Fraction and Decimal Review with Kahoot!

We are wrapping up our math unit on fractions and decimals, and to help us review we played a game using Kahoot!  Students worked with partners, and they began by creating team names.  Once all teams were signed in, the game began and the first question was displayed on the projector.  Partners had one minute to discuss each question, and once they agreed they selected their answers on iPads or Chromebooks.  Once all answers were locked in, the correct answers were displayed, and we could see how many teams selected each answer.  The students were very enthusiastic during this review, and we decided that we should play another version of this game.  However, this time, the students are going to create the questions.

Thanksgiving Banquet - Volunteers Needed

We are very excited for our upcoming Thanksgiving Banquet next Tuesday, November 24th.  We are still looking for volunteers to help with this banquet.  Fourth graders will be eating lunch from 12:40-1:10, and the times for other grade levels are included on the sign-up.  If you are available and willing to volunteer, please sign-up by click on the following link: Thanksgiving Banquet Sign-Up.  Thank you!

Animal Adaptations

We have been busy learning all about animal adaptations!  During this unit, we identified the four basic needs of all living things: food, air, water, and shelter.  We also learned that animals have adaptations to help them survive, and these adaptations can be behaviors or body parts.

We learned that some animals use camouflage in order to help them get their food and/or avoid becoming food.  Though chameleons are able to change colors, we learned that the primary reason they do this is to show their mood.  Chameleons change colors for many reasons, and scientists believe one of many reasons they do this is to disguise themselves.  Students have been working to blend chameleons into our classroom environment.  To learn more about why chameleons change their colors, read this article on Wonderopolis.org

The students know that animals have certain body parts to help them meet their basic needs. We experimented with different tools and different foods to learn about why different birds have different beaks.  The students were able to observe that some tools were easier to use when getting certain foods, and decided that birds would have beaks based on the foods they eat.  We also read What If You Had Animal Teeth?, and we thought about what we would be able to do if we had animal teeth.  Students created pictures of themselves with different teeth, and wrote about what they'd be able to do.

We have also been able to use the chromebooks to learn about animal adaptations.  The Wildlife Conservation Society: New York Zoos and Aquarium has a website where students can build their wild selves using various animal parts.  Once completed, a description of the various body parts is given.

We will wrap up our study of animal adaptations this week with a few more experiments when families visit during American Education Week.  Hope to see you there!

Author Ralph Fletcher Visits N.M.E.S.

On Thursday, November 5th, author Mr. Ralph Fletcher joined the fourth graders at N.M.E.S.  Because we read his memoir, Marshfield Dreams, the students knew a lot about Mr. Fletcher’s life and were very excited to meet him in person.  Several students created posters and were able to greet him as soon as he arrived.

During the presentation, Mr. Fletcher shared several poems with us, and he also told us about some of his other books.  He shared some personal stories with us, and he told us that many of these stories inspire him when writing.  Fig Pudding, which he categorized as autobiographic fiction, is somewhat based on his life but also somewhat made up.  We learned quite a funny story about his sister that inspired him to write the chapter, “The Headless Chicks.”   

Mr. Ralph Fletcher shared his writer’s notebook with us, and he showed us a rough draft of Hello, Harvest Moon.  We were able to see the changes the illustrator made before the book was published. 

Several of us found his three tips at the end of the presentation to be memorable.  His three pieces of advice were:

1.  Get a writer’s notebook and write something every day.  To be good at anything, we have to do it often.

2.  Read.  Good writers are good readers, and the more you read, the better your writing will get.

3.  Don’t forget to be a kid.

Below are some of our reactions to our assembly with Mr. Ralph Fletcher:

• “It was funny how he was talking about his family.”
• “I am now inspired to write a story.”
• “I was surprised that he remembered all that stuff that happened awhile ago.”
• “I thought Ralph Fletcher’s presentation was pretty interesting because I got to hear stuff about him that I never knew before.”
• “I think his advice will help us to become better writers.”

If you’d like to learn more about Ralph Fletcher, his website is: http://ralphfletcher.com/

Stephen's Field Visit

On Thursday, we joined our little friends in Ms. Hager's class to take our first field trip of the year to Stephen's Field.  While enjoying the unseasonably warm day, students had the opportunity to explore the beach and tide pools.  They were given the challenge of finding 5 living and 5 non-living things.  Students found clams, crabs, shells, rocks, and mussels amongst many other things.  The fourth graders were great role-models for their little friends, and we look forward to spending more time with them and visiting Stephen's Field again this year.

Update From the Students in Room 37

Mr. and Mrs. Fish

Mr. and Mrs. Fish came to our school on Tuesday, September 29th.  Those are not their real names; they made up those names. We learned a lot about the ocean to kick off our ocean study this year.  Mr. and Mrs. Fish showed us the ocean food chain, and they also brought costumes to the assembly to show the food chain. The costumes were worn by volunteers, and Mr. Fish tired to move up the food chain (and he survived).  They also told lots of fishy jokes before they sailed away.  We’re excited to dive into more ocean studies this year.

Mark the Beekeeper

Mark the beekeeper came to our classroom to visit fourth grade students on Friday, October 1st. We learned about different types of bees and what they do.  He showed us honey and we got to taste it.  Some of us enjoyed it, but some of us didn't think it tasted very good.  He brought his whole suit and the bees’ home to the school, but there weren't any bees in it. The smoker smelled like lavender. He passed around the racks the bees keep their honey in, and some had no honey in them while other ones did.  It surprised us that the racks with honey were much heavier than the empty racks because they didn’t look like they would be much heavier.  That’s the buzz about our visit with Mark the beekeeper.

Growth Mindset

Dear Families,

As I mentioned at Open House, one of my goals for the year is to help students develop and/or strengthen a growth mindset.  We have done many activities to help us learn about growth mindset and the language of growth mindset, and we’ll continue to do many more throughout the year.  Some of the activities we’ve done include:

• viewing Brain Jump with Ned the Neuron 
• categorizing phrases that show a fixed mindset vs. a growth mindset (I give up vs. I’ll use some of the strategies I’ve learned).
• working in small groups to create phrases we can say in place of phrases such as: “This is too hard,” “I can’t do this,” “I give up,” and “I don’t understand.”  
• reading The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett.

Students worked in small groups to define growth mindset.  They decided that:

• “A growth mindset is a positive thought that you think about your work.”
• “Growth mindset is being determined.”
• “Growth mindset is feeling confident in yourself and trying your best.”
• “When you challenge your brain, your brain will have positive thoughts, and with all of that you will get smarter.”  

I’ve enjoyed our lessons together explicitly teaching your children about growth mindset, and I’m looking forward to incorporating this work throughout our days together.  Two articles were available to families at Open House that shared more information about growth mindset.  If you’d like a copy of these articles, please let me know and I’d be happy to send them home.

Have a fabulous weekend,

Mrs. Houston

Welcome!

Dear Students and Families,

Welcome to our class website and blog!  On the tabs above you'll find information about the happenings in our 4th grade classroom.  The tabs for each subject area will be updated as we begin new units of study, typically around the beginning of each month.  You'll also find other information such as our class schedule, homework expectations, and links to other websites you'll want to visit.   In addition, I'll post updates throughout the month on the class blog.  I look forward to sharing the stories of our classroom with you on our blog.

~Mrs. Houston