Manning's Message

Wish List

Thank you for your donations!

Subject Update

Language Arts

Before Thanksgiving break, the students took their trimester one writing assessment.  This week they will be reviewing this assessment, looking at their strengths, areas for improvement and setting trimester two writing goals.  

Last week, students took their trimester one reading assessment.  They will be reviewing this assessment correcting their errors and determining how they could make their written response better.

We are also beginning a Gingerbread unit.  We will be reading a variety of gingerbread stories. We will explore the story elements of setting, character, problem, plot, solution, and chant in these stories and the students are charting these elements in a gingerbread summary book.

After reading and exploring different versions of the “Gingerbread Man” stories, the students will begin to write their own version. They will turn their story into a picture book.

Mathematics

Students are continuing to work on Chapter 6, Fractions and Mixed Numbers.  So far, the students have learned to find equivalent fractions, and simplify fractions, and add and subtract unlike fractions with and without renaming.  This week students are learning to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper to mixed. 

It is important that students practice their multiplication and division facts daily.  Knowing these facts will be crucial to their success in future concepts.  For practice, they can use links from the blog to various game sites, flash cards, XtraMath and Freckle.

Social Studies

Students are continuing to work with their partners to present their knowledge of the eastern land, climate and resources in a Keynote.

Science

Last week the students completed a real-world design challenge entitled Save our Shores.  After reviewing articles, videos and pictures of beach erosion in Situate, Massachusetts, the students were presented with their challenge.  They are competing for a job in the town to design a structure to help protect the shores from water.  They needed to build a prototype to withstand erosion caused from ocean waves. Their structure needed to withstand the pressure from at least one cup of water. The students built their structure to protect a sand castle house.  Once all structures were built, we tested them by pouring cups of water down a chute and towards their house and structure.  The structures were able to withstand from 4 to 32 cups of water!  Below are some photos of The final structures before the water hit.

           

   

   

  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Manning's Message

Wish List

We need wipes (Clorox type), hand sanitizer and tissues.

Any donations are greatly appreciated!

Subject Update

Language Arts

Students are finishing up their opinion pieces and will working on writing a strong conclusion this week.  I’m looking forward to reading their completed pieces.  We will continue our study of opinion writing after vacation. 

Students continue to practice reading and note taking while reading fiction and non-fiction texts.  They continue to practice using strategies to help them understand text and determine important information.  Most are able to use these strategies in a small group and are striving to use them independently.

Learning to Type

All students have been set up with an account on typing.com.  They have a user name and a password.  They should begin practicing typing at home each night. We will also be practicing at school during Daily 5 and the students will begin typing and composing  their writing on the iPad in the near future.   If your student does not have access to a keyboard at home, please let me know.  It is important that the students learn to type fluently this year as it will help them in their future education and as mentioned during curriculum night, they will be taking the MCAS on the iPad this year.

Mathematics

We have completed Chapter 3 and the students have corrected their errors and reflected on their mistakes. Although we have completed Chapter 3, we will continue to work on multi-digit multiplication and division as we move onto the next chapter.  Students will begin working on Chapter 6, Fractions and Mixed Numbers.  In this chapter, the students will learn to add and subtract unlike fractions with and without renaming.  Students will learn to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper to mixed. They will also learn how to find fractions of a set, and will apply this knowledge to multiply a fraction by a whole number and to solve real-world problems. When solving real-world problems, bar models will be used to illustrate adding and subtracting fractions, so the students can visualize the problems to help solve them.

It is important that students practice their multiplication and division facts daily.  Knowing these facts will be crucial to their success in future concepts.  For practice, they can use links from the blog to various game sites, flash cards, XtraMath and Freckle which will be introduced next week. 

Social Studies

Students have been taking East map, states and capitals tests over the past two weeks.  In order to receive a “meeting expectations” grade of 3 on the report card, they must know the location of the state on a map and the capital for each state in the region. The students have had 3 opportunities to take this test over the past weeks.  Many students will be taking a retake map, states and capitals test on Tuesday 11/26.  Students who have already achieved the requirement, will have the opportunity to earn a score of 4 by also learning the major cities, state nicknames, and location of the capitals.  It is important your student study for these quizzes for about 10 minutes each night.  I have sent home study guides and flash cards that they can cut up and use as a study game.  Students are also learning how the culture of the eastern region is affected by its land, climate and resources.  Students are working with partners to present their knowledge in a Keynote.

Science

The past weeks students have continued to learn about weathering, erosion and deposition.  We took a walk around the school grounds to see if we could observe signs of weather, erosion and deposition. Students took pictures with their partners and identified many instances of weathering and erosion.  When we returned to the class, the student chose on picture to make a Claim, Evidence and Reasoning book using the app Book Creator.  These short books are currently being uploaded to their Google Drive folders.  Ask your student to log into the Drive account to view their work.

Manning's Message

Parent Conferences 

I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress in fourth grade.  I will be sending home a preconference form on Tuesday. I would appreciate it if you would take a few moments to answer the questions to help me in preparing for our conference.

If you have yet not signed-up for parent conferences on November 12, please go to this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0444a8ab2ea75-parent5

Wish List

We are in need of wipes. (Clorox type) 

 Any donations are greatly appreciated!

Subject Update

Language Arts

We are working on opinion writing, and the students read a debate piece entitled “Should Everyone Get a Prize” and will work in small groups to discuss their opinions and decide which reasons would make for a strong argument.  They will plan and begin writing this piece depending on their point of view this week. I am looking forward to a lively debate once they have finished writing!

During the past weeks, students have been continuing to practice underlining, highlighting and note-taking skills while reading both fiction and non-fiction materials. These strategies help the students as we continue to practice answering multiple-choice and text-based questions.   We are following the “Problem Solving Steps” of Understand, Represent, Answer and Look Back to help us in answering questions.

Mathematics

We are continuing in Chapter Three, Whole Number Multiplication and Division. Students have learned how to complete 1-digit by 4-digit and 2-digit by 2-digit multiplication algorithms, and have learned a number of strategies to solve these problems.  Students have used the traditional algorithm, partial products and area models to solve these multiplication problems.  We are currently practicing dividing a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number.  Most students are using the traditional algorithm to solve these problems.  The have learned a mnemonic device

Does Mom Serve BrownRice, OR Divide, Multiply,Subtract, Bring down, Repeat.  We are also working on multi-step problem solving involving multiplication and division. We are coming to the end of this chapter and will be reviewing and testing at the end of the week.  Although we are completing this chapter we will continue to work on multiplication and division as we move into the next chapters. It will be important for students to continue to practice their multiplication and division facts as this is the foundation for the upcoming skills.

Social Studies

Students will be learning about various types of regions. The features regions share, how boundaries and borders can define regions, how a place can be a part of more than one type of region, and how people can use regions to make decisions or solve problems. They will also be learning to distinguish between weather and climate, identify factors that affect climate, and identify how climate regions and weather extremes impact economic activity and how people in a region live.  We will also be applying the knowledge about regions to the Eastern Region of our country.  Students will be learning to identify the states in the eastern region and came home today with some maps and flash cards to help them learn the map of the east. We will have a map quiz on Friday.  

Science

During the past two weeks, the students observed 2 different types of erosion (wind and water)  and came to a decision about which type of erosion caused the most damage (or greatest change) based on our observations and measurements.  This was the Wind Castle and Drip Castle experiment that we posted on Seesaw.   Students also made stream tables and observed the erosion and deposition of a landform. These pictures were also posted on Seesaw.   We will continue to explore and discuss how our investigations relate to our environment. The students have learned a song/rhyme to help them remember weathering, erosion, and deposition.  “Weathering breaks it, erosion takes it, deposition drops it. “ 

Manning's Message

Parent Conferences and Cultural Celebration

If you have not signed-up for parent conferences on November 12, please go to this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0444a8ab2ea75-parent5

  

Subject Update

Language Arts

Students continue to learn and practice the processes for our reading and writing classes.  I have completed all of the DRA’s and will soon be sending home your child’s current instructional and independent levels.  

We will be continuing to focus on the story elements of fiction text: characters, setting, plot-problem, key events,  solution, and how understanding these elements help us more deeply understand a text.  Students will concentrate on understanding a character’s traits by paying attention to  a character’s actions, words, thoughts and feelings.  The reading strategies continue to  focus on are identifying theme, making predictions, asking questions, and determining importance.

Mathematics

We have completed Chapter Two: Estimation and Number Theory and have assessed the students’ knowledge. They have reviewed and corrected their mistakes, and have analyzed the types of mistakes they made and made a strategy for improvement. Many students found that they made errors because of rushing, not paying close attention to the instructions or their work.  We have identified these as “Sloppy” mistakes.   Finally, students reflected on what they did well on the test and how they can improve based on their mistakes.  The test, their reflection sheet and a BAN document explaining the test went home last week.  If you haven’t already, please review them with your student, sign and return to school. I will keep these in a portfolio for your child, which they will bring home at the end of each trimester.  

We will begin Chapter 3 this week, Whole Number Multiplication and Division.  In this unit, the students will be multiplying and dividing with and without regrouping.  They will multiply up to a 3-digit number by a 2-digit number, and divide up to a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number.  Students will also estimate products and quotients by rounding and multiplying or dividing to determine if their answer is reasonable. This unit is focused on multiplication and division.  It is crucial that the students have automaticity of their multiplication and division facts because subsequent skills are based on these facts. Students should practice these facts for 10 minutes a day.  All students have been set up with an XtraMath account.  XtraMath can be accessed from a computer or an iPad.  I have noticed that not all students have signed in to this account.  If you are having difficulty accessing your child’s account, please let me know.  

Students have also been assessed for the multiplication facts that they need to know.  Students will be making flashcards for these facts and should practice with these cards whenever they can.  I would like theses flashcards to travel to and from school, so the students have access to them at school.

Social Studies

Students are continuing their study of map skills.  They are currently learning about map scale, and practicing how they can use a scale to determine the distance between places on a map.

Science

Students are continuing their study of weathering and erosion.  The past two weeks, the students explored how solid rocks break apart into smaller pieces through a process called weathering, including root wedging and ice wedging.  They participated in a sugar shake activity, where they modeled what weathering looks like when rocks tumble and crash into each other using sugar cubes in a container.  Students were able to measure how the cubes broke down during the shaking process. Students also participated in an activity where they were given the opportunity to move from models showing weathering to looking at actual earth materials that have been weathered.  They were given 4 different types of earth materials/sediment (rocks, gravel, coarse sand and fine sand) to sort the materials in an order that made sense to them.  Then the constructed an explanation by describing the way the sorted the materials and their reasoning for the sort.

Manning's Message

Parent Conferences and Cultural Celebration

This weekend a sign-up genius was sent for both parent conferences on November 12 and our cultural celebration the week of October 21.  Please check your email for these links.

Subject Update

Language Arts

Students continue to learn and practice the processes for our reading and writing classes.  I have completed all of the DRA’s and will soon be sending home your child’s current instructional and independent levels.  

Students are learning the skills of underlining, highlighting and note taking while reading text. These strategies help the students as we begin to practice answering questions.   We are following the “Problem Solving Steps” of Understand, Represent, Answer and Look Back to help us in answering questions.

We have been focusing on determining a story’s theme. The theme in a story is its underlying message or big idea.  Students are learning to determine what important belief about life the author is trying get across.  Common themes are acceptance, courage, kindness, cooperation, resourcefulness, compassion, perseverance, honesty, family, friendship, and being prepared. 

Mathematics

We have almost completed Chapter Two, Chapter Two: Estimation and Number Theory and the students will be taking their assessment this week.  Students have been learning about factors and multiples and are able to use a couple of strategies to find the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) and Least Common Multiple (LCM).  Students have reviewed the array model for multiplication and are learning to use the area model for multiplication.  

Students should be practicing their addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts daily.  About 10 minutes a day is helpful to maintain these skills.  All students have been set up with an XtraMath account.  XtraMath can be accessed from a computer or an iPad.  I have noticed that not all students have signed in to this account.  If you are having difficulty accessing your child’s account, please let me know. Even if your child also practices their facts in another manner, I’d like them to have this account current, because it is something that they will be able to access in school during math iPad choice time in the upcoming Multiplication and Division chapters.

Social Studies

Students are continuing their study of map skills.  They are currently learning about the lines of latitude and longitude, a geographic coordinate system used to locate every location of Earth.  This week students will be practicing using the coordinates to locate various countries and cities in the world.

  

Science

Students are continuing their study of weathering and erosion.  Last week, students learned that mechanical weathering can happen through frost wedging.  Using a Styrofoam cup to act as a rock, the students filled the cup with water (precipitation) and placed it in the freezer (freezing weather) over night. They made predictions about what would happen to the cup.  The next day, we looked at the cups and found that the water had frozen and expanded downward cracking and/or bumping out the bottom of the cup.  Afterwards, students made a Claim based on the Evidence and gave Reasoning for this in the real world.  Students will be practicing writing the C-E-R based on their experiments throughout the year.

Claim: The earth’s surface is affected by ice because water inside rock’s cracks can freeze and cause the rock to break.  

Evidence: When I observed the frozen Styrofoam cup, the water cracked the cup because it expanded.

Reasoning:This shows me that when water freezes on the earth’s surface, it can cause cracks in rocks.  When the water repeatedly freezes and thaws in the landscape this is called frost wedging.

Manning's Message

Curriculum Night

It was a pleasure seeing many of you on curriculum night!  If you were not able to make the meeting, your student brought home some information. Please look at the Blog photo permission and the Class contact sheets and return them to me.  I am looking forward to collaborating with you to ensure your children have a successful fourth grade year!

iPad Update

We are working to complete the essential Digital Citizenship lessons and the students are learning about how to be responsible and respectful in the digital world, how to protect their private information, and what to do when they encounter mean or inappropriate material online.

Our Digital Citizenship lessons come from a site called Common Sense Media.  This is a non-profit organization, which offers information, advice and tools for helping teachers, parents and kids navigate media and the digital world.   Check them out at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/homepage

Subject Update

We continue to establish and practice our classroom routines and procedures.  The students have been working well as a community and are working toward earning community points to have a classroom celebration.

Language Arts

Daily Five and Cafe

Students have been learning and practicing the processes for reading and writing workshops.   Using the Daily Five structure, the students will be busy completing meaningful literacy tasks.  Their choices will be *Read to self, *Work on Writing, * Word Work, * Read to Someone, and *Listen to Reading.  Currently, we are focused on increasing our stamina to work independently during Read to Self, Read to Someone and Work on Writing.  The students are learning to work independently, and soon I will be also introducing the Word Work.  While the students are completing their literacy tasks, I will be working with small groups or conferencing with individual students.  Currently, I am completing DRA’s (Developmental Reading Assessment) with each student.

While Daily Five is our structure for Literacy Block, the CAFÉ is what we study during the block.  CAFÉ is an acronym for the components of reading:

C-Comprehension, A-Analysis, F-Fluency, E-Expand Vocabulary. The students will learn reading strategies within each category, and these strategies will become tools for them to use to help themselves become better readers and writers.  I will keep you informed when new strategies are introduced. Then, when you read with your child at home, you will be able to reinforce these concepts.

Strategies introduced or to be introduced in the coming weeks are:  Comprehension:  Check for Understanding, Monitor and Fix-up, Back-up and Reread; Ask Questions: Analysis- Ask Questions; Expand Vocabulary- Tune into Interesting Words.  Ask your student how they use these strategies while reading.

In writing, the students have been practicing using the fourth-grade writing expectations to write in complete sentences by making sure they have a subject and a predicate in each sentence.  We are beginning narrative writing and they have been introduced to the narrative writing diamond.  This week we are brainstorming topics for personal and fictional narratives.  Students will begin planning their narrative using a four-square format (opening, setting, main event and extended ending) before they begin to write their opening.   

Mathematics

We have completed Chapter One: Working with Whole Numbers, and the students took their assessment last Tuesday.  They have reviewed and corrected their mistakes.  Many students found that they made errors because of rushing or not paying close attention to their work.  We have identified these as “Sloppy” mistakes.  Finally, students reflected on what they did well on the test and how they can improve based on their mistakes.  The test, their reflection sheet and a BAN document explaining the test went home last week.  Please review them with your student, sign and return to school if you have not already done so.  I will keep these in a portfolio for your child, which they will bring home at the end of each trimester. 

Students will be continuing to learn about the types of mistakes and how we can learn from them.  Check out this article on mistakes by Eduardo Briceño, Co-Founder and CEO of Mindset Works.

http://blog.mindsetworks.com/index.php?option=com_easyblog&view=entry&id=218&Itemid=

This week students will begin Chapter Two: Estimation and Number Theory.  In this chapter the students learn about estimation, factors, and multiples.  Some of the skills that we practice will be rounding. A strategy they have learned for rounding is this rhyme “Five or more, raise the score.  Four or less, let it rest and stay the same.”  Students will also learn how to decide whether to estimate or calculate an exact answer.  We will also practice how to find common factors and common multiples.  Students will also learn about prime and composite numbers.  Students should be practicing their addition, subtraction and multiplication facts nightly.  I will give the students a multiplication chart to assist them with the work we are doing during this chapter.  However, it is important that they know their multiplication facts as subsequent skills are based on these facts.  

I have signed all students up for an XtraMath account and sent a letter home today with instructions on how to get into their account.  We have discussed a variety of ways to practice facts (ready-made flash cards, home-made flash cards (based on problems missed on tests), flash card websites, or other websites such as Fact Monster http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html, and Greg Tang Math http://www.gregtangmath.com.  You can find many more Math websites in the Math Center at the column to the right of this letter.

Science

We have begun our science lessons by setting up their science notebooks and learning the format for using them.  We have also been learning about asking scientific questions vs non-scientific questions. Scientific questions are testable. A testable question can be answered by is experimenting, observing and measuring.

Check out this video about asking scientific questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqfQpURDoCo

Social Studies

We have begun our study of map skills.  Students are learning about the components of a map: title, legend, compass rose, and scale. This week they will be learning about the four hemispheres and latitude and longitude.

First Three Weeks

We are having a successful and productive beginning of fourth grade.   The students are working together to develop a kind and respectful learning community, and I am proud of their efforts these first weeks of school.

I realize that the first few weeks of school can be overwhelming for students, parents, and teachers.  Remember… to take a day at a time.  I am here to help and will see to it that your child gets the year off to a great start!  So, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I am most easily reached by email: cmanning@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us.

We continue getting to know each other and develop our routines.  We have been working together to build our class expectations and the students have come up with a clear idea of how to be a good classmate.  Look for that poster during curriculum night.

Last week, students also developed a specific individual goal for fourth grade, and we worked together to build our class rules.

Snack

I encourage you to send in a healthy snack for your child to eat during the morning or afternoon. Students may eat their snack whenever they are hungry and we will have “working snack.”  Most students are choosing to eat their snacks in the morning. Remember, we are an allergy aware classroom/school. I also encourage you to send your child in with a water bottle with a secure top.  A water bottle is essential for hydration during these last days of summer as well as throughout the year.

Homework

In the fourth grade we focus on developing organizational skills, which they will use throughout their educational career and life.  Learning organizational skills plays an important role in a student’s success.  Our first organizational unit revolves around using the Plan book, binder and the homework process.

We will spend a great deal of time early in the school year learning the homework process.  The homework assignments will be listed every night in the Student Plan book, and the necessary papers will be placed in the To Do section of their homework folder.  I will initial the plan page before your student leaves.  Please be certain to review the completed assignments and initial the plan page nightly.

Shrewsbury has established a homework policy, which you will find in the student handbook.  At the fourth grade, homework is assigned Monday through Thursday. Homework will consist of daily, and eventually, long-term assignments that reflect the current topics of study.  The average time for completing homework assignments for the fourth grade should be 40 minutes. Please notify me if your child is struggling with the homework and/or if homework is taking longer than 40 minutes, and we will discuss it further.

Language Arts

The students are learning the processes for reading and writing workshops, and are establishing guidelines for working together.  We have explored the different types of fiction and nonfiction books, as we examined the books in our classroom library.  We have determined how to choose a “good fit” book and the students are working toward choosing “good fit” books for independent reading.  When choosing a book the students ask themselves a series of questions to help them determine their purpose for reading, their interest in the topic, their ability to understand the book and their ability to read the words.  We call these questions “I Pick” which stands for:

I choose a book

Purpose-why do I want to read it?

Interest-does it interest me”

Comprehend-do I understand what I read?

Know-do I know most of the words? 

When your child is choosing a book at home, ask them to explain how the use the “I Pick” process and how they know it is a “good fit’” book.

We are reviewing and practicing the Fourth Grade Writing Expectations.  These are the expectations for all written work.  Students have copies of this and their Fourth Grade Personal Word Wall in their homework binder, writing binder and their desk.  The students will continue to have opportunities to practice working toward meeting these expectations on a daily basis.  For homework this week, the students will be writing sentences using their Fourth Grade Personal Word Wall.

4th Grade Expectations for All Written Work Spelling: ·      Personal Word Wall ·      Available text ·      Dictionary when revising Complete Sentences: ·      Write using complete thoughts Mechanics: ·      Capitals at beginning of sentences and proper nouns ·      Punctuation-every sentence needs to end with punctuation ·      Correct Grammar (past/present tense) Organization: ·      Write in paragraphs ·      Spacing ·      Use the whole line ·      Indent paragraphs Puts forth Best Effort: ·      Neat ·      Legible ·      Appropriate letter size

This is how the writing expectations are translated to report card grades.

Report Card Descriptors: Þ  Demonstrates organizational skills Þ  Puts forth best effort Þ  Uses standard English conventions

Math

We kicked off our math program “Math in Focus” with Unit One: Working with Whole Numbers. This unit focuses on placed-value concepts through the ten thousands place and addition and subtraction algorithms.  This week, the students will practice addition and subtraction using a chip-trading model, which is new to them this year.  In this model, each color chip represents a specific power of ten. Students will be using these chips throughout the year.

Supply Wish List

Thank you for your donations!  We will continue to need tissues, wipes, and hand sanitizer throughout the year, so occasionally keep us in mind.

Curriculum Night

Fourth grade curriculum night is Thursday, September 12  at 6:30 in Room 303, then 7:15 for the principals’ presentation in the cafeteria

I look forward to seeing you there!