What's the "Matter"?

During our first five weeks of school we learned about the "practice of science". We discussed how to make careful observations. We also explored using scientific tools and analyzed varying purposes of scientific models.


Each student also implemented the Scientific Method through our extensive Bouncing Ball Lab which was featured recently at Open House.

With all of this background knowledge to guide us, the time has come to begin exploring a specific topic in depth. Our first topic to explore is MATTER (Chapter 4 in our Interactive Science Textbooks).

COLOR, SHAPE, TEXTURE, ODOR, SIZE, TASTE- these are all OBSERVABLE properties of matter.
The apple is red, rounded, smooth, small and sweet.

We identify observable properties of matter using our 5 senses.

Seems simple enough, right?





Well, there are also properties of matter than can be MEASURED. 
 This is where the real scientific fun comes in.

We can measure an object's:
*weight     *mass     *volume     *density 

We can also experiment to see if an object has magnetic properties.

In order to understand these measurable properties, we will complete two "Gizmos" in class (virtual labs).

explorelearning.com

We will also calculate the weight, mass, volume, and density of objects in the classroom using real scientific tools.


As an extension, we will also visit this fun site to learn about how our body weights would vary if we visited the moon and other planets in our Solar System. Check it out!  Weight Calculator 




To reinforce what we are learning in class, students should reference Chapter 4, lessons 1-3.
Students have their science chapter in their GREEN science folders. They can also review the chapter using our online textbook resource: Online Science Textbook. This is a great way to review because this site offers video clips, vocabulary practice, and self-assessments!!!! Fun, fun, fun!!

To earn Behavior Bucks, students (and parents) can leave a comment to tell about an object at home and 4 physical properties to describe the object. (Students- remember to leave your first name only with your comment.) 

Love, 

Important Tools for Readers: Reading Logs & Sticky Notes

We don't often think about reading as a pastime that requires tools.  All you need is a book and some time, right?  Not true.  Good readers know there are tools to the trade.  This year, readers are already using two very important tools: reading logs and sticky notes.

Reading Logs

In fourth grade, reading logs mean more than just "proving" that we read.  Reading logs are records of our lives as readers, just as scrapbooks are our records of our lives.  When we go on vacation, we take pictures.  When we have birthdays, we take pictures.  When we go to weddings, graduations, special dinners, field trips, sleepovers, first days of school, or even just the park, we take pictures.  As readers, we log.  We log the books we've read so that later on we'll look back and remember those books we've loved.  But there's more.

As young readers working to grow and improve, we need a tool to help us track our growth and identify patterns.  Our daily reading logs are these tools.  We will keep these logs on hand as we move through the year, referring back to them to learn about ourselves, identify areas of improvement, and set goals.  

For instance, how do you know if you're reading long enough, fast enough, or even just enough?  Reading "enough" is really not about minutes, but books and pages and minutes all rolled into one!  You see, readers should read approximately 3/4 page per minute when they're in a book that's a good fit for them.  But we don't need stopwatches to figure out whether readers are within that range or not.  By studying logs and comparing the pages read to minutes read, we can infer a readers estimated speed!  Now, we know from time to time our pages to minutes will vary because of distractions, interruptions, difficulty of the text, and many other reasons.  By logging regularly, we can look at the big picture, not just one variable.

With this simple understanding in mind, we can infer a safe estimate of how long it would take a reader to complete their book.  For instance, students reading from the Magic Tree House series should be able to complete one complete chapter book within approximately an hour of reading.  Our class read aloud, Stone Fox, might take a reader up to approximately 2 hours of independent reading time to read it, cover to cover.  A much longer book, such as Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, would take a reader up to anywhere from four to eight hours of independent reading time to complete.  With rare exception, regardless of a reader's independent reading level, all readers should be reading enough to finish one chapter book or more per week, start to finish.  When this isn't occurring, reading logs are an invaluable tool to determining where to begin in the process of helping a reader improve.

Sticky Notes

Reading is thinking.  Good readers know that making our thinking visible allows for us to retrace our thoughts, like following a trail of pebbles through the forest.  

As we read, when we hear thoughts buzzing in our mind, we stop and jot them down as quickly as we can.  Then, we stick this thought directly to the page we were reading, and continue on.  After a while in our reading, we might come to a point at which we can tell our thinking is changing, or growing.  We begin to think back on the thoughts we had earlier in the book, and combine them with more recent ideas, wonderings, predictions.  By revisiting our sticky notes, we can take a few moments to write to grow our thinking in our reading notebook.  (That's where the really good stuff happens!)

Because these "jots" are so important, good readers know they need to keep sticky notes handy.  Be sure to grab a few extra from class each day and fix them inside the cover of your books before heading home.  You could also make sure you have a few pads of sticky notes in a safe place at home, just in case of a reading emergency.  You don't ever want to be unprepared! 

So readers, as you're reading at home, be sure to be ACCURATE in your logs.  Just as we do in class, when you prepare to read, get your tools ready.  Pull out your log and your sticky notes FIRST.  Jot down the starting time and page number right before you begin reading.  Then, don't read with one eye on the clock, but dive headfirst in to the story, stopping to jot your thinking as you read.  When you're ready to come up for air, glance back at the clock and record your ending time and page number.  Don't stress out about counting pages and minutes, just READ.  

Categories of Number

During our first investigation in our unit Factors, Multiples, and Arrays, our classes created posters of the arrays for various numbers. Using these posters, students put numbers into different categories based on the kind and number of arrays they could make. Students identified numbers that made "only one array", numbers that made "square arrays", and numbers that made "many different arrays". These initial ideas then developed into classifying numbers in five ways: odd, even, prime, composite, and square. Numbers may fall into as many as three different categories. Here is a list of the mathematical ideas that are being developed during Math Workshop as a result of these student-made posters:

Odd Numbers: * have a 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 in the ones place * have only odd factors * odd x odd = odd

Even Numbers: * have a 2, 4, 6, 8, or 0 in the ones place * always have a factor of 2 * each factor pair must have at least one even factor * odd x even = even, even x odd = even, and even x even = even

Prime Numbers: * only have 2 factors (one and itself) * only produce one array * 2 is the only even prime number

Composite Numbers: * have more than two factors * make at least 2 different arrays * can be even or odd

Square Numbers: * make a square array * have an odd number of factors * follow a pattern of odd, even, odd, even, ... * can be made by multiplying a number by itself (ex: 1 x 1 = 1, 2 x 2 =4, 3 x 3 = 9, therefore, 1, 4, and 9 are square numbers)

Students, can you identify a number between 100-200 that is composite and square? Leave a comment and share your answer (and your reasoning)!!

Reading Partnerships: Talking that Grows Readers

Photo Credit: Valentina_A via Compfight cc

Sometimes, the best part of a really good book comes AFTER you have finished the book.

Today, we read the last chapters in Stone Fox.  It's amazing how John Reynolds Gardiner was able to capture our hearts so intensely in only 83 pages!  As I closed the cover of the book and gently laid it on the table beside my rocking chair, I know we all were wishing for a little more -- just a few more pages, one more chapter.  Some readers even asked if there was a sequel to the unforgettable conclusion of Little Willy and his beloved dog, Searchlight.  

When I finish a great book, I often have that same emptiness inside.  We just aren't ready for it to be over yet!  Good readers, readers who share this craving for more, often fill that emptiness by talking about their books with friends, family, or fellow readers.  In this way, not only can we hang on to the story and our relationships with these characters for just a little longer, but we can also share our love with someone else.  Sometimes this sharing inspires someone else to read and love this book right along with of us.  And sometimes, these conversations strengthen our own love for this book by deepening our understanding of it.  As we go back through the story -- retelling pieces to others, remembering the details of our mind movies, revisiting the places we'd traveled and reliving the experiences we shared with favorite characters -- we're really working on our thinking about our reading.  

For all these reasons (and more!), we need reading partnerships.  Earlier this week, we launched our reading partnerships with an interview.  Readers were prepared with their reading notebooks, pencils, and a bank of starter questions as they tiptoed to the far corners of the room for their first of many meetings to come.  We spent time listening to each other talk about our favorite genres and books, declaring our goals as readers, and paying special attention to what we have in common with each other.  Along the way this year, partners will use a variety of tools to continue learning about each other and tracking our progress.  (Our first tool, reading logs, are particularly important, but we'll talk more about logging next time.)

Tonight, I stood barefoot in my kitchen, cooking dinner and thinking back on little Willy, Grandfather, Searchlight and Stone Fox.  Finally, when the emptiness in my gut grew to be too much to ignore any longer, I turned to Mr. Nash and said, "Did you ever read Stone Fox?"  With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat for the third time today, I told him all about what happened at the finish line.  And as our dinner bubbled and simmered on the stove, I watched his eyes grow wider and his heart skip a beat, and I knew he was hooked, too.  

Tonight, readers, tell someone about a great book you've read recently.  Tell them the best parts, your favorite parts, the saddest part, or a part you'll never forget.  And when you do, tell it to them in a way that makes them love it right beside you.  Because sometimes, readers, that's the best part!

Centers for Math and Science

In addition to daily Math and Science Workshops, center time is a special part of our day which serves to supplement what is being studied in the core units of focus. Students are assigned a place in a "rotation" of four different types of activities, one per day, and each activity serves it's own special purpose.

Technology Time

While at this center rotation, students log on to Reflex Math in order to build and maintain their fluency with multiplication and related division facts. Occasionally, students may also finish a Gizmo activity that was started in a Math or Science Workshop, or they may be directed to visit a specific website that enhances something we are currently studying.


Concept Enrichment

This center rotation offers math challenges and enrichment games that correlate with skills or concepts we have been studying in class. In this particular photo the students are playing "Toss and Turn" where they roll dice to determine a problem that they will discuss with their partner on the topic of rounding whole numbers.

Skills Practice

Students complete independent work during this part of the rotation. Assignments might consist of a science lesson review or possibly a math skills practice activity where students will be assigned a task of math problems to complete (based on their identified needs).



Teacher-Led Small Group

This center rotation is very prescriptive so that individual student needs can be addressed with ongoing teacher feedback. Some students may need reteaching to address a misconception and others may need a challenge to extend their learning with more problem-based tasks. Anecdotal notes are recorded on each student while here and a note in each planner informs parents of skills or concepts that were discussed.


Our Wild Adventurers are WILD about center time!

Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner

To kick off our year of chapter book read alouds, we shared the first half of a short but great book, Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner.  In this story of a ten-year-old boy, Willy, who is struggling to help his grandfather recover from a depression that's left him in bed, unable to speak or take care of himself or their potato farm.

As good readers, we're working to read "wide awake".  This doesn't mean propping open sleepy eyelids, but rather reading with a vivid mind movie constantly playing in our imagination.  Good readers visualize the setting and characters, from the ground to the sky.  Good readers can imagine tiny gestures and details the author didn't fill in for us.  Good readers can close their eyes and imagine standing on the very dirt road Willy ran on to get to Doc Smith's house -- grass, dirt clumps and all.

But sometimes, our mind movies grow blurry.  We get lost or confused, or we read on and find that our mind movie was inaccurate in some way, and now we need to re-imagine the scene, character, or event.  What do we do then?

Good readers know they need to stop.  Say, "Huh?", and dig deeper to bring their mind movie back into focus.  We've learned we can do this in a variety of ways:

• Reread quickly to refresh and remember what we've read before.
• Reread slowly to clarify and help us understand better what we've already read.
• Read on looking for clues to help answer our questions and fill in the blanks of our mind movie.
• Refer to other parts of the book for answers -- the back cover, earlier chapters, etc.  

Together in class this week, we shared a few "blurry moments".  Some of these moments revolved around the setting of the story, Wyoming.  In the book, Gardiner never clearly states the time period, which also has made it difficult for us to accurately imagine the setting.  

Readers, when a book doesn't tell you all the information you need to know, good readers know they can go outside the book to find out more.  

This weekend, I did a little research.  First, I started with what we already know about when and where the story takes place:

What if this was Willy & Grandfather's farm?

• in Wyoming
• on a potato farm
• dirt roads
• horses and wagons & dog sleds used for transportation
• horses and plows used for harvesting potatoes
• $500 was A LOT of money
• general stores (not grocery stores)
• dog sled race in Jackson, Wyoming every year 
• Wyoming is a state (tax collector said he represented "state of Wyoming")
• Grandfather hadn't paid his taxes in 10 years.  

After researching the history of Wyoming, potato farming, and dog sled racing, I found some facts that might help us.

• Wyoming became a state in July of 1890.
• First official dog sled race outside of Alaska was American Dog Derby in 1917 in Ashton, Idaho.
• American Dog Derby was very popular in the 1920s, when the prize money reached amount of $1,000.  (Note: That was equivalent to about $13,000 today.)
•  Jackson, Wyoming hosted its first dog sled race as a part of its first Winter Sports Carnival in 1932.  The race was 30 miles long. 
• The second year of the Carnival race, the first place prize was $300.  
• In the 1900s and 1910s, steam engines began to be used for pulling plows on Wyoming farms.
• In the 1930s, trucks became more commonplace on Wyoming farms, and 23% of farms in Wyoming had at least one tractor.  

What if Jackson, Wyoming looked like this to Willy in the winter?

Check out this map of the United States to understand more about the geography of Wyoming.

Readers, when you think about all these facts, what are you thinking about WHEN this story took place?  When you study the map above, what are you thinking about WHERE this story took place?  How would this story be different if it took place TODAY?  How would Stone Fox be different if it took place in Florida?

Florida Map Projects

Florida Geography Projects will be introduced on September 3rd in class and they will be due BY Monday, September 16th. (Your child is more than welcome to turn in his/her project earlier than the due date.) The purpose of this "at-home" project is to have a fun and meaningful way to enrich and extend all that we are studying in our first unit of Social Studies (DOSS), Florida's Geography. Each student will receive a guideline (blue handout) with all of the expectations for this project. The above example highlights one example that has been completed by a former Chets Creek 4th Grader to give you an idea on how you might proceed, however, creativity is encouraged. Some students may choose the provided flour recipe, and others may choose to use modeling clay or styrofoam. The sky is the limit! This project will count as a test grade in Social Studies for this first nine weeks. Students, what idea might YOU try for your at-home project?