RACE response

Hello Families,

Can you believe we're already in the month of November?  I always love this time in the school year because our classroom environment is established, we're working as a team, and we're progressing nicely through our 4th grade year.  The early release this past Wednesday allowed me to meet with some of you!  It was such a pleasure speaking with you all and I thank you for coming in.  Today, our class was able to re-take our whole class photo, which allowed myself and Ms. B to join in as well!  You can expect this pictures to arrive within the month.  As we look ahead in November, we have a short week next week due to Veterans day, and our Thanksgiving break begins with an early release 11/23.  Mark those calendars!

Finding Equivalent Fractions

In math this week, students worked with fractions and focused on finding equivalent fractions.  We used a hands on approach to this skill and had visuals to help model how fractions can be equal to one another.  As you can see in the picture, students model how 2/4 is equivalent to 1/2.  We also used number lines to reinforce this concept! In ELA, our story this week was a realistic fiction titled Me and Uncle Romie.  Students worked on the skill of analyzing character traits to understand how characters change throughout the text.  In order to assist in comprehension, students used their "tracking sheets" to think beyond the text to make inferences, opinions, predictions, and to ask questions.  If you ever find your child needing assistance in comprehension at home, ask them to explain "tracking" to you!  In addition to analyzing our story, students also worked on a RACE which required them to go back into the text to pull out evidence to support why the main character changed throughout the story.  You will see an example of this response to the right.  We are beginning to get the hang of this! In writing, students are also continuing with their spooky Halloween narrative and should be typing their final draft by the end of next week.  Please watch out for these coming home soon!  

I always love providing questions in our classroom blog to help prompt some conversation at home about school. Recently, a colleague showed me a quote she found and I had to share it with all of you.  It says: "A teacher/parent is not a person who gives the right answers, but one who asks the right questions."  The questions we choose to ask our children encourages deeper reflection and better learning processes.  This weekend, see what your child's responses are to the questions below and as always, thank you for reading!

Best,

Ms. Wentworth:)

Questions for Conversation 

1. How can I determine if 2/8 is equal to 1/4?

2. What two strategies did you use for finding equivalent fractions?

3.  How did James' opinion about this uncle change in the story?

4. What are some natural resources found in the Northeast region?

5. How do you learn best in the classroom?  In a group, partners, individually?

Exploring the NE region

October 28, 2016

Hello Families, 

Playing Government Concentration

As you can imagine, our room is buzzing with excitement as it is Friday and our class harvest party was today. Thank you to our room parents for organizing this fun event! This week in writing, we have been busy working our Halloween Narrative stories!  This has been a month long assignment, as students have worked to use their narrative diamonds to help organize their thoughts while adding elaborative detail and dialogue to their stories.  Most recently, students learned to edit and revise their writing, a very important skill that we will apply to our daily work as well.  Today, students worked on constructing their elaborative detail paragraph by focusing on including sensory details.  This has been an exciting piece of writing that every student has enjoyed and been proud of, especially since it is centered around Halloween!  In Social Studies, we are wrapping up learning about our government and will begin exploring our first region, the Northeast, next week.  Students have been accessing our quizlet account to help them study, which is always a useful resource.   As a reminder, the login name is Wentworth SS, and the password is hinghamschools.  In Science, students have finalized their month long Botany unit by presenting their beautiful bee and flower projects.  They look fantastic, and students have been demonstrating a great understanding of pollination.  

Brainstorming Sensory Details

 In reading, students have been learning “fix up” strategies to help them monitor comprehension in both fiction and non-fiction.  Our TRI groups are now in full swing and students have adjusted to their groups nicely.  We are continuing to apply “tracks” to our reading, which have encouraged students to think beyond the text.  This strategy is one that they can apply to their reading at home, and I’m sure they would be excited to share this with you! This week, I also sent home your child’s first RACE response.  This stands for restate, answer, cite, and evaluate.  This was done independently, so I could assess areas of strength and specific skills to continue working on.  The ability to pull evidence from the text is difficult, and this was the first reading response our class has done independently.  We will continue practicing this throughout the year. In math, we have finished our second unit, and are in the process of being assessed on this content.   So far, we have learned about the difference between factors and multiples, have found the area of rectangles, and identified square numbers.  We have also explored various applications for multiplication, and have classified shapes!  Thank you for working with your children on their multiplication facts, building fact fluency is so important.

In other classroom news, 4W  is greatful to be using Yoga4classrooms this year!  This program is a fun and effective tool to promote a positive, peaceful, learning ready classroom!  All activities have students moving around and completing brain boosting movements  to promote wellness and character building.  So far, it's been a big success!! As a reminder, next Wednesday will be an early release due to conferences.  I look forward to speaking with some of you about our year thus far.  If you cannot make that conference date and time, please feel free to email me, and we can set up another day that works best! Thank you for reading about our classroom, and enjoy our pictures from this week!

Best,

Ms. Wentworth :)

Upcoming Dates/Events

Conference/Half Day: November 2nd

Picture Retake Day: November 4th * We will re-take our whole class picture!

No School: November 11

Book Report due: November 14

Questions For Conversation 

• What are the editing steps you use in writing?
• When writing your elaborative paragraph, what sensory details did you use?
• What does RACE stand for?
• Can you tell me the three branches of government? What are their roles?

Talk about Creativity! 

Our adorable Craft!

Identifying "Red Flag" Words

Dear Families,

Happy Friday everyone!  For a short week, we have been able to squeeze in a lot of learning.  This included a hands-on approach as we visited our outdoor classroom Holly Hill!  Students exhibited fantastic expected behavior on our first field trip, and as a result we got a lot out of this learning experience. 

This week in 4W, we continued our second unit in math.  We are working on square numbers, factor pairs, and multiples.  Understanding 4^th grade vocabulary in math this year is critical, so it is important to take our time with homework and discuss these words with someone at home.  Today, students rotated through a “carousel” in class which reviewed math terms and got us out of our seats to practice these skills.  We also worked on a math open response which encouraged students to use critical thinking skills.  Students then revised their work after reviewing samples from others, which allowed everyone to carefully examine their answers and add onto it!

In science, we are dissecting lilies on Monday to conclude our botany unit. This was such an enjoyable unit of study, and we were fortunate to visit Holly Hill to reinforce these concepts.  This week in reading, we read a Tall Tale titled Stormalong and we learned how to completely answer an open response question using our R.A.C.E forms.  This organizer is used to help us organize our thoughts and fully answer the question by citing evidence from the text.  If you ask your child about this, I am sure they will respond by saying it was a lot of work at first, but as we practice it will become easier! They did a great job as I modeled this technique. In ELA, students also began our novel study, Gilly Hopkins.  This novel is about a spunky young girl and her experience as a ten year old in foster care.  We will be spending this time analyzing, comprehending, and writing about Gilly Hopkins and her adventures.  Having just read two chapters as a class, I already see students diving into the story and connecting to our main character.  We look forward to reading more about the life of this mischievous ten year old. 

To conclude our updates, students received their first book report today!  We spent time reviewing the directions and were able to view examples from previous years.  This book report is a mystery puzzle report, and students will be given the opportunity to choose a mystery book to read in library next week! Students will also receive their oak-tag on Monday.  This is not due until November 14^th. Below, are some questions for classroom conversation.  Thank you for your continuous support. Enjoy your weekend!

Sincerely,

Ms. Wentworth :)

1. What evidence from the text did you use to support the character traits for Stormalong?

2. Is 28 a prime or composite number?

3. What is the difference between a factor and a multiple?

4. Can you describe a R.A.C.E form to me? How did you use this to answer the Stormalong question

Our Carousel Review

It took 12 students to wrap around the base of this tree! It was 110 years old!

We love this "Hands On" Learning!

Reading about Gilly

Upcoming Dates

Bee Project: Due October 20th

Harvest Party: October 28th

Book Report Due: November 14th

October 7

Hello Families,

As the long weekend approaches, you could feel the excitement and energy in the room.  Our class has worked very hard since the beginning of the year, and this is certainly a well-deserved day off.  This week in math we began working our way through unit 2, learning about perimeter and area of squares and rectangles.  We also practiced the skill of identifying factors and multiples.  In this lesson, students experienced how important it was to know their math facts to help them with their daily work.  As a reminder, students can use xtra math online and even flashcards to brush up on these skills.

In ELA this week, we read a fictional story titled the Power of W.O.W and worked on identifying run-on sentences in our reading and writing.  Students also have become more comfortable with the new program’s vocabulary and have been applying these words to their daily work. TRI began this past Monday and it was exciting to see students reading in small groups with their peers! In writing, we are continuing with our narrative stories, learning to add elaborating detail to our setting and character.  Students have been practicing to “show” and “not tell” when adding description to their stories.  It’s thrilling to see a class so enthused about their writing each day, we look forward to eventually sharing their final products with you!

  In science, students have pollinated their flowers, and are next going to harvest the seeds.  This demonstrates the life cycle of a plant as the class observes the changes their Wisconsin Plant goes through.  In class today, Ms. Natale introduced a home project where students design a model of a plant or a bee to illustrate pollination.  This is a creative and fun way for students to demonstrate their understanding of this unit as well as conclude our Botany study.  In addition to this project, the fourth grade class will be taking a field trip to Holly Hill on October 12^th to finalize their plant study!

            At the end of each week, I continue to feel proud of this 4^th grade class.  I observe students making better choices throughout the day as we are always reminded of our South School motto to “bee kinder than necessary”.  Wishing you all a wonderful long weekend ahead.

·  In writing, how did you choose to begin your narrative?  What is the problem in your story?

- What is the area of a shape with a length of 8 and a width of 6?

·  What book are you reading in TRI? Who is your TRI teacher?

·  What is a factor pair? What are some factor pairs for the number 18?

·  What did you learn about electrical safety? 

Students demonstrate factor pairs in a number sentence.

Our Social Studies Ipads are just about complete!

Upcoming Events

1. Holly Hill October 12th
2. Bee Project Due 10/20
3. Harvest Party October 28th

Hello Families,

It was definitely a cooler week in our classroom as we near our first week of October!  Within the past few days, I have seen a BIG change in our classroom environment.  Students are collaborating, respecting one another, taking risks, and working like a team.  I love seeing how independent they become just one month into the school year. This week in Science, we are studying how bees pollinate. Students had the opportunity to pollinate their own plants in class and are continuing to record data and make. In social studies, we are learning about the 6 U.S Symbols and are in the process of creating “isymbols” or “ipads” to explain their importance and to understand what they represent.  You will see an example in our blog below!

 In math, we are nearing the end of unit one, as we finish learning about angles, lines, quadrangles, and perimeter.  Today, we used our online SRB and completed a study guide in class to help reinforce skills.  I am observing students becoming more comfortable with this online tool.  This is a great resource for students to explore previous lessons, gain extra practice with problems, and play games to solidify their understanding.  It is not required that students use this resource at home, it is just another way for students to access the curriculum outside of school. 

In reading, students worked to monitor their comprehension by having inner conversations.  This was modeled earlier this week and students grasped the concept very well.  This strategy will be utilized in both fiction and non-fiction to engage students in their reading and to foster conversation about the text.  Below, you will see the codes students use when “tracking their thinking”.  If you see your student pick up a book this week, ask them to make a track for you and explain what it means.  I think you will be just as impressed as I was!

A popular activity in our classroom right now is our Spooky Narrative Writings.  We began last week by organizing and brainstorming, and we are now writing our entertaining beginnings.  Students are learning to use sounds, dialogue, and questions to make their introductions exciting!  We have a lot of very creative thinkers in here.

Thank you for taking the time to read our weekly email.  It’s a quick snapshot into our lives here at South, and I am very pleased of all the hard work and positive attitudes I see every day in our classroom.  As a friendly reminder, our field trip to Holly Hill is Wednesday, October 12^th, and Wednesday October 5^th is an early release.  Wishing you all an enjoyable and relaxing weekend!

Sincerely,

Ms. Wentworth :-)

Tracking Our Thinking and having inner conversations improves comprehension  

Creating our Isymbols!

We all had our first turn in Homeworkopoly  :-)

Hello Families,

We have completed another full week of fourth grade, and we are off to a great start!  This week, we began formulating ideas for a spooky Halloween narrative that we will start to write on Monday.  We are focusing on creating entertaining beginnings, and adding a lot of detail and structure to our writing.  As we approach October, I can see everyone's creativity flowing and there's a lot of excitement around this topic.  I look forward to reading their final drafts in weeks to come! 

This week in reading, we read My Brother Martin, a story about Martin Luther King told through the perspective of his sisters. As we read this narrative, we focused on the structure of the story, learning to recognize the entertaining beginning, the suspense, the main events, and the conclusion.  We will use our narrative diamond throughout this term while reading as well as writing.  Our reading program this week also focused on types of sentences. Students identified and wrote exclamatory, declarative, command, and interrogative sentences.

In science, we are continuing with botany and learning the parts of the flower.  We are still observing our Wisconsin Fast Plants and already we can see buds coming in.  Every morning, students rush over to see how their plants have progressed, it's exciting to watch.  In social studies, we have been learning about the land forms in the eastern, western, and middle part of the United States.  Our continent quiz has been moved to next Tuesday, the 27^th, so students have a few more days to study.  Today, they came home with another completed study guide.

To finish off, we will end with math! This past week, students were given an open response to complete in class.  This challenge was called "The Muffin Code".  Students applied critical and creative thinking skills to solve the code.  It was a good challenge and a skill we are going to continue to work on.  Today, we reviewed the rules of rounding by starting our morning with a fun game of spin and round.  Students loved the chance to review this concept with a hands on approach.

I wish you all a relaxing weekend, below are some questions for school conversation.

-Ms. Wentworth :)

·  Which part of the narrative diamond has "red flag words?"

·  What will your Halloween story be about?

·  What was the muffin code? Did you find it hard?

·  What types of landforms can be found in the Eastern, Middle, and Western part of the US?

Showing off our Green Thumbs!

Spin and Round Review!

Ordering the parts of a narrative.

September 15, 2016

Hello Families,

It was a pleasure meeting you all this past Wednesday at our Back to School Night.  Thank you so much for coming, I look forward to a successful and enjoyable year ahead! We have had another productive week as we complete our first full week of fourth grade.  In math, we are working on place value and rounding/estimation.  Students have been identifying digits by place value and describing relationships between these places.  We have been using our knowledge of place value to help us round numbers, making them friendlier to work with! We have also received our usernames and passwords to access our Student Books online.  Your child has their information stapled in the front cover of their agenda books.  This can be used for playing games, reviewing concepts, and even printing homework.  Students will be using Chromebooks weekly to become more familiar with this website.  In Science, students have planted their Wisconsin Fast Seeds and have turned into botanists as they observe their plant and study the life cycle!  It’s a great hands-on approach to science and this unit is always a lot of fun.  We have been quite busy in social studies as well, identifying our 7 continents as well as the oceans that surround them.  Next Thursday, September 22, we will have our first quiz on labeling our map.  As the year progresses, we will learn more about each continent!  Today in Social Studies, we even studied the constitution to further our understanding for Constitution Day this Saturday.  It’s always a great lesson to help us reinforce our own classroom rules. It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week since school started, seeing as how we have learned so much.

Thank you for supporting your child and helping us begin the year on a positive note. Below, you will find some questions for weekend conversation, enjoy the beautiful weather!

Sincerely,

Ms. Wentworth :)

1.       Can you name all of the 7 continents?

2.      What is the purpose of a seed coat?

3.      What does rounding estimation mean? Can you give me an example?

4.      What normally happens at morning meeting?

5.      Do you enjoy raising your hand to participate?

Learning about Constitution Week!

Exploring our online Everyday Math Program

Sharing thoughts and questions about the 7 continents