Week 3

"You only learn to be a better writer by actually writing."  --Doris Lessing

We have been writing in our writer's notebooks and sharing our stories, thoughts and ideas.  There are some exceptional stories and everyone does a great job participating.  We completed the district wide writing prompt on Thursday.  In math we worked on estimation, addition and subtraction of whole numbers.  We continue to improve our learning conversations as we play math games.  In science we discussed how much physical activity we should get and what activities we like to do.  This is one of the stronger classes this year as the students one of the students completed 37 pushups!

We will be taking a field trip to the recycling plant in Springfield in October.  In connection with recycling, we read the story about the polluting of the Nashua River.  We had many questions about the story and pollution, so we will research about the Nashua River, Connecticut River and Westfield River next week.

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry   A River Ran Wild is the True Story of the History, the Polluting and the Clean-up of the Nashua River.

September 14, 2012

Praying Mantis vs Leaf Bug  Week 2

We have class pets!  I brought in two hermit crabs and a student brought in a praying mantis he found at his house.  The praying mantis has captivated everyone.  We created a home for it in an old fish tank using leaves and some rocks.   Students have been bringing in bugs for the praying mantis to eat.  Yesterday a student brought in a leaf bug and the two had an epic battle with the praying mantis coming out as sole survivor.  Students had many questions about the praying mantis and they researched their questions during computer class.  On Tuesday, the fourth grade class visited the 9/11 memorial and we wrote about our thoughts of  9/11.  A student, who visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York last weekend, brought in a picture book about the memorial.   The student did a great job informing us all about  the memorial. 

"Perfect practice makes perfect"    Week 1
 
Welcome Back!  Our school year has begun and we are off to a great start.  We began with a cooperative learning activity in creating the tallest tower using spaghetti and marshmallows.  Students had the opportunity to get to know each other while problem solving and working together in the challenge of building the tower.  We have practiced Learning conversations and established rules for the classroom.  In math we have taken the district wide pretest and fact test and started the topic of Place Value.  Our topic of study in science is health with a focus on the food groups and nutrition.  In English Language Arts, we have learned to choose a "just right book", and completed a "When I was little" writing assignment after reading the book, When I was little by Jamie Lee Curtis. In computer, we created an all about me Wordle.

Reminder:  Open House, Thursday, September 13.