We had a busy, busy week! Read on for details...
In Language Arts the students are continuing their study of the novel King of the Wind. The students have been using examples from the story to support their thinking about character traits and feelings. They have been analyzing vocabulary (there are a lot of tough words), looking them up in the dictionary and trying to use them in meaningful sentences. You'd be surprised how many kids are not comfortable with a dictionary and require a bit of help! Hand your child a dictionary and ask him/her to look up a particular word...if they have trouble...make this part of your weekly routine...they should be able to find an unfamiliar word without wasting much time! Some big changes are coming for the character Agba in our story...we will be reading Chapters 11-13 on Monday and the kids will be surprised at the outcome! In Writing the kids did quite a bit this week...they wrote paragraphs to support their thinking about King of the Wind, they wrote letters to Mrs. Kaplan, and they're bringing home the graded (YAH!) Letters from the White House assignment...aren't they amazing?!?! If you haven't seen your child's letter...get that folder right now...they're wonderful!
In Science we spent quite a bit of time this week learning about and discussing renewable and nonrenewable resources. We also saw a fun Bill Nye the Science Guy video about the Hydrological Cycle...the kids made a scientific drawing showing their understanding of the water cycle using the words evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection. Our trip to the ESSL will have activities surrounding the water cycle, as well as fossils...speaking of fossils...that's where we're headed soon...we have one more investigation with different types of soils and then we'll be moving into fossils. Do you have any fossils hanging around your house? I have one...his name is Mr. Wills...just kidding! If you or your child collects fossils and would like to share them, please have your child bring them in...they will be a great addition to our study! Speaking of Mr. Wills...he will be visiting next week to share his knowledge of gems. It ties quite nicely with our science unit and the project many of the kids are doing. We look forward to his visit!
In Math we are getting ready to move into fractions. The kids took a pretest last week, and as usual, we have someone on every part of the learning curve, so we will be splitting up into groups to make sure we all have a good handle on the fourth grade indicators that deal with fractions. We finished up our geometry unit with a "Fun Activity"...ask your child about it...they had to "help" a student named Karen (cute name, huh?) who had completed an assignment...but had not done a great job...Karen needed their help and they had to "fix" her paper! This is where their knowledge of geometry vocabulary was put into play. I have the papers to grade this weekend, so you'll know sometime next week how your child did. The geometry unit was fun, and FULL of vocabulary...I was very impressed with their use of obtuse and acute angles, parallel and intersecting lines, and of course, their knowledge of all of the different shapes...ask your child, "Why is a square a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square?"...I love that question!!
I could still use a couple more parents for our field trip to the ESSL. It is Thursday, March 5th from 12-1:30pm...please send a note with your child if you'd like to attend.
On Friday, Mrs. Kaplan visited our class to share her love of Langston Hughes poetry. February is Black History month and there is so much to be learned about Black History through Langston Hughes' poems. One particular favorite of our class was The Merry-Go-Round. A lot of the children referenced that one in their letters thanking Mrs. Kaplan for her visit. Take a moment to read it...I've included it below.
Merry-Go-Round
Where is the Jim Crow section
On this merry-go-round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back—
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?
-Langston Hughes
Have a great weekend with your families!
