Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to the last couple weeks…

In reading workshop we began our nonfiction unit.  We started this unit discussing how grown-up nonfiction readers read differently.  They make a commitment to learning from the text by making connections between what they already know and care about within the text. We also talked about how previewing the whole text and predicting how it might go can help us make connections.  Understanding the different ways the text is organized, or text structure will also help us while reading nonfiction.  Common text structures are problem/solution, compare/contrast, cause and effect, and chronological. Check out the chart below!

In writing workshop we learned how some writers get ideas for essays.  It helps to think about a person and list some ideas about them then chose one idea to free write on.  After thinking about people that matter to us, we came up with places and objects. We are working on coming up with meaningful ideas rather than fleeting thoughts.

We finished topic 5 in math this week.  When we return from break we will have a day for review and will take our test on Tuesday. This topic is all about multiplication and strategies for how to multiply one digit by two and three digit numbers. The last lessons in the unit taught us how to use rounding to estimate our answers as well as how we can check our answers for reasonableness.

As you are aware, all fourth grade classes in the district were given chromebooks this year.  We use our chromebooks daily. In writing workshop we use googledocs to draft our pieces.  The students share their pieces with me so that I can see their progress and provide editing suggestions. We use seesaw as a digital learning portfolio, adding items that we would like our families to see. Google classroom is another tool that we use, and it allows me to create assignments for the students (i.e. reading response questions, quizzes, etc).  After they finish an assignment they submit it so I can see how they do. We also use an app called “Let’s Recap”.  It’s a video response and reflection app that allows me to see how students are learning.  We are really loving the chromebooks!

In case you are not aware, all elementary schools are now serving breakfast.  Let me know if you would like your child to get breakfast before coming to the classroom in the morning.  You can read more about it here: http://www.bethlehemschools.org/elementary-school-breakfast-back/.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving feast with our buddies this week!  Thanks to all of those who helped make it possible!

Have a fabulous Thanksgiving.  Thanks for all you do!

Mrs. Riegel

Thank you Veterans!

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.  Thank you to all those who served our country, and continue to do so. 

This week was the start of many new things.

We began our opinion writing unit and talked about essay writing this week.  Understanding how to write an essay will help in middle school, high school, and even college.  We use what's called "boxes and bullets" in this unit.  The "box" is our thesis statement and the "bullets" are our reasons.  We started off by using a class thesis:  "I love ice cream!"  The students then wrote a flash draft essay using the chart below and three of their own reasons with evidence.  Ask them to tell you about their essay!

In reading workshop we began our nonfiction reading unit.  We read two different excerpts related to weather and responded to a few questions about these readings. 

We finished topic 4 in math. The tests will be sent home tomorrow. 

In science we played a fun game to identify all of the rocks that the students observed and took great notes on.  Next, learned about the different tests that we will preform on the minerals.  We learned about Moh's Hardness Scale and why we need to do a streak test on each of the minerals. Magnetism, luster, light,  and shape are a few of the other properties we will observe.  

We met with our buddies and did a fun Thanksgiving craft!  The students discussed what they are grateful for and made pendants to hang in our class!

 

We are looking forward to our Thanksgiving feast next Monday! Please check out our volunteer link below.  We are still in need of one more egg casserole.  :)

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a4cadac29a1fb6-thanksgiving

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

Mrs. Riegel 

Happy November!

I can't believe that October has already come and gone.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, not just because of all the delicious food that comes along with it, but because it's a time to reflect on all that I have to be thankful for. Thank you to each and everyone of you for entrusting me with your children everyday.  We have a wonderful blend of personalities in our class and we enjoy spending our days together! 

This week was a wrap up week for a few of our units.

In writing workshop we finished editing the final copies of our realistic fiction stories.  Not only did students have final editing suggestions from me, but we had peer editors who helped look over some of the stories before sending them to the printing press!  

In reading workshop we started the last bend of our interpreting characters unit of study.  This last bend requires us to synthesize to help come up with interpretations about our books.  When we find parts that connect together, or ideas that connect together, we can start to ask ourselves what life issues our books display, and what the author is trying to teach us about this issue.  When we do this kind of work we can think back across all the parts of the story.  These interpretations lead us to consider themes in our books.

In math we are on Topic 4, addition and subtraction of whole numbers. So far we've used mental math to add and subtract numbers, we've estimated sums and differences of whole numbers, and we have added and subtracted whole numbers with and without regrouping.  We have one more lesson in this unit and then our topic test will be next week.

We are wrapping up our learning about the geography of New York State.  The giant NYS map really helped us gain a better awareness of where things are in relation to where we are located in New York.  

Enjoy your weekend!

It was a busy week with lots of excitement with Halloween around the corner  and our first snowfall! 

We had a wonderful presentation yesterday from the Bethlehem Historical Society.  Mrs. Davies and Mrs. Croscup presented to us what school was like for students in the 1800s.  They also taught us about what as in the area before it was Glenmont School.

Bethlehem Historical Society presentation

Students used to drink from the same water bucket using the same ladle! 

Exploring different artifacts

In writing workshop we have been working on revising with multiple lenses.  It helps to read and re-read through our stories many times.  For example, we might re-read keeping an eye out for punctuation first, then we might re-read again keeping an eye out for paragraphing and spacing. We worked on cover pages today and will be ready to put the final product together next week.

This week in reading workshop we have been working on generating ideas for debate.  We used our mentor text, Tiger Rising, to have a couple mini debates on ideas within the story.  The charts below shows different suggestions for generating debatable ideas and sentence starters that we can use while debating.  Each student has these mini charts in their readers notebook. 

                

In Math we finished topic 3 and had our test yesterday.  Overall, the students did really well on this test. Tests will be sent home Monday to get signed.  Keep practicing the facts on xtra math!

We met quickly with our buddies this week to help administer their spelling tests. A date has not been set yet for our Thanksgiving feast with our buddies. A note will be sent out soon with more information and volunteer sign ups.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs. Riegel 

Here's a look at what we were up to in fourth grade this week...

In writing workshop we are approaching the end of our first unit of study in narrative writing.  Our characters have sprung to life on the pages of our stories. It has been incredible to see the imaginations that these fourth graders have all while keeping their stories realistic.  Trust me this is very challenging work! We have been working on the revision stages of writing, which is not easy for most of us.  We tend to think that once it's done...it's done!  In reality, published authors spend more time revising than they do on their first drafts.  We continue to keep this in mind as we go through these revision stages. 

Hopefully you saw my post on seesaw about what we worked on in reading this week.  It is really helpful to reinforce these skills and strategies at home with the books your child is reading, or if you are reading a book together.  

In math we are learning more about place value. This includes reading and writing numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form,  comparing numbers using greater than, less than, and equal to, and ordering numbers from least to greatest or greatest to least.  We have used place value blocks to visually see which numbers are greater than others.  The topic 3 test will be given at the end of this week. 

This week we completed a kid friendly strength assessment on Thrively.  This site pinpoints your child's unique strengths, which some of you may have seen on seesaw.  There were 80 questions that the students answered to find our their strengths.  Stay tuned for more to come from this unique activity based site!

Mrs. Jones came to visit us this week to get our chromebooks connected to a platform called LanSchool.  LanSchool is a classroom management tool that provides me with tools to minimize distractions.  It allows me to monitor each students' screen from afar and keep them on task. We also had time to play a fun game using Kahoot! It was fun to practice more NYS geography with technology. 

Playing Kahoot and practicing our NYS Geography!

We had fun learning and playing math games with our second grade buddies this week!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Riegel 

Although it was a short week, we have accomplished a lot!

In reading workshop we continued to read intensely to grow our ideas.  This week we discussed how we can get into the flow of our books, and also how creating a mental movie in our mind can help us to envision and predict what is happening in the books we read.  We did some work together as a class and with our reading partners using the mentor text, Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo and the learning progression (like the one below).  We started using a new reading log this week that will be for at home reading.  For practice, we completed a couple sections using our read aloud, and another section with our independent book.

                 

In writing workshop we are really getting lost in the world of our stories.  The chromebooks have been a great tool for the drafting phase of writing, the students are so focused on their stories, you could hear a pin drop!  This week we tried out different leads for our story, maybe did a little revision, and also thought about creating the mood or setting for our readers, so that they feel as though they are living in the story.

In math we are studying patterns.  We have learned how to find patterns in numbers and shapes, and have used tables to determine patterns between numbers.  Determining patterns in a table proved to be a tricky feat yesterday.  Having the strong fact foundation helps us notice relationships between numbers, especially when there are lots of numbers in a table!  Keep practicing those facts!

In science we had a visit from Ms. Martin who told us a bit about the rock cycle.  We began observing the first 5 rocks (there are 12 in the collection), and took scientific notes about each one.  Color, shape, layers, texture, and magnetism are the characteristics that we are using to take notes about each of the rocks.

As you saw on Seesaw, the GIANT New York State Map has arrived!  We have had a lot of fun this week exploring on the map, and participating in some games and activities that are helping us learn more about the geography of our state!

We participated in a nature scavenger hunt this week with our buddies!  Enjoying the outdoors while we have this beautiful weather! 

Wishing you all a fantastic long weekend!

Mrs. Riegel 

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Happy New Year to those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah!

We had a couple visitors in our classroom this week, which is always very exciting.  George Steele showed us all about how the Native Americans used different parts of the deer in their everyday life. The students loved seeing all the different deer parts, and Mr. Steele even played a tune for us on a flute-like instrument that came from the bone of a deer. 

In Social Studies we started learning about the different features of New York State, including review of the states that border New York.  We are working on completing a blank map of New York and we might even get a chance to test out our knowledge on a GIANT New York State map this week.

In writing workshop we continue drafting our realistic fiction stories using the chromebooks.  Our focus last week was on showing what is happening in the story through actions.  We also thought more about the heart of the story and worked on revising and developing our writing using different strategies we've learned. 

In reading workshop we spent most of last week thinking about how we can read intensely to grow  ideas as readers.  We know that we need to read books that are within reach to help us grow as readers.  In groups we came up with ideas for systems and procedures we can use to find books that we not only can read, but that we also want to read. The students came up with some really good ideas for how to get more books in our classroom and how we can recommend books to each other.  

Last weeks math test results were fabulous!  We started topic 2 on Friday, which is all about patterns - completing patterns in numbers and shapes, generating patterns in numbers and shapes, and completing skip counting series. 

Our second special visitor was Mrs. Jones, the new Technology Integration Specialist in Bethlehem!  Her roll in collaborating with teachers to support the use of technology in classrooms will be very beneficial to us this year with the new Chromebooks!  She helped set us up on Google Classroom via speaker phone on Thursday, and then on Friday she came in and taught us a few tips and tricks for Google Classroom. 

We enjoyed some reading time with our buddies this week!  The second graders practiced retelling their stories to the fourth graders.

Wishing you all a great week ahead!

Mrs. Riegel