Link to Scientist research!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Monday, October 20, 2014
The news according to Colin and Carly October 10,2014
News:
We ran our first 4th grade morning meeting today, It was very fun!
On Wednesday we had a walking field trip and we did landscape drawings and close up drawings too. We also did a bunch of soil tests to see what the soil looked liked. We had so much fun!
Science:
We had a monarch hatch from its chrysalis this week on Thursday! We even caught it on video! His name was Squirmy, Butterflies parents are Colin and Logan. We have read a couple rocks and non fiction science books lately and wrote some notes and and the three types of rocks, Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks and, a really complicated rock cycle, People are very interested and confused.
Math:
In math we had our post-unit test on Friday (today), this is our first math test but we have had a couple pre-tests. We also did multiplicative comparison statements for different things. We did a reflection on how we did in the test and got to compare it with the pretest and there is a big difference between the pretest and post unit test which means we have learned a lot of new math habits in this math unit.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Dear Families,
Cara
Hello and Happy October!!
I just wanted to check in about a few things:
1.
Thank you for coming to the 4th grade curriculum night on Tuesday! I
hope you found the information useful. Please, as always, let me know
if you have any questions. I will share the conference sign up with all
of you. If you need to change your time, or sign up, you can right on
the shared document.
2. Students have a walking field trip
coming up on Wednesday, 10/8. We'll take a walk with an ecologist, as
a way to focus the work we do in our science notebooks, and to study
change over time. Please make sure your child comes to school Wednesday
with a bagged lunch and appropriate clothing.
3. The SCS
Hike for Hunger team ended up raising almost $1000 to Hunger Free VT!
We also donated over 150 cans of food to the Shelburne Food Shelf!
Thank you all for your support!! 
I'm
sure you all heard that we had our first butterfly release today! Our
first monarch emerged yesterday and today a 2nd one emerged! The
students were SO EXCITED! We took the "oldest" monarch out to our SCS
gardens said good bye and good luck, and set him free! What an exciting
moment!
Next week we'll be moving into a few new things:
We'll start a non-fiction reading work using Geology topic books. We'll also start a couple of reader's theater skits!
Students will start thinking further about and drafting ideas for their next published writing piece, a narrative fiction piece!
We
will continue with our focus on typing for the next two weeks. We also
plan to begin our focus on fact practice next week. Look for fact
practice to become a regular part of the goal sheet starting 10/13.
Ok, that's enough for now. Thank you for all of your support!
Friday, September 12, 2014
9/12/14
Dear Families,
The Endeavor 4th graders are continuing to settle in nicely!
I'm sure you heard all week about the Monarch Larvae that we had to wait so patiently for.... Well they arrived Friday just before lunch! Students got to set up their jars and do some scientific observations about their larva. Most kids were VERY surprised at just how small the larvae actually were!! It will be so exciting to watch and wonder about this process over the next month!! If you or your child wants to find out more, the Journey North website is packed with information! Here is a link: http://www.learner.org/
We continue to set up the classroom community. This week we began using our writing notebooks and discussed their use. We also got reading logs, reader's notebooks and talked about Reader's Workshop expectations. I hope you have seen the reading logs come home. Students will be expected to bring them home each night, along with their "Just Right" reading book. ( I am asking them to stick with one book at a time and keep their home book and school book the same.) This reading log is a way to keep both them and me accountable for their nightly reading. It is also a great way to log and keep track of the increased reading stamina that WILL happen over the next few months. Additionally, its a tool for reflection; it is a way for me and the students to reflect on the reader's interests, challenges, etc. Please help remind your child to log their reading over the next few weeks. They'll need to note the time and page number they start on before they start reading because they log total minutes read, and start and end page each time they read. They should get the hang of it by October. Thank you for your support with this.
Speaking of, you should also have seen the 1st goal sheet come home Friday! Students will bring home a goal sheet, along with their HW for the following week every Friday. The signed goal sheet and HW will be due the following Thursday. This allows students more flexibility in when they complete the HW. I reminded the them last week that HW should be done independently and shouldn't take more than 1 hour each night. If students are struggling with a part of the HW, they can bring it in and ask for help. I do not want to cause tears at home, or give parents homework... :)
Other notes about the weekly goal sheet :
- This week is just a small amount of HW while we get into the routine of it. Typically there will be 2 math sheets, spelling, nightly reading, writing/grammar/project work, facts practice.
- Goal sheets always start with a Habit of Mind for students to reflect on. This is intended to be done at home. Students should be sincere and thoughtful in their reflections. They are also expected to use complete sentences.
- The bottom of the goal sheet will typically contain reminders/dates for families to keep in mind.
OK, that is enough for now. We're off to a great start and you should know that everywhere in the school we go, we get complimented on what a "great class" we are already!!! :)
A few photos from Friday with our monarch larvae!!!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The News According to Greta 6/11/14
Note to Readers
Hello! I am sorry I have not been doing reporting lately, and I apologize. Due to a lack of computer, it was not possible for me to complete weekly updates. This is the final blog I am going to write, because I am moving on to sixth grade. :( This blog will be very brief, and will explain things we’re wrapping up, and fun things we’ve been doing. There also will be no paragraph about Number Corner, since we haven’t done anything it that area since May. Thanks for reading!
Reading and Writing
To wrap up the end of reading for the end of this year, we finished our read aloud for Wonder by R.J Palacio. A lot of us in the class, have already read this book, but it was still fantastic the second time around. Mrs. Crowther has also been reading us some fun picture books about school ending!
It has been hectic in writing. We have quickly been going through the writing process responding to an opinion question, “Do you think schools should ban celebrations that involve treats?” We took notes, wrote a flash draft, revised, then wrote a second draft about what our opinion was. The hectic part, we did this all in two weeks! Also, we wrote a letter to incoming fourth graders about expectations, what they’ll learn, and any other stuff we thought was important.
Math and Science
To wrap up the end of math, we have learned some things, done a Unit 6 review, and then our Unit 6 end assessment. Through this unit we have learned about the LCM, GCF, percentages, and decimals.
To wrap up the end of Science we completed some experiments. We learned how to make a lightbulb light up using a wire and battery, and how to make a magnet using a screwdriver, wire, and battery. This materials you can probably find at home, so ask your child if they would like to experiment! Just be careful about the metal part of the wire, it can get pretty hot if you touch it onto the battery for too long.
Fun Things
Lately we have been doing many fun things. First, we walked to the Shelburne Museum. There we completed workshops, and most of us learned about morse code on the Train, how to square dance, how to barter at the General Store, and about botany in the garden. Then, we went on a very long hike on the Ti Path, and the Shelburne Bay Path. Also, we have been taking part in Spirit Week……. but in our own way. Here are the things we’ve been doing each day:
- Monday: Crazy Hair Day
- Tuesday: Stuffed Animal Day
- Wednesday: Hat and Shades Day
- Thursday: Backwards Day
- Friday: Formal Day
So yeah, we’ve been doing some awesome stuff to celebrate the end of the year!
Letters We Wrote to Incoming 4th Graders
Dear Fourth Grader,
Being in Mrs. Crowthers class is fun, but you also have to work hard and listen to Mrs. Crowther for it to be fun. Mrs. Crowther has high expectations and expects you to come close to them. You are expected to use proper grammar, capitalization and punctuation in your writing. By the way, just as a little heads up, always put your name and the date on the top of the paper! In this class you are expected to act like fourth graders, and when you get there, fifth graders.
Mrs. Crowther has two children, Sy and Poppy. Poppy is 2 and Sy is 4. They are adorable and really funny! Mrs. Crowther always has little side stories that she’ll tell us, sometimes at random times! Just so you know, Mrs. Crowther has all kinds of stories about her childhood and her family. I won’t give them away, but her stories are always funny, cute or something along those lines. Mrs. Crowther even calls herself the “Queen of Distraction” sometimes. Mrs. Crowthers husband, Noah, is a mechanic and is also in a band called Waylon Speed. If you ask, Mrs. Crowther will probably show you a video of the band. Also, don’t be surprised if little kids are in the classroom one day, Sy and Poppy stop in now and then with their nanny.
A few things that Mrs. Crowther does not allow is saying shut up to each other, calling names, coming up with excuses to get out of work, side conversations when someone’s talking and standing around her when she’s working with a student or just gave directions. Manners are important to Mrs. Crowther. This year you will definitely learn the proper way to shake someones hand and the proper way to greet someone. A princess handshake is what Mrs. Crowther calls a weak, limp handshake. When you shake someone's hand, make sure you are thumb pit to thumb pit. You’ll find out what thumb pit means soon enough. Mrs. Crowther also doesn’t like it when you just talk in a bunch when you’re at circle, in line or just standing around. Mrs. Crowther will have you do boy-girl pattern or give you assigned spots in either lines or circle if you misbehave and talk all the time. So if you don’t want to be told where you sit, I suggest you behave!
Moving on to Homework and what you’ll be studying. If you have trouble with homework, or can’t do it at home for some reason, talk to Mrs. Crowther, she’ll help you figure out a way to help you get your homework done. Even if you’re feeling bashful about asking for help with homework, or saying you can’t do it at home, Mrs. Crowther, like I mentioned earlier, doesn’t like excuses for not completing work. Mrs. Crowther tries to be fair with homework, and honestly, if you figure out how to balance it isn’t so much. Try not to wait till the night before homework is due. I’ve done that before and I ended up just getting stressed. We also get Goal Sheets every week, that has all of your homework on it, that you check off every time you finish a piece of homework. It also has reminders for field trips, breaks and things like that. Mrs. Crowther will give you some sort of reflection that you do at the end of the week. You turn in your Goal Sheet at the same time as the rest of your homework.
In fourth grade you’ll start a unit on the Human Body. You’ll only really study the main systems. Vermont History and U.S. Geography will also be units. During U.S. Geography you’ll have to memorize all of the states, which one is which, state capitols and which capital is in which state. If you get far enough you might get to Geographical features (rivers, mountain ranges and National/State Parks). For Vermont History you’ll learn what part Vermont played in important parts of U.S. History, when Vermont became a state, important people from Vermont, that sort of stuff. You’ll end up doing a poster of Vermont with materials of your choice with some features you’ll have to add (some lakes, rivers, towns, counties and mountains.) and you can add some other things if you want to. In the other subjects it will be like other years, learning new skills well, putting your best effort in everything, which you are absolutely expected to do. The subjects will be more challenging, so make sure you do your best!
Somethings about Reading. You will have a reading log that you have to record all of your reading in, and I mean all of it. During the year you will get a reading partner and you will be reading books with him or her. You might even get book groups at some point in the year or that might be in fifth grade.
On to field trips, your first field trip will most likely be to Shelburne Farms, probably for some team building thing. You’ll also get to go to Montpelier, Vermont's capital. In the State house, which you’ll get a tour of, be respectful, it’s a very important building to Vermont, and you don’t want to embarrass our school, or your class. Like every year you’ll go to some shows at the Flynn Theater.
Mrs. Crowther has a bin of stuffed animals in her classroom, and she might let you take them out and put them in your book boxes as “reading buddies”. This brings me to the subject of book boxes. Everyone will get a book box and you will be expected to keep the book you’re reading, reading log, reading response journal (where you record every book you read and respond to prompts about reading/your book Mrs. Crowther gives you ) and a back up book, so you have a book to read if you finish a book when you can’t get another book.
Congratulations on getting on Endeavor and getting in Mrs. Crowthers class. Good luck in fourth and fifth grade and I hope you have as much fun and learn as much as I did!
Sincerely,
Heidi Berger
Dear new 4th graders,
In 4th grade you will learn to make as many friends as possible. Now you will be one of the oldest kids in k-5. Here are some things you should not try to get away with, these are ...Chewing gum and thats basicly it. If you are with your class 2 years in a row they will turn into your family just like us. Mrs crowther is the coolest i'm mean her husband is a rock star for god sake. Don’t worry about homework if you're in Mrs Crowther’s class you got very lucky but that doesn't mean slack off. You will learn about Vermont history.
Kids be ready for the pacer and the curl ups and the modified pull ups and the mile !!!!! awww gym is so fun!
you will go on field trips like … Shelburne museum, the state capital, shelburne farms,the fleming museum. MATH!!!!!!!!!! you know i hate math so much i am not going to talk about it. But there is one important thing you need to know it is even more important than treat others how you want to be treated this thing is that ENDEAVOR IS THE BEST AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE BEST SO HA! There is one other important thing to learn have fun in 4th grade!!!!!!!!
Sincerely Ben Rushford
Dear new 4th grader,
Wow! Do I have a lot to tell you! First, don’t worry one minute you will have an amazing time, at least I did! Mrs.Crowther also will teach you a lot of stuff in the next 2 years. She also has a lot of new things that you might have to get use to, for example reading logs. You might have just said “what.. what is a reading log?” if you said that, that is fine I will tell you what it is.. latter. I will also tell you A LOT about Mrs.Crowther! Lastly I will tell you about the load of homework! Fun right?! Haha just kidding!
As I told you, you will learn a lot. First in science you will learn about the human body. Some of the things we learned about the human body included the Respiratory system, all the muscles and bones, and also the Digestive system. After we learned about that, we had to do a little book about something that we learned about the human body.
Science in 4th grade:
- Human body
- Vermont/field trip to the state house in Montpelier, and Vermont history museum
- U.S geography
- light and sound
Science in 5th grade:
- Astronomy/gravity
- world geography
- U.S history/ a big writing piece about something that we learned about
- electricity
We also learned a lot in math, but be aware you will learn the base ten in 4th grade AND 5th grade! You will learn a lot of things in math twice, it gets a little annoying. Also a warning Mrs.Crowther is the queen of distraction, you don’t know what I mean until you are a month into the school year! Just like in 3rd grade you will also have habits of mind that Mrs.crowther that she will remind you of.
Math in 4th and 5th grade:
- base ten
- multiplication
- division
- angles/geometry
- fraction
- area, perimeter
- plotting points
- data sets
- decimals
- and many many more!
Reading is one of my favorite subjects! We learned about a lot of tools you could use we you are reading (for example making a picture in your mind, good ways to read tough words ex.). During reading we also get reading groups that we would read all the same book then talk about it with our group. A really fun thing that we learned about is Greek myths! Something that you have get use to is READING LOGS! This is a little book that you record you reading. So, every time you get your book out to read, you have to log it in you reading log.
writing you usually do 3 writing pieces that you publish year, in 4th grade we did a narrative, a state report, and best of all a fiction piece that you get to wright. In 5th grade we wrote big writing pieces as well, another narrative, a huge U.S history BOOK, and also a opinion piece.
HOMEWORK! The thing that kids dread, but don’t worry it is able to handle. You have a goal sheet that you have bring in every thursday, with the book and pages read that week. A goal sheet is a place where you can find all of the weeks homework that is due. Another thing that is similar to third grade is that you will have to do fast math 5 times a week. Something that might be new is a blog called kid blog, this is a place where you write your writing homework in. Earlier in 4th grade we also had to do some cursive, in our cursive book, that we had to bring in on Thursday.
Now lastly I will tell you about Mrs.crowther, which is the most important part of this letter. First, I will tell you about her family which includes : a toddler named Sy, a “baby” named Poppy, and a husband (who is in a band) named Noah. Be aware that Mrs.crowther tells a lot of stories about her family, which is usually a funny story. Something that she told us in the beginning of the year how to do a proper handshake. This is how she likes us to do a handshake: Look the person in the eye, and thumb to thumb. It will make more sense when she shows you how to do it. I hope you have a great 2 years with Mrs.Crowther!
From,
old 5th grader
Dear 4th Graders,
Here are a few things that will add to your list to enjoy Mrs. Crowthers class. At the starting of the year you should be focused. Once you know how nice she is and when she knows you well,
she will start throwing jokes in the middle of class, her husband is a rockstar for a good local band and she has 2 cool kids who are young and are fun to play with (She brings them in!). She will also throw out random stories at random times. This is good because this way each period isn't always an “all work period”. Also a good thing about Mrs. Crowthers class is that at the end of 5th grade, Mrs. Crowther gets you really stoked and ready for middle school. I think the best thing about Mrs. Crowther is that she teaches everything in such a quick way that a few days a week, we usually get to go outside or have fun in some way, but the way she teaches it so fast, teaches you the subject in such an easy way to understand.
I enjoyed 4th and 5th grade in Mrs. Crowthers class, and i hope you do to! Good luck!
-Will
Dear 4th grader,
I was in Mrs.Crowthers class for two years and had lots of fun!! She doesn't just teach, but she adds lots of other fun activities and i promise you will have lots of fun with her. As you get closer to her you will learn that she likes to talk about personal things with you like how you are feeling about everything and you should know that you can be totally honest. She has two children and she likes to talk about her family. Her husbands name is Noah and he is in a rock band called waylon speed. Her children are very cute and sometimes she brings them in for you to see!! HEr daughters name is Poppy and she is two, and her sons name is Sy and he is four. Im going to tell you a secret that nobody else in your class knows…………… During necaps, she gives out candy and you get lots of it!!
In reading you get a reading log to put in every time you read so you can remember all the books you read. you do readers theatre which is one of my favorite things to do in reading! you are given a script and everyone gets a part.
in writing you do all kinds of interesting things you do free write, opinion pieces. fiction and fantasy. its lots of fun!!!!!!
In science we studied the human body, and light and sound in the light and sound unit we do lots of fun stations. And in the human body unit we get a poster, to show all the specifics.
in math we do fractions, base ten, decimals, and we do multiplication and division on fastt math.
IN number corner you're gonna study the number corner calendar. There are lots of cool patterns for you to find.
The expectations for fourth grade are to walk in a single file line, you can only talk when your called on and have to listen to understand your other classmates.To make sure your listening all the time she sometimes makes you revoice what your classmates said. Overall mrs.Crowther is a wonderful teacher and i am excited that you are in her class. I hope you have as much fun as i did!!!!!
sincerely,
Macy(-:
Sunday, May 4, 2014
The News According to Greta! 5/4/14
Reading and Writing
In reading the past three weeks, we have been doing several things. One of the things we have been doing is wrapping up our historical fiction reading. To do this we had to answer questions about how the book and the Revolutionary War connect, what books we read, and how many pages in all we read. Then we added up all the Loyalists’ pages, Patriots’ pages and the Neutralists’ pages to see who won the “pages contest”. The Loyalists won this contest, even though the Patriots have been winning the weekly reading contest, that we tally up every Friday. Unfortunately, last Monday was our last day with Joan. We worked on answering “hot seat” questions, questions you answer on the spot. We had to answer according to character, and it was harder than it sounds. Luckily, Mrs. Crowther said Joan will be back soon to work with us on a whole new topic!
In writing the past three weeks, we have been mainly working on our big historical report. After taking notes, we wrote a flash daft. Now we’re working on revising. We have worked on introductions, using National Geographic, but we have really been working hard on elaborating. This has really been hard for us to do, to go into our writing and find a place to put elaboration. To make this easier, Mrs. Crowther demonstrated elaborating on a classmate’s writing, and she hung up a poster giving starting words for elaboration ( “I’m realizing……., “I wonder………, “I think this was important because…….., “This makes me think……… etc.). Ask your child what topic they’re doing! We have also been moving into writing our second draft!
Math, Number Corner, Science
In math the past three weeks we have been wrapping up Unit 4 and skipping Unit 5 to go into Unit 6. To wrap up Unit 4, we played some workplaces with our partners, we had a review day, and finally, we had our Post- Assessment test. Yes, we are actually skipping Unit 5, but we are going to come back to it after we complete Unit 6. So far in the new unit we have been solving division fraction problems, and we have learned what the Greatest Common Factor in fractions is, and how to find a fraction’s simplest form.
In number corner the past two weeks we have been observing the April calendar, and working on the April activity. This month’s calendar features cubes, and every day the number corner people have been recording the surface area and the volume of the shape. Also there is a pattern that we notice. April’s activity is called the Space Race. In this game, two teams are racing each other to Uranus. Starting at the Sun, each team picks picks a card stating how many miles to travel that day. We track this process on a record sheet.
The past three weeks we haven’t really been studying anything but we did have a NECAP practice test. Ask your child what the test included!
https://docs.google.com/a/cssu.org/file/d/0BwA37fHQc4eSd1RBRG1wRy1yTzhqZExGYkpMcXFLNzNvUmh3/edit
https://docs.google.com/a/cssu.org/file/d/0BwA37fHQc4eSaG9aM3A3WlhoQkFYQkNTNEZBMGxqS0lzMnlj/edit
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