Week 3 July 22-26

What a busy week we have had!  We spent a lot of time on the Smartboard this week working with out base ten pieces.  We used this program to help the class see what it means to "carry" when adding and "borrow" when subtracting.  We are using the term "regrouping" in the classroom. The kids have done a great job with this skill this week!  I also showed them how to make place value drawings on their own.

Here is a sample subtraction with regrouping problem.  Note the numbers crossed off on the top. I asked the class to figure out the value of 4 hundreds, 11 tens, and 11 ones. When they figured out it was 521, we then looked at the number we started with.  Place value (decomposing and composing numbers) will be a very important skill we will work on all year long.

At the bottom right, you can see another example of how to add and regroup.  This is a different way where you add all the ones, then all the tens, and all the hundreds.  Another way of breaking down the problem.

In reading we continued working on our reading strategies and added "cause and effect" to our wall. Students learned more about making inferences, context clues, and main idea. Each day we read independently and practice building stamina. We have some great readers! We continue to read Holes aloud. 

In writing we read some more anchor books to start digging deeper about possible topics to write about.  We generated a list of special places and special memories/things.  The class shared their special things when they brought them into class and then did a quick write to get out additional ideas.  We will go through the rest of the writing process with this topic.

In science we continue investigating rocks and minerals....see previous post....I will keep adding to it. 

We worked on learning expectations and specific activities for word study and took our first quiz.  We will be working on homophones the entire first marking period.  Here, the focus is on using the correct words in context, so we will be doing more activities related to word meanings.  

Specials for the week:

Monday.  None

Tuesday. Computer 

Wednesday. Art

Thursday. PE

Friday. Music

****Open House will be held this Thursday evening! 

I will be sharing specific expectations as well as some specifics about curriculum.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Week 2, July 15-19, 2013

What a great week!  I am greatly enjoying getting to know your children. They are such sweet students!

  

In reading this week we continued reading lots of books. These are some great titles we read.  We will continue reading Holes over the next few weeks.  The other picture books were used to focus on making inferences, using context clues, and remembering a special place.

We continue to talk about reading strategies and add to our CAFE wall.  This week we practiced looking for interesting words, being a voracious reader, reading good fit books, and reading smoothly.  As we learn more strategies, students choose which ones to practice as they read independently.  When they are taught a new strategy, they focus on practicing that one during their first reading session. 

In writings we continue setting up our seed journals and gathering ideas to write about.  We focused in revising our I am poems.  Next week we will edit and publish in the computer lab.

In math we worked on place value, rounding, and working with larger numbers.  Students played a game where they created numbers by rolling dice.  They then had to compare who had the larger or smaller number.  They really enjoyed playing this game and we will continue practicing with it, great place value review.  Monday we will have our first assessment.  It will be short answer and multiple choice. We will review beforehand with a smart board game and sample problems.

**please return start of year forms and $6.00 for NC weekly as soon as possible.  The sooner we get the newspapers ordered, the sooner we can get SS started. They are a great resource and align beautifully with common core.  We will be using them for SS, reading, and writing.

Have a great weekend!

Introduction to earth materials!

This week we have begun learning about rocks and minerals. We started with a pre assessment where  the class sorted various pictures into rocks and not rocks. I photographed each group's work so they can see what they learned at the end of the unit.  We will do the same sort at the very end.

This is a mock rock.  Students observed various properties and recorded them in their journals.

We used a chart to trace the outline of the shapes

We measured the diameter

We measured the circumference

We became geologists and broke apart the mock rocks into minerals and rocks. We used our "picks" to see how many parts our mock rocks could be broken into. This helped us understand rocks are made up of minerals. (Rocks are made of many ingredients, minerals can not be broken down any further). Students were able to identify gravel, oyster shells, and "

grey matter"

We discussed strategies for breaking down the "grey matter". By adding water and shaking the vials, we hope to see some layering to help us identify what was in the mixture. 

Our next step was to see if there is anything that dissolved in the water.  We used Petri dishes to allow the water to evaporate over the weekend.  This was our result.  We used a key to see what each of the various crystals represented to create a more in depth "recipe" for our mock rocks.

Stay tuned for our next investigation!

Investigation #2: scratch test

Before we began testing our minerals we did a practice test using a fingernail, paper clip, chalk and a tile.  We scratched the chalk and tile with a fingernail first. Students could see the nail did toning to the tile and the chalk left white residue on the fingernail.  Since the chalk left a residue on the nail, the nail was softer than the nail.  We then did the same thing by scratching the chalk with the paperclip to see the depth of the scratch.  The tile was a bit more difficult.  It is harder to see the scratches of the paperclip on the tile.  There was a darker mark on the tile, which meant the tile was actually harder than the paperclip.  Once we got the procedure down, it was off to working with the minerals.

This is the set up for working with our minerals. There were 4 mystery minerals that students had to observe the properties and then begin their scratch tests.  Once they had completed the scratch test, they used moh's hardness scale to figure out what the minerals were. 

Investigation 3: Calcite Quest

This is the calcite in vinegar. There were bubbles all around the calcite, as well as bubble floating to the surface, and others sticking to the sides. It looked like sprite.

Then the class put basalt, sandstone, limestone, and marble in the vinegar to test if there was any calcite based on the reactions.

Then after sitting overnight, the students poured out their liquid into evaporating dishes to see what would be left after the liquid evaporated. 

We talked about controls and what the vinegar may leave behind when it evaporated.

One dish has the calcite, the other has plain vinegar .

When everything evaporates, we will compare the controls to the 4 different rocks to see if calcite exists.

Here you can see the plain vinegar and the calcite once evaporated.  Students then looked for calcite in the other rocks.

 It was very obvious that there was calcite in the limestone.

Peanut allergy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Parents,

 

There is a student in our class who has a severe allergy to peanuts.

 

If a person comes into contact with a food or something in the environment that they are allergic to, they can have a serious reaction called anaphylaxis.  Anaphylaxis is a whole-body allergic reaction. Without quick treatment, the person could die.

 

The best way for us to help is to not have a reaction take place at all.

Please help us to make our classroom safer for this student by avoiding sending food or other articles that include this allergen to school.

 

Thank you for your help and concern.  

 

We also have other students allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.  Thank you for taking these students' health into consideration.

Specials for the next 2 weeks

This year we will have a rotating schedule where we do not always have the same specials on the same days. For example, this past week we had PE on Monday and Thursday.

Week of July 15th;

Media

Computer

Art

PE

Music

Week of July 22:

Guidance

Computer 

Art

PE

Music

We survived the first week of school! 7/12/13

These are 3 of the books we read this week.  After reading I Am America, we began writing our own I am poems.  (These will be displayed at open house) We read The Summer my Father was Ten and When I was Young in the Mountains.  We used the last two books to practice some of our reading comprehension strategies.  We follow the CAFE model in our classroom.  (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expand vocabulary)

This is our CAFE menu.  We will be adding to this board throughout the year.  This week we practiced several comprehension strategies: check for understanding, back up and reread, connect to the story, make predictions, and make inferences.  Ask your child about these strategies-they have chosen one of these to practice as they read independently.  We are also working on building our stamina and are up to reading 15 minutes at a time. 

Next week we will be learning some more CAFE strategies and adding to our menu/bulletin board, making goals, choosing good fit books, and celebrating our reading.

In math this week we focused on place value and rounding.  On day two, I think I made some heads hurt with a different way of thinking about numbers.  I am trying to give the class a better, deeper understanding of number sense.  Rather than always saying 241, I may say 2 hundreds, 4 tens, and 1 one.  Or we may say 24 tens and 1 one.  By starting the year off this way, I hope that the class will have a deeper understanding of place value that will help them when we begin multiplying and dividing with larger numbers.

We spent most of our time this week going over rules, routines, and expectations.  Next week we will be starting science (earth materials) and will be setting up our seed journals (writing).

Please bear with me as this is the first year I have started blogging for our classroom.  I think sharing newsletters and classroom information will be easier and more informative this way.  I plan on updating the blog each Friday with the events of the week.  Plus this way I can add some pictures so things make a little more sense if you aren't in the classroom.  I am starting to learn how all my smart devices work.

Have a great weekend!!!

Mrs. Simmons

All about Mrs. Simmons

Welcome to 4th grade at Turner Creek!!  I am very excited to start the school year with your children.  Since I will be learning about your children over the next few weeks, I'd like to tell you a little about me:

This is my fourth year at Turner Creek teaching fourth grade.  Previously, I taught third grade for 5 years. Four of those were at Baucom Elementary and one year was in Person County.  In September 2009 I earned my Masters of Arts in Teaching and Learning in Elementary Reading from NOVA Southeasten University.  I earned my undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Cortland where I majored in Elementary Education and had a minor in History. I was born and raised in Cuba, NY, which is south of Buffalo.  I moved to North Carolina in 2005.  I love sports and am still a fan of my hometown teams-Bills, Sabres, and Yankees.  My mother was a travel agent and led many bus trips to Bills games and I got to tag along with her during the 90's when they were unstoppable.  I will always love the Bills.

I have been happily married for almost 5 years now.  My husband and I have a 2 year old.  Alton Nickolas is a very happy little boy that is into everything!  We are expecting our second child in early October.  “Peanut’s” gender is a surprise.  We also have two dogs: Rielly and Goober who are both rescues.  We are lucky enough to have family in Willow Spring so I get to spoil my nephew and twin nieces.

I am looking forward to an amazing year with your children!