Post #5

Swimming begins on Tuesday!

The PE department has shared these details with us regarding swimming. The girls will go to the green top and playground as they do every morning. I will meet them in front of McVey and walk with them to the pool. Please pack an extra snack on swimming days. Swimming tends to leave the girls famished!

History4Fourthies is all about the job of the president. The girls learned about the requirements and responsibilities of POTUS. They balanced the federal budget, chose advisors, and held a press conference. Each girl will research a president next week. We'll use the many LS library databases. 

The girls independently completed their Wordly Wise quizzes. These quizzes are tough. Ask your daughter to log into her Quia account to see her progress with Wordly Wise. The girls use the Wordly Wise words during math instruction and complete creative writing assignments using the words. Check out your daughter's creative writing composition book. 

The focus of our writing lab was using varied and specific transitions. Fourthies have a tendency to overuse 'then' and 'but' and we are working to remedy that.  The girls work in their Google Drive account and I'm able to read, comment, and make suggestions on their document as they are writing. This makes for an active and ongoing revision process. Piclits were introduced this week. Piclits are image inspired writing. Piclits reinforce parts of speech, strengthen vocabulary and give the girls a creative voice in their writing. Next week's writing lab will feature Piclit writing. Writing labs can be found on our Fourthie Site. 

We worked with data, large number computation, geometry/abstract art, and problem solving in math. The girls were introduced to a variety of ways to solve problems. The girls will take their first cumulative math test next Thursday. A study guide will always be provided prior to the assessment.

Interested in learning more about the technology integration in Fourth grade? Please join us for a Parents' Technology Workshop on October 8th.

Fourthie enthusiasm at the Women's Jr. Cycling Race!

Girls-

Your blog question.......

What does POTUS stand for?

Post #4

Shhhhhh! How quiet can you be? Every now and again we need to gather our thoughts and center ourselves as we get ready for the next activity. The girls accomplish this task with bouncing eyeballs.

The girls asked me to post the eyeball link to the blog. Maybe they are planning quiet time at home:)

The Fourthies are officially Fourthies. The girls signed the Fourthie pledge and received their one of a kind hats. The girls should bring their hats back to school to keep in their cubby.

The girls' creativity was in full force this week. They applied their geometry knowledge and completed an art/math project and wrote about angles and quadrilaterals. We continue to look at geometry in our world. Each week we spice up our math work with an audio component. Here's an example. Everyone wanted to talk about a favorite summer memory. What's better than talking? Writing, of course. The girls summarized and shared a memory. The memories were added to a collaborative map The girls will calculate distances and review cardinal directions using their "Summer Memory" map. Synchronized skating and horseback riding also made an appearance in math instruction this week.

Spelling quizzes were taken online today and will be in work folders next Friday. You can log into your daughter's Spelling City account and review her grades. No spelling next week due to the PE field trip. Our writing lab reinforced editing and sentence expansion. The girls saw how a simple sentence can grow when strong imagery is used. They used an animated image and "grew" their paragraphs using specific verbs, descriptive adjectives, an several senses. The girls logged into Newsela and read an article about 3D-printing. The article reinforced their technology lesson which introduced the Fourthie design project. Ask your daughter for details on this.

Important News/Dates:
PE Field Trip (9/25)
Swimming Letter (swimming starts on 9/29)
Parents' Technology Night (10/8 @ 6:30)
Fall Conference Sign-up
Special Week Sign-up
Lunch Bunch with Mrs. Sterling


Girls- Your blog question is:
What color are the eyes in this post?

Post #3

The Fourthie routine is officially underway and we are smooth sailing. We are all looking forward to our first full week. It was so nice to see so many of you on Thursday for our Parents' Night. The girls are a remarkable group- so pat yourselves on the back.

Our academic highlights:
The girls have been busy writing and navigating their Google Drives. They are becoming responsible digital citizens. The first Writing Lab included sentence structure with attention to capitalization and punctuation. The girls are writing a "mystery paragraph" about themselves and will embed a pixilated image. These will be on display outside the classroom. The younger girls enjoy reading our Fourthie writing. We are also working on summer memories. The memories will be added to a collaborative map. More on this in our next post. We focused on identifying verbs, adjectives, and nouns as well as editing sentences. We are using some silly Parry Gripp songs to reinforce these skills. It's raining tacos in room M02!

Wordly Wise list #1 was assessed on Thursday. The girls take these quizzes through their Quia account. I loved reading their Wordly Wise creative writing and seeing how they used images to inspire their writing. Spelling was introduced on Friday. The girls will practice and assess spelling in Spelling City. The list is brief and includes both commonly misspelled words and frequently used words from Wordly Wise list #1. I'll differentiate as needed in the coming weeks.

The girls are earning medals in Manga High. Manga High is a great site that reinforces computation and problem solving. We worked with reading and writing large numbers and place value up to the hundred millions. Problem solving using multiplication and addition were reinforced in our EdPuzzle. Each Tuesday we have Station Rotations in math. This is a great way for me to informally assess your daughter's progress. Granny multiplication was the favorite station. Your daughter can explain.

History4Fourthies will focus on our government and the role of the president.

A few reminders.....
Parent Conference Sign up
Special Week Sign-up
Parent Technology Night-10/8
Picture Day is next Thursday (9/17)

Girls- Please write the answer to your blog question in your agenda.

How many tacos are pictured on this blog post?

Post #2

Fabulous Fourthies for sure! The girls of Room M02 are an impressive bunch. They have already earned 6 class compliments for being responsible citizens who consistently modeled our school values. We are off to a great start and I feel like I have known them forever and not a mere four days. You can glimpse our week by viewing the class photos. Each week a "student photographer" will use the class iPad to capture memories. Campbell did a great job this week. In addition to a class photographer, we also have a class tweeter. Our classroom has a Twitter account that will spread the news of academic and team building activities in our classroom. Austin filled this role during the first week. The Fourthies set goals after watching a persistent squirrel who refused to give up. We talked about the importance of having a determined attitude and taking advantage of help when needed.

Academic highlights:
The girls were introduced to Wordly Wise, our vocabulary program. Wordly Wise is more than a workbook. The girls will engage in creative writing activities, movie making and more using WW words. There are many practice activities on our Fourthie site.

Let's talk about "Three Word Thursday", also referred to as 3WT. During this activity the girls write creatively using random words. Ask your daughter to show you her 3WT notebook next week. 

I hope your daughter shared her math fact contract with you. Fact fluency will be reinforced each week with a quick fact check every Friday. We use "That Quiz" for assessing. More on "That Quiz" during "Parents Night." We will be working on Units One and Two simultaneously for the next several weeks. Unit One focuses on geometry terms and Unit Two on number sense, place value, and using data landmarks. Musical Moments reinforce computation skills and data landmarks. Friday Musical Moments will feature Boy Bands. We use EdPuzzle for fun problem solving. Take a look at this week's EdPuzzle.

Homework is posted each Friday and I encouraged the girls to preview the week and make plans in regards to their own schedule and after school activities. 

I hope to see everyone next Thursday at "Parents Night." I look forward to getting to know both you your daughters.

Girls- Your weekly blog question is...... 

Write the name of one girl in the front row of our class picture at the top of the blog. Write your answer in your agenda.