Investigating Force - 1

For our first investigation of force, students used their pencils, SOAR Binders, and chairs. They were to provide force to each object making it travel the length of 3 floor tiles. They learned that heavier objects required more force to travel the same amount of distance as lighter objects due to their mass. This helped us learn Newton's Second Law of Motion. 

Comparing and Comtrasting

One of our reading skills a few weeks ago was comparing and contrasting. We have learned many fabulous phrases to help us compare and contrast, but one of the first things we did was create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting ourself to either Doon or Lina from The City of Ember.

Adding Details

We have begun working on writing during daily 5. One of the first things we needed to learn was how to write a fourth grade sentence. 

Fourth graders include details like who, what, when, where, and why in their sentences. We practiced this skill together before students were given the task of writing about where their name came from, or telling me about their favorite summer activity. 

Investigating Force - 2

We used paint and straws to investigate the effect of force. We first blew lightly into the straw that was full of paint, then we blew a little header, and finally we blew very hard. We noticed that the harder we blew, the larger the splatter made by our paint. 

At the end of the investigation, we used just the force of our air to blow the paint around. This helped us with Newton's Fiest Lawe of Motion, the law of inerti, because the paint was at rest until the force of our air was pushed upon it causing the paint to move. 

Comparing and Contrasting Sentences

Comparing & Contrasting SentencesPhrases to remember:  in comparison, by contrast, similarly, on the other hand, on the contrary, however

In Virginia the earthquake travels long distances however in California the plates are cracked which stop the earthquakes from going further. – Mohak

In Virginia the earthquake temperature is cold however in California the earthquake temperature is warm. – Kelsey

In California the damage is contained however Virginia has a lot of damage in large areas. – Sabin

In Virginia the plates are solid on the other hand California plates are cracked causing earthquakes to stop. – Riley

The plates in Virginia are cold; on the other hand, in California the plates are warm. – Banks

In Virginia, the plates that cause earthquakes are cold; however in California they are warm. – Ella

In Virginia plates are solid however in California plates are cracked – Reagan

In Virginia the plates are solid causing the earthquake to keep going; however in California the plates are cracked causing the earthquake to stop. – Roselin

The plates in Virginia are cold; however, the plates in California are warm. - Alex

In California masses of energy stop easier; however, Virginia masses of energy go further. – Alex

The plates in Virginia are cold and solid; however the plates in California are cracked, warm, and not solid. – Thomas

In Virginia the plates are solid and cold so energy can go far, however, the plates in the west are cracked and warm so energy cannot go through very easy. – Lydia

In Virginia the earthquakes travel pretty far.  On the other hand, California quakes don’t travel as far because there are more faults. – Jacob

In Virginia they have solid plates; however in California the plates are cracked causing energy to stop. – Charlie

Spelling

This year our class has the opportunity to select their own list of spelling words. They select easy, medium, and hard words from a list of words with our given spelling pattern. On Friday they use these words to test one another.

They seem to be enjoying this new spelling plan :).

Synonym BINGO

Friday we reviewed synonyms from last week. This week students had a choice of playing Synonym BINGO or Synonym Go Fish.

For synonym BINGO I gave students some very challenging words to write on their BINGO board. I would then call out a synonym and use it in a sentence that would help them determine its meaning. We had several BINGOs.

Where In the World is Alabama?

This week we began learning a little about geography.

We began by learning where our city is in our state and what county we are located in. 

Then, we talked about our bordering states, and continents. 

Finally, we learned about lines of longitude, latitude, the Prime Meridian, and the Equator.
The concept of cities, counties, states, countries, and continents still confuses many of my students.  I think one reason they get confused is because many countries on other continents resemble the states within the United States making the United States seem like a continent to them, and the states seem like countries.  

The information:

The final product:  The circles actually stack on top of one another but we had them spread out to allow our glue to dry.

Idioms

This week we studied idioms. Idioms are so much fun and we had a blast reading examples of them and using them in our daily conversations.

We made an idiom picture in a frame. Each student selected two idioms. They wrote the idiom at the top of their paper, illustrated the idiom's literal meaning, and then wrote its actual meaning. 

They turned out so cute!  Here are a few examples:

iPick - Good Fit Books

One of my students most challenging activities is that of selecting a good fit book for themselves. I enjoy doing a fun lesson using shoes to talk about how to select appropriate books.

The cast of characters for the lesson:  

I begin by putting on Mr. Upton's shoes. Obviously these are much too large for my small foot.  They students always begin giggling as I try to walk around in his gigantic shoes. 

I ask if they would mind if I played bombardee with them on Friday wearing Mr. Upton's shoes. Of course they're not a big fan of that idea and as I ask why they tell me that I wouldn't be any good because my shoes wouldn't allow me to play well. 

This leads into an awesome conversation about how some books may be too big for them. I do not mean too big in actual size of the book, I mean too big in ideas and plots that may affect their comprehension. We talk about how difficult it would be for me to be successful at playing  bombardee in shoes that are too big, and likewise, it would be hard for a reader to be successful in a book that is too big. 

Next up, I put on my heels. I tell them these are my Turkey Bowl and Sheff Cup shoes. Of course they think I'm crazy, again!  This leads to a conversation about purpose.  I explain that my heels have a purpose and that purpose is dressing up. If I need shoes for Turkey Bowl or Sheff Cup then I should choose tennis shoes or cleats.  I also use my rain boots to discuss purpose. My rain boots are for the rain. That is their purpose. 

We talk about selecting books based on our purpose for reading. Are we reading to learn about something or someone?  Are we reading instructions?  Are we reading for pleasure?  Our purpose in reading should affect our book choice!

At the end I ask them if they see any cleats on the table. They, of course, do not. I ask them why and usually someone figures out that I do not have any because I do not play sports. I explain that they are correct and there would be no need for me to have cleats because sports do not interest me. I buy shoes for things I am interested in. 

They learn that just because one of their friends LOVES Percy Jackson they may not like it. We are all made differently and we all like different books. A good fit for Johnny may not be a good fit for Jim because they have different interests and different levels. 

Here is the chart they received for their SOAR Binder to help them remember how to select a good fit book.

Synonym Memory

One of our recent reading skills was synonyms. In the past, your child has studied fairly simple synonyms. Each year synonyms/vocabulary should get increasingly more difficult. This year one of the main synonym skills they will work on is using context clues in reading to determine a synonym for a given term.

Ex:  The driver if the car was in despair following the wreck. 

Which word means the SAME as despair?

a.). trouble

b.). shock

c.). hopelessness

To practice this skill, each student made a stack of synonym cards. The students numbered off 1 & 2 and the ones made one stack and the twos made a different stack. I gave them 8 words for their list and they had to use their brain, or a thesaurus, to find a synonym for each word I gave them. Following this they had a set of cards they could use to play a matching game or go fish. 

For our first round of play the 1s paired up with the 2s and played synonym memory. 

Pencil Sharpener

Last week we received a new pencil sharpener for the classroom. I have been reading many wonderful reviews about this sharpener so I decided to give it a shot.  I purchased it from Classroom Friendly Supplies and it comes in a variety of colors. 

We had to have a pencil sharpening party as soon as I got it out if the package. There were 2 reasons for the party:

1.  It's tricky to use so we had to have a tutoring session. 

2.  Everyone wanted to try it and it worked better for me to stop class for a moment, allow everyone to sharpen one pencil, and then move on with our day. 

I still had to fight the pencil sharpener for my class' attention that day, even after the pencil party. 

So far we love the sharpener and it puts the most amazing point on a pencil you've ever seen.  The cons: it will not stay mounted, and a spring already popped out of the back. 

Sequencing - Where The Wild Things Are

Today we began working on a new comprehension skill. This skill is sequencing. 

I chose to use one of my all time favorite books, Where The Wild Things Are, to teach this skill. 

Where the wild things are begins with a little boy acting like a wild boy in his house. His mother sends him to bed with out dinner and while he is in his room his imagination runs wild. 

Before we read I told the students to be thinking about what their favorite part of the book is. 

After we read I asked them to illustrate their favorite part of the story.  The illustrations were great. We were able to create a time line of events in the story using their illustrations. 

The series of events moves from top left to top right, bottom left to bottom right. 

This set of illustrations moves the same direction as the previous set. 

These are now displayed in the hallway. Tomorrow we will use order of time words to captions each group of illustrations. 

Alabama History Diamantes

This week we began learning about our state to prepare for our year long investigation of the state of Alabama!

We began by creating a Diamanté Poem about Alabama. 

I gave each student an outline to follow in making their poem and we headed off to the computer lab to find the answers. 

Line 1:  The name of our state

Line 2:  Two animals that are native to our state

Line 3:  Three cities in Alabama

Line 4:  Four agricultural products of Akabama

Line 5:  Three birds in Alabama

Line 6:  The state insect and the state bird

Line 7:  Fill in the blank:  Alabama is known as the _______ state. 

Once they had collected all of their information they transferred it onto a per-made diamanté diamond template. 

Then, they cute it out and glued it onto construction paper. 

Finally, they trimmed the construction paper leaving only a small border/outline. 

Now they are displayed in the hall for everyone to read!

Predicting - The Mitten

Wednesday we read The Mitten to practice our comprehension skill, predicting. 

Prior to reading each student was given a mitten template. I showed them the cover of the book and asked them to predict what they thought the book would be about and to provide reasons based on the illustration as to why they made their prediction. 

As I read the book I would pause occasionally and ask the students to predict what they thought would happen next. 

They added all of their predictions to their mitten. 

We finished the book, which we all enjoyed, and cut our mittens out to use as a decoration in our room. 

Predicting -Henry's Freedom Box

This week I used the book Henry's Freedom Box to teach the skill of predicting. Predicting falls under the C on our CRAFT board because predicting helps us understand what we read. 

Prior to reading the book I showed the cover and gave each student a piece of paper.  On their paper they drew what they thought a freedom box was. We shared several predictions and then read the book. 

As we read we checked for understanding to continue practicing our previous comprehension strategy. 

After reading we discovered that many of our predictions were correct. Ask your child what a freedom box is. 

Launching Read to Self

Monday morning we began our Daily 5 and CRAFT reading skills.  We began by learning 3 ways to read a book. First, I told them the story of The 3 Little Pigs and then I told them the story of Cinderella. The students learned that there are times that we tell stories by word of mouth only. Next, we took a picture walk using the book Koala Lou. We were able to figure out what was happening on each page based on the illustrations. Finally, we read the book. 

Did you know there were 3 ways to read a book?

We read Koala Lou to learn our first comprehension strategy, checking for understanding. We talked about how sometimes our minds wander while we read. When this happens we often forget what we have read.  We learned a way to help solve this problem is  to think back over a chapter, or a few pages, once we've read them to be sure we've comprehended the information. 

Following Koala Lou we began talking about what a visitor should see and hear if they were to come in during our Read to Self time. We made a list of what students should do and a list of what I should be doing. 

After we compiled our list we modeled the right and wrong ways to read to self. Ask your child about my modeling :). They got a big kick out of it!

After we learned ALL about how to read to self it was finally time to practice building our stamina.  The students scattered around the room and began practicing our new read to self behaviors.