Sunday, November 22, 2015

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!)
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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. 12272750_10205677239110245_1556589946_n.jpg

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

Thursday, November 19, 2015

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

Sunday, November 8, 2015

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.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

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