January 2020

January 27-31

This week in our Sound Unit, students completed the activity, Act Out a Sound, where they explored sound vibrations. They experimented with sound to understand how it moves through the air and then considered what would happen in an environment like space where there is no air. In writing workshop, we rehearsed our ideas for our fiction narrative with a partner and then began writing our draft. During reading workshop, students read about the properties of light and sound and created a Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences.

January 21-24

In writing workshop this week students began to brainstorm ideas for our next writing project, a fiction narrative. Students learned that a fiction narrative is a realistic or unrealistic story that has not happened. As students went to a comfortable spot in the room to write, all of a sudden, you could've heard a pen drop! They absolutely loved creating the characters and setting for their story. It was exciting to watch as the wheels were turning in their creative minds! In reading we have been focusing on looking closely at nonfiction texts and using evidence to support answers to our questions about the text. In math we are beginning our division unit. Students will learn several ways to look at a division problem in order to broaden their math sense and give students options of different ways to solve a problem, so they may choose the way that works best for them. This week we looked closer at the vocabulary from our sound unit. Students took notes to better understand words like: frequency, sound wave, crest, trough, wavelength, resting point, and amplitude.

January 13-17

How Far Can a Whisper Travel?

This week, 3rd and 4th graders learned about the connection between sounds and vibration. Students made Paper Cup Telephones using cups and string. After brainstorming ideas with their partner, students modified the design of their telephones using different types of supplies to see if they could improve the sound quality.