This week in language arts the children focused on reading comprehension, creative writing, and novel study. In reading comprehension, the children were responsible for a homework packet. In class, we worked on sequencing stories and re-reading questions to be sure we understood them. I have noticed marked improvement in the children as they learn to work more slowly and pay attention to detail. In creative writing, the children started new stories of their choice. Some are writing short books, while others are writing poems and shorter pieces. At this point in the year the children are practicing the many writing tools they have gathered over the trimesters. I am proud to see the amazing authors they have become. In novel study, the groups worked diligently together to discuss chapters, new vocabulary, and questions that have come up about their novels. I notice a great deal of back and forth discussion and excellent questioning techniques.
In science, the children finished their advertisements for their inventions. They had a great time thinking of slogans and catchy phrases to draw customers to their products. They finished up their business plans and wrote commercials. They had a wonderful time acting out their own commercials and having parts in their classmates’ commercials. This project has given the children great practice in research, planning, and teamwork.
This week in math we worked on dividing fractions, multiplying a fraction by a whole number and continued reducing fractions and converting improper numbers to mixed numbers and vice versa. We worked in concept centers to enhance their understanding of math skills. Fourth graders were great mentors to their second grade Math Buddies by helping them use fraction pieces to create pictures. Students are continuing a mean, median, and mode project where they will tally, graph, and chart class responses. Your children have worked hard at IXL Math, and are mastering specified topics. I am impressed with the determination and diligent work ethic they put into their individual self-assessments. As of this week, the class spent 416 hours on IXL Math. We practiced 546 skills, have 100% student participation, and completed over 73,381 problems.
This week in social studies, we looked deeper into the causes of the American Revolution. During math, we played an American Revolution game with an American team vs. a British team. Our fourth graders changed history yesterday as the British won the American Revolution. We finished sequencing events leading up to the American Revolution in a timeline. Students researched and summarized an individual event. We continue our read aloud of Hope’s Diary, a story about a nine year old girl in the middle of the war. The story portrays her efforts to aide families and soldiers affected by the war. Students enjoyed The Hedgehog News, a paper focusing on events prior to the Revolution from a colonist’s point of view. Students evaluated why it was so unfair to be taxed, discussed how the situation could be handled more fairly, and why British goods were boycotted. Students are beginning a timeline of events from the colonial conflicts, Declaration of Independence, American Revolution, Bill of Rights and Constitution. We also continued our independent current events study. Students enjoy learning about what is happening in the news. They especially love getting the chance to speak in front of their peers. They ask insightful and creative questions about each article. Articles and summaries are due every Wednesday. The focus of our summaries is based on the 5-W’s and H (who, what, where, when, why and how). Each current event assignment needs to be submitted with a copy of the article and a 6-8 sentence summary.