Vermont's Victory

After lots of sneaking we managed to send Ms. M and Ms. Cota off with a complete surprise last week. We thank all of you for the contributions that you made to their teacher bags and our celebration snacks. There were laughs, tears, and many well wishes for these incredible future educators.

This week we wrapped up our unit of study on Vermont History and Geography. Over the past few weeks we have been simulating a reenactment of the struggle over this land between the NH Grants and The Yorkers. We were all quite angry with King George because of his greed and poor decision making and wrote strong opinion pieces to back up our positions. We were fortunate to take our new understanding (and heated feelings!) with us as we visited the Vermont History Museum in Montpelier. While here, we got to read more about some of the key players and see how history continued to unfold and be filled with many successes and challenges in the years to come. While at the museum the students got to act like curators and anthropologists as they looked through artifacts from an 1800's home that had burned down. Using these clues and their understanding of that time period, they were able to determine many things about the Wheelers and what early life in Vermont might have been like.

This week the students settled their dispute by writing their own Vermont Constitutions. We compared our declarations to the actual constitution that was written in 1777 and many of the same ideas were still just as important to our "student settlers." To assess their understanding of the many events that lead to the 14th state, the students created a comic strip storyboard highlighting the important events. You will see these on display in Mosaic soon.

In math we have been tackling concepts around equivalent fractions and looking at how to make sense of mixed numbers and improper fractions. To do this the students created fraction strips, a hands-on tool that allows them to compare the size of fractions and how they relate to each other. Soon we will use more hands-on activities to show how fractions and decimals are related.
Students should continue to practice their facts at home at least four days per week to build their fact fluency. Multiplication should be the focus at this point.

We are looking forward to a few special events coming up at school this week and next. The holiday concert, booster cell challenge "cell"abration, and our annual Mosaic Rad Day and Crafter Morning. Information has come home in your Friday folder this weekend with more details on these events.

For R.A.D. the students are asked to bring in some of their old 3rd/4th grade books for an exchange. Students can bring in as many or as few as they'd like. Everyone gets to "shop" for new to them books and go home for the break with new reading material. We also have mystery guest readers, buddy reading, digital reading, and more!

For the Craft Morning we are always looking for volunteers to run a craft. You would have three rotations of 8-10 students each. We also appreciate any healthy snack/beverages that you might be able to contribute that day.

Thank you so much for all that you do!

Respectful Researchers

This week 4th graders researched a variety of topics on Vermont’s Native Abenaki history and culture. Early on in the week there were some minor snafus, but our accepting and flexible students were able to adjust and keep learning throughout the week, producing some stellar, informative writing to be proud of! Your student will be able to share the writing that they and their whole class did after the break once we attach the writing to the Abenaki style books that students created in art class. Students certainly enjoyed finding out about the Abenaki and sharing what they learned to help all of the 4th graders learn more in our reading and discussion of the text that they wrote on Thursday. I’m sure they would love to tell you, too! (If they haven’t already!)

Researchers working together

In math students prepared for, completed and reflected on an assessment of their growth during Unit 2. The reflection style that we are participating in this year gives students the opportunity to set goals after a unit pre-assessment and then reflect on those goals and re-evaluate them after the post-assessment. We are seeing tremendous growth in math and attribute part of this to our reflection process. Ask your student what his or her goals are! We will begin Unit 3 on Monday after break with those in mind.

You can see on the walls of our classrooms that we’ve been working in Number Corner on elapsed time and liquid measurement. These tasks are designed to introduce students to concepts which will appear in later math units throughout the year. This month we saw a different time on an analog clock daily, and considered how much time passed since the day before and since November 1st. Our clever mathematicians stretched their brains to consider the 24 hour day when it came to predicting what the clock would show in the coming days. We also watched daily as our Number Corner helpers filled cups that filled up quarts, and took those quarts to fill a gallon. These conversions and comparisons between measures were meaningful for students to understand, especially to see the visual in front of them, and especially for those who enjoy Mrs. Datillio’s cooking workshops! :)

This week we enjoyed a puppet show presentation on students with differences. Our students learned seven steps to being a friend to someone who is different, including using their name to get their attention, speaking in small sentences, using friendly words, giving options, and asking questions to learn about the new friend. We expect that our students treat all friends with respect and care, and are thankful to the people who came to share this presentation with us.

We also had a Four Winds session this week on predator and prey. Students loved to practice with a tag game where some needed to be prey and get food and get back to their safe space, and some were predators hoping to tag the prey. We noticed that the fewer predators we had, the easier it was for the prey to get their food and get back to safety. Students also acted out some adaptations and strategies that animals have to keep them safe from predators. In all, this showed students the delicate balance of predator and prey and how each species keeps themselves safe, demonstrating the impact that nature has.

Prey trying to escape the predators

Adaptations and strategies of prey

To close our week, in our “Mornings with Mosaic” team meeting this past Friday we asked a few students to share what they are thankful for as we go into the Thanksgiving break. Here are a some of their responses:

“I am thankful for everyone in this room and that we were put on Mosaic.”

“I am thankful for learning and literacy.”

“I am thankful for my family and for food.”

“I am thankful for my teachers.”

We absolutely are thankful for each student, parent and teacher that makes Mosaic such a wonderful place to be and to learn. Ms. Cota and I will be in our classrooms for one more week after the break, and will love to return to visit in the future. This has been an incredible learning experience, made all the better by interacting with such engaged and kind learners. Thank you for sharing your minds and your work with us these past few months! We are thankful for you.

Have a restful, rejuvenating break. See you on November 30th!

Ms.M & Ms. Cota

Vermont Natives

This week in theme, our students began learning about the first people to live in Vermont, the Abenaki tribe. We learned about how they lived using some of our literacy strategies for vocabulary and note-taking. Coming into this next week, students will be assigned a research topic and a specific research question to answer. All of this work will be compiled to create one book per each class and will fill the Abenaki style books students have been working on in art class. We are very excited to see students working on their research and witnessing all of their hard work from literacy, theme and art come together!

We concluded our reading and book clubs about Because of Winn Dixie this week. Ending the book together was sweet and sad, just like how the main character Opal feels when she tastes the Littmus Lozenge. Students worked diligently to describe and analyze one character from the text and this past week we saw engaged learners writing meaningful pieces about their character. The book lends itself to many connections and our students have certainly been “brain in” in making these connections.

In math this week we moved into looking at division and had a math forum on division strategies. Four mathematicians shared their thinking and strategies and our class responded respectfully and thoughtfully by listening to understand, asking genuine questions and seeing multiple pathways to solving problems. Students were able to use this time to learn authentically from each other and to see a variety of strategies that all helped us to solve story problems - and especially to look at remainders and how much the context of the problem matters! We spent time this week talking especially about how what the problem is asking for and what the problem is talking about matters greatly when we solve problems. We know we can split a pizza, but we would never split a person! :)

This coming week we will be wrapping up, studying and then taking our Unit 2 Math assessment on Wednesday. We are also starting to wrap up our November Calendar Grid and Collector in Number Corner because students will not be in school during the week of Thanksgiving and we want to learn and observe all that we can about these two classroom tools during the month!

On Tuesday, we will be attending a Friend 2 Friend puppet show at WCS addressing the Demystification of Autism. We are looking forward to this engaging show teaching us about diverse learners and inclusion. Parents are welcome to attend. We will be in the “dining room” from 9:30-10:30 A.M. This Friday, we will also be joined by parent volunteers for our November session of Four Winds from 10:20 - 11:40 A.M. So far this year, we have learned about spiders and trees and how structure and function relates to the natural sciences. Students look forward to these fun and interesting sessions each month!

This week, Miss Ashley Cota and Miss Sunny Masison (Miss M) will be “taking over” the classrooms and all responsibilities for Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Eaton. Please copy acota@cssu.org on any correspondence for Mrs. Parker and smasison@cssu.org on any correspondence for Mrs. Eaton. We are happy, excited and grateful for this opportunity to learn from such talented cooperating teachers and to experience our first week solo-teaching in such a supportive environment with such S.M.A.R.T. students!

Be well,

Sunny & Ashley

Mindful Map Makers

This week in theme the students became cartographers and travel agents. They helped some tourists (Ms. M and Ms. Cota!) find their way through the state when their GPS system failed on a trip from Canada. Our interns are quite skilled actors and donned "tourist" costumes and matching accents! The geographers then picked a Vermont attraction to research and created a travel guide for tourists by pinning their attraction to a class Google Map. Click on the links below to read about the many attractions in our lovely state. Next week we will head into our history unit by learning about the Abenaki tribe. The students will work together to research about the lives of these native Vermont inhabitants and will create a book during our theme, literacy, and art blocks.

In math we have learned about several efficient strategies to use when multiplying larger numbers. Some of these include quick sketching, area model and ratio tables. Next week we will use some of these models to make sense of division with larger numbers and remainders. We will also continue to look at elapsed time, story problems, and cups/quarts/gallons in Number Corner.

This coming week we will conclude our group reading of Because of Winn Dixie. The students will look more closely at characters and make claims about their traits using evidence from the book. We will discuss our findings in book club and will write more about this character and our claim about his/her personality and how that character has changed throughout the story. Many students have really made connections with this book and we have seen some amazing writing come out of this unit because of these connections.

We will be headed to the book fair this Wednesday at 10:15. Your student can make a wish list at this time or purchase books. Please send them with money on Wednesday if you would like for them to purchase. If your student want to buy items other than books we ask that you please send them with a note stating that they have your permission.

Vermont Geographers and Cartographers

We had a festive week celebrating our garden harvest with songs and cider and then our annual Mosaic Crafternoon on Friday! It's hard to believe that we are into November already. 

In literacy we have been reading Because of Winn Dixie both at home and at school to prepare for our book club discussions. Last week, we met for the first time and the readers practiced talking "long and strong" on a topic using their thinking notes. Next week we will think more about how strong readers analyze characters and how we can engage in meaningful and productive discussions that lead to new understanding. Thank you for helping your fourth grader to be responsible for their book as it travels to and from school. In addition to their yellow homework planner they have a reading calendar that provides a weekly overview of the reading requirements.

In math we have been exploring the "partial products" model for multi-digit multiplication. This visual model will help students  move towards the more efficient strategy of multiplying using the standard algorithm, by providing them with a conceptual framework of understanding what each number actually represents. We have also been practicing reading and writing large numbers and had the opportunity to meet in small math strategy groups that focused student learning on concepts that they specifically needed practice with.

Ms. Cota has been teaching her social studies unit around Vermont geography and they students have learned about borders, cardinal directions, and the 14 counties of our state. Next week they will create their own Vermont attraction Google Map where they will get to "pin" and research a favorite Vermont location.  Knowing more about Vermont geography will help students to understand the history of our state as we head into a unit around the Abenaki in the coming weeks. The students will be reasearching and writing about Abenaki life and then they will integrate that knowledge in art class by creating a "book" inspired by Eastern Woodland bead art.

Thanks,
Jess and Liz

Happy Hikers

Mosaic Hikes for Hunger

 We started off the week with a brisk and invigorating Hike for Hunger at Catamount Family Center. Thank you to all of the families and friends who donated to this wonderful and important cause. Mosaic House was able to raise over $1500.00 to donate to Hunger Free Vermont! What a fantastic way to start the week.

This week we also began our first fourth grade book club. We are all reading Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn Dixie and began the week thinking about what it means to be a productive member of a book club by developing book club norms and practicing expectations for accountable talk and active listening. During the week your students will be reading independently and making "tracks" or thinking notes in their very own copy of the book! We will meet a few times a week as a group to discussion our predictions, wonderings, connections, and big ideas around the book. They will also be responding to writing prompts in their Reading Notebooks and on Kid Blog.

In addition to reading in class your student will be expected to complete some of the reading at home. Each Monday they will get a weekly calendar that explains their reading responsibilities for the week. This at home reading will count as their 20 minutes of reading homework for those nights. They will need to be sure that they are mindful to bring the book to and from school to be prepared for their book groups. Here are some prompts that you can use to discuss the book with your young reader:

"What do you know about the characters so far?" "Who is your favorite?" Why?
"If you were Opal, would you have taken that dog home from the store?"
"Do you have any connections to the book from your life? From another book you've read?"
"Have you come across any new vocabulary words? How did you figure out what you think it means?"
"Do you like Kate DiCamillo's style of writing? Why?"
"Why do you think the book is called Because of Winn-Dixie?" What makes you think that?

On Thursday the fourth graders went to the Beginner Band Demonstration to learn about their options for learning to play an instrument. We have many students who are interested in joining and we encourage this wonderful activity. With that being said, we also have discussed with our students just how much of a commitment joining the band is both in and out of school. They will need to have at least 20 minutes to practice each day at least five days a week. They also miss class time for these lessons and will need to find time to make up any work that they miss throughout the day.  If you child is considering joining the band they have a packet in their Friday folder that should answer any questions that you have.  They must sign up online (or we can provide a hard copy) by October 30. 

We will end the week with our Harvest Crafternoon on Friday from 12:45-1:45. If you can volunteer to run a craft we would welcome you to join in the fun. If not, we are asking for healthy snacks/beverages/paper goods to enjoy the special day with. A sign up went home last week or you can email Liz or Jess with any contributions you are able to make.

Solar Oven Engineers

It was nice to see all of you at conferences over the past two weeks. Thanks for taking the time to meet with us.

Over the past few weeks we have transformed into Green Engineers as we followed the Scientific Method and Engineering Design Process to create Solar Ovens. The first step was to carry out an inquiry task around how color affects temperature. Students designed a test to determine if color would determine the maximum temperature of an object. Their data confirmed what many of them predicted from their own background knowledge-the black object had the highest temperature because it absorbs the most heat, while the white object has the lowest temperature chance because it reflects heat. This knowledge would prove to come in handy during our next step.

After learning about the need for Solar Oven in countries like Sierra Leone, our own WCS Green Engineers followed the steps of the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to create a solar oven that was a good insulator but also had a low environmental impact.

Like real engineers we followed the steps of the E.D.P.

1. ASK- First, we had to figure out what materials were good insulators. After brainstorming what we knew already we tested five different materials (newspaper, foam, foil, plastic, and felt) in two different forms (flat and shredded).  To do this we filled a cup with the material and submerged it into ice cold water and used a digital thermometer (and some new math using decimals) to determine which materials were the best insulators. Our top three were newspaper, felt, and foam.  Then we needed to discuss which of these materials had the lowest impact on the environment.  After a lot of debate, the engineers decided that newspaper and plastic had low impact scores because they could reduce the amount, and reuse or recycle the materials.

2. IMAGINE- Now the teams of engineers used their newfound understandings to brainstorm the different ways that they could design their solar ovens to meet our criteria.

3. PLAN- Once all of the ideas in the group had been heard the teams planned out what their prototype would look like and what materials they would need.

4. CREATE- The teams went to work designing and creating their oven hoping that it would hold heat longer than the control and have a low impact on the environment. Then we took the small pocket of sunshine that we were given last week and tested.

5. IMPROVE- The teams analyzed their data and wrote strong conclusions about their findings. This brought up many ideas around how the designs could be improved to meet the criteria even more successfully.

Check out this slideshow to see this engaging, integrated unit of study in action. We are so proud of the collaboration, creativity and determination of these Environmental Engineers.

Create your own free collage In math we have also begun a new unit of study around tackling multi-digit multiplication and dealing with remainders in division. Check out this link to see these concepts.  Next week we will begin a fourth grade book club. Our first book if Because of Winn-Dixie By: Kate DiCamillo. We will begin by establishing norms for our club and practicing what it looks and sounds like to be a part of a rich discussion about a book. Then the readers will get their very own copy of the text that they can read closely and mark up with their thoughts. Each week they will have reading homework from the text. This will count as their twenty minutes of reading for the evening it is assigned. Feel free to read and discuss the book along with us.

Full of Wonder

After completing our gum inquiry task students learned how scientists interpret and analyze data and use that information to write  strong persuasive conclusions. Mrs. Parker wrote about her own findings and the students critiqued her writing to highlight what should be included in a quality response. Some of the things that they came up with were strong transition words (However, Whereas, In comparison) , evidence from data, and a clear explanation of the criteria that was tested. Now they are in the process of publishing their own results and we will post a copy in the Mosaic hallway along with some "bubbly" artwork that Ms. M has modeled. We will also be mailing a copy of the responses to the different gum companies as a way to publish to a broader audience. (I think they are also hoping we might get some free samples!)

Our group has also started our first chapter book read aloud for the year. We are excited to dive into R.J. Palacio's beautiful story, Wonder. It is a tale of acceptance, friendship, and tolerance and Palacio has an amazing way of balancing some of the harsh realities of life with humor and grace that is accessible to all students. It is also a book that allows us to delve deeply into character analysis, theme, and author's craft. We can tell that students love this time of day and books as much as we do as we recently heard things like, "I love when the author doesn't come right out and tell you and it makes you think" and "Are we going to keep charts about our thinking as we go along? I loved that last year." Our teacher hearts grew a few sizes after that! Feel free to read along with us so that you may discuss the book with your child.

We are finishing up the first unit in mathematics and next week the students will show what they now understand about multiplicative reasoning. They will have a chance to reflect on how they have grown as mathematicians and what concepts might still be goals. They  will be sharing those reflections with you as well.

Just a reminder that our sign-up links for Parent Teacher Conferences are on the side bar on the right hand side of the blog.

Wonderful Wordsmiths

This week we officially began our word study routine and your student should be practicing these routines at home with you three nights a week. Looking at words by their sound pattern has been proven to help students develop the type of phonic awareness that will help them as writers, but also as readers. As they move along the developmental continuum, students will begin to look at base words, roots, suffixes, and prefixes and knowledge about this type of morphology helps readers to attack more complex text. As your student is sorting he/she shouldn't just be focused on getting it in the "right column", rather they should be mindful of sound/symbol relationships and most importantly the meaning(s) of words.  We then work as a group of spellers to reflect on how we can use this information to help us as readers and spellers.

Colby gets a magnified view of a Wolf Spider!

This past week in math has been full of "A-ha" moments as students have been investigating many new vocabulary words like prime, composite, factor, multiple, area model, dimension, and commutative property of multiplication. Have them wow you at the dinner table with some of their new understandings. Many of the concepts that were marked with IDKY (I Don't Know Yet) on our Pre-Assessment have become a bit more clear with some of our hands on activities through the week.

We also had our first Four Winds lesson where students learned about the fascinating lives of spiders. We got to look up close at these amazing creatures and several students who felt quite frightened by them at the start of the morning admitted that their fears had been quelled by the new information. Here are some photos to enjoy.

Navigating new vocabulary with the parts of a spider

Please feel free to sign up for a Fall Conference Date using the links on the sidebar under Important Dates. There is a link for both Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Eaton. Also, just a reminder that we do not have school this Wednesday, September 23rd.

Comparing spider species

Happy Fall,
Jess and Liz

Slow and Steady Wins The R.A.C.E.

It was nice to see some of you at Curriculum Night on Thursday evening. If you missed the presentation you can view the information here.

This week in literacy we learned about how strong writers use the acronym R.A.C.E. to write strong responses. First they Restate the question that was asked and provide a clear Answer. Then they Cite examples that back up their claim/opinion with detailed evidence. Lastly, writers Extend their thinking to make personal connections or inferences to draw a conclusion. We modeled and had students practice with questions that they can reflect on personally. Then they will move from personal responses to persuasive pieces through their Gum Inquiry unit. Over the next few months, we will take the R.A.C.E. format and expand on it to teach students how to develop their first five paragraph personal essay.

Scientists were also busy setting up their Gum Inquiry Task and getting ready for the first test. We worked as a group to establish criteria for what to test. The group decided on flavor over time, chewability (a word that we think we may have invented!), and the size of bubbles as measured in cm. Then we established our constants (gum weight, mouth condition, time chewed) and variable (type of gum)  to ensure a fair test. The room got very quiet as we embarked on our first test! Next week we will test two more types of gum brands. Then we will use our data to practice drawing strong conclusions using a R.A.C.E. response.

In math we are learning about strategies for division, multiplication, and have been working on developing strong mathematical habits of mind in our math forum.  The forum is a time for students to share their work, listen to understand, ask clarifying questions, and help to find multiple pathways for solving problems. We have developed a rubric for students to set goals for themselves in using these habits and have sent their first reflection home for you to see how your child has reflected upon them at the beginning of the year. This type of metacognition (thinking about our thinking) has been proven to be one of the most powerful tools for developing intrinsic motivation and authentic engagement in students.

Hopes and Dreams

Thanks to all of you who were able to come and join us on Wednesday evening. The desserts were delicious and we hope that you were able to chat and make connections with others on the Mosaic team. We will have our Curriculum Night next Thursday evening beginning at 6:30. This is a time to find out more about our school and team. We will present information around communication and curriculum. The teacher presentation is followed by an information expo where you can find out more about whole school initiatives and current topics in the world of education. If you cannot join us on Thursday I will post our Power Point presentation on next week's blog post.

This week in fourth grade has been all about goal setting. We began to brainstorm our hopes and dreams for the school year. Using The Big Orange Splot as a mentor text, the students are designing houses that symbolize the dreams that they have for themselves. They have written about how they can work to achieve those dreams and how teachers can help them. We talked about growth mindset using this video as a fun connection. Then the students set goals for themselves as mathematicians. We will use our pre/post assessments and weekly exit tasks to reflect on these goals and self-assess our progress.

We launched our first interdisciplinary literacy/theme unit on a favorite topic of fourth graders....Gum. Through this unit students will learn comprehension strategies like close reading and comparing and contrasting, they will also write strong opinion (R.A.C.E.) responses, and design and carry out an inquiry task around the "best" type of gum. This week they read about the history of gum and made "Tracks in the Snow." This close reading strategy allows students to look deeply at a piece of complex text and analyze the message. We also discussed and practiced several strategies that strong readers use to attack unknown vocabulary words. Some of the new words that we came across in our passage around gum were resin, chicle, urge, and ever-evolving. Lastly, we read two different poems about gum and used evidence from the text to compare and contrast both pieces.

Our Tracks in The Snow Codes

A guest read aloud by Miss Nadine

Next week we will set up our inquiry task to test which type of gum is the "best". We will develop criteria, establish a control and variables, and carry out fair tests to answer our question. Stay tuned for our discoveries and to read students' conclusions.

Welcome Back!

We have had a wonderful start to the school year so far. The fourth graders spent the past three days getting to know some new friends who have joined the Mosaic family, reviewing expectations, and diving into content area learning.

We feel fortunate  to have two student interns from St. Michael's College with us again this fall. Sunny and Ashley are both in the Graduate Licensure Program and will complete their Elementary License requirements at the end of the semester. Click here to find out more about them.

This week we practiced building our reading stamina and recording our thinking in the M.A.A.R. (Myself as a Reading) sections of our reading notebooks. We also reviewed expectations for a productive and respectful math environment and practiced efficient problem solving strategies and mathematicians dyads. The fourth graders began to think like teammates and engineers as they were challenged to Save Fred. In this design challenge they worked together to develop a plan to rescue a stranded gummy worm atop his capsized "boat". Each group had to make a hypothesis, develop a plan, test, and record their conclusions. This was just the beginning of a year full of inquiry, engineering, and teamwork. Enjoy a few images from our first challenge...

We hope to see many of you on Wednesday night at 6:00 for our dessert social. If you can contribute a dessert item it would be appreciated. We will provide paper products. We hope to gather in the courtyard if the weather is nice. If not, we'll be in the dining room.

Proud Performers

The scripts have been written, the parts are assigned, and now the young actors and actresses of Mosaic are in full practice mode to prepare for their "Plant Performance" on June 5th at 9:00. If you are unable to make that performance datewe will have a dress rehearsal on Wednesday morning at 10:15 and families are welcome to join us for that as well. We will be sending home the students with "homework" to gather small props and easy to wear costumes this week. The energy is high and the students are so excited for this opportunity and are being very  collaborative and supportive of each other. It is such a great way to end the school year!


The budding botanists worked hard to combine their understanding of plants and heredity, nonfiction text features, and research skills to carry out a performance task where they were asked to "create" a new breed of plant life. We were blown away at their creativity and attention to detail and wanted to share some of the finished products with you. Come and see the rest on display in the Mosaic hallway when you get a chance.

This week we will begin our last unit in mathematics. During this unit we will combine our math skills with the engineer design process to research, plan and build model bridges. We have asked for materials from home and will continue to collect them until next week. Please keep us in mind if you are doing some spring cleaning!

We will be ending the year with a Summer Themed "Craftermorning" on Monday, June 15th. We are looking for volunteers to run small workshops from 8-10 students. Some of these could include: scavenger hunts, water balloon toss, journal making, summer postcards, etc. A sign up sheet will be coming home in this week's Friday folder. Please come and join us or send in food to make our last full day of school a memorable and creative day.

Busy Botanists

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about the life cycle of plants. Students set out to determine what all plants need to survive and what they might want to thrive by designing their own experiments in small groups.  Each group determined a variable (worms, fertilizer, water, space, soil, sunlight) and set up their control plant. They have been watering everyday and making observations weekly. We have been working hard on learning about what makes a strong scientific observation and the botanists have been adding labels, measurements, and predictions about possible causes for their plant's growth (or lack of!) We will write our conclusions to our investigation this coming week!

The water variable group records their observations for the week

Abbie measures her rapidly growing seedling!

In addition to our plant study we have also been learning about heredity and genetics. We've had lots of hands on activities to get the students familiar with the concept of traits and how they are passed down from generation to generation in all animals and plants. We have been learning lots of new vocabulary words and tackling some pretty complex reading around this topic, so we used this  opportunity to practice more close reading skills. In a close read the students read the text several times and go through each paragraph to "make tracks" of their thinking. This type of reading strategy has helped the students to ask questions, learn new vocabulary, and engage in discussion around this fascinating concept. 

Now for their final performance task they are combining their knowledge of plants and genetics to "create" a new kind of plant. First the students researched different types of flowers and decided which to "breed" Then they got to decide which traits would be passed on to the new creation. We can't wait to see their artistic representations of the Tulily, Rosansy, and Veronisunflower! 

 

Close Reading=Deeper Thinking

Next week we will begin the rehearsal for our team performance! Each classroom will be taking a plant themed story and recreating it on the big stage. Our family performance will be on Friday, June 5th at 9:00. If you are unable to make that time we will be having a dress rehearsal for the other 3/4 teams on Wednesday, June 3rd at 10:30. We hope to see you all there!

May in Mosaic

Another digital collage by Smilebox

We have all been waiting patiently for May and her beautiful weather to arrive and with the new (and last full month) of school came a very special guest visitor and a new theme unit in science.

This week we began our unit of study around plants and heredity. We began by having the students work in groups to design their own experiment in which they will set out to prove what plants need to survive. Next we will learn more about the life cycle of a plant and the interconnectedness of plants and animals that is involved in heredity and genetics. Some of the vocabulary words that have already come up in our new learning are: germination, pollination, control, variable, and trait.

We were so fortunate to have received a generous grant from our FAP this year. We used the funds to bring local author/illustrator, Tracey Campbell Pearson to Mosaic for a wonderful day of workshops. We got to see just how much work goes into the writing and illustrating process, which is so valuable for young authors to hear. Then we were even able to create our own dummies with the help of Tracey.

Before her arrival we read many of her books and visited her website to research her life and work. The students worked together to create a group Google Doc where they recorded things they learned and questions they had. I think that Tracey knew how prepared the students were because their questions were so thoughtful and lead to some wonderful discussion and discoveries. I wouldn't be surprised to see some authors and illustrators emerging from this group of talented young students! Thanks again to FAP for providing this wonderful opportunity for our students.

We will be beginning a new unit in math this week around Geometry. For me information on the concepts that will be covered throughout this unit, you can visit the Bridges Site here. 

This month we will also be working on our team play which will be performed for Mosaic Parents on the morning of Friday, June 5th. More details to come, but we just wanted you to have plenty of time to put it in your calendar. 

Fairy Tale Adaptations Publications

Click on your student's name to hear them narrate their  Fairy Tale Adaption:

Mrs. Eaton's Authors: 
Savannah
Nicolas
Morgan C
Aliyah
Asher
Mitchell
Sophia
Collin
Tyler
Zangmu
Jaydon
Aaron
Derek
Olyvia
Samantha
Brooklyn
Abbie
Morgan B


Mrs. Parker's Authors: 
Zach 
Jaden
Ava
Jerry
Gabbi
Jake
Noah
Trevin
Emily
Logan
Robert
Hailey
Hayden
Ella
Griffin
Keira
Jack
Mia

Once Upon A Time....

This week Kristyn and Sara had their solo week. They were so happy to dive into working on their own with students and were really pleased with how the week turned out. The students were extra S.M.A.R.T this week and were extremely helpful to both girls as the week progressed. Throughout the week students would be reminding their peers that even though Kristyn and Sara are students, this week they are their main teachers. Students were extra mindful this week when they saw the play Grease, a musical put on by the WCS middle schoolers, and sat next to classmates who they knew would not distract them throughout the performance. Students loved the musical and were even singing the main songs as they left the performance (we sense some future actors and actresses :) ).

This week our students worked extremely hard on their fairytales. They were able to publish their work through typing their final drafts or handwriting their adaptations and then they became their own story-tellers. Students recorded their own voices on an IPad through an application called Shadow Puppet. This application allows students and adults to take real photos and create their own book by recording their voice as they scroll through each photo. If you would like to see more information please visit their website.   We were so impressed with their expression and the way they used their best story-teller voices. Students on Friday then had a fairy tale celebration equipped with their adaptations and of course fairy tale treats. We invited other members of our Mosaic team, including the fourth graders, and we had some other members of our faculty come around and listen to their adaptations. Everyone had an incredible time and felt like they walked into a real life fairy tale. It was truly magical.  We will be posting the links to your child’s stories, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we have. We have some very talented and creative third graders in our midsts.
    In Number Corner, students have been learning about how many minutes are in a quarter or an hour, a half or a third of an hour.  They have been making many discoveries and observations about time and began to understand why adults can use phrases like “quarter past” or “quarter till”. In Math we are still working through Unit 5 and have been working more with  multiplication and division. Students are continuing to develop efficient strategies to solve multiplication and division story problems and they have even been playing math games to use their strategies!  We are really looking forward to seeing what else our smart kiddos come up with in the future!

A reminder that this is Kristyn and Sara’s last week with our third graders. They want to thank everyone, including the parents and students, for their support and they will truly miss everyone in their classrooms and in Mosaic. They also want to thank Liz and Jess for helping them grow as future teachers!

Keep thinking Spring! Let’s have some more 60 degree weather shall we?

Fairy Tale Fun

      A few weeks ago we started our brand new fairy tale unit. The unit began with a full immersion of reading different classical fairy tales in order to get familiar with the various story lines and the sequence of events a fairy tale unfolds in. In this unit the students have been working on creating their own fairy tale adaptation of the classic tales Billy Goat’s Gruff or Little Red Riding Hood. This past week the students have been working so hard on drafting their own adaptation by adding their own twist to the classical tales! Students have been going through the steps of the writing cycle and their talent has truly shined through. This upcoming week the students will be working on publishing their fairy tale using IPads through an application called Shadow Puppet. We are very excited to see the students’ creative masterpieces come alive.

     This past week the students filled the school’s brain cell collector to it’s nose. The school held a celebration for our “SMART” students called Minute to Win it. Taking after the American prime time TV game show, the students had only a minute to complete a variety of challenges! It was a well-deserved school wide celebration and everyone had a blast.

     In math we have began Unit 5 and have been diving deep into concepts of multiplication and division. Students have been working on developing strategies to solve multiplication and division story problems and they have even been creating their own story problems! We look forward to working more closely with these new concepts and investigating different strategies to help us as mathematicians. 

Please remember that Sara and Kristyn will be soloing this week. If you have any information that you need to pass on regarding pick-ups and dismissal please send it to them at their school email addresses. Liz and Jess will be working on planning and curriculum for fourth grade this week. It's hard to believe we are already thinking about that! 

Think Spring! 

Solo Flight

Our St. Michael's student interns have been working hard this semester and the time is almost near for them to test their new knowledge as they lead the classroom for one week of solo teaching. They will both be "in charge" of the classrooms the week of April 6-10. Liz and Jess will be near by, but they are going to be taking over the day to day management and instruction. During this week please direct any email correspondence regarding schedules and pick-ups to their school email addresses. Sara in Mrs. Eaton's room can be reached at smonahan@cssu.org and Kristyn in Liz's room can be reached at kgalligan@cssu.org.


You have most likely all heard that Vermont (and much of the country)is in the process of transitioning to a new computerized assessment system for students in grades 3-12. This assessment is called the SBAC and we will begin to roll it out to our students to practice over the next week before administering the actual tests beginning on April 8th. There are still many questions around this test and we encourage you to ask your own. We understand that tests are a part of life and we want  students to persevere and do their best so that we can determine if this assessment is a valuable tool. With that being said, most importantly we want to engage and assess students in authentic, engaging learning activities that are developmentally appropriate and challenging. Rebecca Holcomb, Secretary of Education, writes candidly about this in her latest memorandum and I encourage you to take a look.

As we get closer to testing dates we will be asking for parents to help provide us with snacking options to keep our brains sharp and focused and our bellies full during the testing days. Stay tuned for more information on how you can support us with that in the weeks to come. If you could also please let us know if you have any travel plans the week before or after the April break please let us know as soon as possible as that will help us with scheduling and planning.

Think Spring! 

Fact Fluency

Thank you for coming and supporting the Mosaic students as they presented their Passion Projects on Thursday. They were so excited to see the positive feedback that filled up on their comment pages and they learned so much from each other. Choice is extremely motivating for students and it certainly showed with this project.

Customize your own picture collage

This week we also wrapped up Unit Four in math and are moving from thinking about fractions and measurement to diving more deeply into concepts around multiplication and division. Click here to read more about the specific goals and content of this unit. Your child is expected to be practicing their math facts at home to improve his/her fact fluency. One option is for them to be doing the exercises on the XtraMath website, but they can also practice using different apps, flashcards, or dice games. If you find something that works particularly well we would love to hear about it. We have finished our magnetism unit and went out with a shock as we learned about how magnetism and electricity combine to create electromagnets. The scientists read closely about how these magnets are created and then used their understanding and engineering skills to design their own plan for a small electromagnet. In small groups we tested out their designs and reviewed our understanding of closed circuits. The teachers had very hot hands, but it was worth it for the look on their faces when they created a magnetic field from just a few materials! Now we will be heading into a unit that is focused on writing fairy tale adaptations. Led by our student teachers the students will learn about the story elements of this genre by reading traditional tales. Then they will compare and contrast these with adaptations by other authors before they adapt a tale on their own. Our big basket raffle is coming up next weekend and the baskets are not quite full yet. Please consider donating to this wonderful fundraising event. It looks like mud season has arrived, at least for the time being. The fields at recess are prone to get extremely wet and muddy and we suggest that you send your child with a spare pair of socks in his/her backpack. Please be sure that they also have shoes that they can change into as their boots are quite wet after their fun outside. We look forward to chatting with you many of you next week at our conferences on Monday, March 23rd.

Metric Measurement Math

This week we have been hard at work looking at options and brainstorming how we want to  present our research findings for our passion projects. The students looked back at the work that we did during our Steve Jenkins unit and decided on the nonfiction text features that they wanted to include in their own posters/slideshows. Then they got a lesson from Ms. Birdsall on how to find photos in a way that is safe and digitally respectful by giving credit to the original photographer. Now they are hard at work combining the photos, facts, and features. They are so excited to share what they have learned with their families on Thursday morning at our Passion Project Breakfast. Information should have come home in the Friday folder. The breakfast will be from 8:00-8:45. We hope that you can make it and we would love if you could help to contribute to our feast by bringing a healthy breakfast snack or beverage. Coffee and paper products will be provided by Mosaic. Hope to see you there!

In math we have shifted our focus from fractions to measurement using the metric system. The students rotated through three different workstations where they learned concepts an vocabulary around mass, liquid volume, and solving story problems that involve these types of measurement. We have taken a hands on approach to this by having the students come up with benchmarks to refer to. For example, our benchmark for a gram is a paperclip and our benchmark for a kilogram is a big Harry Potter novel! These types of benchmarks help students to be more accurate in their estimations of how big, heavy, or long something is as they use these types of measurements in the future in math and especially in science.

Liquid Volume Investigation

Solving Problems using Models

Finding Mass

Using a balance to investigate mass

 If you would like to sign up for a spring conference time please click on the link under the important dates heading on the sidebar of the blog. For Mrs. Parker's sign-up you can click on her name at the top of this page. These will be offered on Monday, March 23rd.