What a glorious, sunny day. I told the class this morning that days like this make me grateful to live in Seattle. The view of the snow-capped Olympics and the crisp, clear horizon are spectacular from our classroom.
I'm also grateful for the chance to work with our class and for all the fun and interesting things we get to learn. Here's a snapshot from this week:
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| The Pacific Science Center brought their mobile planetarium to Grand Ridge |
Science
- We learned all about constellations. This connects with our upcoming space science unit
- Huge thanks to our PTSA for fully funding this great in-house field trip for all 120 fourth graders!
- More planetarium pictures here!
- Took the Unit 6 assessment
- Also took the Mid-Year assessment. We use this to assess the effectiveness of math instruction across the district. Therefore it won't be going home, but parents can make an appointment with me to see their child's test.
- Started Unit 7 on Fraction and their Uses; Chance and Probability
- Reviewed basic fraction concepts
- Finished our first field test curriculum, where we studied determining importance (finding the main idea)
- Practiced coding and identifying "what I think is important" and "what I think the author feels is important."
- Began field testing our second comprehension resources curriculum.
- Began to identify text features and their function in non-fiction texts by reading a portion of a book about the first complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found
Writing
- Spent a good deal of time talking about, studying and practicing writing mini-stories. These often begin with a reference to the thesis and supporting reason. Then students make a transition such as One time... and they tell a short anecdotal story that is angled toward "proving" that supporting reason. Finally they finish up with a sentence or two that explains how the story proves their point.
- Also talked about how essayists incorporate outside sources, in particular, other people's stories as evidence
- Finally, studied MLK's "I have a Dream" speech for the way that he used lists. Talked about how essayists use parallelism in lists to support their claims, ie Let freedom ring from...Let freedom ring from...Let freedom ring from.
- Students researched notable figures in Washington State history and presented their learning to the class. We all took notes on each figure.
- Watched film called Pioneer Journey and used it to study how Native American and Pioneer interactions in the West
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| Presenting about their notable figure in WA state history. |
