Miss Michael's Fourth Grade Class at Fiske

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“It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" ~Mark Twain

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Here’s What’s Happening <o:p></o:p>
in Room 211!
<div align="left">    </div>Reading
Workshop

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Now that we've survived ELA MCAS <img src="/Controls/DHtmlEditor/Images/emteeth.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" />, we're getting back into Reader's Workshop mode.  We are set to begin small guided reading groups. As we delve into some wonderful novels for our young readers, we will be working on a variety of comprehension strategies.  During these small guided reading groups, we will continue to monitor our thinking with a focus on connections, predictions, and characterization.  Supporting thinking by locating specific text evidence will be a major focus during these small group guided reading sessions.  Reading is thinking, and it's imperative that the students provide specific examples from the text to support their thinking as a way to monitor their comprehension.
 Writing
Workshop

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We recently completed our unit on persuasive writing, and now we are moving on to the genre of realistic fiction.  This unit requires a great deal of planning, and we will spend some time analyzing mentor texts to model effective examples of this genre.       To generate ideas, students have begun "mining" their own narrative writing for ideas, in addition to contemplating issues that are important to them personally.  Another way to generate ideas for realistic fiction is to ask the question, "What kind of books do I wish existed in the world?".   Author Grace Lin's visit to Fiske provided the perfect springboard for this discussion, as her novels and books were created out of a wish and desire to read books featuring Asian characters that shared her personal, family, and cultural experiences.     Once the students have found their idea, they will be involved in character development with a focus on internal and external features so that they know their characters inside and out.  Moreover, they will create story mountains in which their characters face obstacles and challenges as they deal with their problems, yearnings, or goals they are trying to achieve.  In addition, scenes will be developed to enable their plot to unfold.  As you can see, there is quite a bit of planning and preparation involved in this genre of writing!  It will be exciting to see what kinds of stories our creative Room 211 students generate during this unit of study!

The students are currently learning the partial quotients algorithm for division.  This method of division helps students to use extended multiplication facts as a means for breaking down a division problem into manageable and meaningful parts.  Thus, number sense is enhanced as well as the inverse relationship between multiplication and division.  <img src="/Controls/DHtmlEditor/Images/face23.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" />  For more information regarding algorithms and Everyday Math, please view this link:


<a href="http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/teaching-topics/computation/">http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/teaching-topics/computation/</a>

Social
Studies

The students are learning about our Neighbor to the North, Canada!  To begin our study of Canada, the students are becoming familiar with Canadian geography and the beauty and diversity of the Canadian landscape.  The students are discovering similarities and differences among Canadian regions, and they will be learning the names and capitals of the various provinces and territories.  The students will also be learning about Canadian history and culture, and make comparisons and connections to US history and culture.  There's a lot to appreciate about our Neighbor to the North, eh?

Science

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 </div>    The students recently tracked the passage of time by experimenting with a gnomon in small groups.  Every hour the students went out and marked the Sun's shadow and the time.  We discussed how the ancients used the Sun and Moon's phases to track the passage of time, and we also talked about how the length of the shadows on the gnomons provides important information regarding the Sun's position in the sky and how that relates to time.       During this unit, the students will be working to clear up some common misconceptions about the reason for the seasons.  The students have begun viewing the engaging and entertaining CD Rom from Science Court, entitled Seasons.  The students have been "court side commentators" at a trial involving some very interesting characters.  Through hands-on activities and the testimony of some "experts" in the field (and some misguided ones! ;-)  the students will make discoveries about the reasons for the seasons.  This unit is sure to be out of this world! <img src="/Controls/DHtmlEditor/Images/emmoon.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" />

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Miss Michael's Fourth Grade Class at Fiske

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