The 4M Smarties get an extra big pat on the back this week! I lost my voice and they all rallied and did a great job listening carefully to directions the first time they were given and working diligently.
We started writing our first full narrative this week about exploring an abandoned house. They brainstormed ideas, outlined a plan on a graphic organizer and then wrote a rough draft. Through conferences and minilessons, I taught them how to use thoughts, descriptions, actions and sounds to “explode a moment.” We also focused their writing to write a lot about one event instead of writing a little about many events.
In reading, we read an excerpt of the radio play “Invasion from Mars.” We listened to the actual radio broadcast from 1938 with Orson Welles and discussed how this play created national hysteria.Then, students practiced their fluency by practicing parts of the play.
I hope everyone takes an opportunity to read our reading blog on this website. Students wrote opinion paragraphs this past week and will write replies for homework this upcoming week.
We also started our targeted reading (RTI) groups this week. These small groups will meet for 30 minutes/ 3 days a week. We have three other teachers and paras to help break our class into groups of 6-8 students.
We finished our plant unit in science and the tests will go home on Monday. We will now switch over to social studies and learn about landforms and geography.
This upcoming week we will learn about how a president is elected in preparation for Election Day on Nov. 8th and a visit to the JFK Library on November 29th.
Thank you to parents who volunteered to help with our Halloween Party on Monday. As a reminder, students should not bring in more than one piece of candy as a snack this week.
Ask a Fourth Grader
* Why did the radio play “Invasion from Mars” create panic across the U.S.?
* What does it mean to “explode a moment” with your writing? How do you do this?
* Is 19 a prime or composite number? How do you know?
* How is “point of view” important in the book, Wonder?