May 15, 2012
Dear Fourth Grade
Parents,
Colonial day is
tomorrow, Thursday 5/17. The children have already brought in their signs
and backdrops. Tomorrow they should bring their colonial garb in a bag
to school. They can dress after lunch while the custodians clean the
cafeteria. We will tape the backdrops to either the wall or folded up
lunch tables to create avenues. Students can place their work artifacts on the
floor. People will have to walk carefully in the marketplace.
Parents and guests are invited to come from 2:30-3:00. They may
wander around to the shops, ask questions, etc. At 3:00 everyone closes
shop and takes all their materials home!
The fourth graders have participated in many special events over the past week. Our trip to the Library of Congress to hear Walter Dean Myers speak was enlightening and included a fun spring picnic on the lawn facing the Capitol. The students also received a special backpack and summer reading packet from the LOC to get them psyched up for some wonderful vacation reading. On Monday we welcomed a performing troupe from the Folger Shakespeare Library, "Bill's Buddies," who performed and conducted an acting workshop for our students as an introduction to the bold, funny, powerful language of William Shakespeare. We were even treated to some sword fighting!
On Tuesday we kicked off our Janney Summer Reading Program by learning about the writing life from two authors - JoAnn Dawson, who writes a fiction series about horses, and Stefan Fatsis, Chloe's dad and non-fiction author and journalist. Stefan brought his football uniform from his summer with the Denver Broncos, and Ms. Dawson brought a horse. It was great fun!
DON'T FORGET: May 17th is Colonial Trade Day, and parents are invited to join us at 2:30 in the cafeteria.
May 21st is Parent-Teacher Conference Day and there is no school for students. Sign up under the homeroom teacher's name. Actual conferences will be as follows:
Freedenberg homeroom: will meet with Dr. Langford
Langford homeroom: will meet with Ms. Martell-Stevenson
Martell-Stevenson homeroom: will meet with Mrs. Freedenberg
LEARNING UPDATES
Reading
Our final unit of the school year is on historical fiction. This exciting genre is uniquely challenging because it requires readers to enter an unfamiliar world and synthesize text about evolving settings, events, circumstances, and consequences. Its reward is that reading historical fiction is the closest we can get to experiencing the past without having been there. Historical fiction explains "what was it like?" and lets the reader LIVE the history! We're excited to get started!This week we began by looking at short historical fiction texts and paying close attention to both the physical setting and the emotional setting. Students have learned to expect that there will be trouble brewing in a historical novel and to look for clues of conflict and change. They will learn to be attentive to the mood in the text and to notice ways that changes in setting affect different characters. Students will be reading historical fiction in book clubs. They have started working within their clubs to establish routines, rituals, and expectations for how the club will work. Books will be read in school and groups will meet several days each week. Whole class mini-lessons will continue to focus on skills for understanding historical fiction such as synthesizing story elements, maintaining a sense of time, connecting characters to historical context, seeing big ideas in small details, and widening the horizons of our thinking as we read stories with complex themes and historical significance.
Math
Our post-DC CAS work has taken us first to Unit 9. In this unit we have extended thinking
about fractions and decimals to percents.
This has included an emphasis on the central idea of percents: per
hundred. While the fraction
and decimal models we have used relate to a clearly delineated whole region or
set or number line segment, percent models imply a whole composed of hundreds. Thus, x percent implies x per
hundred within a whole that may be as elusive as the population of a country. We are currently extending whole number
multiplication and division procedures to decimal numbers. Next we will use percents to compare
quantities expressed as fractions in survey data. Upon conclusion of this unit we will begin a study of rates
in Unit 12.
Writing
& Social Studies
Colonial Trade Day is May 17,
2012. Parents can visit our Colonial Main
Street beginning at 2:30 p.m. on May 17th. Each student will display their sign, background, and wares.
They will dress up as their person and trade. A copy of the project is posted on this website.
During class time this week we are also beginning to
take our year end writing evaluation. Students are going through the
entire writing process to write about an event during colonial times,
before or after the Declaration of Independence. I am encouraging all
students to be very thoughtful and detailed with an eye to spelling,
handwriting, and story format.
We are also working our way to the Middle Colonies
as we continue with the American Revolution. So far this week, we have
battled on Long Island, hung Nathan Hale, met Thomas Paine and are about
to cross the Delaware. Again, we will examine the famous painting of
Washington Crossing the Delaware.
All the best,
Penina Freedenberg
Karen
Langford Nancy Martell-Stevenson
The Fourth Grade Team
Mrs. Penina Freedenberg (reading): freedenberg.janney@gmail.com
Dr. Karen Langford (math): karen.langford@dc.gov
Ms. Nancy Martell-Stevenson (writing &
social studies): nancy.stevenson@dc.gov