Tuesday, October 27, 2009

1st Quarter Writing Menus

REMINDER!!!!!
Writing Menus will be due tomorrow morning.
Each student will be allowed to come up and present what they worked out and show the rest of the class. This has been a writing project that also includes Reading and Social Studies.
Late assignments will not be accepted since the starting date was October the 1st.
I'm looking forward to some great ideas from the students.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Short Week but Full of Learning.

Hi everyone.
I hope you're all enjoying the fall colors and the nice weather that we've been receiving. This is our short week leading into our Fall Break on Thursday and Friday. Just a reminder, School will not be open on Thrusday or Friday. Enjoy your Fall Break and come back rested and redy to go.

Here is a look at what we'll be working on these next three days.

Reading: We are starting Stone Fox and working on Sequencing. We are also going to touch on Cause and Effect. This is a different genre than the kids are use to. It's realistic fiction, and not really the funny, fantasy type that we started off with. It's a nice change of pace.

Math: We are working on Multiplying bigger numbers, such as 3 digit by 2 digit. This is working pretty well and the students are able to relate the information back to what they learned last week. I"m impressed at how quickly they have learned this new concept.  Below is a picture what what we worked on today.




Science: We are still shocked by our electricity unit. The students did a great job last week of making their batteries work with their lightbulbs. I hope to preform a few more experiments where the students can have some hands on "playtime."

Spelling this week: Our class is working with the vocabulary from Stone Fox. The students are working hard and making a great effort.

** Upcoming Dates:  Field Trip to Heritage Theater on November 10th. Cost of trip is $6.00.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Our "Bright" Students!!!!

Our class worked on electricity during Science. I'm extreemly proud of the way they worked on making their bulbs light up.

Here are a couple of pictures of some successful experiments!



Thursday, October 22, 2009

Question of the Week (10/22)

Dear Students,

Here is our question of the week. We will be having one of these each week, so please make sure you answer the question by the end of the week.

Here is our Question!
* Martin has 24 baseball cards in his collection. If he collects the same number of cards for 3 months, approximately how many baseball cards will he have?
Please answer in the comment section. Remember to Sign Your Name so I'll know you answered.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

New Way to Look at Multiplying 2-Digit by 2-digit

Hi everyone.
Our class has recently started working on multiplying and we are coming up with different stratigies to help us understand better.

One way discovered yesterday was the Latice Format.
The process:
1) break the two factors (52 and 39) into two seperate numbers. One ending with a zero.
2) Multiply to get answers in the boxes (post-its)
3) Once you have your products, then add across.
4) The final step is to add your remaining numbers for your final product.

The students find this method easier to do and understand because it breaks down numbers visually.

Hope this helps!

Monday, October 19, 2009

What do you think?

Stone Fox takes place in Wyoming. What can you infer is going to happen in the story since there are Dog Sleds and Native Americans?
Remember. No answer is wrong. What is your best guess?


Interactions! (Oct. 19-23)

Hi Everyone,
I hope all of you had a pleasent weekend and rested up for another week of school. We are coming close to the end of our 1st quarter. Hard to beleieve that we've been in school a total  of 39 days...Time does Fly!
Here is a list of what our class will be working on.

**End of Quarter Test. Yes, it's that time of year again where we are having to take the EOQs and assess the students on their reading and math skills for the 1st quarter. Quarter testing will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We will be holding off on Reading and Math instruction since we are going to be working with the test. Please remember to be on time to school during these testing days.

Reading: We started Stone Fox by looking at some differences between North Carolina and Wyoming. The students were introduced to a new state that we really didn't know anything about. On Friday we are going to start reading the story and applying sequenceing and Main Idea.

Math: We are continuing to look at multiplying 2-digit by 2-digit. The students are slowing getting the process and we continue to work on it in class. Keep practicing at home and get better. Practice makes perfect.

Writing: The students are finishing up there Writing menus in class. The final due date for the menus is October 28th. No late projects will be accepted since we've been working on this for the past 2 weeks. I have seem some great items that the students have been working on. I am really impressed by some of their creativity.

Science: This week we will be working on Science and learning a bit about Static Electricity. We will work on different aspects and how it applys to the everyday life. We will try to have a few grades for science to put on the Report Cards for the end of the quarter.

Spelling words for this week are:  follow, matter, summer, million dollar, scissors, cattle, address, office, suppertime, blizzard, penny, wrapper, wallet, occurrence, village, collide, battle
The words this week all deal with double syllables (letters)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I want to know what you thought about...

Hey students,
As you all know we just finished reading "The Twits." I know that all of you enjoyed reading the funny pranks that Mr. and Mrs. Twit played on each other.
In the comment section, please feel free to talk about what you loved about the book. Remember to be specific because other people might enjoy hearing about your opinion.

Till Then, Keep on Reading!

Mr. Twit as he gets ready to use the
Hugtight Glue on the Big Dead Tree!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Check Us Out!

Here is a glace at what we are working on the week of
10/12-10/16:

Reading: Our guided reading groups has gotten off to a fantastic start. Many thanks to Mrs. Harwell for her working in making the first day of Guided Reading a success. Our Teacher Directed reading focuses on a new (shorter) chapter book entitled, The Twits by Roald Dahl. It is a funny book that shows the kids a new genre of literature. Our focus this week is sequencing within a story along with the meaning behind the text.

The Twits sitting down to a "tasty" meal.






Math: Last week was very successful with our estimation multiplication. The students really found it easy to bring the zeros down and solve simple multiplication problems. This week, we are working on multiplying 2-digit by 2-digit. This is a harder concept but we are using the "break it down method" otherwise know as the Distributive Property. I will post pictures/video of our lessons on this topic to better help you at home. Since this is an essential part of 4th grade math, we will contiune to work on our multiplication. Please make sure you are reviewing facts at home.



The follow shows the steps in the Distrubutive Property  
  















Writing: Our writing menus have taken off and the students are looking for any reason to work on them. As a teacher, THIS IS AWSOME!!! I am extreemly excited that the students are being creative and love writing about topics that they can pick from. Remeber, the due date for the final pieces is October 28th.

Social Studies: We are continuing to work on the Three Regions of NC. The students will have a test on the Unit, Wednesday, October 14th. I will allow the students to use their book to find the information (much like using the text on the reading portion of the EOG).
Spelling Words for this week focus on the short "u" sound as in "Cup" and the long "u" sound as in "Use."
blush, crutch, crunch, grumpy, much, umpire, uncle, none, does, fuel, cute, cubicle, human, future, usual, uniform, used, beautiful, **Factors, **Products (**are extra credit words)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

New Month...New Stuff

Hi everyone.
Well, it's October and Autumn is in the air. We are well on our way to learning new information and applying it everyday.

Here is a look at what we will be working on.

Reading: Again, we are working on the Lightning Thief. I hope to have this book completed before the end of the week. The students have really gotten into the novel and some have even read ahead and finished. Great Job guys!
We will also be working on Teacher Directed Reading as well as Guided Reading groups in the coming week.

Math: We are jumping into some bigger multiplication. On Monday and Tuesday we have worked on multiplying with 10s, 100s, and 1000s. We have learned about the "zero shortcut." The students have found that this is a really easy process, but they must know their regular multiplication tables. This is key to their success. We will also start looking at rounding then multiplying double digit numbers. This combines two math concepts that we have already reviewed.

Writing: This week I have introduced our first writing menu. The class can choose their own writing for each selection, Appitizer, Main Course, and Dessert. They must choose one from each. The due date for the final copies is October 28th.

Social Studies: Our class has started learning about the three regions of NC. We are tying our social studies lessons into our writing menu. This is a great way for the students to be creative and decide on their own course of action in their learning.

The Spelling list for this week:
strong, wrong, copy, cloth, problem, October, whole, explode, control, shown, bowl, bottom, smoky, coach, throat, toast, doughnut, foe, **multiply, **division