LITERACY: ANIMAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Fourth graders are underway in Module 2 of our new literacy program EL. This unit integrates science concepts with non-fiction reading skills and informational writing. Our guiding questions and big ideas are:
- How do animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive?
- How can writers use knowledge from their research to inform and entertain?
Our two mentor texts are Venom and Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses. Through engagement with these resources students have made inferences and supported them with details and examples from the text. We've also learned how to efficiently take notes on reading passages and then use those notes to paraphrase a text in an accurate manner. While close-reading passages we've worked to determine the author's main idea and cite key details in support of our thinking. At the conclusion of this first of three units in this science related module, students will read an informational text, answer text-dependent questions, and write a summary of the articles identifying the main idea and its supporting details.
Example Student Work Pages
MATH: FRACTIONS
Last week we kicked off our fractions unit of study in math. Students began with a brief review of fractions as parts of a whole and how to represent them. Using physical fraction strips combined with visual representations helped solidify previously addressed third grade fraction concepts. Work has been done around understanding fractions greater than one whole along with using the numerator and denominator to reason about the size of fractions. In our next bend fourth graders will extend their understanding of fraction equivalence, comparing fractions, and ordering of fractions on a number line. This will be followed by adding, multiplying and decomposing fractions. Lastly, we'll conclude with the relationship between decimal notation and fractions.
Example Student Work Pages
BETHANY BIRCHES
Thank you to parents and guardians who have already signed up to pitch in during our end of the year class camping trip! You can find a link to the sign-up in the Helpful Links section of this blog.
BridgeUP PROGRAM
Our BridgeUP theater partners have shared the play we'll be performing and it's...Macbeth! Scotland, witches, ambition, deceit, prophecies, conscience, and more. Yes, it's a tragedy.
Email from February 2
BridgeUp Schedule
PEER-to-PEER CONFLICT RESOLUTION
The focus of our lessons of late during our Second Step social-emotional learning block has been on determining the difference between big and little problems. We've defined big problems as those which make you or someone else feel unsafe or that are physically dangerous. These are the types of situations that require an adult to intervene in order to help solve the conflict.
Little problems create feelings of disappointment, frustration, or annoyance. While not ideal, emotions like these are normal and occur regularly throughout one's life. We want students to be able to navigate these situations and accompanying feelings independently when possible and so are giving time in class to arrive at productive strategies to address them. Students will practice using I-Messages with different scenarios and then, ultimately, apply these skills when organic conflicts arise with peers. Through this instructional sequence students will be leaning on our past work of using their empathy skills, being assertive, and understanding different perspectives.
SUPPLIES, SNACKS, FAMILY DIRECTORY
Please check in with your fourth grader to ensure they have the necessary school supplies to make it through a typical day successfully: personal pencil sharpener, pencils, scissors, and colored pencils. You may also want to ask if they have enough snack during our mid-morning fueling period.
We will do a voluntary Valentine's Day card exchange on Wednesday, February 14. You can access class rosters at this WES Family Directory link or via our Helpful Links section.