Weekly Update: October 4

Coming Up

October 5:    Wetlands and canoeing with Tom Handle 1:00-2:30 Please have students dress with long pants, closed toed shoes, and even though it will be warm, have them bring a light weight jacket or long sleeve shirt.
October 6:    Geometry Math Assessment. Students will review and take home a study guide on Monday for some last minute review.
October 9: No School. Teacher training day.
October 14: Bonneville Dam Field trip.

Curriculum

Reading

In their own personal choice books, students have been trying to read intensely by using strategies such as noticing connections, wonderings, making predictions, and beginning to infer meaning from events. We are paying particular attention to characters and noticing how when reading fiction, following characters can help building meaning to the authors purpose and message. Students have been taking notes and continue to work on organizing their notes.

As a class, we continue to read The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. Together we are modeling these intense reading strategies. This week we will be compiling all of our notes and big ideas from conversations to create a reading response that is focused. We will start these in class but some work will be homework over the weekend. Please encourage them to do their best work but do not help with content or publishing edits. Thanks.

Writing

Students continue to work on their realistic fiction drafts. We have been making many connections between our reading strategies and writing work. We are working to

* develop strong characters who will help lead the story.

* add drama to our scenes through emotions, dialogue and action.

* continue to reference and adjust our story plan as our character develops so we stay on target with our larger story idea.

* edit for capitals, periods and whole sentences every time we finish a writing period.

Math

This week we will be finishing our geometry unit review project called Geometry Town. The projects is outlined in an earlier post.

Geometry Assessment will be Tuesday.

Then we will begin our 2nd unit which focuses on numbers and data. Large number addition / subtraction and multiple ways o make a number review place value and number sense. We will also review how to organize different data sets and make data visible.

An Enrichment Opportunity in Math:

Please check out the  http://allschoolproblem.blogspot.com/ where Mr. Arensberg posts the All School Math Problems. Students are to submit their solutions to him and he will get back to each student. He would like students to show their work with words, numbers, and pictures. Mr. Arensberg  posts solutions to these problems the week following.

Social Studies

Tracy Arensberg introduced a mapping activity to students to map out our campus and our water source. Students were able to map where our water comes from and track its path to the ocean. Mr. Arensberg will visit fourth grade classes before the trip to introduce us to the salmon life cycle.

As part of our wider social studies curriculum the children met with Peter Buonincontro; he projected a short paragraph about a simple man named John that read a little like an obituary (but not as morbid). There were mundane facts for the kids to look over, but then, as a group, they disassembled it all into smaller facts (place names, jobs) and created a poem/character/snapshot of one of these smaller pieces. The purpose of this activity was to look at all the possibilities of stories/characters that we can create from the same basic information. It also highlighted the importance of research in writing. As we explore the theme of water this year, Peter will help us tie in student learning by doing a play or a short skit, followed by similar sessions throughout the year leading up to the International Day to help children allow their imaginations to develop.

Fourth grade students will visit the Bonneville Dam on October 14th to learn more about how dams work and the value of green energy. They will also learn about the impact the dam has on the salmon population.  We plan to stop at the fish hatchery first and then drive to Bonneville Dam and spend the day there. Thanks to the parents who will go with us on this trip.