September 2019
3 Things We Did Today - September 3, 2019
1. We read a few wonderful books about the magic of being yourself, celebrating yourself, and being kind: "Beautiful Hands," "Happy Birthday to YOU!" and "Incredible You!"
2. These books were connected to 3 fun and important activities to becoming active members of our classroom community: we traced and decorated our hands for a wall display, we created birthday cupcakes to be a part of the monthly calendar, and we started self-portraits.
3. We had PE today and met Mr. Will! The kids LOVE the gymnasium!
Something extra: We each shared something about our weekend - it was so good to hear about lives outside of school! AND we celebrated Dominic's birthday!
Reminder: We have snack each day at 9:30. Please send your fantastic 4th grader to school with a snack and a water bottle to help keep them sustained through lunch. Our cafeteria has purchase options if you prefer them to buy something.
Have a terrific Tuesday night!
3 + 1 Things We Did Today - September 4, 2019
Wow we had a busy and FUN day!
1. We had Library for a special. We learned about the Caldecott Challenge!
2. We read "Hooray for You!" and followed up with an awesome self-awareness activity, "I AM ..." We brainstormed a huge list of words to describe positive qualities about ourselves! Then, the kids each chose 6 words they felt best describe who they are and wrote them on colorful pieces of paper to make beautiful mini-posters!
3. A math test was administered to students, to help teachers understand where our students are mathematically, what the needs are for all learners, and what groups we will want to create for their highest success.
4. We played 3 new math games: Keep It, Toss It; Write the Equations; Multiplication Knock it Off. The kids loved them and did an awesome job working with their partners, helping each other, and cheering each other on!
Something extra: We continued working on self-portraits. They're coming together and looking really cute!
One more thing: We got 20 minutes of extra recess this afternoon! What a lovely day for play!
Have an amazing Wednesday evening!
3 Things We Did Today - September 5, 2019
1. We finished our self-portraits! They are AMAZING! Tomorrow, we will write paragraphs, "All About Me" to connect with their beautiful work.
2. We began Topic 1 in Math today! we reviewed some vocabulary and skills with place value, comparing numbers, and rounding.
3. We created mini-posters, "BE", surrounded with words that are positive and inspiring for ourselves and others! We're hoping we can hang them up around the school but if not, we will display them in our classroom.
Something extra: we worked so hard today, we had a 20 minute break outside to play and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine!
Have an awesome Thursday night!
3 Things We Did Today - September 6, 2019
1. We completed Lesson 1-1 in Math, focusing on expanded form and number names (also known as word form).
2. We explored our Social Studies text with partners. In partnerships, the kids also came up with 3 things they noticed and 3 questions they had about the text and the information contained within. We enjoyed a great class discussion!
3. We wrote paragraphs, "All About Me." I can't wait to read them and learn more about these amazing 4th graders as well as get a handle on their individual writing skills and styles.
Something extra: We had our first FUN FRIDAY! We have the last 20 minutes on Friday to play games, draw and color, create Mad-Libs, conversate with our new "Would You Rather ..." book, all while building class community and having fun together!
Have a lovely weekend!
3 Things We Did Today - September 9, 2019
What a great day to start our first FULL week of school!
1. We got our first homework assignment - MATH - and learned how to write in our agenda books! The kids were VERY excited to get these notebooks.
2. We started our first chapter book read-aloud, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume. We are responding to the reading in our binders, to learn how to retell 3 important details, ask questions, and make predictions within a 4th grade expectation.
3. We got to pick classes for CHOICE today! Soon, students will find out where they are going to go during Choice for the first term of school!
Something extra: We celebrated Eliza's birthday today! She shared some fabulous cookies with her classmates!
Have a magnificent Monday evening - enjoy this incredible weather!
3 Things We Did Today - September 12, 2019
1. We took a social studies quiz for Chapter 1 in our textbooks. It was multiple choice. We did it together.
2. We continued with Topic 1 in Math. We are reviewing comparing numbers and identifying place value as well as rounding.
3. We are halfway through our read-aloud, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. The kids are doing a great job with their reading responses!
Something extra: We learned about and practiced subject and predicate in sentences!
One more thing: We are discussing our class rules: Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Respectful, Be Responsible. We focused on the first two and shared what we will do to keep our friends safe and show kindness to them in our classroom.
3 Things We Did Today - September 13, 2019
1. We did a fun activity to practice subject and predicate in sentences. Students had to move around to each others' desks to read sentences on cards, writing down the subject and predicate in each.
2. We worked on a fun social studies activity that helped us to recall special facts about our state symbols. The kids drew pictures and write a fun fact about each symbol.
3. We played math games this afternoon to reinforce concepts we have been learning as well as to review addition and multiplication.
Have an awesome weekend!
Something extra: Check out our gorgeous "hand-made" poster!
3 Things We Did Today - September 16, 2019
1. We started a new read-aloud, which we will be reading Monday through Thursday before lunch: "Ramona the Pest!" Most of the kids have not read it or heard it read, so they are in for a real treat!
2. Band started today! While band kids are practicing, kids who are not in band stay behind. I'm not teaching during this time, so the kids have some nice options: they can relax and read, journal, play a game with a partner, work on WIP (Work in Progress) if they choose, OR use this time to research a topic of interest, create a project, and then teach us, the class! Today kids were super excited to journal and play a game. However, this is not an indoor recess time, so the kids are expected to be working with purpose.
3. We reviewed place value today using individual place value charts. These helped students to identify values in order to correctly write expanded form. These will also come in handy when trouble with rounding arises.
Something extra: We had our first CHOICE today!
One more thing: We celebrated Tony's birthday today with delicious fruit salad!
Have a fantastic Monday evening!
3 Things We Did Today - September 17, 2019
1. We continued with our read aloud, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, stopping to make a prediction based on previous information. Students were asked to be specific in their prediction. For example, rather than writing, "I think Fudge will do something naughty," it was encouraged to think about WHAT Fudge might do that was naughty. There were some very humorous responses!
2. Mrs. Fowler joined us today to make FLUFFY SLIME! It was so fun and had a lovely scent!
3. We started Chapter 2 in Social Studies, which has us learning about New Hampshire's geography. We are completing some fun activities to help remember continents, map grid, relative location, absolute location, cardinal directions, and intermediate directions.
4. Something extra: We took our Topic 1 math assessment. Look for them to be sent home next week!
Have a great night!
3 Things We Did Today - September 19, 2019
1. We read about physical features and human features in our social studies text and then went on a walk outside to find such features! We came back with a huge list! Students shared 2 of each feature they found on sticky notes and posted them to a poster.
2. We are almost through reading Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing! The kids have done a really wonderful job over the last few weeks adapting to the expectations in their reading response journals.
3. In math, we are working on estimating to add and subtract large numbers. We practiced as a class, then practiced independently, and toward the end of the class, got to travel the room to find equations to estimate sums and differences.
Enjoy this beautiful afternoon!
3 Things We Did Today - September 20, 2019
1. We are completing climate cycles. The kids are working to draw what each season looks like with themselves in the pictures doing something they enjoy during each season. They LOVE this! Our goal is to understand that climate isn't weather from day to day, it's the weather of a place over a certain amount of time.
2. We finished reading Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing! Our final reading response for this story was to write an opinion regarding the ending.
3. We learned about run-on sentences and how to fix them: either make each sentence separate or use "FANBOYS" with the following conjunctions to combine two sentences: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.
Something extra: It was so gorgeous outside, we spent the last 15 minutes of our day on the playground!
Have an amazing weekend - the weather is going to be like SUMMER!
3 Things We Did Today - September 23, 2019
1. We completed character analysis on either Fudgie or Peter from our recent read aloud, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing.
2. We reviewed adding whole numbers with regrouping - and did an awesome job!
3. We had Choice today!
Reminder: tomorrow is Picture Day!
Have a great evening!
3 Things We Did Today - September 24, 2019
1. We used salt dough to make maps of New Hampshire! Once dry, we will be painting them to show the 3 major regions of New Hampshire.
2. We read about the 3 major regions in New Hampshire in our text books and started a reading response to answer some questions using information from the text.
3. We practiced identifying and correcting "rambling sentences."
Something extra: We took a class walk outdoors this afternoon to get some fresh air and restore energy.
Have a wonderful evening!
3 Things We Did Today - September 25, 2019
1. We started reading our Reading Workshop read-aloud, The Tiger Rising. We read only the first chapter, but the conversations it generated were stellar!
2. We completed an informal assessment of characterization using a short story, "Papa's Parrot." I'm reading the responses and am just so impressed at the thoughts our 4th graders have about the characters in this story!
3. We practiced identifying topic sentences and then created our own with given prompts.
Have a great night!
3 Things We Did Today - September 26, 2019
1. We charted what we know so far about the setting, characters, and themes in The Tiger Rising.
2. The kids were given ample time to work on anything in their WIP folders that needed finishing.
3. During Writing Workshop, we brought together everything we've been learning about subject, predicate, complete sentences, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, rambling sentences, and topic sentences to write our own stories! The kids absolutely LOVED this time to write and I'm enjoying reading their stories!
Something extra: We read about the climate in the White Mountains and then completed a paragraph to describe what the climate is like there.
3 Things We Did Today - September 27, 2019
1. In our social studies text, we read about natural resources in NH, as well as renewable and non-renewable resources. We then watched a really cool video about such resources.
2. We did a class activity that had the class using different types of uncooked pasta to represent trees. Each group of kids received a piece of pasta that would represent their tree. The rest of the pasta was poured onto our table, acting as our one forest in our small town that we live in. Students each had an opportunity to come up twice, for 45 seconds each, to "harvest their trees." They noticed the more they took, the less they had, and eventually, there wasn't a single tree left. This led to a conversation about how we can preserve our natural resources, in this case, trees. Yes, trees are a renewable resource, because we can grow more, but it takes a long time to grow trees! But we are also removing homes from animals when we cut down their trees. So after talking, we realized there were a lot of ways to preserve trees! Check out our poster!
3. We celebrated Isaiah's birthday today! He shared some delicious Fall cookies!
Something extra: Many students earned have kindness awards that were presented today and one student earned our first Student of the Week award for her hard work and positive attitude! The kids were super excited for their classmates! Anyone can earn a kindness award. They have to do one thing and one thing only - show kindness! There is always someone who notices!
Have a fantastic weekend!
