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.  

Class/School News 5.27.11

CLASS NEWS:

Market Day – It’s coming Wednesday June 8^th!  For parents who would like to volunteer at Market Day, please plan on helping from 9:00 am - 11:00 am. A two hour commitment is needed for set-up, help making change/handing out raffle tickets during Market Day, and clean-up in the cafeteria. The actual event will be from 9:30-10:30.  All other parents are also welcome to join us as well.  You will be provided with Grizzly Bucks to do some good shopping!

SCHOOL NEWS:

Volunteer Tea - The teachers and staff of Grand Ridge Elementary invite you to join us for refreshments as we honor the parent volunteers who have made a “grand” difference in our classrooms this year on Wednesday, June 1 in the Grand Ridge Library.  Our fourth grade volunteer time is from 11:00-11:30.  Please join me for your special treat!

From the Library: The last check out day for grades 2-5 will be May 20th and for grades K-1 will be May 27th. All library materials are due on June 3rd. Patrons are responsible for payment of lost/damaged materials. Students who have missing materials (library books included) will have report cards held at the end of the year.

“Ride the Wave” Family Luau Night – Friday, June 3^rd, 6-8pm

Bringing to you:

• Steel Drummer, and Hawaiian music
• Shaved Ice, BBQ Shack, Zeeks Hawaiian Pizza and Salads, Jamba Juice (Cash only will be accepted)
• Face Painting and Tattoos
• Crafts, Tropical Beach relay Race and Limbo
• Wear your favorite Hawaiian outfit and get your picture taken riding the Wave for FREE

All Students must be accompanied by an adult. Any questions please email Peggy Chase or Kim Goodman at luckydogs4@ihmail.com or mrsgoodman26@hotmail.com.

We are still in need of a few more volunteers to make this event a success.  Please contact Sara Winnick at swinnick@ihmail.com if you're interested in volunteering for part of the evening.  Please note that the remaining Grizzly Gear will be sold at discounted prices during the luau. There's a wide variety of Gear to choose from!

Elementary Science Initiative Campaign Reminder

The June 15^th Elementary Science Initiative Campaign deadline is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t yet made your donation toward this critical K-5 science curriculum adoption for our students, please do so today.  The benefit to your child will be immediate and impactful.  The campaign coalition (PTSA, District, ISF) is asking every elementary parent to contribute $50 per child—or whatever they can to raise the funding required to purchase and implement the full, three domain curriculum this fall.  Please visit the campaign website, http://www.issaquahscience.org/ to learn why this adoption is vital to your child’s education and how you can join our team of campaign fundraisers.

Summer school registration is now open for elementary school students.

·    Elementary Summer School is for current first through fifth graders who would like to get a jump-start on next year’s learning. The program also provides remedial assistance over the summer.  Classes are held on weekdays from July 5 to July 29, 9AM to 12 PM, at Clark Elementary School.  Tuition is $375 and applications are available in your school office or on the District website.

·    Summer Computer Camp is for current fourth and fifth graders. Students will learn how to use a camera, how to film correctly, and how to transfer video into the computer.  They will learn the fundamentals of video production and editing and how to use still pictures and video to make a movie. Their final project will be to produce a DVD.  Summer Computer Camp runs weekdays from July 11 to July 22, 9:30 to 11:30, at Clark Elementary School.  Tuition for this two-week program is $225 and applications are available in your school office or on the District website.

Toy Man

Today we were visited by Rick Hartman, aka the Toymaker. Rick shared his love for science by demonstrating how to create several toys that operate using "properties of air." Tonight I would like you to reflect on the workshop and what you learned from your experimentation with these toys by answering the following two questions. You MUST use paragraph form and follow the classroom rules for posting.

1. Choose either the first or second project (not the kazoo) and, in a paragraph, explain how it used air to operate. Think scientifically.
2. In a second paragraph, tell what you learned about the properties of air from today's activities.

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! 

School News 4/18/11

Summer school registration is now open for elementary school students.

·    Elementary Summer School is for current first through fifth graders who would like to get a jump-start on next year’s learning. The program also provides remedial assistance over the summer.  Classes are held on weekdays from July 5 to July 29, 9AM to 12 PM, at Clark Elementary School.  Tuition is $375 and applications are available in your school office or on the District website.

·    Summer Computer Camp is for current fourth and fifth graders. Students will learn how to use a camera, how to film correctly, and how to transfer video into the computer.  They will learn the fundamentals of video production and editing and how to use still pictures and video to make a movie. Their final project will be to produce a DVD.  Summer Computer Camp runs weekdays from July 11 to July 22, 9:30 to 11:30, at Clark Elementary School.  Tuition for this two-week program is $225 and applications are available in your school office or on the District website.

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.