Here’s what we were up to this week in fourth grade…

In writing workshop we continued working on our information books.  We have written the first chapter of our book (All about the Revolutionary War), the second chapter (All about our chosen topic), and this week we focused on writing and typing our third chapter, which is a small moment story.  We are using some the skills that we learned from our narrative writing unit in the fall to write this chapter.  Focusing on character, setting, and problems.  It’s fun to pretend you are a character living in the time of the Revolutionary War!   We are still using the laptops and our google accounts to type our information books. 

We took the NYS science test on Thursday this week.  This was the performance test and they all did very well!  The written portion of the test is Monday, June 6^th. 

In math we finished up topic 15 and will start topic 16 next week. This is our last topic of fourth grade.  We will learn about lines, angles, and shapes. 

As a reminder we have an accelerated math test on Wednesday, June 1. We will be attending our first field trip on Friday, June 3^rd in Waterford at the Tug Urger.  Please make sure your child brings a bag lunch (no glass containers please).

Enjoy the long weekend!

We had a very exciting and busy week in fourth grade! 

In Writing workshop we continue to work on our information books.  We logged into our google accounts this week and began typing the first two chapters on a google doc.  Ask your child to show you what they’ve been working on by logging into their google accounts from home.  It’s amazing what they’ve done so far!  This is great practice for fifth grade since students will have their own chromebook and will do most of their typing on them.  It’s also a great tool for me to share suggestions and advice by adding comments as they continue writing their drafts.

In Math, we began Topic 15, solving different measurement problems. The students did very well on the Topic 14 test, and this new topic combines much of the measurement they just learned and requires them to use this new knowledge to solve word problems.

In Science we played a Jeopardy review game in teams that was a little bit competitive, but fun and educational all at the same time!  We continue to observe our terrarium.  I’m hoping that the mold growing in some of them does not kill the whole ecosystem. Yikes!

We had a great visit by Vermont author Steve Swinburne this week.  He writes mostly non-fiction books and spends much of his time studying his subjects before writing about them. According to Steve, a few key components that all nonfiction writing includes: strong verbs, cool details, and hooks the reader. 

We got with our buddies this week and completed the sand pail craft!  This made us think a little bit about our favorite summer things.  It’ll be here before we know it!

We enjoyed the nice weather on Friday afternoon and got outside for some yoga!   

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

What a busy week we had in fourth grade, and a fabulous Wednesday performance by all our fourth and fifth graders at Glenmont School!

This week we chose our Revolutionary War writing topics and got busy researching a little bit more about them.  We read and studied a previous fourth grade student’s work so that we could get an idea of what our finished product would look like.  We have been using books from the public library as well as the Glenmont library, and the iPads to find out more and start to organize our information book. I have added a number of kid-friendly websites to the Social Studies tab on our blog page, for the fourth graders to access while researching their topic. 

We took our topic 14 math test today and will begin topic 15 next week, which will focus on solving measurement problems. 

Mrs. Paniccia came into our room this week and helped us study important science vocabulary words.  We worked with partners to study these words then played “I Have, Who Has?”.  It was great way to study the words and use our speaking and listening skills. We had a lot of fun!   

In Science we have been observing our ecosystems.  They are full of life, with many of the seeds that we planted growing taller than the top of the terrarium!  We completed different stations this week to practice the hands-on portion of the science test.  Centers included inclined planes, electricity and magnetism, and balancing and weighing.  They really enjoyed these rotations and I’m confident they are ready for the test in a few weeks!

If you haven’t checked out our ‘Important Dates’ tab on the blog, I encourage you to do so.  There have been many dates added to June that you won’t want to miss!  A field trip permission form will come home next week for the two trips that we have planned in June. 

If you are around this weekend, there is a group of students that are hosting a concert and family fun day at the high school tomorrow, May 14^th from 2-5.  There will be local bands, food, craft vendors, and activities for children of all ages.  Admission is $5 and the proceeds will go to World’s Window, a local charity that works to increase educational opportunities for underprivileged children in Belize.  

Next Tuesday is our annual school budget vote.  I encourage you all to get out and vote! In addition to the budget vote, there will be a “Kids Vote Too” program.  This allows children to vote for one of two different PE packages for their school. The town is also putting in a new playground and the kids will be able to vote on pieces of equipment they would like to have.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!  

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our fabulous fourth grade moms, I hope you’re enjoying the sunny day!

We had a good first week back to school and were very busy in science and social studies. 

In science we continue to review for the NYS science test. We discussed electricity this week.  We also learned that an ecosystem is made up of living and nonliving things, and put our ecosystems together!  The students worked in small groups to count out and observe their seeds.  We planted alfalfa, rye, and mustard seeds.  The fourth section of our ecosystem is labeled “compost” and contains dead leaves and grass, pinecone particles, and rocks.  

In Social Studies we discussed the impact that the revolutionary war had on New York State.  In small groups we brainstormed which different landforms we thought had an affect on the war.  We discussed why New York State was such a crucial part of the war.  We will begin choosing topics for our revolutionary war writing next week.

In Math we are still learning about different units of measurement for weight, length, and capacity.  We have also learned a bit about the metric system.  We will have a test on Topic 14 at the end of this week.

 I hope you all have a great weekend!