Another busy few weeks with lots of learning and smiling faces. It is one of my favorite times of the year, as forth graders start to mature both academically and socially and as we take on more sophisticated topics. (However I'm not liking the fact that many of the students are now becoming taller than me!!!)
Reading Workshop
We will be wrapping up our study of characters this week. As realistic fiction readers the students are:
- growing ideas about characters
- revising their theories
- taking note of character's actions
- noticing characters choices and consequences
- noticing when characters act out of character
- making stronger predictions based on how well they know the character
- envisioning what is happening as they walk in the character's shoes
These are very important skills that allow the reader a bigger insight into the character and deepens their understanding of the story. Our next unit will be a focus on strategies to read and understand nonfiction.
Writing Workshop
We are currently working on drafting our realistic fiction stories. This genre involves a great deal of planning on the part of the author. Here are the steps we have followed as they bring their characters to life:
- develop a map of what their character struggles with, their internal and external traits, attitude towards themselves, attitude of other characters towards the main character and what gets in the way of the character getting what they want.
- decide how the character will change or what they will learn.
- decide how the problem in the story is solved
- develop a story mountain to include scenes where the character's struggles are becoming more intense as they work their way up the mountain.
- draft each scene
- revise and edit each scene
- finally publish their masterpiece
We hope to have these ready to share in the next week or so.
Social Studies
We have started our unit on Beliefs and students have taken quite an interest in this topic. We will focus on the following essential questions:
- What is a belief?
- Why are beliefs important?
- Why do people have different beliefs?
- How did Greek Mythology effect the beliefs of the people at that time?
- How have the Ancient Greeks influenced our lives today
Math
Students have been working hard to master their multiplication facts as they need the automaticity to progress into more complicated algorithms. Please have your child review the facts they have taken home, on a daily basis. It is expected at the end of this unit that students will be able to:
- answer 100 multiplication facts in 5 minutes
- use the partial product, lattice and traditional algorithm to solve 2 by 1, 3 by 1, 4 by 1 and 2 by 2 math questions
- use strategies to solve story problems
- name factors for various numbers
- solve missing digit questions
We should be finishing this unit next week which will be followed by a unit on division.
Thanks for your ongoing support of the fourth graders learning journey.
Theresa
Halloween Fun with The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
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