Post #10

Innovation Day, Halloween Party, and Wordly Wise Dress-Up Day! What a week!

I'll begin this post with TWO BIG events happening next week. Fourthies will be taking their first field trip on Tuesday. The forecast calls for sunny skies and 70 degrees temperatures. Cross your fingers that the forecast holds- this will make for a perfect experience at Mt. Vernon.

Mt. Vernon field trip details

Mt. Vernon Food Court prices

Fourthies will attend the St. Catherine's Day Service on Friday. The service has been moved to All Saints Episcopal because of the renovation being done at St. Stephen's Church. The girls will need to wear a dress, skirt, or nice slacks. Of course they may bring a change of clothes for PE.

Now on to this week's highlights. One of my favorite quotes is Albert Einstein's comment about intelligence and creativity.

AND our week was filled with creativity. The girls worked on a Wordly Wise project creating "Breaking News" banners, texting with a president, and rewriting the Star Wars opening crawls using Wordly Wise words. The items were mashed into a Google Drawing page and can be viewed in your daughter's Google Drive. Here are a few examples of chats with presidents and a Star Wars crawl:

The girls finished their presidential research and created a slideshow. Presentations will begin next week.

Beautiful fall themed picture books were written during our writing lab. We used Storybird; several of the girls were familiar with the site and were able to offer assistance to others. Storybird begins with thought provoking images that spark a story.

The girls are becoming adept at reading non-fiction while becoming globally aware citizens at the same time. This week they searched Newsela by location and read articles of personal interest. The articles were summarized and added to a collaborative map. The map will reinforce geography skills next week.

Math centered around Halloween themed problem solving using infographics and UNICEF statistics. The girls completed a unit review for their test on Monday (my original plan was to test this Friday- WHAT WAS I THINKING!!). The review is in their backpacks. There is math homework this weekend. The girls need to tally their candy. We will use the data for a graphing activity nest week.

Thursday's Innovation Day was a big hit. The girls worked well with their first grade partners. Pictures of the event are posted on the blog. Friday was filled with fun and friendship. The girls were so clever in their Wordly Wise outfits. A big shout-out to all the parents who helped out with treats, games, and most importantly their time. I am so very appreciative-so are your daughters:)

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

What is the Tuesday forecast for our first field trip?

Post #9

I enjoyed our conferences and sharing the home/school connections. I feel so very fortunate to be the teacher in room M02. Such a caring, motivated, and creative group of girls! 

I was very proud of the girls'  forgiveness themed chapel. I was hoping to post the chapel to the blog but the file is much too BIG!

We continue to work with literary elements in fiction stories. During our writing lab, the girls developed a strong setting using imagery and their senses to describe some spooky scenes. Our writing lab was finished and all groaned that there wasn't more time to write the entire story. All writing labs are in your daughter's Google Drive for quick access and easy viewing. 

We had a little fun with our Wordly Wise words. The girls worked with their weekly partners and "texted" each other. They used their WW words in the faux texts and included a value/virtue. Here's an example:

We'll do more of this next week. Maybe the girls can have an imaginary conversation with the president they are researching. Should be interesting.....

Presidents were randomly chosen and research is underway. The girls are using sites found on history4fourthies as well as the library databases to gather their facts. Next week the girls will create a slideshow and present their president to the class. I plan on videotaping them and posting to the blog.

The girls learned prime factorization and have become skilled at dissecting numbers and finding factor pairs. We worked with maps and scales and interacted with a map with some pretty unique names.  Problem solving featured populations and distances. The girls learned how candy corn is made and did some problem solving as well. Unit 3 math assessment will be next Friday. Look for a completed review on Thursday.

Did you trick or treat for UNICEF? St. Catherine's is participating in this wonderful cause. It brought back so many memories for me when the girls constructed their container. My hometown participated in "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF every year. Please ask your daughter about the video they watched and how this program helps children around the world. 

Fiction books should be finished by Friday. The book report will be a book trailer- similar to a movie trailer. The girls will use iMovie for this project. This is an opportunity for their creativity to shine.

The girls should spend some time reviewing the weekly homework page. There are many details about Wordly Wise dress-up, the recorder project, Innovation Day, etc. A few girls mentioned they were having difficulty with the recorder project. I am open for "Jump Start" beginning this Tuesday. The girls are welcome to come to the classroom beginning at 7:30 to get extra help, work on enrichment activities, their music project, or organize for the day. "Jump Start" is every Tuesday-Friday.  

On the horizon:

Thursday, October 29th (School begins at 10:00 and Innovation Day)
Our class is paired with Mrs, Thornhill's girls
Friday, October 30th (Wordly Wise dress-up day, Halloween Party 9:00-10:00)
Tuesday, November 3rd (All day field trip to Mt. Vernon- details here.)




Girls- Your blog scavenger hunt question.........
How many WW words are Madison and Grace's text?

Post #8

It was all about collaboration this week. The girls pulled together and created a unique forgiveness themed chapel that they will share with the Lower School at 8:15 on Monday morning. I love the way they go into high gear and become completely focused on a project. 

Three Word Thursday creative writing was a little different this week. The girls added their creativity to a shared slideshow. 

The girls were introduced to story elements and are taking notes on the fiction book they are reading. The book report will be completed in class and will include some snappy multi-media. Speaking of book reports, the girls were unsure where I posted their animals reports. Check them out.

We are working with factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, and multi-step problem solving. Ask your daughter about the bar method of problem solving. The girls are completing interactive "worksheets" in Matific with great accuracy. They are becoming math rock stars earning multiple medals in Manga High. We had a little Halloween fun with math, creating candy corn factor trees, costume problem solving and reasoning. Next week's fact check will be on the 5x tables. 

One of the favorite Fourthie activities is Wordly Wise Dress-Up Day! Details below:

                                                                   

Do you dream about a special WW word? Do you get happy when you see a WW word in a book you are reading or hear a WW word in a song?  Do you answer questions and deliberately try to use WW words in your responses? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then you officially have WW Fever! No need to be worried. It happens to most Fourthies and it’s a cause for celebration. We will celebrate WW Fever on 10/30/15. Start thinking about a word that tickles your fancy. How could you dress to represent or explain the word? What clever outfit could you create? Each Fourthie is encouraged to come dressed as a WW word ((from lists 1–5) on 10/30/15. We’ll take pictures and create our very own picture dictionary. So, develop an idea but don’t utter a word to anyone. You may be eager to share your ideas with your peers. Resist the temptation to disclose your outfit. We want everyone to be surprised. We can’t wait to applaud your creativity.

Girls- What word can best describe the Girls Rock Star, concave or convex?

Post #7

The girls enjoyed a fun Friday with doughnuts and loveys as they celebrated their first twenty-five compliments! They are on their way to the next twenty-five.

Girls Innovate! 

Everyday our girls innovate. They are creating, exploring, collaborating, and thinking critically in all that they do. The girls were treated to a presentation by Danielle Feinberg. She is a Director of Photography specializing in Lighting and Pixar Animation Studios. There were many "aha moments" when the girls realized the similarity between Ms. Feinberg's demonstration and what they are learning with Mrs. Hamilton-Dixon during their technology design classes. Today, we got to experience a little of the Middle School's Innovation Day. The Fourthies were invited to visit with the middle schoolers and their guests and see the varied products created with Littlebits. Below is a quick video explanation of Littlebits.

Doughnuts were featured in math this week. Function machines were introduced; ask your daughter about Mighty Doughnut Head. 

The girls used their innovative spirits and created their own doughnut function machine. They wrote about multiplication, explored factors and multiples using rainbows, and problem solved a Halloween without candy. Fact Checks will focus on the times tables for the next several weeks. Next week's check will be the 4 x table. Practice really does make progress! You can check your daughter's fact fluency by logging into her That Quiz account.

We have a couple of short weeks so Wordly Wise and spelling (list 4) will be assessed during the week of October 23rd. Wordly Wise was reinforced in many creative ways this week. The girls created movies in GoAnimate and made breaking news banners. 

WordlyWise #3 by Grace Sutten on GoAnimate


Newsela is strengthening the girls critical reading skills. I encourage the girls to take advantage of this fantastic resource and read, read, read current events from around the world.

Wednesday's writing lab got us in the Halloween spirit. Ask your daughter about the witch's spell. Halloween writing will be posted outside the classroom for all to enjoy.

Fall conferences begin next week. Please refer to the sign-up schedule if you are unsure of your date/time.

Girls..... Your blog question is......
What are the two Wordly Wise words used in the featured Breaking News?

Post #6

Happy Birthday St. Catherine's!

I've been enjoying the smell of chlorine this week:) And the girls are enjoying swimming. I love how they come back soaking wet, sometimes out of breath but ready to tackle the day. The girls completed their first cumulative math test on Thursday. The test included an audio component, Musical Moment, and a writing prompt. There will always be a thorough review prior to a cumulative assessment. The girls independently checked their review using QR codes and answers hidden in cubbies. This freed me up to meet individually with each girl to check her understanding of key concepts.

Look for the math test in the next "work packet." Work packets are in backpacks. No need to send the papers back to school- an empty folder will do. We are moving into unit 3 but will continue to work with geometry terms and concepts as they relate to our Fourthie Design Project. Unit 3 focuses on number sentences, multiplication, division, and problem solving. The girls completed their Geometry/Abstract Art project. We decided to display them in the classroom because they are beautiful works of art. Here's a peak at the completed projects:

Click here to listen to our Blabbers.

The first book report is in the works. The girls are summarizing the animal they chose and using the library data bases to find additional information. Their summaries are written in first person. Here's the fun part- the summaries are dictated into Blabberize. Some are quite comical! See what you think?




Ask your daughter about her Piclit writing. The girls love sharing their creativity. Grace P. was the first to share her Piclit. Her Piclit received a spontaneous round of applause from the class. I love the way this group of girls support and celebrate one another.

Piclit by Grace P.

Piclit by Austin

And now for the best news of the week!

The girls earned 25 compliments and we are now ready to celebrate. Compliments are earned by working together, modeling our school values (daisy pedals), living our monthly virtues, and by being our best selves. I'm very proud of the girls. On Monday, we will practice the concept of a direct democracy (taught earlier in September) and the girls will choose the celebration. Good times ahead.

Date, memos, etc:
* Swimming is next week- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The girls may come directly to the classroom when they arrive at school. We'll hang out and then go to the Kenny Center together.
* Please consider joining us for Parents' Technology Night on October 8th. We use a great deal of technology to enhance and enrich our curriculum.
* Weekly homework is posted on the blog each Friday. I'm encouraging each girl to develop a study plan based on her activities and schedule. It's all about time and management.
* Blessing of the Animals 8:15 on the Green (explanation in work packet).
* Lend a Helping Paw Outreach Project ( explanation in work packet).





* Recorders are needed in music next week. Ms. Merrick has shared a letter outlining the role of the recorder in music class.

Girls- Your Blog Scavenger Hunt Question......

What season is displayed in Austin's Piclit?
Do you have an idea for our Compliment Celebration? Click here.