What would you say to our Founding Fathers if you could meet them ?
RADAR CHECK:
- Mon, Oct. 26/Tue, Oct. 27: Pizza Day! Please make sure you send extra food for a snack in the morning and afternoon, along with a water bottle.
- Thu, Oct. 29/Fri. Oct.30: Creative Costume Day! Your student may wear their costume, as long as it's not too scary and appropriate for school. As a reminder, please leave all props like weapons, scary additions, etc... at home.
- Many thanks to all the families who took time to write a parent comment back to me on the "Work Journal Living Document." I look forward to hearing from others soon!
- Exhibition: Mon, Nov. 16 & Tue, Nov. 17 from 5-6:30 pm (MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!) More details coming soon
- Field trip ideas for second semester: Please help us think of some places we could visit during our "Physics Fun Park" project, which would include roller coaster physics, simple machines, magnetism, and circuitry.
Writing: Students are now in the revising and editing phase of their letter to the Founding Fathers. First, students self-edit, then peer-edit (when they sit with a classmate, listen to that person read their letter, write any suggestions for revising on sticky notes i.e. spellings, missing words, punctuations, and last teacher-edit. We are using the Proofreading Marks (click here for an example). Please review these marks with your student and practice using these marks to edit practice paragraphs. Here is a link with practice paragraphs: (click here for an example).
Of course, I can’t edit with all the students individually at once, so I have a few helpers from Core 4/5, as well as, Savannah (M/Th intern) and Sami (T/F intern) to help students edit. When editing, I’m looking to see how the students used the transition words that we’re studying, as well as what evidence they include to support their letter. Students have been provided with a huge list of words in a WORD BANK discussed during our study of the Founding Fathers, an example of how to write a letter on notebook paper, and reminders of what each paragraph topic must include. Once students teacher-edit, then they rewrite their letter for a second draft before they write their final draft on letter writing paper. We will create our own scroll out of construction paper and these letters will be on display during Exhibition.
Students are also creating a narrative about what they would do if they were President. These will also be on display during Exhibition.
The goal is to have both of these writing projects finished by the beginning of November so that students can then work on writing their proposals for The New $10 Design, typing a paragraph for each element on their bill.
Megan and I have been providing short opportunities for students to have journal writing to create their own imaginative stories, as well as, reflecting on field trips or their day.
Reading: Next week, we will begin reading an article that outlined the Woman’s Suffrage movement and the passing of the 19th amendment. We will be looking at specific historical women in America and learning about their societal influences.
Also, here is a great resource for teaching Point of View for this learning period and some ideas for work samples to submit (comic strip, flashcards, illustrate a point of view manual): Go to this link
Math: Last week I noticed students having discussions surrounding the commutative property so we incorporated BrainPop to help identify the property and students began creating a foldable for them to show their understanding. The 3rd graders finished up showing how to make equal groups with counters and identifying the factors associated with their groups. We also discussed what arrays were in our own words, and created arrays using construction paper and whole punchers. The 4th grade students finished working on their factor rainbows and learned how to play the factor game. I attached the Factor Game as a PDF to play at home for extra practice.
Michelle told me about a fun song some teachers created to help students learn their times tables by song: Check it out (This group of teachers by M. DeMaio have created songs to the tune of hip-hop songs like Meghan Trainor.) Of course, there are many other songs and videos that you can share with your student to help them learn to skip count for multiplication!
Project: Student have been working attentively in groups to create a brochure on Word. They have been typing their section of the brochure independently and then saving to a flash drive to piece together on one brochure. This process proved to be challenging for students and many students lost precious work due to missing a step. We will continue to practice these skills, and I encourage you to help your student at home save work and images on flash drives to help reinforce the process. Student brochures will be on display at exhibition.
Once student brochures are complete we will begin our last phase in our project, which is having the students design the new $10 bill. They will be creating their bill with an important woman from US history, selecting and using symbols that represent democracy, and providing written responses for their selections.
Have a FUN work week! It's the week of Halloween, so make your lessons spooky, scary, and fun!!
