Learning Update

Dear Families,

It’s been another terrific week packed with learning. I’ve had a great time working with your students. Here are some highlights of what we’ve been up to. Plus, I’ve included some probing questions to help you get more information out of your fourth graders.

-Mr. Herzberg

Family Size. Our class' data is literally off the chart. We used these sticky notes to create a line plot and then found landmarks.

Social Studies

• Students partner read the rest of Chapter 1 in our WA Adventure textbook about landforms and changing land
• Took a unit one open book test on this material
• We reviewed common landforms and took an Activote quiz on the topic
• Began expert groups--small group of students read, then highlighted and sketched important info about one of the five regions of WA

Math

• Finished Unit 2, students completed a study guide and are reviewing the material over the weekend before Monday’s test
• Studied landmarks like minimum, maximum, range, mode, and median
• Practiced finding the median and creating line & bar graphs
• Ask your student about how we gathered and used data regarding family size and head sizes

Writing

• Continued our exploration and study of personal narratives
• In addition to experimenting with a number of pieces in this genre, most students should now have two small moments seed idea stories written
• Learned this week about reliving the episode as you write about it, when/how to paragraph, zooming in on a part of your timeline, and letting the heart of your story guide the angle you take with it
• Students have now chosen one of their seed stories to revise and publish in the coming days. Ask your student about the one they chose. What’s the heart of it (what do they really want to show) and how are they doing this?

Reading

• Introduced word work this week
• We did a whole class word sort on our Activboard
• Learned/tried some different sorts including: writing sort, blind buddy sort, speed sort
• The idea behind these sorts is that they are a fun way for students to interact with word patterns. By doing this work they have to think analytically, and through our discussions, they will uncover word patterns that will help them become better spellers, readers and writers
• Talked more about/practiced the strategy of checking for understanding
• Finished our read aloud There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom
• Ask—what was your favorite part of the read aloud/why? What was Louis Sachar’s (the author’s) message? Give some examples of how the characters changed throughout the story. Also—what was your favorite word sort this week/why?

Learning Update 9.24.11

It was another great week in our classroom. Here's a bit of what we've been up to, served up in picture form and with questions to help you get more in-depth answers out of your fourth grader! :)

(Click the picture to view it larger) 5 Regions of WA. Ask your student to tell you some differences between them. Why do those differences exist?

Students are well in to the realm of writing personal narrative stories. Many have chosen a favorite entry and developed it as a seed story, and they now are starting in on writing a second seed story. Each bullet point on this chart represents a different focus lesson we did--usually on different days. Ask your student to tell all the true, exact details of their seed story to you. Also ask them to explain this chart.

Our Principal, Mrs. Otley read Amelia Bedelia. Ask your student to explain what an idiom is. What are some examples of idioms that Amelia interprets incorrectly?

Read to Someone. We partner read some more about Regions of Washington and specifically about the rain shadow effect and climate.

We waded in to Mountain Language by working together with a partner. Soon this will be a weekly routine that students will complete individually.

Our Mountain Language board. Ask your student to explain some of the 

Rain Shadow Effect Pictorial. Ask your student to explain how the rain shadow effect works. How does this effect influence the climate of the Coastal, Western Lowlands, and Columbia Plateau regions?

We learned some important information about the Western Lowlands (our region) that sets it apart from other regions.

Just Right books. Ask your student to explain this concept to you. What happens when we only read easy or hard books? What happens when we read just right books?

Learning Updates

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROOM 264

September 2, 2011

Outstanding is the best way to describe our first few days of school.  This week was spent getting to know each other, establishing classroom routines, setting guidelines and expectations, and delving into some curriculum areas.  The year ahead will be one of discovery, learning, and fun for all of us.  Our class has 24 amazing students and I am looking forward to a positive and memorable year. 

Communication with parents is important to me and to your student, please take the time each week to check out this site to see what has been happening in your child's classroom.  Talk to them about it and ask them to share their feelings and experiences.  Please feel free to email or call me with concerns whenever they arise.

FOCUS ON CURRICULUM

Math:  This week students began Unit 1: Naming and Constructing Geometric Figures, in our Everyday Math program.   Unit 1 has five main areas of focus:

• To introduce students to the Student Reference Book,
• To practice using geometry tools,
• To classify quadrangles,
• To explore and identify polygons, and
• To review and practice addition and subtraction facts.

As you are out and about with your student help them to identify places where you can see geometry in the world around them. 

This week student identified, labeled, drew, and named lines, line segments, and rays.

1. Ask your student to identify the figures below.
2. Ask your student how the figures are named.
3. Ask your student to identify the properties and relationships of the figures below.

 

 

 

Answers: 

Ray CD, Line  XY (YX), XZ (ZX), or YZ (ZY), and Line segment AB or BA

A ray has an endpoint and goes on forever in one direction.

A line has no endpoints and goes on forever in both directions. 

A line segment has to endpoints.  Line segments are part of lines and can be measured.


Reading:  This week we worked on building stamina during Read to Self.  We also talked about how reading is thinking, the different ways students select books to read, and the difference between easy, just right, and challenging books.

Ask your student what their responsibilities are during "read to self" and what the teacher's responsibilities are.

Student:  

• Get started right away.
• Stay in one spot.
• Read quietly.
• Read the whole time.

Teacher:

• Work with groups and individual students.

Over the next few weeks students will be building stamina in this area.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Morning Drop Off:  Our class has being doing a great job following the morning routine for entering the building. Now that our students know how to find our classroom, we will begin letting them show off their leadership skills. On Tuesday, September 6^th, students may wait in the undercover area without parent supervision. Miss Julie, one of our EAs, will dismiss grade levels when the bell rings. She will begin with 5^th grade and work her way down to Kindergarten.

If you walk your child to school, you and your child may wait in Grand Central until the first bell rings. At that time, your child may enter the building and come to our classroom.

Thank you for helping your child learn our morning routine!

PE Attire:  Please encourage your child to wear appropriate footwear on PE days.  Students go to PE on Tuesday and Thursday.

Meet the Teacher Forms: Thank you so much to everyone who has already returned all of the classroom forms and questionnaires.  I would appreciate all classroom forms to be returned ASAP.

Friday Folder: Please look through your child’s folder this weekend. Students should return the folder on Monday with your signature.  Next week look for the "update form" to be included in the Friday Folder.  This form will also need to be signed and returned. 

SCHOOL CALENDAR

September 5......... No School, Labor Day

September 14........ Curriculum Night, All Grades, K-2 6:00-6:45pm, 3-5 7:00-7:45pm

September 15........ Picture Day (for those who didn’t have them taken during TCoB)

September 29....... Vision and Hearing Screening

Learning Updates

Dear Families,

What a week! Our last 5-day week together was filled with fun and surprises. Market Day. Egg Drop. An unexpected offer to drop our top 5 parachutes from the top of Eastside Fire & Rescue's 75 foot tall ladder truck! And a cameo appearance by my two boys--William & George at the end of our day on Thursday.

Market Day

Our second Market Day was a huge success! Students had so many innovative and creative ideas. Plus they really seemed to apply the lessons learned from the first Market Day. Also, I'd like to thank all the parents who helped out before and after--Tulika Gupta, Lynn Brueckman, Helen Yantus and Eden Zasloff--we couldn't have done it without you! Be sure to check out some amazing photos Michelle Enebo captured of Market Day.

Egg Drop

For more egg drop pictures, click here to view the photo album. And now for the full story, which I'm sure you've probably already heard all about...We were on our 28th and final egg drop Thursday. Christian held his parachute over the rail and prepared to release it. Suddenly, alarms blared all around us. Fire drill! I yelled at him to drop his parachute NOW, and drop it did! The .75 seconds it took to fall 18 feet won Christian the distinction of fastest drop. The egg landed with such force that gooey yolk shot straight up in the air. We quickly cleared his parachute and our garbage bag landing pad out of the way of the building exit and headed for the field, parachutes, clipboards, data sheets, and pencils in hand. 

After the drill was over, Mrs. Otley pulled me aside and said the Firefighters noticed we had egg drop parachutes in hand and wanted to know if we'd like to drop our top 5 parachutes from the top of their ladder truck. "Um, YES!!" was my almost automatic answer. I donned a firefighter's hat and, holding our top five parachutes (reloaded with eggs), climbed in to the bucket. One of the firefighters clipped us in and he fully extended the ladder 75 feet above our sand field. Students counted down and we dropped each of the parachutes. Jacqueline's parachute floated for a record 16.3 seconds to the ground. All 5 eggs landed in tact! I think these students may have a design and engineering future! :) Big thanks to Eastside Fire & Rescue Ladder 73 crew for absolutely making our day. Very very cool!

Why? Because our 18 foot tall staircase just wasn't high enough! :)

Egg Drop--who would've thought it would end like this?

Market Day Setup

Market Day in full swing. Our room saw lots of shopping traffic.

Special visitors. My sons William and George made a quick appearance at the end of our day Thursday to meet the class. William made himself right at home.

Science

• Created a parachute, an airplane, and a bird's flight pictorials
• Students reviewed and brought home their graded Air unit tests Friday
• Conducted our class Egg Drop and analyzed results and average drop times

Math

• Finished our 12th and final math unit
• Took and reviewed the End of Year Math test
• Per district policy I cannot send the end of year math assessment home, however you may make an appointment with me to review it

Reading & Writing

• Finished class-wide literary essay thesis brainstorming. Students chose one thesis and worked to support it with evidence. Later we held a thesis clinic and discussed strengths and weaknesses in the approaches students took.
• Though we won't have time to fully draft out and publish these pieces, students are learning some valuable lessons about in depth reading of excellent literature. They are also learning how to frame a quality thesis and supporting sections. I've told the class that this is advanced writing work that students in high school and college often undertake.
• Read Aloud, historical fiction -- The Watson's go to Birmingham--1963: we made much more headway this week. The students are loving the humorous adventures of this family. The Watson's have just arrived in Birmingham against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. Ask your student to fill you in on some of the Civil Rights issues they've begun to encounter, as well as some of the funny things that have happened lately.

Learning Updates

Dear Families,

It's hard to believe we've entered in to June. With this recent great weather it finally seems more real that summer is near. Time has truly flown!

Here's a quick update from our short, but busy week together in the classroom:

Parachute Investigations

Be sure to check out all the photos from this week, here!

Math

• Continued to learn about figuring rates
• Converted rates to more comprehensible rates, ie Laughs per lifetime to laughs per day.
• We'll wrap up our final math unit next week, take the end of year math assessment and also the Unit 12 math assessment

Science

• We've learned so much about properties of air this past week. We had an air investigation marathon just about the entire day on Wednesday
• Check out the photos of our parachute investigations. Ask students what sorts of things we learned about parachutes, ie which parachute designs worked best?
• Students will put their new learning to use on the design of their Egg Drop parachute (home project--directions went home Thursday). The Egg Drop assignment is due Thursday morning 6/9
• Ask your student about the film they watched, the reading they did, and our investigations around Bernoulli's Principle--how air pressure helps an airplane fly

Writing/Reading

• Continued working on our literary essays
• Took a closer look at two of our five texts as a class. We read them together and discussed the deeper meanings embedded within them. Then we began constructing a list of potential theses that students could adopt and write about
• The Watson's go to Birmingham--ask your student what's been happening lately in our Newberry Award Winning read aloud. Also, what happened to Byron's tongue on a cold day? How did the author bring in humor during this scene?

Market Day

• Students should be working on their Market Day projects at home. Market Day is this Wednesday 6/8 from 9:30-10:30. Parents are welcome to join us. We can supply you with some Grizzly Bucks in order to make purchases. However, purchases should not be made for your child--that's what their hard earned money is for! :)

School News:
Got science? The proposed new elementary science materials are on public display through June 8 at the Administration Building. Because of unprecedented state budget cuts, a community coalition—including the Issaquah Schools Foundation, PTSA, and chambers of commerce—is raising funds to bridge the gap so that the curriculum can be fully implemented next fall for every kindergarten through fifth-grade student. With two weeks left in the campaign, the coalition is still about $187,000 short of its goal (a target of $50 per elementary student). Learn more about how you can help.

Learning Updates

It has been a quick but busy week and I’m sure we are all eager for our holiday weekend!  We sure are having a blast in our 4^th grade classroom and I can’t wait for the fun activities we have ahead of us.  I was so pleased to see respectful and responsible students in our room all week.  Thank for your continued discussion on how to make our classroom and school a positive and fun place to learn. Here is our weekly update:

Volume. Building and visualizing a square meter. It would take 1000 decimeter cubes (10x10x10cm cubes like the yellow one pictured) to fill this space--or 1,000,000 cm cubes.

Add a Caption

Click here to view lots more pictures from the past couple weeks. Check out the captions and questions!

Math:

• This week students took their Unit 11 Everyday Math assessment.  These came home earlier in the week.
• We are now on to Unit 12!  The focus of this unit is rates and how they are used in the real world.
• In two weeks we will be finished with our Everyday Math curriculum and will take our End of the Year Assessment
•  Use this link to access the Unit 12 Family Letter.

Reading:

• We finished our read aloud mystery genre book: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Be sure to get the scoop from your student. Also, how did the author use what she knew to write the book?
• Read and discussed a book about the properties of air
• Studied five exemplary short stories and have been reading deeply and writing about them (more about this under writing)

Writing:

• We’re well in to our final unit of the year: Literary Essays (writing essays about great literature)
• Students have been carefully/deeply reading and responding to one or more of the five short stories in their packet: “Marble Champ,” “Fly Away Home,” “Eleven,” “Birthday Box,” and “Boar Out There.”
• Some of what we’ve learned:
• Strategies for writing in response to reading
• Asking questions to help interpret stories
• Thinking like an expert about characters
• Writing from inside a story
• Questions writers ask of a thesis statement
• Students will soon craft a thesis and at least two supporting points about one of the stories
• Ask your student what story they’re gravitating toward. See if you can help them express a thesis idea. A good frame for this is: At first glance _____ is a story about (external events that happen in the story), but I’ve come to realize it’s actually a story about (internal events that happen in the story). For example: At first glance “Spaghetti” by Cynthia Rylant is a story about boy named Gabriel who finds a cat, but I’ve come to realize it’s actually a story about a lonely boy who finds love.

 Science:

• Our “Properties of Air” list keeps growing! Ask your student to describe how we learned each of these properties through scientific investigations we conducted:
• Air takes up space
• Warm air expands & rises
• Cool air contracts & falls
• Air has mass
• Air pressure. It affects weather
• Air exerts pressure
• We also made small scale barometers in the classroom to measure the air pressure and decide if we finally have any fair weather coming our way.  We are not sure the outcome yet.  

Learning Updates

It's great to be back! More on what we've been up to below.

But first, thank you all for the kind words and well wishes. I had a great couple weeks out with my family. I'm so glad that I had the chance to be there with them during this big and exciting change in our lives. George is doing well. He's growing lots and he's a very sweet baby. We've been impressed with our two year old, William, as well. He seems like being an older brother and is adjusting well to the new family dynamics.

If you'd like to see some more photos of George and our family, check out Michelle Enebo's blog.

Last week I stopped by to make a cameo appearance in our class photo. I was surprised to find a nice basket of fruit--thank you. Also, thank you to all the parents who helped put together MSP snacks for the long writing days. These were a huge hit with the kids and a big help in keeping their stamina up.


MSP Testing

• We took the Expository Writing test on Tuesday and the Reading test on Thursday
• Testing is finally over with!
• Students who need to make up any section of the test will do that within the next week

Math

• Took Unit 10 test, which came home the other day with your student
• Took Unit 10 open response--coming home soon
• Started Unit 11 on 3D shapes, weight, volume and capacity
• See the parent letter here

Reading

• Continued read aloud: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• Started reading assessments with students using leveled words lists

Writing

• Finished up the Realistic Fiction Narrative writing unit
• Had our Author's Chair celebration! (See pictures)
• Students shared in small groups
• Then students wrote positive reviews on their fellow group members' "Critics Agree..." sheets

Author's Chair. Be sure to click to view more pictures.

Social Studies

• Wrapping up with Pacific Rim unit shortly
• Ask your student about our Trade Simulation we did today!
• Quote of the day goes to Ryan who said, "It was really fun, but at the same time it gave you a really big headache!"
• What made the trading so hectic? How does that compare to trading that happens on real exchanges, ie the New York Stock Exchange?

Trading Simulation in action. We had to build a computer! More pictures here.

Learning Updates

Where's that baby? (Click the image for a closer look) We charted our due date predictions and found minimum, maximum, range, median, and mode. The due date was 4/17, but my 2 year old son was 12 days late. Looks like all but 3 students' predictions have already been disproven. :) I'll keep you all posted!

Lots of learning continues in room 264. Here's the latest:

Math

Continued working on Unit 9, which is focused on:

• Naming equivalencies among fractions, decimals, and percents. 
• Using data tables, organizing and tabulating survey data, & ranking and comparing percent data
• We'll soon introduce multiplication and division of decimals by whole numbers by first ignoring decimals, doing x or /, and finally estimating to determine where to place the decimal
• Example 2.4 * 9 --> Figure the problem: 24 * 9 = 216. Then estimate: 2.4 is ~ 2. So 2 * 9 = 18. The answer must be a little larger than 18. Use this to place the decimal so that 216 is now 21.6

Writing

• Students are now working hard to finish up their fictional narrative story rough drafts
• They're putting all that they've learned over the course of the year and this unit to use
• Many have done significant revision, rethinking and reworking of their story mountain plans
• Next up is revising, editing and publishing these stories--I can't wait!
• Be sure to ask your student to tell you about the story they are writing. What does their character deeply desire? What do they struggle with? Ask how your student is planning to show, not tell these things.

Social Studies

• Students read a Pacific Rim text, and then researched and took notes in order to learn more
• We read a narrative story called, Zapizapu. Ask your student to tell you about the message of the story and how it connects with Pacific Rim. Also, what was the story map that we did afterward?
• We did a whole class pictorial in order to learn more about Japan. We pulled the information and put it on a mind map and later our process grid (the place where we'll record information from different categories about 5 different Pacific Rim countries)
• We started team tasks and expert groups. Ask your student to tell you more about these.

Narrative--Zapizapu. Ask your student all about this story and the story map we created.

Japan Pictorial--have your student explain some facts about the country of Japan and our process for creating this pictorial.

Reading

• Learned more about making inferences when we read
• Students read Baseball Saved Us, a story set during WWII at a Japanese Internment camp in the U.S. We made ties to the Puyallup Fair Grounds, which we learned earlier in the year were used for this purpose, Pacific Rim & our studies of Japan, and also our study of genres--this was a Historical Fiction
• I've begun expert groups. I generally pull just one student from each table group. We read a text about a particular country, highlight important information, discuss, make quick sketches, and mind map the information. Later, experts will teach the rest of their table group and we'll play the process grid game to see what we can recall.
• We finished our read aloud: A Wrinkle in Time. Ask your student what genre the book is and why. What is the message of the story? In what ways is life on earth better/worse than on the planet Camazotz?

Also... "Optional" Family Field Trip: Over the years, I have enjoyed shopping, eating, and wandering through Seattle's International District.  One of our essential focus questions for the Pacific Rim Unit is "How the countries on the Pacific Rim are connected to Washington".  This includes through immigration, trade, and cultural exchange.  If you have the time and inclination, I would encourage you to have an educational afternoon family outing in that area.  The International District is packed full of opportunities to learn more about the cultural influence that some Pacific Rim countries have had on our region.  Just visiting the Uwajimaya grocery store is impressive in itself! 

Learning Updates

I hope you have a wonderful Spring Break! Here's the latest from the classroom:

Social Studies

• Read Chapter 8 on Washington's economy
• Students worked together to complete a review of the material, then took a test
• Started Pacific Rim unit
• Our new social skill is "Risk Taking." We brainstormed what it looks/sounds like
• Ask your child about one way they've taken a risk in class this week
• Sorted Pacific Rim pictures in small groups, looked at observation charts (Pac. Rim pictures grouped by theme) and wrote observations & questions around the room in response to pictures grouped by a certain theme related to Pac Rim

Math

• Students took the Unit 8 test and Open Response
• We started a new unit on Fractions, Decimals and Percents
• Ask your student about a new game we played, which reinforces concepts of area & perimeter, called Rugs & Fences

Writing

• Students are making great progress with their fictional narratives
• We've discussed story mountains as a way to revise early and often as our story ideas unfold
• Talked about the importance of a character that deeply desires something, but struggles with something
• Learned about showing rather than telling in our scenes, and effective leads and endings
• Ask your student what realistic fiction endings should not do. Hint: Superman

Reading

• Learning about different book genres. 
• Ask your student about the genre requirements through the end of the year. How are we tracking books read?
• Learning about making inferences when we read--using the clues to discern the author's meaning
• Miss Leah (our Literacy Coach) came in to work with the class on making inferences
• Some students met in small reading group to further practice the skill
• Students shared book recommendations and we added to our Books to Read lists
• Ask what's been happening lately in our Wrinkle in Time read aloud

Making Inferences. Miss Leah conducts a whole class shared reading lesson.

Sorting picture file cards for Pacific Rim

Observation charts. Recording questions/observations about themed photos related to Pacific Rim.