Happy New Year! We've been on a roll. December flew by and January is following the same pattern. I really don't know where the time goes.
A lot has happened, so let's catch up!
In reading we have finished our Response to Fiction Unit. We performed a close read on the book James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. Throughout this unit, students were responsible for identifying a character trait that best described James, then writing a Response to Fiction Essay about this character trait with supporting evidence from the text to strengthen their claim. Students had experience with this type of reading response from last year and I'd say they did a wonderful job writing their essays.
We have currently moved into a unit focussing on the topic of leadership. Within this unit we will be reading books about Nelson Mandela, Amelia Earhart, and Jackie Robinson. Our goal here is to learn what makes someone a leader. What character traits to leaders have? What types of decisions do leaders make? Do leaders have to be famous? Are leaders adults or kids or both. These are all great questions to start a conversation with your child.
Students also started book groups with other members of the 4th grade classes. They chose an MCBA nominated book and will be reading this and discussing the elements of literature with their peers weekly. Students have been assigned sections of the book to read each week.
In writing we have been working on essays. Our first round of essay writing topics range from topics such as cats are the best pets, to schools should eliminate the use of paper and use technology instead. We focus on leads that hook our readers. We work on writing reasons that strongly support our thesis. Specific transition words and phrases are used to connect each reason and we end our writing with a thoughtful ending.
Our second round of essay writing is focused primarily on persuasive writing. Fourth graders are good at persuading people and now we will be channeling their abilities into a type of persuasion that creates a change in the world. I'm very much looking forward to this process. You can talk with your students at home about how you've had to either write a persuasive letter, email or paper and why you needed to do this. You can also read picture books, that use the technique of persuasion, at home and talk about the author's craft.
In math, we are deep into our discussion regarding multiplication and division. We are learning several strategies to solve double digit multiplication problems. Our goal is to find one that we are successful at, and to use it effectively.
Currently, our division strategies revolve around using multiplication to find the answer. This helps solidify the concept that multiplication and division are related. I would love for students to teach you the types of strategies they are learning and for you to try them yourselves. You can also help out at home by encouraging your child to show their math thinking in several ways: in pictures, arrays, words, and to show their step-by-step processes in getting an answer. This helps us both to identify areas where students have solid thinking and also where they may need further assistance.
Thank you for all you do at home!
Until next time,
Mrs. Bergantz
A lot has happened, so let's catch up!
In reading we have finished our Response to Fiction Unit. We performed a close read on the book James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. Throughout this unit, students were responsible for identifying a character trait that best described James, then writing a Response to Fiction Essay about this character trait with supporting evidence from the text to strengthen their claim. Students had experience with this type of reading response from last year and I'd say they did a wonderful job writing their essays.
We have currently moved into a unit focussing on the topic of leadership. Within this unit we will be reading books about Nelson Mandela, Amelia Earhart, and Jackie Robinson. Our goal here is to learn what makes someone a leader. What character traits to leaders have? What types of decisions do leaders make? Do leaders have to be famous? Are leaders adults or kids or both. These are all great questions to start a conversation with your child.
Students also started book groups with other members of the 4th grade classes. They chose an MCBA nominated book and will be reading this and discussing the elements of literature with their peers weekly. Students have been assigned sections of the book to read each week.
In writing we have been working on essays. Our first round of essay writing topics range from topics such as cats are the best pets, to schools should eliminate the use of paper and use technology instead. We focus on leads that hook our readers. We work on writing reasons that strongly support our thesis. Specific transition words and phrases are used to connect each reason and we end our writing with a thoughtful ending.
Our second round of essay writing is focused primarily on persuasive writing. Fourth graders are good at persuading people and now we will be channeling their abilities into a type of persuasion that creates a change in the world. I'm very much looking forward to this process. You can talk with your students at home about how you've had to either write a persuasive letter, email or paper and why you needed to do this. You can also read picture books, that use the technique of persuasion, at home and talk about the author's craft.
In math, we are deep into our discussion regarding multiplication and division. We are learning several strategies to solve double digit multiplication problems. Our goal is to find one that we are successful at, and to use it effectively.
Currently, our division strategies revolve around using multiplication to find the answer. This helps solidify the concept that multiplication and division are related. I would love for students to teach you the types of strategies they are learning and for you to try them yourselves. You can also help out at home by encouraging your child to show their math thinking in several ways: in pictures, arrays, words, and to show their step-by-step processes in getting an answer. This helps us both to identify areas where students have solid thinking and also where they may need further assistance.
Thank you for all you do at home!
Until next time,
Mrs. Bergantz