Math, Science and Number Corner


This week in math we have still been working on plotting points and different kinds of symmetry. We have been taking a shape, making a frame for it (tracing it on a piece of paper), then putting the original shape in its frame and rotating it to see how many times it will fit in its frame (the starting position counts). This method is called rotational symmetry. Some shapes have only one order of symmetry, but then other shapes could have thousands. We’ve been using other symmetry such as reflective symmetry, and just plain old line of symmetry. Reflective symmetry is the exact reflection of a shape, and regular symmetry is taking a shape and seeing if it can be folded over to match the other side. We have been doing the same things as last week in plotting points.
In science, we have started a new unit on matter, force and motion. All we have done so far is to work on motion and force. No matter yet! Motion is where an object is pushed or pulled by force. We’ve been learning terms like gravity, velocity, acceleration, orbit and friction. I could give you a whole lesson this, but it would take up several pages! It’s seriously complicated! The basics are: an object must be moved by force (a push or pull) and then it will be in motion. Friction might slow it down; velocity is where you measure an object in motion by its speed and direction. Acceleration is the speed an object is moving. We have also learned about Galileo and how he changed the way people thought about force and motion. Another thing we learned was Newton’s three laws of motion. His first law says that an object must stay in its state of motion unless pushed or pulled by force. The second law shows that the greater the mass of an object, the harder it will be to make it move and accelerate. It will also be harder to slow down. The third law is that for every action, there is an equal reaction. This means that when an object is moved by force, the object it was on will react by pushing back at the same rate and acceleration. That’s pretty much a summary of our work in science.
In number corner this week, we have not recognized the calendar grid very much but been focussing more on water evaporation experiment. We took two cups filled with exactly 200 ml of water (we were only supposed to do one cup, but we took it farther). One is near the window, and one is near the sink (away from the window). We have been recording how much water evaporates each day. At the start of the month we predicted how much water there was going to be at the end of the month and how much the water would go down each day. At the end of the month, we are going to compare the 2 cups and their water levels to see if they evaporated differently. Only our number corner workers know, so far, what the measurements are, because they are recording this.
Stay tuned for next week’s news!

Reading And Writing

In reading this week we have been working on non-fiction strategies while reading on about our new theme in science. Our new theme in science is force and motion. We’ve been reading a book all about force and motion with a partner. We’ve been focusing on reading deeply, “like a scientist” and finding answers to questions that have to do with force and motion. While reading to find the answers to the questions we have to do a lot of deep reading, because some of the answers aren't always as obvious as others. It helps us be a better learner because we are practicing to read deeply and go back and reread.
In writing this week the Vermont author Natalie Kinsey-Warnock came to talk to all of the fourth and fifth graders here. After she talked to all of the fourth and fifth graders in the cafeteria, she came to each team separately to talk to them about ways to make the reader feel like they are there.
We are also beginning an informational essay about a state. Everyone has chosen a state to write their essay on, and now we’re starting to do research on our states. We are using a computer program called Culture Grams which has information on every state in the U.S.A. We took some notes using that, but we also each got a book all about our states, which we are also using to get information about our states.

Important News and Events

-Report cards come home March 18!
-Conferences start on March 28 and March 29 is set aside entirely for conferences. If you still need to sign up you can email Mrs.Crowther or you can send the paper sheet that Mrs. Crowther sent home. She will keep the online one current.

By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

    Math, Social Studies and Number Corner

    This week in math we have started a new unit called plotting points.  Plotting points is with a graph. You have a number combination and
take the first number and count it across the “X” axis, then take the second number and count it up on the “Y” axis.  Then you find the point where the two lines meet and that is your point.  You just plotted points!  That’s all I remember because I made the mistake of waiting to write this post until after vacation week!

    In social studies, we are continuing to study US geography.  We had a test last Friday on the states, and most of us passed.   If you passed, you get to move on to study state capitals and if you didn’t you have to continue studying states.  We had another test this Friday on our capitals but we didn’t get to study for it, it was just to see how much we already know.  Now if you’ve passed this test, you get to work on rivers and mountain ranges in the entire North America.

    In number corner, we are still working with the number machine.  We have completely figured out the pattern even though Ms. Crowther tells us that we have not!  The pattern is:  the number that goes in (the date) gets multiplied by three, then gets added to one.  Then, it goes out the other side.  We have recorded all this on a chart and done several activities with it for morning work.

    Stay tuned for the news after vacation

             Reading And Writing
    In reading this week we finished our historical fiction books set in Vermont. After we finished our books we worked on a project about the book that we had just finished reading. We had a number of projects to choose from, we could also come up with our own project! We shared all of our projects on Friday with the whole class. That way everyone in the class could get and idea about what each book was about, who the main characters were, where it took place and what time.
    I writing this week we finished our four or five paragraph essays. The essays were opinion pieces about why we thought cursive or typing was more important for 4th graders to learn and practice. Since this was an opinion piece we didn’t have to say cursive was more important than typing or vice-versa. The main point of this was for us to learn how to write an organized four or five paragraph essay.

 

Important News And Events

    - Field trip to Montpelier on Wednesday February 6th. We will be there the whole day so make sure your child has a packed lunch!
    - Natalie Kinsey-Warnock will be visiting our school on Thursday February 7th.

          By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

        Math, Social Studies and Number Corner


        This week in math we have been working on division arrays. Division arrays are very similar to multiplication arrays but with multiplication arrays you count up the squares to get the answer in the middle, and with division arrays, you count the groups across until you get the number you are dividing and then you find the answer on top of the array. Arrays are a division strategy. We also had the NAEP test which was interesting because as well as educational questions, they also asked us questions about our everyday life, as in, who do you live with, where do you live, how much TV you watch, and so on.
        This week in social studies we have started a skit called “The Scrambled States of America.” Kansas and Nebraska were tired of their places and wanted to meet new states so they organized a party and invited all the states. Then, all the states decided to switch places with another state, so that is exactly what they did. They realized that they were not happy with their switching, and they went back to their original places. Each student got two to three parts and they have at least two lines to say. We have to make posters about our states and write fifteen facts about our states.
        We have figured out the pattern on the February calendar in Number Corner! It goes: the number going into the machine gets multiplied by three, and then that number gets added one, and then goes out of the machine. We have started a chart and recorded all this information.

        Reading and Writing


      In reading this week we have been reading historical fiction which are all set in Vermont in different time periods. We are reading the books with the reading partners we had before the winter break. We have been focusing on what time period and where the setting is in our books. We also have been focusing on the main character(s) and what the main character(s) are like. We have also been doing silent reading.
      In writing this week we have been responding to this prompt:
Do you think it is more important for 4th grader to learn and practice cursive or typing?
We started by writing a one paragraph response to that. Then we tried to extend it into more than one paragraph. We are now taking the steps to learning how to make it into a five paragraph essay. We are still going to the computer lab to do kidblog (ask you child for details) and type to learn. Some of us worked on young writers project (YWP) with Kelly Marcus.

Other Important News and Events


- On Monday February 4th all fourth graders will NAEP testing in the morning.
- Thursday, February 7th 2:30 pm-6:30 pm Red Barn order pick-up. It will be in the SCS breezeway
- Monday, February 15th the scholastic book fair will be going on in the SCS library.
- Monday, February 25th-Friday, March there is no school. It is winter break

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

Math, social studies, and number corner

This week in math we started a new unit on division. We also took a fluency test with multiplication, subtraction and addition. We got three minutes to answer as many problems as we could, out of a maximum of 40. It was quite challenging but we all did well. After that we took two days to work on division story problems. There were six story problems, and we had to complete four. After completing their work, people got to come up on the Elmo (the overhead projector) and share what strategy they had used. Later, we did the same thing, except with money problems. It was a great week in math.

In social studies, we kept on plowing through US Geography. We took our flash cards and had to identify all the state’s names and locations. The only states that we were required to know were the northeastern states, but we still studies all of them. The at the end of the week, we took a test about all the states, but again, we were only required to know the northeastern ones.

In number corner, the February calendar brings a new challenge of uncovering the month’s pattern. Since we have only turned over one square of the calendar, it remains a mystery so far. On the square, it showed a number machine, with different numbers going in and out. It’s going to be exciting to unlock this month’s mystery.

Reading and Writing
    In reading this week we have been reading historical fiction which are all set in Vermont in different time periods. We are reading the books with the reading partners we had before the winter break. We have been focusing on what time period and where the setting is in our books. We also have been  focusing on the main character(s) and what the main character(s) are like.  We have also been doing silent reading.

In writing this week we have been responding to this prompt:

Do you think it is more important for 4th grader to learn and practice cursive or typing?

We started by writing a one paragraph response to that. Then we tried to extend it into more than one paragraph. We are now taking the steps to learning how to make it into a five paragraph essay. We are still going to the computer lab to do kidblog (ask you child for details) and type to learn. Some of us worked on young writers project (YWP) with Kelly Marcus.

 Other Important News and Events
- On Monday February 4th all fourth graders will NAEP testing in the morning.
- Thursday, February 7th 2:30 pm-6:30 pm Red Barn order pick-up. It will be  in the SCS breezeway
- Monday, February 15th the scholastic book fair will be going on in the SCS library.
- Monday, February 25th-Friday, March there is no school. It is winter break

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

Math,Science/Social Studies and Number Corner

    In math this week we have been moving from working on discovering fractions and adding fractions to division and fractions. We have been working with egg cartons and clocks to help us figure out what the fractions equal (addition) and what fractions we can find. Recently we have been finding out  what people actually do when they divide, what the word division means and what division and fractions have in common. Everybody came up with great definitions and answers to all of the questions!!!!!

In science/social studies this week we have been reading an article about the early history of Vermont. After we took a lot of notes about Vermont's early history we wrote a response to show that we understood what the article was about. We are now currently each separately working on a Vermont timeline. The timeline is starting at the earliest time of Vermont  (that we know of.) to modern days. We have also been studying U.S. geography. We have been playing games and looking at blank maps to learn the states and where they are and what the states look like and their regions.(West, Midwest, Northeast and South.)

In number corner we have been noticing patterns about the calendar and we have been predicting what the last calendar marker will look like. The calendar is all time this month so we have also been predicting what time the last day of the month will be.

 Reading and Writing

    This week in reading we have been working on the fine skill of reading non-fiction text for the study of vermont transportation (see social studies above).  We read lots and after we finished we wrote about the text.    In our response journals, we wrote all we knew about Vermont’s history of transportation.  Some of the facts we learned were:  Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal were used for farmers to ship products to the market, Irish settlers  coming from their rocky homeland to work on the railroads, Vermont getting more than one hundred hotels and inns for tourists to stay, and recently, Vermont losing almost 75% of its farms.
    In writing, we did many different things.  We responded to the book From Dawn to Dusk and we also responded to a prompt that started like this:  “The icicles hung dangerously from the old house.”  Everybody made very interesting stories.  Then a bunch of people went out into the kiva to work on YWP (Young Writers Project).  All in all, everybody had a great week.

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

Math, Social Studies and Number Corner 1/13/13

    This week in math we have been working again with egg carton fractions.  After a few days of studying and realizing that you cannot split an egg, we finally got to make posters about equivalent egg carton fractions.  Everybody made a unique poster.  On Friday we got to share our posters with our classmates and all were creative and great!  They were presented in the kiva.
    In social studies we have been working on Vermont geography by reading texts.  We got to get on laptops and go to www.grolier.com and read even more about Vermont history.  We took notes in our science notebooks.  One interesting part was about the French and Indian War, which the English were also involved in.
    In number corner this week we continue to turn over calendar squares and record all kinds of things about time (see earlier posts).  Some patterns are emerging.  We uncovered that every five days the time between the day and the day before adds ten minutes.  We thought that was cool.

Reading and Writing

    In reading this week we have been doing silent reading. We have also been going to the computer lab to work on this program called kid blog. We will be doing responses to prompts and we will also post school related things. Every week the whole class will write a response about the book we are reading at the moment. The response will go with a prompt Mrs.Crowther will post on her blog (on kid blog) and also on our goal sheets. We are also reading non fiction text while we are working on “reading with a question in mind” and identifying important information.

In writing this week every Tuesday and Thursday for at least all of January we will be going to the computer lab to do type to learn. We also wrote to a prompt from a test. The prompt was a letter to convince your school librarian to buy your favorite book, again, for the school library since it is missing. Those who want to are still doing the young writers project.   

Other Important News and Events

- No school Monday Jan. 21 because it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day
- The PTO international  potluck dinner had a great turnout! Thanks to all participants!

By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

Math,social studies and number corner 1/6/13

    This week in math we have started a new unit about fractions. We have learned about adding fractions and we have made a list of equal fractions.  We learned about the numerator and denominator, and how the division symbol is related to the division line found in a fraction . On Wednesday we learned about egg-carton fractions--  an egg carton represents a whole (the number one), and the compartments represent the fraction of the whole.  Next week we are going to make posters about equal egg carton fractions.
    In social studies this week we have been studying the geography of the United States by playing trivia games and taking quizzes.  We even took an International New England Test.  Unfortunately no student moved up a level, so we’d better start studying!   Later in the week, students started reading about Vermont transportation including steamships, railroads, paths, roads, automobiles, and communication (telephones and postal service).  
    In number corner we have kept on turning over the calendar squares.  This month’s calendar squares are about time.  Every  morning we record the time, the date, whether it’s a.m. or p.m., the time elapsed since the day before, and the time elapsed since the first.
    Stay tuned for next week’s news!

 Reading and Writing
    This week in reading we are reading articles about early transportation in Vermont. The titles of the two articles that we read was Historic Roots and Steam Travel on Lake Champlain The articles tell us how the transportation in Vermont changed and how that changed the settlement in Vermont. After we finish the article-and throughout it- we have been taking notes. We take notes about the important parts of it or if we have a question to answer we take notes to answer that. We have also been doing silent reading.
    This week in writing we have started going to the computer lab to do type to learn. We will be going to the computer lab to do type to learn every Tuesday and Thursday at writing. We will be doing this for at least all of January. We have also written reflections to Mrs.Crowther about how we think we have grown as a learner since August. We also made goals/hopes and dreams (in the reflection) for the rest of the school year. They didn’t necessarily have to go with school. We have also started the young writers project (YWP) again. Kelly Marcus is, once again helping us write and submit writing pieces for possible publishment. Not all students are doing it, but some are, so ask your child if they are doing it to find out more about it. You can also go to the young writers project website at www.youngwritersproject.org.

 Other Important News and Events

- Red barn fundraiser is currently going on
- The PTO international potluck dinner is on Friday Jan. 18th
- No school Monday Jan. 21 because it’s Martin Luther King Jr. day
-Student exchange! Our good friend Ian has gone to panama for the rest of the year but in his place comes James,the new student!

     By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger