This week, the 4M Smarties were engineers, detectives, collaborators, and poets.
In science, they were able to extend the engineering process started a week ago with the visit from the Museum of Science. In teams, students spent three afternoons designing, testing and redesigning blades for a wind turbine. On Thursday, we had the Big Competition and Alexa and Morgan were our winners! I will post photos on this website on Monday.
We started reading the novel, Shiloh, this week. Students learned about the geography, dialect and music of the Appalachian region of the United States, which is the setting for this story. Students will be reading the novel in school, preparing for group discussions in Literature Circles and writing responses to what they read. They also learned about how readers combine what they know with what they read to make inferences. Then, they became detectives and used their inferring skills to read a non-fiction text and collect data about the Titanic tragedy. Could this tragedy have been avoided? Ask your 4M Smartie!
We have a class full of poets! This week Mrs. Hall helped fill our classroom with poetry books from the school library and we went on a treasure hunt for poetic language. We also used other poet’s writing as inspiration for writing our own poetry.
On Wednesday, the 4th grade had a practice for the ELA MCAS test. Everyone was focused and used the strategies we have practiced. The ELA test will be given March 31 - April 4th. Please let me know if you anticipate your child missing any of the testing days.
Ms. Donaghey, the student-teacher in our classroom this spring, has been a wonderful addition to our daily routine. She is leading the Shiloh unit, working with small groups in math, directing our Morning Meeting and teaching me how to run the new science wind turbines!
Next Tuesday, author Gregory Mone will spend the day with the 4th grade. He will talk to the entire grade and then visit each classroom and lead a writing lesson. It’s always exciting to meet a published author! Thank you to the PTO for organizing and sponsoring this visit.
Thank you to Lori Ierardi and Molly Seller for helping with math games and photocopying the past two weeks! Parents are always welcome to volunteer using the button above to sign up. We would love to see you!
Ask a Fourth Grader!
In science, they were able to extend the engineering process started a week ago with the visit from the Museum of Science. In teams, students spent three afternoons designing, testing and redesigning blades for a wind turbine. On Thursday, we had the Big Competition and Alexa and Morgan were our winners! I will post photos on this website on Monday.
We started reading the novel, Shiloh, this week. Students learned about the geography, dialect and music of the Appalachian region of the United States, which is the setting for this story. Students will be reading the novel in school, preparing for group discussions in Literature Circles and writing responses to what they read. They also learned about how readers combine what they know with what they read to make inferences. Then, they became detectives and used their inferring skills to read a non-fiction text and collect data about the Titanic tragedy. Could this tragedy have been avoided? Ask your 4M Smartie!
We have a class full of poets! This week Mrs. Hall helped fill our classroom with poetry books from the school library and we went on a treasure hunt for poetic language. We also used other poet’s writing as inspiration for writing our own poetry.
On Wednesday, the 4th grade had a practice for the ELA MCAS test. Everyone was focused and used the strategies we have practiced. The ELA test will be given March 31 - April 4th. Please let me know if you anticipate your child missing any of the testing days.
Ms. Donaghey, the student-teacher in our classroom this spring, has been a wonderful addition to our daily routine. She is leading the Shiloh unit, working with small groups in math, directing our Morning Meeting and teaching me how to run the new science wind turbines!
Next Tuesday, author Gregory Mone will spend the day with the 4th grade. He will talk to the entire grade and then visit each classroom and lead a writing lesson. It’s always exciting to meet a published author! Thank you to the PTO for organizing and sponsoring this visit.
Thank you to Lori Ierardi and Molly Seller for helping with math games and photocopying the past two weeks! Parents are always welcome to volunteer using the button above to sign up. We would love to see you!
Ask a Fourth Grader!
- Could the Titanic tragedy have been prevented?
- What is an inference?
- What was your best wind turbine blade design?
- What have you learned about life in Appalachia?
- How many pounds are in a ton?