There’s more than just parent conferences happening this week in Room 209!

December 7, 2011 | Posted in: Class Updates

Leave a Comment

I hope you all had  a splendid Thanksgiving!  I want to apologize for the lack of website updates for the past few weeks.  Between report cards, a few upcoming technology integration workshops I’ve been preparing for, and day-to-day teaching, the class website updates ended up being put on the back burner.  Thank you for your understanding and patience.

We are ready for parent conferences here in Room 209!  In the hallway, you’ll find the kids’ recent graphing projects.  Several weeks ago (months, at this point, actually), I brought in some hand-picked apples from my favorite orchard in Glastonbury.  We noticed that there was quite a bit of variation between the different apples, and it brought about a wonderful conversation about how we can classify (sort) the apples.  We brainstormed different ways to categorize the apples, such as by size, color, taste, number of leaves, etc.  The skill of being able to recognize potential classification rules and to then apply them to sort a group of objects is a key fourth grade skill (and was a problem-solving item on the first unit’s math assessment).  From there, we collected the data about the apples, and the kids partnered up to develop bar graphs to communicate the data.  This allowed us to address another key skill: graphing.  We worked a lot on learning the parts of bar graphs and how a clear graph should look.  (The concept of graph scale was a difficult one for most kids.)  The final step – entering data into an Excel spreadsheet and making a great graph – was the time consuming piece and was only completed just last week.  Working in the computer lab on the graphs allowed us to have a great discussion about the do’s and don’t’s (Is there a rule for writing “don’t’s”?)  of making graphs on the computer.  We talked about avoiding flashy color schemes that distract more than they enhance, choosing clear but appealing fonts, etc.  Clear communication of ideas and data is a key 21st century literacy skill.  The kids are proud of their work and are eager to share!

In other news, we are learning about different kids of sentences in language arts.  You may remember the series of homework assignments pertaining to simple and complete subjects and predicates.  Building on that, we’re looking at direct and indirect clauses (later this week or next week) and have just started talking about compound sentences.  In reading, we’re using the VIP strategy (Very Important Points) to identify key pieces of information in a text that can be used to develop a concise but thorough summary.  The children have learned about using schema (our individual collection of personal knowledge we have about a given topic) to help improve understanding and connections while reading.

In math, we are working SLOWLY on decimals.  I warned the kids that this unit would probably be the most difficult unit of the year for them, and I promised that I’d go as slowly as needed to make sure that the class (as a whole) was comfortable with the material.  (Nobody benefits when instructional pace is put above understanding and when we move on with half of the class still confused.)  That said, we are now behind and will need to make up some of that time in order to catch up.  As a result, you can expect some of our flexible activities (silent reading, morning meeting, Mark Twain Mondays, etc.) to be compacted for the next few weeks so I can have more teaching time.

Finally, we have started our first science unit of the year!  Our class has teamed up with Mrs. Gibb’s class to learn about electricity and circuits, and they’re having a great time!  Mrs. Gibb and I are revising our approach to how we teach this unit, and I think the changes are giving the kids a great understanding of how electricity works.

I look forward to meeting with families over the next few days and hope that we’ll have great conversations about your son or daughter’s progress in school.  As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions!