Learning Updates (Pictures/Captions Format)

Are Vacant Lots Vacant? Ask your student about this inquiry science lab we did today in the vacant lot above the Grand Ridge parking lot. What biotic and abiotic factors did they observe? What elements there supported plants and animals? What would happen if one of those elements were taken away?

One of the creatures we observed in the vacant lot--a Mantis!

Athena the Barred owl from West Sound Wildlife shelter paid a visit to 4th graders. Ask your student what they learned about owls. How did her visit tie in to what we've been studying about ecosystems? Be sure to check out the comment your student wrote in response to the blog question below.

Students dissected barn owl pellets during our Owloween on Thursday. We studied two different questions by examining the bones. First: what do barn owls predominantly eat--rodents, insectivores, or birds? Second, we measured the length of the femur bones contained in owl pellets. From there we did a mathematical calculation to approximate overall body size of the prey so we could answer this question: what is the average size of prey that a barn owl eats? Be sure to ask your child for the answers.

Students laid out the bones they found in the owl pellets on paper towels. This group labeled the different bones they found.

We began our new unit in writing, focused again on personal narratives, but on expanding, deepening, and improving their quality. We've created a couple new charts to help us generate great ideas for what to write about. Have your student explain these to you.

Please check our class photos tab for more photos from Owloween of Athena the Owl and our owl pellet dissection.

Athena the Barred Owl

Today, a West Sound Wildlife Shelter presenter and their ambassador, Athena, visited our classroom. During the presentation you learned many interesting Barred Owl facts. You learned about its habitat, hunting habits, and unique characteristics. Tonight, please respond to at least 3 of the 6 questions below. Make sure you use complete sentences and correct conventions. Don't forget to put your first name only at the bottom of your comment before your post.

1. What are 2 unique characteristics of Barred owls that make them good hunters?

2. What type of habitat do Barred owls need?

3. What animals are part of a Barred owls diet?

4. How does this diet compare to that of Spotted Owls?

5. What is a crop and how is it used?

6. What are 2 other interesting things you learned today in our presentation?

Learning Updates (List of Questions Format)

What is Your Child Doing in 4^th Grade?

Well ask them…

Math

•  Tell me about multiplication math facts shortcuts or patterns
• What is the 50 facts multiplication test? What’s the difference between the 1 minute and 3 minute scoring?
• How did you graph the results of the test?
• What are some other ways to think about 27/3? (How many 3s in 27? or 3 times what equals 27?)
• Explain the game “Multiplication Beat the Calculator” to me. What’s the point of the game?

 Reading

• You’ve been doing a new novel study as a class with the book Owl in the Shower. How does the book connect with what you’re learning about Ecosystems?
• Who are Borden, Leon, and Enrique?
• Which side are you leaning toward at this point—the loggers or the environmentalists? Why is making a firm decision so difficult?
• How are the needs of the loggers and their families similar to the needs of the spotted owls and their families?
• What’s your favorite part so far?

 Writing

• Tell me about the Author’s Chair Celebration you had on Friday
• What are you most proud of in your piece? What was your writing partner impressed with in your piece?
• Who was the special guest that joined the class?
• Tell me about the toast
• How have you grown as a writer through this writing unit? What things are you noticing now in your writing and in others’ writing?

 Science

• What is an ecosystem (An area in which all the plants, animals, and micro-organisms interact with all the non-living things)
• How do food webs compare to food chains?
• Give me some examples of inputs and outputs
• Tell me about the root beer energy transfer experiment. How does this help us understand how energy transfers between the sun, producers, and consumers?
• Tell me all about the SOAR Raptor presentation. What’s the amazing story of the bird: D1? What was your favorite part of the presentation and why?

 Art Docent

• I understand you had your first art docent lesson with Mrs. Karvasek and Mrs. Varner. Tell me what you created. How did you produce it?

Pictures from the Week

Let's Toast with Bubbly Water--Author's Chair Celebration

After an introduction from their partner, students read their small moment pieces

Students also shared the images they drew on each page

Root Beer Energy Transfer lesson. Be sure to ask your student about each of the roles these students played

How does this diagram relate to the Root Beer Energy Transfer lesson?

SOAR presentation. How do the red dots show why the Perigren Falcon nearly went extinct due to the chemical DDT? What happened to their egg shells and why?

D1, the Perigren Falcon

Ecosystems Home School Connection

Get permission from your parent or caregiver to go into your backyard or some other outside place. Spend 15 minutes sitting quietly in the outside place, noticing the sounds, sights and odors that surround you in nature.

Write about as many of the plants and animals you noticed in nature. Tell about the odors you smelled and/or the sounds you heard.

Remember to follow the blogging rules at right of our page. Also, push your stamina and try to write longer and in greater detail this time.

Learning Updates (Bullet Points & Pictures Format)

Making a comprehension salad. It takes text + THINKING. Ask your child about this.

Mrs. McGraw (our literacy specialist engaged us in a comprehension lesson last week

Dear Families,

I can’t believe it is already the middle of October. Time is flying and we sure are having fun!

Math

• We completed the Unit 2 test, it’s coming home with your child 
• Began Unit 3 yesterday
• Goal of coming weeks--finish memorizing x facts for single-digit numbers
• We’re taking a series of 50-facts tests for multiplication.
• Correct answers are counted only up to the first mistake (and not counted thereafter), so your child may at first receive a low score. If this happens, don’t be alarmed. Before long, scores will improve dramatically. Help your child set a realistic goal for the next test, and discuss what can be done to meet that goal.
• You can use the x & / fact triangles (in their math tab) to quiz your child on the basic facts and test your child’s progress
• In this unit we’ll get an early start in algebra, which is integral to the Everyday Mathematics philosophy.

 

Reading

• Integrating with Ecosystems study in Science, we started the novel: There’s an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead-George.
• Book about a boy named Borden ( he’s the son of a logger)
• Borden’s father laid off during timber ban to protect Northern Spotted Owl
• Allows for great comparing/contrasting the different perspectives of loggers/developers and environmentalists
• Used a literature based GLAD pictorial to activate students’ prior knowledge about Northern Spotted Owls and loggers.
• Nearing the end of our class read aloud, Maniac Magee. Ask your child what’s been happening and ask for examples of how Maniac “paid tuition” for the boy’s he’s been living with.

Owl in the Shower Pictorial now hanging on our wall

Writing

• We’re deep in to the revising/editing/publishing process for our first unit
• I’ve been conducting revising and editing conferences with each student on their piece
• Ask your student about the story they’re publishing and about their progress in relation to the writing process
• We’ve talked about different proofreading marks to use when editing. Ask your child to show a few
• Once everyone has published we’ll have an author’s chair celebration of all our work

Science

• Studied the words ecosystem and predator on our class CCD (cognitive content dictionary) Ask your child about the routine we follow with vocabulary words on the CCD
• Played an outdoor game: the Food Chain Game. Have your child explain what we did and learned from the game. 
• Involved each student being a seed, mouse, or owl.  Object was to learn dynamics of how food chains
• Had fabulous hands-on Science to Go in school enrichment lab called “Washington Wildlife.”  Students examined many forest animals, discussed how they adapt to their environment, keys to survival, and how they fit in a food web.

 

Learning Updates (Narrative Format)

Students worked hard to get text entered on their Region of Washington Glog this week

It has been another terrific week in fourth grade. Here is our weekly classroom update:

Math – This week students practiced organizing and displaying data with tally charts and line plots. We also reviewed how to find the range, maximum, minimum, and median in data sets. Ask your child what data we used – the answer should be ‘at the top of their head’ :).  Students reviewed the partial-sum algorithm to solve multi-digit addition problems and were introduced to the column-addition method which is similar to the traditional addition algorithm.  Addition practice was coupled with subtraction practice of multi-digit numbers using the Trade First and Partial Differences methods.  If you have questions about these methods, check out the online version of the Student Reference Book at http://www.everydaymathonline.com  Next week, students will be assessed over the content from Unit 2 and we will move onto Unit 3: Multiplication and Division.

Reading – In Reading this week, we finished our first novel study, Horse’s Tale.  Ask your child about Julie's Story (1960's, Seattle at the World Fair), Amone's Story (1970s--in a bilingual classroom), and Eduardo's story (1980s in Yakima just after Mt. St. Helens erupted). We've had some rich discussions about Washington history and about the regions of Washington.

Writing – We've been doing lots of writing! We've entered the revising/editing phase of our first unit, which is focused on writing Small Moments Personal Narrative stories. The pieces are turning out great and it's so good to see students using many of the strategies we've learned that make great personal narratives. In addition, we're working to finish up a fictional narrative prompt--a story about what would make the best birthday party ever. We'll be doing a few prompts like these through the year for assessment purposes and also to help students gear up for the experience of writing on the state MSP (Measurements of Student Progress).

Social Studies – Students continue to work on their Washington Region GLOGs. Many have their five paragraphs typed in, and we'll soon edit and put final touches on the project. We took the regions assessment earlier in the week. Also, students have been working on individual tasks related to our study of regions. Ask your student which ones he/she has worked on.

Class News

The Year at a Glance:

As a grade level team we would like you to know ahead of time what some potential costs may be throughout the year. Please keep in mind they may change due to unexpected opportunities, and we will also have additional opportunities for you to support our classroom by donating specific items for class celebrations.  Our hope is to help families with planning and budgeting.  The costs outlook at this time is as follows: $15 February field trip, and $35 March field trip.  Please let us know if you have concerns or needs in order for your child to participate.

School News

WORKROOM TRAINING FOR VOLUNTEERS – If you plan to help with clerical work this year, I would appreciate it if you would attend one of the following Workroom Trainings:

October 19^th @ 9:30, 1:00, and 5:30 or October 25^th @ 9:30, 1:00, and 5:30

Please meet outside the school office. You will be shown where the supplies and materials are located and how to use the copy machines and die cutters.  Please come if you plan to volunteer at school.

School Pictures & Picture Re-take Day – Friday, October 22

If you ordered a school picture package, it will be sent home via “kid mail” (backpack) before October 22. If you wish to have your child’s portrait re-taken, simply send the photo package back to school with your child on October 22.  

If your child has not already had his or her picture taken and you would like to purchase a picture package, order forms are available in the school office.  They are due Friday, October 22.

Reflections Art Competition: Join the Fun!  Enter your artwork in this year’s Reflections Art Competition, October 11 ~ 22, 2010. The 2010-2011 Reflections theme is:  “Together We Can…”  Please take the time to read the rules for your category at http://www.grandridgeptsa.org/programs.html

If you have any questions, Please contact Theora Dalupan at grptsavpprograms@gmail.com

 

Vision and Hearing Screening October 28th

Vision and hearing screening at Grand Ridge Elementary will be on Thursday, October 28th. If at all possible, please have your child at school on screening day to minimize the number of re-checks later. If you would like your child to be excluded from the screening, please send a note to your child’s teacher the day of the screening specifying if your child is to be excluded from all or part of the screening. If your child wears glasses, please be sure that they bring their glasses to school on the day of the screening. Students failing the initial screening will be re-screened by the school nurse before referral notices are mailed home. The re-screening process usually takes at least several weeks to complete.

Field Trip Photos

If you haven't already seen them, you'll want to check out the photos of our field trip at The Farm Corn Maze. There are even a couple videos, too. Click on the Class Photos tab of our blog to navigate there.

Class News

Products of Washington Celebration:  Students had a fantastic time today reviewing what they have learned and eating products of Washington.  I would like to thank all those who sent in food items and helped out during the celebration.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

Global Reading Challenge – If your student is interested in participating, please have them complete the paperwork and return it on Monday.  Meetings will begin within the next couple of weeks.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Learning Updates

Math: As we continue with Unit 2 students practiced identifying values of digits in numbers up to a billion and practiced reading and writing large numbers. Students played “Fishing for Digits”.  “Fishing for Digits” combines place value and calculator skills.  We also looked at data this week. Ask your child about how we used raisins in math the other day. We've talked about landmark numbers like minimum, maximum, range, mode and mean. Yesterday we made a line plot graph with sticky notes representing the number of people in each student's family. Ask your student how we then found the median using the sticky notes.

READING:  We continue our journey through the decades learning about Washington’s History in our novel, Horse’s Tale. This week we read about the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, following the horse from Darrington to Seattle. Ask your child why Ole did not want to help his dad on the fishing boat. Also ask your child what the Puyallup Fairgrounds were used for during part of World War II.

In read aloud we continue to read Maniac Magee. Ask your child about the new friend that Maniac has made. Also, how are some of the stories that friend shares like the small moments stories we're writing in class?

WRITTEN LANGUAGE:  Students continue to work on their seed stories. At this point they should have one fairly developed idea and should be starting in on a second. This week we've learned about how authors can use timelines to chart and plan out the main actions that happen in a story. Timelines allow us to eliminate extraneous parts from our small moments stories and also help us play with different points we could start the story. We talked about how you can zoom in on one timeline point and stretch it by detailing all the actions that occurred inside that.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  We continue our study of Washington’s regions.  This week we finished our expert groups with the Okanogan Highlands region. Students worked on individual tasks. Ask your child which ones they worked on. We also went to the computer lab and began our Glogs. Judging by their excitement--you've probably already heard. Meanwhile, we used the expert group facts and also gathered new facts to help students write five paragraphs about their chosen region that will go on their glog. Today, students took an open book assessment covering information in Chapter One of their textbooks.

School News

School Pictures & Picture Re-take Day – Friday, October 22
If you ordered a school picture package, it will be sent home via “kid mail” (backpack) before October 22. If you wish to have your child’s portrait re-taken, simply send the photo package back to school with your child on October 22.
If your child has not already had his or her picture taken and you would like to purchase a picture package, order forms are available in the school office.  They are due Friday, October 22.

Ride the bus to protect classroom dollars!   We need all regular bus riders to make sure to ride the bus from Monday, Oct. 4, through Friday, Oct. 8. These rider numbers determine the amount of funding our Transportation Department receives from the State of Washington.

Reflections Art Competition:  Join the Fun!  Enter your artwork in this year’s Reflections Art Competition, October 11 ~ 22, 2010. The 2010-2011 Reflections theme is:  “Together We Can…”  Please take the time to read the rules for your category at http://www.grandridgeptsa.org/programs.html

If you have any questions, Please contact Theora Dalupan at grptsavpprograms@gmail.com.