May 18 News

May18 News Update

Upcoming Dates:
*Please check school website and Principal's Notes there is lots going on...

May 29: FAC Screening for PSAs for Parents of Grade 4 Students, time provided asap
June 1 or June 2: 4B Swim Day 1:30 to 3:30 in AISC pool
June 3: 4B Final Party in 4B begins at 11:15 AM

June 6: Final Day of School (early release)

Blurbs for Each Unit of Study

Literacy: 

We are using literacy time for our PSA work for the water unit, but this work includes nonfiction reading about water.

At home, students should continue to read and they will write two to three literacy letters before the end of the year as a means of solidifying their DEV, APP, or EXT codes for their reading strategies: infer, theme to theme, and point of view. We will practice letter writing in class, and they will letter write for homework.

We are also ending the year with a study of root words. I am convinced that my knowledge of Greek and Latin root words is what got me through all of the standardized tests that I took, such as the SAT and GRE. Why not start learning about the building blocks of words in English? Root words are part of the Common Core as well.  

Social Studies:

Please join us on May 29th, a Friday, for the Second Annual Grade 4 PSA Screening! I will send out the time asap. The location is the FAC Theater.

Our "Water as a Human Right" unit is in full swing. It is a wonderful capstone project, and it requires great maturity and collaboration. Currently, we are drafting our storyboards so that our Public Service Announcements flow well. 

Math:

We are taking a final assessment for a battery of grade 4 skills, which will go home with your son or daughter. This paperwork is a great tool to use to plan summer IXL topics. IXL is not shut down over the summer. Any skill that is not coded APP on your child's final report card should be practiced over the summer. Students can use above grade level games if they have all APP and EXT on their final report.  

Cheers, 

Ms. T

Hyejin's Blurb in Mr. Hall's News

Water Terminology

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ETM5sw_2a7a7Fc_Adcqaj3a64ESXM8K5zK2RGimP78/edit

Baking with 4B

• This activity will allow students to read a recipe, measure, and enjoy a healthy treat! 

Students will work in teams of 3 with an adult, so I need 3 parents to volunteers. Ms. D, Ms. Valar, and Ms. T will take a team. Adults are only there to supervise so that students can do all of the measuring and mixing. 

Each team of students will read the directions below, and then they will decide who will do what. 

Directions:

First, put your apron on and go wash your hands with soap and water.

Next, gather these materials. 

2 bowls

1 whisk

1 cup measuring cup

1/2 cup measuring cup

1/3 cup measuring cup

1 Tablespoon measuring spoon

1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon

11 paper cups and 1 muffin tray

2 regular sized spoons 

Now you will use one bowl for the dry ingredients and one bowl for the wet ingredients.  Use the LARGER bowl for the WET ingredients. 

Measure out all of these dry ingredients carefully into your bowl. Then, gently whisk them together without splashing out your flour... 

• 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Now you will mix up your wet ingredients. 

*EGG: parent must crack the egg for the group. 

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil or ground nut
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup of raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips ?

Last, mix the dry ingredients into the wet in batches. That means a little at a time. 

Now use two spoons to carefully put the batter into the paper cups. I will demonstrate this. You don't want batter all over the sides of the paper cups. 

Our Taj kitchen will bake the muffins for us... 

• 
  

News for April 24th

April 24th News Update

Upcoming Dates:

April 29 and 30: Student SLCs

May 1: Holiday

May 7: Fractions Test

Blurbs for Each Unit of Study

Literacy: 

We have tied Social Studies and Writing to write a research based opinion essay about the Indus Valley Civilization. Before the year is out, we will write an on demand opinion essay in class. This is our final writing on demand for this year. Students will determine the thesis statements. Examples are as follows: 

AISC is the best school for these three reasons...

Cats are the best pet for these three reasons...

For reading, we are continuing to read in class as often as possible. Students have set new reading goals for the end of the year and they will share them with you during SLCs. 

Social Studies:

As our essays wrap up, we are about to begin a fun and playful iPad project using the Puppet Pals app. Students will time travel into the Indus Valley. Videos will be posted to student You Tube Channels. 

Our Water as a Human Right unit begins after SLC week.

Math:

We will review fractions topics and take our next assessment on May 7th. Then, we will spend a couple of weeks on measurement. We need to spend more time on area and perimeter and review angles work from the beginning of the year before we take this assessment. 

We will also have a baking day before the end of the year. If you'd like to help us, please email me at tbritt@aisch.org. 

Cheers, 

Ms. T

Point of View Reading Strategy

Thinking about two contrasting or competing points of view is a sophisticated skill for a grade four student. Here in this sample StopNJot, the student is thinking about the character Nettie who is at that moment thinking about the point of view of a slave. This student clearly understands that the truth is based on one's point of view.

News for Friday the 27th of March

Dear 4B Families,

I know you are all busy packing, but here is a brief letter about post Spring Break programming.

For math, kids will work on reviewing skills for fractions and decimals; and, they will take a battery of summative assessments after Spring Break. They will share these with you during their SLC in April. The SLC will be an opportune time to set final math goals for the year.

For literacy, after Spring Break we will take our old stop n jots and put them next to our recent stop n jots and literacy letters and other types of response writing, and write some self-reflective blog posts. These will be shared during the SLC in April. Students will then know exactly what to practice to reach "Applying" on their reading skills for the Standards Based Report Cards.

For writing, we will push the essay through our final weeks of school with an Indus Valley essay and a water conservation essay: both linked with social studies.

For social studies, we will continue our Indus Valley studies and write a 5 paragraph essay that compares modern India with Ancient Indus life. Students will also use the iPad to make another movie, but this time it will focus on Indus Valley Life: this is for Bringing History to Life.

Our Water Unit is the capstone unit for this year and it is very powerful. Our final project is a Public Service Announcement and parents will be invited to the FAC to view the entire grade 4's PSAs. It's fun!!!

Enjoy your break!
Ms. T and Ms. Deanna

March 25th Virtual Learning Drill: Try to get into Moodle First Before you use this link

https://docs.google.com/a/aisch.org/document/d/1eAM1qQuPk7huL5u0eewT5RRspxXjSQW2JoHszbXTyxg/edit

Poetry iMovie

Ancient Indus Valley Civilization Vocabulary

March 29 Continuity of Instruction Will Be Linked Here and on Moodle

Link will be here for March 29's work...

Masters of the River: Video for note-taking with your partner

News for February 20

Dear 4B Families,

We are wrapping up our poetry unit and we plan to invite you to a poetry event: an email will come out soon.

Also, our solar energy unit will be wrapping up within the next two weeks. Then, we will move on to the study of the Indus Valley Ancient Civilization. Students will take a traditional pencil and paper assessment to close up our solar e unit around the first week of March. 

The capstone project for our solar e unit is to build a solar cooker/oven. If you like these types of projects, please feel free to build one at home and bring it in. If you want your son or daughter to build an oven in class, please send in a pizza box (as clean as possible). Here is a link that you might enjoy: https://www.teachengineering.org/view_activity.php?url=collection/duk_/activities/duk_solaroven_tech_act/duk_solaroven_tech_act.xml 

MAP testing is scheduled for March 3, 5, 10 and 12 in this order: science, reading, language, and math. We are happy that math is last because this gives us more time to learn fractions!

The Importance of Stop And Jots

Above is a picture of our reading standards on the grade four report card. I post this because soon I will have students take stop and jots from earlier in the year (for inferences, point of view, and theme) and place them side by side current stop and jots. The goal is to write reflections about how our thinking about reading has changed. 

This will also provide the evidence that I need to code students as "applying" for these reading standards by the end of grade four. Note: you do not need to read on grade level to be "applying" for these standards. An English language learner reading in a level M can independently use these reading strategies to think about his/her reading just as well as a level S reader can. 

ONE each night and ONE each literacy block is all that I'm asking for. But, ONE really good Stop and Jot that has the page number, the text clue, and the student's thought. 

Sample pictures of Stop and Jots are posted on this blog.

For math homework, I find that most 4B students are not well practiced at multi digit-division and multiplication and I have sent home many links to online tools that allow for this practice. Please make sure your son or daughter practices division and multiplication for multi-digit numbers at least 3 times each week. Doing just a couple three nights a week would be great practice and not too stressful. They have graph paper booklets at home already. 

4567/7 is a sample division problem for a grade four student. Kids who are experiencing high frustration should start with 345/5 three digit dividends. 

34*97 is an example of a multi-digit multiplication problem. I have sent home big thick packets for this type of practice, but if you're running out please use an online tool. That way the answer is given right away and your son/daughter can re-do the math if he/she is incorrect. 

Note: Some kids did not get this packet because they are well practiced at these skills already and tend to have additional schooling in their home country's math program.

Thanks for reading!

Ms. T 

Wegner's Story: Video

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/opinion/animated-life-pangaea.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Explain Everything Video Projects

News for February 8

Dear 4B Families,

Thursday the 12th of February is our all day trip to Hyundai. Closed toed shoes are essential and kids without them will have to wait in the lobby. Bring water and lunch too! We will walk to the bus from the covered patio at 8:25 upon the bell's clang, so kids should only bring their field trip essentials to school that day. French school kids will need to hustle.

For Book Week, we will participate in two workshops with Lauren Stringer. She will teach us about illustrating poetry, which is "great timing" since we have launched poetry studies in 4B. Poetry will continue for the rest of the year at least once or twice each week, so that we can dip in and out of poetry reading and writing as we work on our other units.

Our "in class" "On Demand" for information writing is finished. Report card narratives will speak about your son or daughter's progress on these skills. Some students will have additional guided practice with the skills during literacy. Homework now includes Stop N Jots. If 4B students are not doing these, they will not have evidence for their reading strategies and they will not receive "applying" for reading skills on their end of year reports. Without practice using a text clue(s) to build an inferential theory, to compare themes across texts, and/or to make connections... students will not have the skills to independently meet reading standards. ***Teachers will constantly model during mentor text reading, but students must write down their ideas and keep them in their reading notebooks.

MAP testing is scheduled for March 3, 6, 10 and 12 in this order: science, reading, language, and math. We are happy that math is last because this gives us more time to learn fractions!

Solar Energy studies continue. Students are working with data, graphing, and making inferences about data in their conclusion write ups. This is all "team" work, so students must do their share -usually one-third- of the work. Some students want to take over and some students are extremely timid. We are working on finding our voice and the courage to share. And, some of us are working on finding the courage to listen and hold back our sharing.

For more on Lauren Stringer visit her website: http://www.laurenstringer.com/

For math, fractions continues... IXL is awesome!!!

Students are bringing home a math mixed skills check in assessment and a list of practice items that they wrote up as they each reflected on their progress. Please sign the paperwork and make sure your son/daughter returns it for his/her data file. 

Thanks for reading!

Ms. T 

Shadow Animation

http://astro.unl.edu/naap/motion3/animations/sunmotions.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2science.html

The link above at Crick web has a bunch of animations, not just shadow work...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/light_shadows.shtml

Prime Numbers Game Found by Fawaz

http://www.prime-numbers.net/prime-numbers-1-100-quiz.html

Solar Energy Connections

1. Write a poem with the sun personified.
2. Research poems for kids about the sun.
3. Research ancient sundials.
4. Research Gods and Goddesses of the Sun.

Poetry Links from Fawaz

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/books/#animations

http://jackprelutsky.com/welcome-to-my-new-website/