Fourth Graders are working on a Native American Museum project in Social Studies class. Students are researching and becoming experts on one of the NC tribes and will be creating a museum exhibit to teach the rest of the class about their tribe. Exhibits will include a tri-fold board, digital presentation, and artifacts/objects they bring and create such as pottery, weaving, painting, diorama, etc. Students are working in teams. They have been researching all week. Students begin the creation part on Monday 10/16 in class and will set up their exhibit to show the class on Friday next week. This is only part of the unit project. We will continue our study as we look at how the NC tribes were affected and changed once the European settlers came. We will then add what we learned to our exhibits. I will keep you updated as we get further along in our unit. We are excited for all the learning going on with this project which incorporates the 4 C's- Collaboration, Communication, Critical thinking and Creativity!
Please note, the WES Family Picnic is now on Tuesday, October 3rd from 5:30 to 7:00. Bring a dinner and a blanket or chairs. Students can bring something to play with outside. Also, Kona Ice will be there, so bring a few dollars if you wish!
If it rains, the picnic will be moved indoors. We hope to see you all out at the picnic in a couple weeks! We are very pleased with the first few weeks of school! The students began by working on learning procedures and routines, making new friends, then moving into grit, perseverance and making goals. We did a super fun Breakout Box focusing on the 4 C's, that involved math problem solving with invisible messages, hidden keys and secret codes. In the end the students "broke out" successfully! We will do more breakout boxes this year!
In math we have also successfully completed our place value unit, and several assessments will be going home in the Tuesday folder, including the end of unit place value assessment broken down into our 3 objectives. In science we have investigated rocks, broke apart our mock rocks and compared rocks to chocolate chip M&M cookies! We are focusing on minerals now and have observed 4 mystery minerals that we will be identifying once we learn how to do a scratch test to determine the hardness of a mineral. Students have worked hard in ELA! From pixar videos to super awesome detective case files...students have improved their ability to make inferences. Playing Headbandz and Sparkle were some fun ways to help with our spelling and vocabulary... the students have been engaged and excited to improve as they have fun together! Lastly, the students were all hired for a classroom job that they applied for, and have begun their jobs, as well as receiving paychecks! They are learning to manage their money (big bills, since we learn place value to the millions), and many students have met with their banker and have made deposits with their paychecks as well as their Leader Loot they have earned for behavior and homework completion. All in all, we are off to a great start and we look forward to continuing our 4th grade adventure in learning! We are so excited to start a new year with our Fourth Graders!!
We Encourage You To: *Check out our Website and refer to it weekly, as we update homework and blog about things we are doing in class! *Read through all forms in the folder you receive at Meet the Teacher, and Fill out all forms as soon as possible and return to school. *Complete the Parent Homework (letter to us about your child) due Friday, September 1st. *Follow us on Twitter @weatherstone4th to see what we are doing in the classroom! *Have your child practice logging on to Wakeid and Google Classroom at home! Passwords will be sent home on the first day of school. *Consider joining the PTA. They do so much for our students and they would love your support! Important Dates! 8/24- Meet the Teacher 3:00-4:30 for grades 3-5 8/28- First Day of School 9/4- Labor Day, No School 9/14- Parent Night 6-7pm (Parent only information session) 9/29- Early Release 1:15 (notify us of transportation changes for ER days) 10/5- WES Family Picnic 5:30-7:00 We have begun our Animal Habitat unit in science. Students have asked the question "What does a ____ (dwarf frog, millipede, fiddler crab) need to survive?" They have researched each one to find out their basic needs. Then they got to imagine getting the real animal and keeping it alive!! They were assigned one of the animals to become an expert on! They researched to find out how they could create a habitat to keep their animal alive! Next, they Planned the habitat with a diagram and a list of materials needed. I quizzed each group member to make sure they are knowledgeable about their animal! Then, they created the habitat in preparation for the animals to arrive next week! Groups will be sharing and giving feedback to improve habitats before introducing to the animals. Students will be observing all the habitats, and carefully watching and recording animal behaviors of their expert animal! This has been a fun Project Based Learning so far, and the animals haven't even arrived yet! Please ask your child about their expert animal! They have learned a lot!
Students are currently working on a Science Landforms PBL, in which all components are posted on Google Classroom. Groups chose an investigation based on a weathering and erosion question they still had after completing the unit. Students wrote and submitted a proposal on Google Classroom, and followed the engineering design process by creating a plan and completing the investigation. They submit a Daily Accomplishments Google form each day in science, to share with me what they accomplished, what their plan is, any problems, and things needed for the following science class. Now they are creating tri-fold boards to document the steps followed in the engineering design process, and focusing on how this investigation affects earth's surface. They are beginning the final stages with a technology based presentation. Students will share their tri-fold boards and technology based presentation with other 4th grade classes on April 7th. Students will follow up with a Google Feedback form, in which they share how the investigation went, what changes they would make, as well as a chance to grade their group members on work ethic, contributions and conduct during the project. This PBL, which allows for student choice, has been a great project focusing on the 4 C's- Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking and Creativity.
1/27- School Day (weather make-up day)
1/27- Study Island Quarter 1 and 2 Math Assignments Due 2/3- Report Cards go Home 2/10 Early Release 2/28- Interims go home 3/30- Carolina Coast Field Trip We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break!
Some updates to take note of: 1/16/17- No School, Martin Luther King Day 1/20/17- Early Release 1:15 1/24/17- End of Quarter 2 1/27/17- Teacher Workday 2/3/17- Report Cards go Home 1. I am excited to have made some changes in my classroom so that students will have the opportunity to be a part of flexible seating during math and science class. Students will get to try out the Yoga balls, wobble stools, floor cushions, stability cushions on chairs, etc. Students will be able to try out all seating options in time. We will have a class discussion about how the flexible seating will work together on Tuesday. 2. Study Island Quarter 1 & 2 Math Quizzes are due Friday, January 27th, this is a workday. As a reminder, although I do provide time in class, the quizzes can be completed at home as well. When students log on, they follow same procedure as going to HW, and all the quizzes are listed together as an assignment "Quarter 1 and 2 Assignments". We will do a Study Island reward for those who complete all assignments with a passing score of 70%. 11/29/16 Field Trip to Downtown Raleigh Science Museum, History Museum and State Capital Building. Depart at 9:30, return at 1:30. Lunch eaten at school.
12/3/16 Early Release 1:15 12/6/16 Interims go home 12/19/16 High Touch High Tech "Dig It" in school field trip 12/22/16 Teacher Workday-NO SCHOOL for students 12/22/16- 1/2/17 Holiday Break- NO SCHOOL 1/16/17 Martin Luther King Day- NO SCHOOL 1/20/17 Early Release 1:15 1/24/17 End of Quarter 2 1/27/17 Report Cards go Home Click Below to sign up for a time to conference. We will do phone or email conferences at your request. Just email us at [email protected] and [email protected]
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