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.