Thursday, November 4, 2021

A Peek Inside Our Classroom!

 I know that many students and families were saddened that our fall Open House was canceled again this year.  Here is a peek inside our classroom.  Ask your fourth grader to explain different aspects of the room, posters, and projects you see here!


Students have been working very hard on creating realistic fiction stories.  They have learned many new skills to enhance their writing, including how to balance description, dialogue, character thought, and action!  They worked on showing character emotion instead of just naming it, and they used their own senses to help them add detail to their settings and characters.  


Students also worked to strengthen their vocabulary, striving to use strong verbs and precise language.  For Halloween, they created an "Adjective Graveyard."  They laid some overused adjectives to rest and learned about synonyms and used thesauruses to broaden their vocabularies. 









Everyone needs a break sometimes, and fourth graders are no exception.  In our classroom, "the take a break spot," a.k.a. "the peaceful place" is a seperate desk used to unwind, destress, take deep breaths, practice mindfulness coloring, or use other self-regulation strategies.  This space is available to students whenever they want to use it.  It's also a place that they might be directed to use if a teacher notices that they are having a hard time regulating their emotions or behavior.  The gorgeous work above the peaceful place is inspiring.  It reminds us of all of the things WE CAN do!  The tree is currently decorated with fall leaves made by students.




Students recently wrapped up a unit focusing on multiplication and division.  In this unit, they learned how to find factors of numbers, and how to use arrays to model and solve multiplication problems.  Students built "multiple towers," a tool we used to explore the power of x10.  If you know 4x9, you can easily solve 40x9, 4x90, or even 40x90!  





In reading workshop, students have been reading fiction and trying out different strategies to better understand their characters.  Our big takeaway is that characters are complicated!  Authors often have characters that represent how people are in real life, and the characters learn lessons because the author is trying to send the reader a message.  Students will continue to focus on lessons, messages, and themes in literature throughout the year.





Last Friday students completed a Halloween scavenger hunt.  They seemed to enjoy finding the fact cards hidden around the room, reading the cards, and answering the questions. 






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