous! In this case students had to compose a four paragraph essay with a strong internal structure and persuasive language. What do I mean by a strong internal structure?
Introduction: The introduction needs a background information, a strong claim and two reasons supporting the claim.
First paragraph: This paragraph needed a topic sentence about the first reason and evidence to support it.
Second paragraph: This one was to prove the second reason supports the strong claim.
Conclusion: The conclusion restates the introduction and adds a little final thought.
See what I mean? That's a lot. Add to it persuasive language, correct spelling and punctuation and you can see why this unit has taken eight weeks. Some students may choose to post their essays on their blog. At any rate you'll see the essays with the scoring rubrics attached at our conferences.
Speaking of conferences, I hope you have received a link to the sign up document. Please let me know if you are having any trouble with that.
Students have also been doing some great writing that you can read on our blog. There you might read about March Math Madness, The Red Clover books being read to us or how students shared their persuasive essays.
All students are now in guided reading groups. The titles we are currently reading are Charlotte's Web, The Anybodies, Twister on Tuesday, Ralph S. Mouse and Frindle. In addition, we have finished The BFG which we LOVED and we have begun Flora and Ulysses. With guest readers reading Red Clover books almost every day, silent reading, group work and Read Aloud, we are getting some great literature studies in. We all love stories, that's for sure.
In math grade four is practicing measurement. We have worked with measurements of time, length and volume. Students are consistently asked to make computations of these measurements. They are also constructing ration tables.
We continue to talk as a class about mindful behaviors, the quality of our work and how we interact with each other. Students have taken over running Morning Meetings and our Theme Shares were a great success.
Reminders:
Here are two FAP fund raising opportunities for you to contribute to! (FAP helps fund our programming. Specifically those funds help with field trips and special projects such as building instruments with the engineers.)
Enjoy the weekend!
Introduction: The introduction needs a background information, a strong claim and two reasons supporting the claim.
First paragraph: This paragraph needed a topic sentence about the first reason and evidence to support it.
Second paragraph: This one was to prove the second reason supports the strong claim.
Conclusion: The conclusion restates the introduction and adds a little final thought.
See what I mean? That's a lot. Add to it persuasive language, correct spelling and punctuation and you can see why this unit has taken eight weeks. Some students may choose to post their essays on their blog. At any rate you'll see the essays with the scoring rubrics attached at our conferences.
Speaking of conferences, I hope you have received a link to the sign up document. Please let me know if you are having any trouble with that.
Students have also been doing some great writing that you can read on our blog. There you might read about March Math Madness, The Red Clover books being read to us or how students shared their persuasive essays.
All students are now in guided reading groups. The titles we are currently reading are Charlotte's Web, The Anybodies, Twister on Tuesday, Ralph S. Mouse and Frindle. In addition, we have finished The BFG which we LOVED and we have begun Flora and Ulysses. With guest readers reading Red Clover books almost every day, silent reading, group work and Read Aloud, we are getting some great literature studies in. We all love stories, that's for sure.
In math grade four is practicing measurement. We have worked with measurements of time, length and volume. Students are consistently asked to make computations of these measurements. They are also constructing ration tables.
We continue to talk as a class about mindful behaviors, the quality of our work and how we interact with each other. Students have taken over running Morning Meetings and our Theme Shares were a great success.
Reminders:
Here are two FAP fund raising opportunities for you to contribute to! (FAP helps fund our programming. Specifically those funds help with field trips and special projects such as building instruments with the engineers.)
- Next week is the last week to contribute to our Backyard Fun Big Basket.
- The Lucky You raffle takes place next week only. Please see the School Bell for details.
Enjoy the weekend!
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Hello Families,
While the snow and cold weather outside is getting tiresome for some, it was great to return to school and your children this week. It has been a very busy four days!
In writing we continue with our Persuasive Essays. Now that most students have four paragraphs which include an introduction (with background information, a strong claim and two reasons for the claim) two persuasive paragraphs (evidence) and a conclusion, they are working on editing their work in partnerships using checklists for things like punctuation, language and structure as well as a rubric for the standards applying to the persuasive essay at each grade level. These essays will be finalized next week.
Blogging this week focused primarily on our schoolwide immersion in the 2014-2015 Red Clover Awards. With that as a subject, we focused our attention on refining the writing, in the areas of grammar and punctuation. Some students also learned how to add links to their posts. We are in the process of critiquing these posts so they will be finalized for posting on Monday. Feel free to urge your child to review his or her post at home this weekend. We did a lot of revising as a group on Friday but not everyone got to correct the errors found by their peers.
We have had a very strong emphasis on literature this week. The 2014-2015 Red Clover Award (Vermont’s picture book award for children, voted for by children in grades K-4) was launched in our school under the direction of Karen Hennig with the help of many on staff.
Each of the ten books will be read to our class by a staff member who does not have his/her own classroom. So far we have heard books read by Ms. Rossier, Ms. Nadine and Ms. Parks. This project is a great way to build our school community, enjoy great literature and learn about the world together. As a whole group and in small reading groups we are looking closely at author’s craft (a nice fit with our writing), making inferences and the overall message of a passage or a book.
In both math classes we are working on subtraction, subtraction and more subtraction! In the fourth grade class students are learning to assess problems to determine the most efficient strategy for solving the problem. This is very different fromt the way we adults are used to thinking of subtraction but it has been challenging, fun and illuminating to discover new ways to look at numbers together! Next week we will be working with more measurement of all types in Grade 4.
Many students continue to struggle with fact fluency. In school many of them find it difficult to devote three minutes of focused work on Xtra Math. I am encouraging students to put in their practice time at home where there are fewer distractions. Because this program is online, they have access to it both at home and at school. Please let me know if this would be a problem for your child.
This week we have also revisited our norms for SMART behaviors at school. Each student set a goal for herself or himself which you can see and review with your child on Monday. These goals are written on the purple ‘to do’ sheets that will come home in their folders on Monday.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions, concerns or comments.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Weekly Review
It seemed like a crazy short week - in large part due to the Snow Day on Monday, I think. Amoung the week's highlights was the Winter Concert put on by the third and fourth grade chorus led by Ms. Trasciatti-Holmberg. We attended the concert on Wednesday afternoon. As you may know, it was also held on Wednesday evening. I was struck by the varied repertoire, the precision of pitch and of enunciation. The singers looked so joyful! It was thrilling to see and hear the performance.
We are honing in on our blog posts a bit, as I mentioned last week. Students did some revisions on old posts and posted them. This isn't exactly how blogging works-posting old news-but I'm hoping we can raise the standards for grammar, usage and mechanics even for unchecked work! Please encourage your children by reading their posts, noting when there is no new post and generally inquiring about their school lives with specific questions. Hopefully this blog gives you some starting points.
In other writing news we did some work with pronouns and plurals in our Daily Language Review and we took further steps in persuasive writing. We are looking at organization and author's craft in particular. Students are working on a persuasive essay about a favorite candy, game, book or TV show. This is a great way for me to connect with students about what is important to them. One favorite topic is Minecraft. It is helpful for me to read what they think about this game and why it is so important to them.
In fourth grade math we are revisiting place value, measurement and computation of multi digit numbers. The Bridges Math Program does take an innovative approach. I find that students are able to build a much stronger conceptual understanding through the work we are doing than I have seen with other programs. In third and fourth grade math both there is a need for more work on basic math fact practice. We do this at school with our work on the program Xtra Math. The problem is that it is a skill and drill kind of program that has lost some of its luster lately. It would be great if you could encourage your child to work toward mastery at home with flashcards or by him/her using Xtra Math for 5-10 minutes here or there. Actually, even just asking him or her where she is in the program would be helpful.
Yesterday we determined the kind party we will have on Friday to celebrate Valentine's Day. We will be having a card exchange and some special snacks. Students created a menu and signed up to bring in food items. They have access to this list in Google Drive so they can show it to you. The menu is Fruit Rainbow, Class Made Trail Mix, and a few other special snack items. If you would rather not supply what your child signed up for, that's fine. I'm sure we will have enough food items. We will build a fruit rainbow and the trail mix together. Our Stone Soup experience was very successful; we are eager to make and eat food together again! I have put a link to the sign up doc in the upper right hand corner of this blog. It is not a doc you can edit but you can see what your child signed up for. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
Other things to note:
We had the second of four science workshops this week focusing on the topic of matter.
On Thursday our school mascot, Einstein visited to invigorate our commitment to SMART behaviors.
NAEP testing was rescheduled for Tuesday, February 10. All fourth graders will participate.
We are honing in on our blog posts a bit, as I mentioned last week. Students did some revisions on old posts and posted them. This isn't exactly how blogging works-posting old news-but I'm hoping we can raise the standards for grammar, usage and mechanics even for unchecked work! Please encourage your children by reading their posts, noting when there is no new post and generally inquiring about their school lives with specific questions. Hopefully this blog gives you some starting points.
In other writing news we did some work with pronouns and plurals in our Daily Language Review and we took further steps in persuasive writing. We are looking at organization and author's craft in particular. Students are working on a persuasive essay about a favorite candy, game, book or TV show. This is a great way for me to connect with students about what is important to them. One favorite topic is Minecraft. It is helpful for me to read what they think about this game and why it is so important to them.
In fourth grade math we are revisiting place value, measurement and computation of multi digit numbers. The Bridges Math Program does take an innovative approach. I find that students are able to build a much stronger conceptual understanding through the work we are doing than I have seen with other programs. In third and fourth grade math both there is a need for more work on basic math fact practice. We do this at school with our work on the program Xtra Math. The problem is that it is a skill and drill kind of program that has lost some of its luster lately. It would be great if you could encourage your child to work toward mastery at home with flashcards or by him/her using Xtra Math for 5-10 minutes here or there. Actually, even just asking him or her where she is in the program would be helpful.
Yesterday we determined the kind party we will have on Friday to celebrate Valentine's Day. We will be having a card exchange and some special snacks. Students created a menu and signed up to bring in food items. They have access to this list in Google Drive so they can show it to you. The menu is Fruit Rainbow, Class Made Trail Mix, and a few other special snack items. If you would rather not supply what your child signed up for, that's fine. I'm sure we will have enough food items. We will build a fruit rainbow and the trail mix together. Our Stone Soup experience was very successful; we are eager to make and eat food together again! I have put a link to the sign up doc in the upper right hand corner of this blog. It is not a doc you can edit but you can see what your child signed up for. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
Other things to note:
We had the second of four science workshops this week focusing on the topic of matter.
On Thursday our school mascot, Einstein visited to invigorate our commitment to SMART behaviors.
NAEP testing was rescheduled for Tuesday, February 10. All fourth graders will participate.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Leaving January Behind
Last week was a great one. We did not have special events so we were able to hunker down in our subject areas and our science workshops, focusing on matter, began.
In math, fourth graders finished up Unit 3 with an assessment. The assessment revealed that all students made great progress in their learning about fractions and decimals. Students really applied themselves to the tasks, worked with a great deal of perseverance and experienced success! They had a second assessment on Friday which was cumulative - questions and problems relating to any concepts presented this year. We had less success on that one but still, students showed they are making steady progress. Unit Four has a focus on place value and multidigit computation.
In writing we continued our work on persuasive writing. You'll remember that students wrote their first pieces presenting a need for change. We are now working on making appreciative claims. Students have used the scoring rubric to look at a sample essay and are gathering topic ideas. We continue to practice work on grammar, syntax and semantics through our Daily Language Review. Students struggle to apply their learning from work on these isolated worksheets to their own authentic writing. Which reminds me, if you are not seeing blog posts regularly from your child, that means the basics have not been corrected (by your child) in his or her posts. What I mean by that is capital letters in titles, periods and sentences that make sense. I noticed this weekend that there are a lot of unpublished, uncorrected posts. I'll work on a system to support students in understanding this condition for posting and accepting the responsibility of correcting their work.
As I mentioned in the opening, we have begun our Wednesday science workshops. It is a series of four workshops regarding properties of matter and states of matter. We have combined the students from all core classrooms to create four new groups. These groups are cycling through the workshops. The workshops are Properties of Matter (Ms. Schoolcraft), Properties of Gas (Ms. Ward), Properties of Liquid (Ms. Weegar) and Conservation of Mass (Stewart). These workshops are designed to give hands on inquiry science experiences.
The snow day today will throw a bit of a wrench in the NAEP testing plans. NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) also known as The Nation's Report Card happens every year in a random sampling of schools across the country. The test is administered at the fourth and eighth grade levels. When a school is tested, the test is given by outside professionals and the school's teachers (i.e. your teachers on Equinox, except for support staff and special educators) have no part of it. Given the selection process it has, I'm not sure there will be a make up day. We'll keep you posted.
Coming up we have the chorus concert on Wednesday. We are very excited about that. We will talk about and decide what kind of party we will have on February 13th to celebrate Valentine's day. We may do another Stone Soup type of experience. Students are encouraged to bring cards with an emphasis on the message rather than on toys and candy. As always, the rule is if you bring a card for one person in our classroom, you must bring one for everyone in our classroom. Skiers will have an opportunity to give and receive cards but the actual party will be at the end of the day.
I hope you will enjoy the new slide show in the side bar. This highlights the work in our Science of Sound with the Create It Engineers.
In math, fourth graders finished up Unit 3 with an assessment. The assessment revealed that all students made great progress in their learning about fractions and decimals. Students really applied themselves to the tasks, worked with a great deal of perseverance and experienced success! They had a second assessment on Friday which was cumulative - questions and problems relating to any concepts presented this year. We had less success on that one but still, students showed they are making steady progress. Unit Four has a focus on place value and multidigit computation.
In writing we continued our work on persuasive writing. You'll remember that students wrote their first pieces presenting a need for change. We are now working on making appreciative claims. Students have used the scoring rubric to look at a sample essay and are gathering topic ideas. We continue to practice work on grammar, syntax and semantics through our Daily Language Review. Students struggle to apply their learning from work on these isolated worksheets to their own authentic writing. Which reminds me, if you are not seeing blog posts regularly from your child, that means the basics have not been corrected (by your child) in his or her posts. What I mean by that is capital letters in titles, periods and sentences that make sense. I noticed this weekend that there are a lot of unpublished, uncorrected posts. I'll work on a system to support students in understanding this condition for posting and accepting the responsibility of correcting their work.
As I mentioned in the opening, we have begun our Wednesday science workshops. It is a series of four workshops regarding properties of matter and states of matter. We have combined the students from all core classrooms to create four new groups. These groups are cycling through the workshops. The workshops are Properties of Matter (Ms. Schoolcraft), Properties of Gas (Ms. Ward), Properties of Liquid (Ms. Weegar) and Conservation of Mass (Stewart). These workshops are designed to give hands on inquiry science experiences.
The snow day today will throw a bit of a wrench in the NAEP testing plans. NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) also known as The Nation's Report Card happens every year in a random sampling of schools across the country. The test is administered at the fourth and eighth grade levels. When a school is tested, the test is given by outside professionals and the school's teachers (i.e. your teachers on Equinox, except for support staff and special educators) have no part of it. Given the selection process it has, I'm not sure there will be a make up day. We'll keep you posted.
Coming up we have the chorus concert on Wednesday. We are very excited about that. We will talk about and decide what kind of party we will have on February 13th to celebrate Valentine's day. We may do another Stone Soup type of experience. Students are encouraged to bring cards with an emphasis on the message rather than on toys and candy. As always, the rule is if you bring a card for one person in our classroom, you must bring one for everyone in our classroom. Skiers will have an opportunity to give and receive cards but the actual party will be at the end of the day.
I hope you will enjoy the new slide show in the side bar. This highlights the work in our Science of Sound with the Create It Engineers.
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