Weekly Updates December 2023

What a week! Both classes went to the Museum of Science and Industry on Thursday. I am always reminded of how lucky we are to live in this city as we drive down Lake Shore and visit one of the many wonderful museums. 

 

4th Grade

We are continuing to read non-fiction articles and cite evidence from the text. This wee we learned how to identify an objective sentence versus a subjective sentence. We also integrated new information to what we read by using a BBC news clip. Students are wrapping up their creative writing projects about being 'trapped' in a snow globe. Students added language to set the tone and figurative language to appeal to the 5 senses. They also, on their own, added images to enhance their final product. I am looking very forward to reading their stories this weekend! We are also learning about the United Nations and immigration in the US. They are finding main idea and key details in various texts to compare the US long ago and today. 

 

3rd Grade

We are also focusing on nonfiction to end the quarter. Students are learning to identify the topic of text and how that's different from the main idea. They are also learning how to use nonfiction text features and integrating their own into an established text. We are writing informational paragraphs in writer's workshop. They are learning how to use a detail and add an explanation to the detail to extend their writing. 

This week was spent primarily working on the Winter Show. What an excellent job the students did! I was so happy to watch them perform AND be respectful audience members during the rehearsal. 

 

4th grade students spent time on nonfiction. They read an article and cited evidence from the text. They watched a video and integrated new information. We talked about which source would be useful for different assignments. They made a snow globe craft to go with their creative writing projects. They are a bit messy so I am going to go ahead and apologize now. We did an activity where students learned to write a creative story with given character traits. They added part of the traits and folded the paper. They passed it to the next person to add a new character description (type of character, adjectives, personality and idiosyncrasies). So they ended up with characters like "a pane of glass named Tom who is rude and eats glue" or a "carrot who is mean and grumpy and speaks French." These 4th graders make me laugh. 

 

3rd grade is working on their informational writing about their friends. They learned to identify simple, complex and compound sentences.  We also reviewed using I and Me as it seems to be something they need to practice. The class also worked with their own nonfiction text and completed a text structure sort. We will preview the next Science unit next week so we can jump right in after winter break. 

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break! I want to talk about what we will be doing when we return in January. 

 

4th Grade

We will begin a new novel where students will focus on figurative language, responding to comprehension questions using text evidence and complete sentences, and how the narrator's point of view influences how events are described. We will also begin a vocabulary program called Caesar's English. I am very excited to begin this program and think it will work well with their Latin class. 

 

3rd Grade

We will also begin a new novel with 3rd grade. We will read and annotate the novel together. Students will respond to comprehension questions and complete graphic organizers related to the text. We will continue with Writers' Workshop to develop our drafting and writing. They finished an informational paragraph that will be graded in the 3rd quarter. 

 

The students in both classes continued with Informational Text this week. I am sure they are excited to continue with novels when we return!