We are continuing the Short Stories unit. The kids are starting to get into the rhythm of meeting in their small groups and discussing the stories and the questions. They are able to focus on new vocabulary, discuss the deeper message of the story and work on inferential skills as they pull clues from what has been read.
In class we have working on Personal Essays as our groundwork for learning to build strong essays. We have been working on how to generate ideas and to organize our thoughts. Once we have outlined our ideas, we can think about how we want to elaborate and extend our thinking in an organized manner. We are coming to a point of bringing the whole essay together and will begin drafting this week. This is laying the groundwork for stronger essay writing in the Expert Report.
As you all are aware, we are deep in our research of the Expert Reports. 100 note cards are due Monday Feb. 29th. We began our sorting into SubTopics last week which helped many to be aware of where to focus on finding more information. We are asking for a minimum of 20 note cards in each SubTopic category, which may mean that some kids need to go above 100, but as they begin to organize their notes this week, in terms of building an essay, they are likely to discover this. We are trying to help them take realistic and organic steps in building toward the end. Thank you for your continued support at home on this project. We hope to be up and running in the Google Drive later this week with the beginnings of essay writing.
We are coming to the tail end of our Fraction unit, but will continue to work this week to solidify the concepts of number lines, adding, subtracting and multiplying. This is necessary for them to feel more secure in, as the PARCC will test this skill and next year's teachers will build upon the skills.
I am trying to encourage as much home practice as possible with the ST Math. It works best from home on a computer, not an iPad. ST Math is thoughtfully developed by brain patterning researchers. It focuses on the natural brain development stages of children. Fourth graders brains are just beginning to develop abstract thinking and they often rely on concrete models. This program helps to bridge that and strengthen the abstract thinking which is a necessary skill. Please continue to support your child's home usage (about 5 times a week or more).
As we continue to study the Regions of the US, we have moved our focus into the Midwest. We are learning about why it is considered the "Heartland of America". We will discuss the farms and prairie lands, the wrangling of cattle, the creation of the indoor mall and the assembly line at the Henry Ford factory. Geographically, this area also dovetails into the slavery study because it was an area that was very active in the Underground Railroad days.
We have been continuing our study of the Underground Railroad through stories and activities. Some of the activities are pictured below. Students have been exploring the mapping and discovering which were slave states, which were free states and how they might plan an escape route. Another group is playing old fashioned games that very young slave children were permitted to play. The iPad has a wonderful App from National Geographic that simulates escaping, offering the runaway slave (player) to make choices along the way to find freedom. Creating wanted posters for well known Abolitionists has the kids researching information while others are listening to old spirituals and decoding the message. The kids are enjoying the hands-on experiences while using a wide range and variety of mediums to experience the history.
As many of you have seen we had a wonderful dance workshop from the Alvin Ailey Dance group. On March 11 we will be heading downtown to see a performance and then take some time to explore the Art Institute. We are limited in how many chaperones we can take along. Please be sure to send back the permission slip soon.
Hope you all enjoyed the mild weekend. Enjoy some pictures below:
Cooperatives - Underground Railroad
iPad game to escape to freedom
Abolitionist research
Games of the Slave children
Fraction Flash Cards
100th year, 100th day, 100th minute 100th second countdown
Sharing our Picture Book Projects
Valentine's Day Fun
Ordering our fractions
