The Lab, Room 15

It’s a short week, but we are not lacking in work.  Our plan is to finish our realistic fiction stories in order to have our Writers’ Workshop celebration on Friday the 10th. We will visit the ravine one last time. That is scheduled for Monday, June 20 in the morning. Permission slips will be coming home for that field trip this Friday.

We will have our end-of-the-year celebration on Friday, June 17.  We have decided to have a sleepover at school. Details are firming up and you should expect a permission slip on Tuesday, June 7.

We finished our MAP testing Tuesday.  Students who did not complete their tests or who were absent have this week and next to finish.

Social studies, science, spelling and the daily math lessons continue. The last math block is Friday, June 17.

Just to let you know, I am out of the classroom Thursday, Friday and Monday to be with my daughter who is having surgery.  I am confident that she will be fine, but she has diabetes so will require some extra support for a few days. Ms. Lorenz is my substitute and knows the kids very well.

As always, don’t hesitate to call, email or comment on the blog with questions or concerns.

Welcome to another exciting week in room 15. Our main objectives this week are to begin our realistic fiction stories, continue to read from many genre to meet our goal (25!), begin a social studies project/assessment about people on the move, practice for our debate and, of course, complete math lessons assigned by Ms. May and me. Students will also take the math MAP this week and  reading the next.

Last week’s beach trip was fantastic. We saw many organisms, including moon snails, crabs, barnacles, fish, anemone, sea stars, sun stars, tube worms, and nutibranch to name some.  Thanks to Laura Dubendorf, Dana Hammer, Laura Morgan, and Jess Daly  for their help as chaperones. We lucked out with the weather too.

Friday is the Walk-a-Jog-a-Move-a-thon.  We will do our part in the afternoon. I hope some of you can join us for this fun event. Donations of $25 put your student’s name in the drawing for some really nice prizes.

Students voted on their end-of-the-year activity and chose to spend the night at school. I selected Friday, June 17 because it is after our field day and kids will be tired.  I am having high school and college-aged students chaperone so that parents do not have to stay all night. Pick up is at school at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. We will have activities after school (to be decided), eat dinner at  school, have games, a talent show, movies and then lights out. Girls and boys will stay in either the cafeteria or gym. Details are still being firmed up with Mr. Sammons and Mr. Hartman.

Send comments and concerns and have a great week.

Elaboration of assignments:

• Spelling: students should be doing blind sorts of their spelling words. That means a parent/helper reads the words and the student spells them, organizing them by feature. For example, one group has a spelling pattern (long o vowel sound) dictated by whether or not the 1st or 2nd syllable is emphasized (lonesome vs. alone). Make sure your student can explain that pattern. The other group has a pattern that is based on meaning. The words with the enunciated consonent derive from a word with an unenunciated consonant so the meanings are related (design, resign, sign, signature, resignation).

• Debate: Students are deciding on their  roles for the debate. I am simplifying the format of the debate to make it more appropriate for fourth graders. There is a person on the affirmative team that is the lead debater. That individual goes f irst and states the team’s position. The opposing team is up next to question the position of the affirmative team. That person is called the questioner. The person on the affirmative team who responds to those questions is the responder (third person up). (Affirmative team–lead debater, responder. Opposing team–questioner).  The teams then switch. The opposing team states its position (the questioner can do that or a second person). The affirmative team questions and the opposing team has a responder. Next the affirmative team rebuts without questions. Then the opposing team rebuts. Each team summarizes. Affirmative team–lead debater, responder, questioner, rebutter, summarizer. Opposing team–questioner, responder, rebutter, summarizer. Those are the roles the groups are determining. We ran short of time today and I suggested students talk by phone if possible to determine their roles so they can work on their positions and presentations. Tomorrow we will have some time to practice. I have given the students a rubric by which they will be evaluated. I’ll have them take that home tomorrow so you can see it as well (I don’t know how to link on edublogs yet). Please call with any questions or concerns. This is going to be tons of fun.

• Golden Gardens Field trip: Permission slips are still not all in. I need them by tomorrow. I also need two more chaperones. Please let me know if you are available.  We will leave school at 11:00; arrive at the beach; eat lunch, then meet our naturalist at 11:30.  We will have our guided investigation for 1-1/2 hours (until 1:00). We will return to school by 2:00 or so. There is a -2 tide so we have a good chance of observing many organisms. Mother Nature is also cooperating. According to the forecast, we should have sun. (If you volunteer to chaperone, you must be at school by 10:30 for instructions.)

Thanks, and thanks again for everything. Forgive any typos in this hastily written psot.

Room 15 Friends and Families,

We’ve another interesting week ahead. We have two concerts this week, instrumental music tonight and a vocal concert on Wednesday. On Thursday, we  go to the beach on a field trip. Please return your permission slip if you not already done so. I still need a couple of chaperones.  We will have a debate on Friday responding to the social studies reading: should a dam be built at Ceililo Falls? Students take either the anti-development perspective or the development perspective. Mr. Sammons will judge the debate using our rubric. Students have already researched this topic and will get specific details today so they can prepare as a debate team.

What a cold turn the weather has taken.  The headline in the Seattle Times today is “Weekend sets rainfall record.”  I believe it as I was out with many North Beach families at the Beat the Bridge event on Sunday.  I was waiting for my daughter to finish her race when I saw a kid blasting through the pack of finishers.  As he came closer I saw it was Owen Morgan.  Wow! Owen, you have wheels!

I hope you all kept dry (I didn’t). Let’s hope for better weather by Thursday, but if it remains cool and damp, remember to send your student to school with plenty of warm clothes and a change of clothes.  We go back to school after the field trip and will have over an hour of class time.

Have a great week!

Hi all– 

Thanks to everyone for the gracious words, delicious treats, coffee cards, itunes cards and flowers. Your appreciation made last week very special. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work in such a supportive community.

We were very busy with our writing MSP, math, science, social studies, library/technology, and reading. We will continue to bear down  and will complete our reading MSP on Tuesday and our math MSP on Thursday. Otherwise, we will keep our schedule as close to normal as possible.

Math lessons are 98, 99 and 100. We will classify geometric solids by their sides, bases and vertices and review and practice basic skills.

We are reading and responding to nonfiction. Your student can read fiction at home. Please remind him to document his reading time in the reading log and to respond to what he reads.

Students are exploring the concept of a circuit and learning the energy transfer that occurs in producing motion or light. They are doing a good job of documenting their findings by drawing diagrams of their attempts to make a circuit. It has been a lot of fun.

Field trip to Golden Gardens for the low tide will be next week Thursday, May 19. The permission  slip went home yesterday. Please sign and return as soon as possible.  Let me know if you are available to chaperone. This is a naturalist guided field trip and parent support is very helpful.

I will be talking with the kids about an end-of-the-year activity on Friday. I have a few ideas and I am eager to hear how they would like to celebrate their accomplishments in fourth grade. If you have ideas to share, please get back to me by Friday so that I can let the kids consider everybody’s thoughts.

As always, please call, email or comment on this post. I encourage feedback. Thanks for all you do.

We have worked hard this week. We began a new science unit, which is very cool. The kids were wizards at connecting a D-cell to a motor to make the shaft spin. They found several ways to accomplish that task. We are also working on a social studies/technology unit. We will have a focus question and students will use technology to research, organize information, and then write a report about their findings.  We learned to use Wallwisher to brainstorm and later organize our thinking into categories.   You can access wallwisher through the library website–virtual–4th grade–geography–celilo falls room 15.  Give it a go over the weekend. It is a fun exercise and quite a different way to work on a research task from when I was a student.  You may also find that true.

MSP is all the talk and you can take advantage of a 5th grade parent/teacher with a lot of expertise.  Lihn-Co will be at the Broadview Thompson Library, 127th & Greenwood on Saturday, April 30, 1:30 – 3:15. She will help parents know how to support their children in meeting the requirements of the math MSP. You need to RSVP so she can reproduce enough packets for all attendees. rickbmail@yahoo.com. I hope you can make it.

Upcoming events include: MSP, May 2 – 13th; Beach walk, May 17th; Ravine investigation-tbd. Ms. May and I are also intending to have a field trip to the State History Museum in Tacoma. No date yet.

Residual business: students have a questionnaire from Seattle Public Utilities (Carkeek Park salmon rearing unit). They need to interview an adult and then answer their own questions. These are due on Monday.

Students also have a “finding the average/mean” worksheet. This is practice for a skill from the past and I want them to complete it. The last page is optional. It is designed to measure perseverance. Some students have already completed this task.

As always, read 40 minute a day.  Students can (and really want to) read fiction since our days at school are consumed with nonfiction. Keep the reading log.

Questions?  or Concerns *#! call, email, visit or comment below. I will check my email over the weekend and respond to all.

Chill breezes, sun breaks, rain showers–these are the markers of spring. Another hallmark for our students is the MSP, one of our measures of academic achievement.

This week we begin the final science unit, Circuits and Pathways.  Students will work in groups of three or four doing the investigations that lead to a basic understanding of energy flow to produce light, heat and/or motion. The learning reinforces the scientific process and the concept of a fair test.

We also have the Science Fair. Hopefully everyone registered their student to participate. Regardless of registration status, all students will bring their projects to the cafeteria on the 28th by 9:00 a.m. Projects will go home the same day. Students will have Monday afternoon to work on their projects.

This week we have little homework beyond practicing the skills needed for the MSP that begins on May 3. Students will write on the 3rd and 5th.  The following week will be the reading and math tasks.  You can best support your student by having him focus on the writing process–organization. Students use an easy tool that launches them into the prompt and supports detailed, on-topic paragraphs. As always, taking time, rereading, and checking their work will serve them well. Rather than being fearful, I want them to be confident of their preparation and certain of their ability to respond to each task. Communicate poised confidence in your student.

There will be a spelling test on Monday, but no new words until after the MSP.

The music concert is on May 11th. I hope everyone will be able to participate.

As always, don’t hesitate to call, email, or drop in with your comments or concerns.

Our visit to the Cedar River Watershed was an adventure. We experienced rain, hail, snow and sun.  Not a minute was wasted from the moment we arrived until we boarded the bus to return to school.  Half of us went to the Chester Morse Lake. The other half went to the falls to see the source. We all learned a lot about one of the most significant sources of water for Seattlites.  Be sure to ask your student to share what she learned and look for some new behaviors. Hint: Is he turning off the water when he brushes his teeth? Taking shorter showers?

Reminder: the parent math night for my math class is on Wednesday, April 13, 6:00 – 7:00. My daughter (24 years old) has agreed to provide sitting service.  Let me know if you need a sitter and the age of your child(ren) so that she can plan appropriately.

If you have a computer, send your child to the following math site.  There is a game called “bananas” where you find specific size angles. There is immediate feedback so kids can begin to develop a frame of reference for angles. http://resources.oswego.org/games/

Homework

Math: as assigned by your student’s teacher. If your student is in my math class–Monday, Lesson 88, 1-30; Tuesday, Lesson 90, 1-30, even; Wednesday, Investigation; Thursday, Lesson 91, 1-30, odd. Friday, test.

Reading: 40 minutes/night

Spelling: Green–look at the “i” long vowel sound. It has different spelling patterns, but where it is, indicates the syllable stressed. Example, Driveway (stress is on the first syllable). Inside (stress is on the second syllable). Buff: sort first by base word.  Think about how the base word is spelled. The spelling pattern is dictated by the base word.  Also, the part of speech is changed from a verb, “purify” to a noun, “purification.”

We have begun to work in our garden plot. Today we weeded, added soil and planted lettuce, onions, peas and strawberries. Thanks to Keith Hammer for taking a group of students out to plant. Thanks also to our tutors for their generosity of time and knowledge in supporting our students.

Please go online to our school website to register your student for the science fair.

As always, please do not hesitate to call, email or comment on this blog. I appreciate you willingness to engage in conversation as a community.

Quick reminder that we will be going to the Cedar River Watershed on Thursday.  Your student should have brought home a “Student Checklist” that itemizes what he should bring on Thursday (lunch, warm clothes, etc.). We are outdoors all day so we need to be prepared for the weather.

Ask your student about the game we played today where we were bound into water molecules (3 students per group, H2O) experiencing the water cycle.

Room 15 Math Group:  We will have a parent math night Wednesday, April 13 in room 15 beginning at 6:00.  We will learn 4th grade learning objectives, take a status check of where we are right now, and discuss ways to support our students in achieving their objectives.  I hope  you will be able to attend. If you need childcare, please let me know.

With only two weeks until spring break, I want to share with you some of our learning objectives and special activities.

The salmon have done well–the kids feed them daily and clean the tank weekly. This is a favorite classroom job and  my goal is for all the students to have this opportunity before the fish are returned to Carkeek. We will do some work on human and environmental impacts on salmon, which concludes with a fun game to reinforce our learning.

This week we will begin our unit on electricity. This is a popular, fun and activity-filled science unit where students learn concepts of circuits and  pathways. Look for a letter of introduction next week.

All fourth graders are required to do a science fair project this year. I will give them time each week to work on their projects. Their investigative question must be approved by me before they begin.  I have signed off on about 5 or 6 individuals and teams.  Monday I expect to hear from the remaining students. I sent home a packet last week. Please let me know if you did not receive it.

Room 15 Math Group: I will host a parent math night the week of the 11th. I need to check the school calendar for conflicts and will let everyone know the date by tomorrow  (Monday).  My goal is to share learning objectives for fourth grade, give you a status check on our progress to date, and discuss ways you can best support your student in achieving grade level expectations.

Spelling: New words go out Monday.  Scores have declined over the last few weeks, clearly due to students not taking words home and following our study plan.  Please check in with your student about her assignment for the week.

Reading Workshop: We continue our study of nonfiction, learning strategies to increase our ability to identify and remember important content. During this unit, students may read fiction at night.  Make sure your student is documenting his at-home reading time.

Writing Workshop: We have left the workshop model for a couple of weeks of intensive practice responding to a writing prompt.  The kids are really good at this already. We will focus on using active, vivid verbs and dazzling our readers with the use of quotes, lines of poetry or other strategies for making our writing interesting and clear. When we return to school after spring break, we will write to a prompt on a weekly basis. We will also begin the workshop unit on realistic fiction.  The kids have been dying to write their own stories so this should be an engaging unit for them.

Social studies: We are beginning chapter 6 in the social studies text. We have been using the book for our nonfiction reading instruction.  I gave students an assignment last week on chapter 5 (I did not post it on the blog).  Only nine students returned it.  In the future, I will send an email notification of homework that is not on the blog to ensure that you are aware of it so you can encourage homework compliance. This leads to…

Homework discussion: Many students are used to having mostly math and reading homework and are good at completing this work. However, spelling homework, and occasional writing or social studies homework frequently do not get returned. I am interested in what parents think about homework–quantity, quality and whether or not you see a positive effect of at home assignments. Post a comment on the blog and get us started thinking about and sharing our beliefs about this age-old aspect of schooling.

As always, I appreciate your questions, comments and concerns. Please use the blog, call or email.