Botany

Homework
4th Grade Math:  Students brought home work in progress with the standard multiplication algorithm with the goal of completing the equivalent of one page from the packet.  The rest will be reviewed and worked on tomorrow in class.

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.  Sign up online at:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/_79

Optional: Some students took home their writing books to finish the rough draft of their stories. Please make sure to bring these books back tomorrow!

We started the morning off with some wonderful state shares-- we learned about Montana, Maine, Mississippi, and Minnesota.

4th Grade Math:  Students were introduced (or re-introduced) to the standard multiplication algorithm today.  We are currently focused on single digit factor by 2 or 3 digit numbers.   

Botany & Photosynthesis
We kicked off our botany study with a recap of photosynthesis by watching a Study Jam video many students were familiar with from last year covering the basic idea of the process.  A shared reading followed discussing plant cells and detailing the cell parts that participate in photosynthesis (chloroplasts).  This was followed by a video with a more sophisticated version of the process including terms and processes that go beyond the basic concept, including a deconstruction of the chloroplast to reveal thylakoid stacks and chlorophyll molecules, and the ATP & NADPH cycle. Whooee!  We quickly jumped out of our comfort zone with terminology, but definitely helped establish that there is much more going on inside the plant cell than expected.  We re-grounded ourselves with a final activity demonstrating the process of photosynthesis in a model using Cheerios (Oxygen), raisins (Hydrogen) and chocolate or butterscotch chips (Carbon) in a game format.  The students created water and carbon dioxide molecules that they deconstructed in the photosynthesis process to create a glucose molecule, water and oxygen.

  

Building molecules.

 Making Glucose!

 

Homework
Math Homework: 4th Grade- Option 1 and Option 2 are in same file, and both include the numeral matching page and key:  Roman Numerals Practice

Work on Wordly Wise for 15-20 minutes (Lesson 2 OR Lesson 3 if you've finished lesson 3).
Review your state facts

Upcoming Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences next week, 11/1 & 2.  Sign up online at:  http://ptcfast.com/schools/_79

Today in math we started with a brain teaser. The students were posed with the question: A man builds a rectangular house. All sides of the house are exposed to the south. A huge bear walks by. What color is the bear? Why? 
After some thought the students figured out that the house would have to be in the North Pole and polar bears live in the North Pole. Therefore, the bear would be white! It was fantastic to witness their brains working to figure out how to use logic to solve the problem.  We introduced Roman Numerals through a video and some practice problems on the board. Small groups worked on the 9-Lines while the other students worked at their station of choice.

Our morning in Strawberry Creek was based around writing and words! We worked on getting one step closer to publishing by revising and editing our stories. We also used the morning to introduce our new spelling program, Words Their Way. Words Their Way introduces word sorts with different word patterns. We will focus on sorting the words each week, using them in games, and practice writing them as well. With some extra time left over, we began working on Lesson 3 of Wordly Wise.

Busy editing and revising!

Word sorts!

Elbow deep in word sorts.

We had Art with Julianne this afternoon and celebrated Lucas's 10th birthday! Have a wonderful Monday night (stay dry!).

Pick-a-Party Booklets and Humpty Dumpty

Pick-A-Party booklet confusion:  At the end of today we sent the students home with a green booklet about Pick-A-Parties.  After handing them out during dismissal, we realized that there was an address label on the backside with each student's name.  While this does not affect the information in the booklet, we can understand this might cause confusion.  Please keep the booklet you receive (your child's name or not).  We have more copies in the classroom for students we did not get the booklet to.  Sign up for Pick-A-Parties begins Sunday, October 21st at 6pm and end on October 26th at midnight. 
Go to:  www.biddingforgood.com


Today in Strawberry:  We began our day with Cerrito for a song and round of charades about nursery rhymes.  After snack and our state spelling test, we continued the nursery rhyme theme during writing workshop. 

Our current focus is the revision process in writing.  As a way to explore what this looks like we used the classic rhyme of "Humpty Dumpty."  After reciting the poem and sharing what images come to mind it was clear the rhyme expressed much more than is contained within this four sentence story.  Students shared visions of complex and entertaining character traits of Humpty (of which there are few in the original poem other than the implication that he is breakable and possibly clumsy), an elaborate setting (much more than a just a wall), and all manners in which the King's horses and men tried to put him together again. 

Next, in pairs the students were given one line of the poem with the goal of elaborating on that moment, for example telling the story about the first line, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall." However, not being allowed to complete the poem, they had to stay within the moment of that one line and describe everything not there in the original text.  This led to explaining character motivation (why he was on the wall), describing setting elements (what the wall was made of and the surroundings), character interaction (other characters being introduced), and much more. 

It was clear that story book illustrations drove much of what our initial class discussion embodied, especially a theme of eggs and frying pans.   However, the students' revised lines broke the boundary of the illustrations and led to new ideas and even plot direction.  This is the goal for the revisions of the student's own stories next week, to expand and elaborate on characters, setting, vocabulary and plot.

Have a great weekend!

Homework:
4th Grade Math: Practice problems and problem solving.
5th Grade Math: Math page (Cerrito's Blog)

Practice Spelling-- REMINDER: State Spelling Quiz tomorrow!

4th Grade Math:  Today we began with an outdoor game of Odd & Even.  Back inside we worked as a class to reinforce math skills, introduce the use of a variable in math represented by a letter, and thought out problems with answers that are not directly obvious, such as:
 Two men play five games of chess.  Each man wins the same number of games.  There are no ties.  How is this possible?
The students chose new math stations to work at today.  Stations include measurement, time, an introductory activity with fractions, algebraic thinking and other problem solving activities.

The Berkeley School participated in the Great California ShakeOut Drill, of which there were 9 million participants this year. Our students did a great job getting under the tables to protect themselves and moving to the much safer Solar System.

Our class meeting focused on a discussion around the formation of our Student Council (which will be led by Sima and Kate on Tuesday mornings). Our class will nominate and elect one representative that will participate in the student council meetings. All of the students nominated multiple people that they thought would be good candidates. After tallying the nominations, every student was nominated at least once!

After taking a look at everyone's state map this morning, we used some time in the afternoon to put finishing touches on our state maps. Students finished coloring, made corrections, and added details to enrich their maps. They also started a reflection that focuses on their strengths and challenges in regards to the state maps and their efforts that they put in to the map and research.

We also took a look at some artifacts this afternoon-- a replica gun and some obsedion arrowheads. Students were asked to "See, Think, and Wonder" about these artifacts. We then transitioned to a brief discussion about Native Americans, colonists, and the finding of America. We finished the afternoon with a short movie following the timeline of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish Mission system, as well as the establishment of French and later English colonies.  

Homework:
5th Grade Math: Math pages (Cerrito's Blog)
4th Grade Math: Multiplication Flashcards    Please cut out and write the answer to the multiplication facts on the back (use a calculator to be certain you are correct, or have an adult check them for you). Then sort them into two sides of your envelope-- ones that you know and ones that you're working on.

State Spelling- Quiz on Friday.

This morning we went through a "gallery walk" of all the maps. We were able to see all the wonderful themes, colors, and facts that were carefully and creatively incorporated into every map. We will focus on reflecting back on the maps and the research that we have been doing the past few weeks tomorrow.

During Writer's Workshop students picked a piece of writing that they have been working on (Spot Writing, Sandor's Missing Story, poems, Story Starters, etc) to edit and a revise.  Each student will select 3 writing goals to focus on during the revision process.  Goals may include vocabulary development, use of figurative language or focusing on character traits (among others). 

We met with our Laurel Creek buddies today and took advantage of the beautiful weather outside! We had a "Book Picnic" where the older buddies read the little buddies some of their favorite stories.