What's going on in 4S!

Math

-We are still in the middle of our switch for math. This week we are starting multiplication. Our main learning target/goal is to multiply two digit numbers by two digit numbers by November 15th. So, for example, 46 X 68.

Social Studies

-We are finally done with our dough islands! Last week the children put their island on a map according to latitude and longitude lines. They came up with a capital city name, located highest and lowest levels of elevation, and drew the coordinates on their island. Their islands are complete now with elevation levels and at least five different landforms. The pictures are on the blog as well, so be sure to take a look at their excellent results!

-We are working hard on our Revolutionary War Projects! The children started working on their power point presentations today. Tomorrow we will add pictures from the internet and finish out the power point typing this week. All that is left is finishing the speech and presenting it along with their power point presentation and writing their final paper. This was a huge project and the children have been working extremely hard on it. You should be so proud of the excellent work they are doing!

Science

-We are starting Lesson 3 this week: How Are Plants Classified. The children did a great job on their Lesson 1 and 2 quiz last Friday!

Writing

-The children are publishing their interview papers using the computer lab and the laptops in the classroom!  After interviewing, writing a five paragraph rough draft, editing with three different partners, we are finally ready to print!  The final product will be graded and given to the student the paper is about.  I can’t wait to read their finished, final products.  Upcoming writing will be in social studies for their Revolutionary War Paper.  After that, we work on Persuasive, Narrative and Poetry at the end of the year.

 

Reading

-This is the last week of the reading switch!  The kids have done an excellent job with the “switch!”  It has been so neat to work with children from Mr. Jewell’s class and Mrs. Fraser’s class too!  This switch focused on QAR questions (right there-literal, putting it together-literal, and author and me-inferential questions) and Keeping Track of their Thinking.  For the next few weeks we will focus on reading and comprehending nonfiction text.  Some of the areas of focus are:  summarizing, main idea/details, vocabulary, inferencing, cause and effect, predicting, and breaking apart nonfiction text into text features such as headings, captions and table of contents. We will work on these nonfiction skills throughout the entire year as well.  The start of the next switch date is to be determined still.

-Genre Study Book Report-This month we are reading mystery novels.  My class is putting together a puzzle project.  Because this project is a little more involved, I set the due date for Friday, November 8^th which allows them an extra week to work.