Room 20 Update!

Congrats to Jack & Cullen who were named celebrity singers!

What we've been up to:
Room 20 has been quite busy these last few weeks!  In reading, we've shifted back to fiction.  Along with that, we've started using a new bookmark about author's craft.  We are paying attention to the decisions authors have and why they choose them, especially point of view (first or third person) and figurative language (like similes, metaphors, alliterations, etc.)

We've started doing  Word Study each day.  We use our Wordly Wise words and sort them lots of different ways, add suffixes to make new words, and then we create artistic projects like word art, shades of meaning wildflowers, and cartoons out of our words!  We've been having lots of fun with words!  Check out the pictures below.

We explored shades of meaning, or synonyms, of our Wordly Wise words!

Check out our Word Art!

In writing, we just finished typing our final copies of our nonfiction books.  Soon, we will be meeting and sharing our writing with partners before our nonfiction party on Thursday!  We enjoyed using the laptops to insert photos and add cool fonts and text boxes.  Check out the blog later for pictures of the big celebration!

In math, we have been working on measurement, specifically elapsed time, area, and perimeter.  We are practicing solving measurement challenges, showing and explaining our work, and labeling our answers with the proper unit.  Check out the pictures of us working together on open responses to learn lots of ways to show / explain thinking on measurement questions.

In science, we have been learning about dominant and recessive genes and how they help determine the traits of the offspring or children.  We used Skittles to help us create a Gene-o-worm family!  We were surprised to find that, because of dominant and recessive genes, sometimes the baby looks just like the parents and sometimes the baby looks NOTHING like the parents!  We have also started to learn about the adaptations, or changes, animals make over time to survive in their environments.  We've learned about physical adaptations (parts of their bodies that help them survive) and behavioral adaptations (actions they do to help them survive).  We have started to research animals with a partner to find out more about specific adaptations in the animal kingdom!  Be on the lookout for a cool project we'll complete soon!  Check out our work with gene-o-worms and more in our heredity study packet coming home soon!

Stay tuned for more updates later this week!

What's coming up / Notes from Mrs. Adams:

• Report cards are being distributed on Friday, 3/28.  Please sign and return the envelope early next week.
• Conferences will be held 4/3 and 4/4 (next Thursday and Friday).  These are half days for students.  If you would like to schedule a conference and I have not gotten in touch with you, just email me and we can set up a time that works for both of us!
• If you have old paint samples at home (the strips or squares with different paint colors on them) and you don't want them, we would love to adopt them!  Send them in for our Word Study work - thank you!

End-of-Week Update, 3/7

What we've been up to:

Happy Read Aloud Week!  We celebrated Franklin Read Aloud Week in many ways, including reading to our Kindergarten buddies (see post earlier this week) and reading aloud poetry with our 3rd grade buddies (check out the photos below!)  We also created comic strips in response to a whole school read aloud, Boot and Shoe by Marla Frazee.

Our study of nonfiction continued this week in both reading and writing.  We completed our second nonfiction at-home reading bookmarks.  In writing, we learned about 4 different nonfiction chapter structures (topic/description, pros/cons, compare/contrast, and sequence) and we began to draft our nonfiction chapters, trying to include quotes from research, comparisons to help our readers understand the material better, and text features like charts and Venn diagrams.  Next week we'll finish drafting and start to type our final copies!

In science, we began thinking about nature vs. nurture with a fun computer game from the American Museum of Natural History.  It got us thinking about inherited and non-inherited traits and we'll be doing more with that next week.

In math, we've been continuing our work with measurement and have now learned all of the Customary and Metric units for distance, liquid capacity, and weight.  We solved some super tough word problems involving measurement on Friday, but we were up for the challenge!  Our measurement quiz will be Friday, 3/14 - keep an eye out for the pink study guide!

In other news, Jack was a celebrity singer this week (Go Jack!!) and we created clay finger puppets in art.  Looking forward to warmer weather (everybody except the snowman on Kileigh's roof - see below!!) and new challenges next week!

What a welcome!

Winter's been cold and snowy, but also fun - especially for Kileigh's family!

What's coming up:

• On Wednesday, 3/12 Danielle Niles, meteorologist from WBZ, will be visiting 4th grade!  We can't wait to hear all about her job, ask her our toughest weather questions, and meet a real life scientist.  A good idea may be to check out her weather forecast this weekend to get some good questions ready!
• On Friday, 3/14, fourth graders will be celebrating Pi Day!  Feel free (but not obligated) to bring in a circle shaped snack for that day.  Also, please remember that students should wear sneakers to participate in the Pi Day Relay!  It should be lots of fun.
• March Speeches are due Monday, 3/17.  Please remember that the speeches should be about a minute long, will be graded based on the attached rubric, and sho
  uld be practiced at home before that day.  Students are graded on their speaking, including pace, clarity, eye contact, and posture.  Be in touch with any questions!

Read Aloud Week - Kindergarten Buddies!

It's Franklin Read Aloud Week! We've been celebrating in a variety of ways so far this week.  Today, we met with kindergarten buddies from Mrs. Patten's class!  Fourth grade buddies read a picture book to their kindergarten buddies, who shared their own writing with fourth graders.  Our focus was to read clearly, excitedly, and slowly, being sure to pause for punctuation and illustrations.  We look forward to meeting with Mrs. Patten's class again to read and to share published writing!  Check us out with our kindergarten buddies below!