Vermont Geography

We are learning about the geography of Vermont. We will explore its geographic features and how they affect its residents. We will also explore what features make Vermont unique and what it is known for.

The Focus Questions for this unit are:

• What are Vermont's geographic features?

• How do they affect its residents?

• What do different maps tell us?

• Which Vermont features make it unique?

• What are Vermont's 14 counties?

Science

We have begun our unit on structure and function.  Students will be researching an animal and learning about their structure and how it functions and helps them survive in their environment.  

Third Grade

Third graders began learning about division this week and explored how it is related to multiplication.  Students are beginning to understand how they can use known multiplication facts and fact families to solve division problems.  They are also working to figure out how to delineate a multiplication story problem from a division story problem.  They are looking for clues to see if you start with the whole number (like division) or if you are starting with parts (like multiplication).  We also did a fun math through art project with Ms. Nancy!   

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders are working  on solving multiplication problems with 2-digit numbers, understanding the meaning and structure of, and the relationship between, multiplication and division, and using that understanding to solve multiplication and division problems. Students use marked and unmarked arrays to represent multiplication strategies that involve breaking numbers apart. They solve and represent division story problems, including problems with remainders. Students develop strategies for breaking the numbers in larger multiplication problems apart in order to use number relationships that they know, including multiplying by a multiple of 10.

Check out this letter that includes samples of the types of math that we’ll be exploring if you are interested in more details. Click Here. 

Students in third and fourth grade have literacy menus to complete each week.  These consist of reading responses, independent reading, cursive practice, and word work.  Students have been responding to text in their reader's notebooks.  They are learning how to respond by restating the question, answering the question, citing evidence and then explaining their answer.  This is the RACE model and we will be learning more about this throughout the year.