The END is near...

...but don't worry, we are still working!  Here is what is happening is Room 25 this week:

Language Arts
Word Study
On Tuesday, we will have our Word Study Quiz over List 27 (Chapters 8-10 in Bridge to Terabithia). I plan to finish the book this week as well, so a new word study list will be given.  The list will be only 7 words and include only 3 options.  This work will be due by next Tuesday, May 23rd.  This will include words from chapters 11-13 in our novel and will also be our final list of the school year. The list can be found here.

Reading Comprehension/Writing
We are finishing our last 3 chapters of Bridge to Terabithia this week.  As we finish, the students will continue to identify the plot elements (climax, falling actions, and resolution).  On Friday the students will be given a partner/group activity as fun and exciting way to show their understanding of the book!  These projects will be presented next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Math
This week we will finish our entire math book!  Chapter 13 continues with using Area and Perimeter to solve multi-step problems.  The students will also be engaged in creating a map of a "perfect bedroom" using the knowledge gained from this chapter.

Science
Continuing with the Mystery Science lessons that we started last week, this week we delve into understanding What Do Blind People See?  This unit will lead us to our next two units of:

• How can some animals see in the dark?  and...
• How does your brain control your body?

This is officially my last blog post of the school year.  Thank you all for your support throughout the past 9 months and I am truly proud of the progress your children have made!  I will be sending home a permission slip for anyone who is willing to "babysit" our class pet for the first two weeks of August.  If you are interested, let me know as soon as possible!

One more thing...The West!

In addition to the previous post, we will have our final geography test over the Western states and capitals on Friday, May 12th!  The kids all have study guides in their home folders.  Here is a map, just in case your student "lost" theirs.  Students can also use Sheppard Software to study online! Happy studying!

Plot, Perimeter, and the Power of the Brain!

Teacher Appreciation Week is upon us and I plan to show off my amazing teaching skills by working my students to the bone!  Hopefully, they will appreciate all I do for them by working hard, turning in their homework, and acting like model students!  Here's what I have planned for them this week:

Language Arts

Word Study

This week we continue the novel Bridge to Terabithia.  Part of the purpose of reading this week will to find and understand unfamiliar words used throughout chapters 8-11.  In addition, the word study this week uses certain suffixes (-ous, -able, -hood, -ship, -ty) to show how the part of speech changes when added.  The students will be asked to connect these words to events happening in the novel in context (written sentences).  Here are the words for the week.

Reading Comprehension

While reading chapters 8-11 in Bridge to Terabithia, we will continue to focus on diagramming the events in a plot, including the rising action and the climax (this happens in chapter 11).  This week we will focus on identifying the climax of a story through games, guided practice, watching short videos, and even creating our own comic strips!

Writing

Last week we switched gears and made inferences about the connection between Leslie and Jess in our novel.  The students had the opportunity to compare the relationship in Bridge to Terabithia, and a similar relationship in their own life.  The "My Leslie" essays will be graded this week and available for you to view on Google Classroom by Friday.  The graded rubrics will be sent home as well.

This week we will writing a few "mini essays" reflecting on the meaning of some chosen quotes from the text.  This will give the students an opportunity to show off their awesome writing skills in multiple ways in one week!

Math

Believe it or not, we began Chapter 13: Perimeter and Area on Monday!  This is our final chapter in our Go Math! curriculum and is mostly a review of skills that have been taught throughout the year while learning related skills.  This chapter will last until next Friday (the 19th) and will include a few projects and fun activities to link the geometry with the real world.

Science/Social Studies

Our STEM week was an amazing success last week and was a great way to launch our next science unit - The Human Body.  Throughout the next few weeks we will be exploring such topics as:

• Why do our biceps bulge?
• What do blind people see?
• How can some animals see in the dark?
• How does you brain control your body?

We will be using a really cool online program called Mystery Science for our learning.  This program uses informational videos, explorations, and extension activities to guide the students through learning about the powers of the human body.  Click on the picture to get more information!

Have a great week!  As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns. If you haven't already, follow us on Twitter to see all that your students are appreciative for!

Diagramming Plot, Dropping Eggs, and Distance Measurement

We have four weeks remaining of school and we are still working hard!  Here is what´s going on this week in Room 25:

Science

This week marks the beginning of our last Science unit of the year.   All week we will be researching, discussing, designing, and building our projects for North School´s STEM Fair on Friday.  The fourth grade will be building containers to withstand an egg-drop from the top of the school!  Students are invited to bring in materials that can be used for the project by Wednesday and the final projects will be completed by Friday, May 5th.  Parents are invited to the final egg drop competition on Friday from 1:15-2:15.  Click on the picture below for a link to the rules and timeline of the project.

Math

This week we will finish Chapter 12: Measurement.  Since this chapter covers many different skills, we will not have a chapter test, but rather a few shorter quizzes that cover each of the individual skills.  On the agenda for this week includes metric unit conversions, elapsed time, and reading stem plots.

Language Arts

Word Study

As we read the book Bridge to Terrabithia, our Word Study words will be from the chapters we read throughout the week.  The words range from the familiar to the unknown, but give the students and opportunity to use then in context and become familiar with them as we read.  The words for the week can be found here.

Reading

For the next few weeks, we will continue to read Bridge to Terrabithia to further our comprehension of fictional text.  This week we will focus on diagramming the plot and identifying the setting, rising actions, conflict, and climax of the story.

Writing

While we focus on the plot of Bridge to Terrabithia, we have been anticipating the climax (or most dramatic event) that all the events are leading up to.  This week we will gather information to help us begin to infer what the climax may be.  Throughout the next two weeks, we will writing an inferential essay describing what we think will happen in the book as the climax!

Have a wonderful week!  If you can, we would love to have you attend our final rounds of the Egg Drop Contest on Friday from 1:15-2:15.  As always, if you have any questions, let me know!

Bridge to Terabithia, deBates, and Bearded Dragons!

This week will be our first full week with our new class pet: Gerald the bearded dragon! While we do not know whether it is a boy or girl yet, we do know it is about 14 weeks old and loves crickets (yum). The kids are enjoying having Gerald in class and we can't wait to learn more about it as it grows!

Language Arts
Reading
Last week we finished Who Is Malala Yousafzai? by Dinah Brown. The kids appreciated learning about a woman who is not too much older than them and is making a large difference in the world. This week, we are shifting gears and beginning to read the popular book-turned-movie Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson. This fantasy book follows the story of Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke, who young children in a lonesome farm town. Their imaginations run wild and bring this book to life as the characters struggle with the conflicts one feels while growing up. This week, we will be working on identifying the character traits of Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke, as well as reviewing the types of conflicts characters experience (self vs. self, self vs. nature, self vs. society, and self vs. others).

Writing
The students are flexing their persuasive muscles as we write essays on "Should Helium Balloons Be Banned?" Last week, the students held a "Philosophical Chairs" debate where we split the class into "yes, helium balloons should be banned" and "no, helium balloons should not be banned." Everyone did an excellent job respectfully arguing their point of view! Students are now taking what was discussed in the debate and writing an essay around their opinion. It will be interesting to see who still has balloons at their birthday this upcoming year!

Word Study
This week's words focus on words the students will encounter in chapters one and two of Bridge to Terabithia. Students will be defining the words, writing synonyms, sorting the words by part-of-speech, and creating sentences.  Here is a list of the words.  The quiz will be on Wednesday, April 26th!

Math
This week we are finishing up Chapter 11: Angles. Students have learned how to take fractional parts of a circle and convert them into degrees, how to draw angles with protractors, and how to figure out the measure of an angle that is split in two. The Chapter 11 test will be on Thursday.

We are so excited that we will be beginning Chapter 12 in April! This chapter will discuss converting between different kinds of units.

Social Studies
We have transitioned back to Social Studies for the first half of the third quarter. Students have eagerly begun learning about the Southwest and West regions of the United States by beginning their state research! Each student chose a state in the Southwest and West region of the country and will conduct research focused on the culture, geography, history, and current events of their state. After completing their research, the students will take what they have learned and create a magazine to showcase their work. We are very excited to see what the final products will look like!

PARCC, Polygons, and Magnetic Poles!

As you all know, this week we started the infamous PARCC test!  Although this test will take-up lots of time for the next two weeks, we are still learning...I promise!  Here is what's going on this, and next week:

Language Arts
Reading
This week we are finishing up our poetry unit by analyzing the themes of poetry.  By reading poems by poets such as Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and James Patrick Kinney, the students will be able to identify the "big idea" and compare that theme to other stories/poems.

This and next week our focus in Language Arts will shift to novel studies.  The first novel we will read as a class will be Who Is Malala Yousafzai? by Dinah Brown.  This biography tells the story of a young Pakistani girl who is currently fighting for education equality in her home country, and all over the world.  We will use this book as an anchor text to reinforce many Language Arts standards such as: characterization, text structure, making and supporting inferences, persuasion and informational writing, as well as linking this to current events.  Click on the book cover below for a preview of the book!

Writing
In preparation for upcoming research projects involving writing biographies, this week we are writing constructed responses revolving around Malala's fight for equal rights.  After reading the introduction of the novel, as well as watching an interview with Malala herself, the students are answering the question: Why and how did Malala fight for educational equality?  Use evidence from the text and the interview to support your ideas.

Next week we will focus on Malala's character traits and find evidence to support this in our writing.

Word Study
Last week we took a break from Word Study due to the test, but this week it's back!  This week's words focus on synonyms of whisper and yell.  Here is a list of the words.  The quiz will be on Friday, March 17th!

Math
This week we started Chapter 10: Two-Dimensional Figures.  This chapter will take us to Spring Break, and will focus on lines, angles, quadrilaterals, and symmetry.  As an exciting extension, the students will locate and research real-life examples of these geometric phenomena!

Science
Due to the PARCC schedule this week, Science will only be taught on Thursday.  But don't worry, next week we will delve back into the exciting world of electricity and magnetism!

STEM, Similes, and creative Scripting

Miss. Lindsay here! I am amazed at how quickly February has flown by. Spring fever has already hit with many 60 degree days and next Wednesday will mark the beginning of March.

Science
You may have noticed your kiddos tucking bubble wrap, cardboard, styrofoam cups, and other assorted "insulators" into their backpacks this week. That is because we have been working on a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics... We are focused on science!) project to create the best insulator for 1 cup of boiling water in a paper cup. All of the students have worked collaboratively to make one another's projects the very best! After our "insulating champs" have been crowned, we will be moving on to new and exciting concepts next week.

Language Arts
Word Study
This week's list consists of words that are all synonyms of laugh and cry. The students will be challenged to integrate what we have learned in reading and create sentences with the words using similes. Additionally, there will be a focus on spelling, synonyms/antonyms, and creating their own definitions of the words! The words for the week can be found here.

Reading
As we continue our poetry unit, we have begun to focus on figurative language -- similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification, idioms, onomatopoeias, and hyperboles. Poets use figurative language to make their poems more interesting. As we learn figurative language, we have begun to identify where poets have stuck it into their writing. It is quite fun! Next week, we will work on mood, theme, and tone within poetry as well as spend time on PARCC test preparation.

Writing
The kids have used what they learned in reading to write poems in writing. So far, we have written simile, metaphor, and alliteration poems with onomatopoeia poems on the way! Poetry's creative mean allows the students to think differently about what they want to write and how they want to write it. For example, students chose colors to write about for their metaphor poems and applied many emotions to the color they chose.

Next week we will continue to write creatively through the poetry process!

Math
Last week the students flexed their brain muscles and breezed through Chapter 8! We have begun Chapter 9 (converting fractions to decimals), the last chapter involving fractions! This chapter only involves converting fractions with a base of 10 (1/10, 1/100, 1/100, etc.). Check out this Khan Academy video for a nice strategy on how to convert fractions to decimals!

Upcoming Events
Our calendar is very exciting next week! Take a look:

• 3/2/17: Pajama Day (to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday)
• 3/2/17: EARLY DISMISSAL @ 12:30PM
• 3/2/17: OPEN HOUSE! @ 6PM-7:30PM
• 3/3/17: No School -- Teacher's Institute Day
• 3/17/17: End of 3rd Quarter

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at mllindsay@eiu.edu or Mr. Holmes.

Miss. Lindsay takes over!

As we begin February, I (Miss. Lindsay) will be taking over the blog! Mr. Holmes and I have been diligently working together to plan each lesson I teach and soon I will have the responsibility of teaching the students all day! How exciting!

Science
We have happily transitioned into science for the third marking period! Our first chapter for the quarter is on heat, and we will be doing numerous exciting and hands-on experiments the next couple of weeks on how thermal energy generates heat.

So far, the students have had fun participating in 2 discovery mini-labs with many more on the way! One lab allowed students to use the "thermal camera" on iPads to view the classroom from a new point-of-view all while inferring why certain locations were hot or cold. I can't wait to learn more with the students!

Language Arts
Word Study
This week's list consists on words using the re-, dis-, and un- prefixes.  The focus will be on spelling, synonyms/antonyms, and using the words correctly in sentences according to their parts of speech. The words for the week can be found here.

Reading
We have begun our Poetry Unit! I am delighted to share such a creative unit with the students. This week we will be focusing on learning the different types of poems: couplets, quintets, haikus, Cinquains, limericks, alliterations, concrete/shape poems, and autobiographies. Here is the link to the Google Slides where you can check out the different type of poems we are working on. Next week we will focus on revealing themes in poetry. This involves learning figurative language vocabulary and identifying how figurative language affects how we read poems. We will also focus on learning figurative language vocabulary and close reading iconic poems.

I began reading a new book with the students -- The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson! This 1994 classic is narrated by fourth grader Beth Bradley, whose life is plagued by the infamous Herdman family: Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Glady. But the Herdman clan isn't necessarily known for the good things they do -- ask your child to hear what they did to Howard McCluskey's bald head!

Writing
Last week we finished writing narratives; telling a story in another character's point-of-view.  Using the story Zane and the Hurricane, student's retold a scene from Bandy's point of view.  In case you are wondering...Bandy is the main character's dog!  This writing was lots of fun!

This and next week we will focus on poetry written by famous African American poets during the the Harlem Renaissance.  This week we are analyzing Langston Hughes poetry.

Math
We are finishing up Chapter 7! Oh, the memories of all we have learned... This week has challenged us all with Subtracting Mixed Numbers with Regrouping (YouTube video that demonstrates my preferred method of solving these types of problems). Students have pushed passed sicknesses and difficult lessons to prepare themselves for the assessment this Friday (2/10). Please see Mr. Holmes's previous blog posts for resource videos on previous lessons.

I am looking forward to having a wonderful week with the students! If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at mllindsay@eiu.edu or Mr. Holmes.

Really cool things are going on!

It's the end of January and there are some really exciting things going on in Room 25 this week! Here's a breakdown of the awesome activities this week:

Social Studies
Last week we finished our first-person letters as frontier children.  The students took on the point-of-view as a child traveling to the Midwest, soon after the Louisiana Purchase and Homestead Act of the 1880's, and wrote letters from their new homes.  The students did an amazing job on the writing and even got to place themselves into pioneer scenes through the technology of green screen picture editing!

This week we finish up our Midwest unit with discussions around how transportation evolved through history.  This will include note-taking, video clips, and creating a time line.

Language Arts
Word Study
This week's list consists on words using the re-, dis-, and un- prefixes.  The focus will be on spelling, synonyms/antonyms, and using the words correctly in sentences according to their parts of speech. The words for the week can be found here.

Reading
The class will wrap-up our Nonfiction Unit this week; reviewing the different text structures (Compare/Contrast, Sequence, Description, Cause/Effect, and Problem/Solution) and comparing two texts around the same subject.  The class will take an assessment on Friday to show-off everything they have learned in the last few months regarding nonfiction texts.

Writing
Last week we finally finished our Dr. King essays that showed how the students interpreted certain quoted from the "I Have a Dream" speech.  I look forward to sending these home, as well as posting them outside the classroom.  Look for these graded essays by Thursday.

This week we are writing narratives; telling a story in another character's point-of-view.  Using the story Zane and the Hurricane, student's will retell a scene from Bandy's point of view.  In case you are wondering...Bandy is the main character's dog!  This writing should be fun!

Math
Following last week's success of the Friday quiz covering adding and subtracting fractions, we are moving on this week to converting improper fractions to mixed numbers, and vise-versa.  We will also begin adding and subtracting mixed numbers!  Here are a few resources to help at home:

• Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers (Khan Academy video)
• Mixed Numbers to Improper Fractions (Khan Academy video)
• Adding/Subtracting Mixed Numbers

Have a great week!  As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

The Midwest, Martin, and More Fractions!

Welcome back parents and students!  I hope everyone had a great break...I know I did!  We are back to work and ready to work!  Here is what's going on in Room 25 this and next week:

Social Studies
This week we start our next unit in Social Studies: The Midwest Region.  We will be focusing on the geography, history, and economy of the region, along with extending our understanding of one specific state through a research project.  Students chose their states on Wednesday and will begin the research process this week.

As with past units, we also be focusing on the location and capital cities of the 12 states the region.  A practice map was created on Tuesday by each student and will be returned on Thursday.  This can be used for studying through the next few weeks.  The geography/capitals quiz will be Monday, January 23rd.  We will practice frequently in class, but at-home studying always helps!  Here's a map for your reference:

Language Arts

Reading

This week we are focusing on primary and secondary sources as part of our nonfiction unit.  I thought this was a great opportunity to incorporate stories, biographies, speeches, and writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  We will be analyzing the "I Have A Dream" Speech, reading a letter written by Dr. King, and using the vocabulary from his writings for our Word Study.

Word Study

As mentioned above, our words for the next two weeks will revolve around words found in Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  I'm not concerned on their spellings at all, but rather on their appropriate uses, and how the words can be interpreted through parts of speech and pictures.  Presentations will also be created for select words so that students can show how they understood the words in pictures. Here are the words for the week.

Writing

Staying with the persuasive writing theme, this and next week we will study how Dr. King was able to persuade so many people to peacefully protest and fight for equality.  We will be listening to audio, watching videos, and identifying powerful words he used in order to help us write a persuasive essay using Dr. King as a model.

Math

Fractions, fractions, and more fractions!  By next Friday we will be prepared to take our Chapter 6 test.  In the meantime, here are are the skills we are focusing on in the next week:

• Finding Common Denominators (video)
• Comparing Fractions (video)
• Ordering Fractions (video)
• Problem Solving using Fractions

Have an outstanding week!  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at @misterholmes25 to see the awesome things that are happening in Room 25!