Adding with Base Ten Blocks

Too often, kids know the "how" of mathematics instead of the "why." Today we got out the base ten blocks to find out exactly what happens when we add multi-digit numbers. Many of our kids were surprised to find out that you don't really "carry the one." You're actually regrouping ten ones together, and then moving the ten over with the other tens. They were really surprised to find out that you don't "carry a one" over to the hundreds. You're actually regrouping ten tens into a one hundred! I demonstrated this lesson with a really cool website you and your child can visit. Students then had the opportunity to use base ten blocks to connect what they know on paper (the traditional addition algorithm) to what was really happening with base ten blocks. I hope activities such as this one build solid conceptual understandings of math for our kids. I want our kids to know the "why" of math!

Conductors and Insulators

Today the kids and I designed a "conductor tester." We did this by creating a circuit that could be opened with two wires. If the two wires touch each other or an object that is a conductor, the circuit would be complete and the motor would run. Students went around the room with their testers and founds lots of conductors and insulators. Do you know what kinds of materials are conductors and insulators? Here are a few pictures of our young scientists at work...

Here's a picture of Lizzie with our high-tech conductor/insulator tester.

Sloan is testing out the top part of a clipboard.

Xion found out that the front of a stapler is a conductor.

Small Moments in Writer's Workshop

Our current unit of study is on Narrative Writing. For the past week, we've learned how to collect our memories - the stories of our lives. We've learned that good writers zoom in on the most important part of the story and tell it step-by-step-by-step. Good writers don't choose "watermelon" ideas, but choose "seed" ideas instead (ask your child about it). Good writers slow down the moment in their mind, and include all the small, exact details that make the story come alive for their reader. Below are two pieces written by our students during the week. Dolan and Wilson did a wonderful job utilizing the strategies we learned in class.

OK, I Lied by Wilson

One night when Miller had a sleepover at my house, we ordered a pizza. My mother was doing the laundry. My father called, "Jac, Wilson, and Milller - get in here and eat." When we came in, we all sat down. I said the blessing. Miller said, "Let's eat!" "OK," I said. Jac said, "Wait." Jac's my little brother. "Maybe we need to let it cool down." Miller said, "It's not hot." I said, "Maybe you should listen to Jac, Miller." He lifted the pizza box. I saw smoke come off it. Miller picked a piece up and took a bite. He swiftly threw it back down in the pizza box. He said, "OK, I lied!" We laughed for a long time. We still talk about that.

What a great small moment story! Click on the Comments link below this post to share your thinking with Wilson.

My Home Run by Dolan

I step up to the plate. I tap on it three times. I hold the bat up. I squeeze the bat tight. I say to myself, "This is it. End of the game. Sixth inning. We are losing by one. There are two outs." "Come on, Dolan! Home run!" screams my coach. The pitcher winds up. The ball comes slowly out of his hand . "Whoosh" goes the ball. Then suddenly - dinnnng! The ball echoes through the air. "Run, Dolan, run!" I run as fast as I can to first...to second...to third...to home!! I had done it! A home run! The A's win!!

Let Dolan know what you think about his small moment piece. Click on the "Comments" link below this post to share your thinking.

Electricity - Making a Motor Run

I am loving science right now. We are in the middle of our Electricity Study and having a blast. During one of our first investigations, I gave the students a light bulb, wire, and a battery and issued this challenge - make your bulb light up. From this investigation, we learned about complete circuits and how current electricity flows. For our next investigation, I gave teams of scientists a battery, motor, and wires. I issued a challenge - make the motor run. Using their knowledge of circuits, students were able to quickly make their motor run. I then gave each team a switch and asked them to incorporate this into their circuit, therefore controlling the "on and off" of the motor. Our scientists were brilliant. Here are some pictures of our class at work...

Motor Run

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Pentominoes

Last year I read the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. It's an interesting children's book where the two main characters solve a mystery about a stolen piece of artwork. One of the characters is intrigued with patterns and puzzles, and he always carries around a set of pentominoes with him. After reading the book, I became intrigued with this mathematical puzzle. I ordered a classroom set, and I began exploring them at the beginning of this school year. I found out that pentominoes are a lot like tetris (for those of you who remember that very fun Nintendo game). You have 12 pieces, each consisting of 5 squares. Each piece is named by the alphabet letter it represents. You can arrange the 12 pieces to make a 6x10 rectangle, and there are over 2,000 different ways you can arrange the 6x10 rectangle. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. My daughter and I played with them every night for two weeks...no luck. My father-in-law was the only person in my family able to make the rectangle! So last week I introduced this puzzle to our class to see what they could figure out. The pentominoes proved just as challenging to our students as it did to me. This will be a mathematical puzzle that we will continue to explore all throughout the year. Here are a few pictures of our kids in action...

Pentominoes

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Good Readers Get Stuck

This week in Readers' Workshop, we've talked about monitoring our comprehension - thinking about our thinking. We've learned that readers have an "inner conversation" in their mind when they read. We ask questions, make predictions, stop and notice, and even go "huh?" We also learned that all good readers get stuck - it's just going to happen. Yesterday I gave small groups of students scenarios that highlight situations where good readers sometimes get stuck. Each group brainstormed strategies to get "unstuck" and then created a skit to demonstrate some of these strategies. Enjoy the video...

Native American Tableaus

In order to review our study of the early Native Americans, we decided to create tableaus to show what we've learned. Each group was assigned and specific cultural region and was asked to create five tableaus to answer the following questions:
1. What was your environment like?
2. What kind of homes did you live in?
3. How did you get food?
4. What was your most important resource? How was it used?
5. What was your culture like?

As you watch the video, ask your child to describe his or her interpretation of the tableaus. Our students should be able to connect their new learning to what they see. Enjoy!

Ordering Numbers

In order to better understand how to compare numbers, we played a game in class. Each student had five small pieces of paper. They wrote a number on each one, and then put the numbers in order from least to greatest. Students also made answer keys for their game (we tried to think like test takers...creating tricky numbers). Everyone had a chance to go around the room and "play" other students' game. Before AND after playing, we discussed effective strategies for comparing and ordering numbers. Here are some pictures...

Ordering Numbers

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Magnet Investigations

Our first unit of study in science has focused on magnets. Below are some pictures from several different investigations during these past two weeks. We started this unit of study by giving students plenty of time to explore magnets. We talked about our previous knowledge and our observations after some exploration time. We knew that like poles repel, while opposite poles attract. We then made some paper clips "fly" using magnets and fishing line. This got us thinking about the strength of magnets. How could we measure the force between two magnets? While Challenge was out one day, we set up an experiment using doughnut magnets, balances, plastic spacers, and washers (ask your child about it!). We found out that as two magnets get further apart, the force between them decreases. The investigation we completed today involved the question, "What do magnets stick to?" We were surprised to find out that magnets do not stick to all kinds of metals. Be sure to ask your child what they learned from this experiment!

Magnet Investigations

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Living Together Differently

At the beginning of the year, we asked ourselves, "What does it mean to live together differently?" We have 28 students in our class - each one is unique. How do we expect to work together, get along, and live within these four walls of this very small classroom for almost 7 hours each day? I shared some picture books with the kids that focus in on this issue, and we came up with lots of ideas of how to "live together differently." The video below shows some of the ideas we felt were most important...

Studycast - Native Americans

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on Native Americans. If you want to download the audio file to your computer, you can right click on the link and choose "Save Target As..." You will then be able to choose a location on your computer to download the file.

One of the hardest things about helping your child study for science and social studies test is simply mastering the content. With the studycast, it takes all the guesswork out of studying! You and your child can listen to the studycast in order to know exactly what information will be covered on the test. Your child can use his or her textbook, class notes, and this studycast to help them prepare for the test. If your child misplaced his or her study guide, you can click here to download an extra copy.

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment below this post or send me an email. I hope you find this studycast helpful!

Math Games

One of the best ways to learn math is by playing games. So far this year, we've learned several math games: Poison, NIM, Addition Top-It, Subtraction Top-It, Name That Number, Number Top-It, Around the World, and High Number Toss. Ask your child about these games. Which ones were their favorite? What did they learn by playing these games? Here are a few photos of our students playing hard...

Me Boxes

I love sharing Me Boxes. It's a great way for us to learn about each other's hobbies, interests, and expertise. Each child was asked to bring in a box with 5-6 items that represent something about them. Kids were able to make connections and learn more about who each person really is. Here are a few photos from our Me Box sharing time...

Me Boxes

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Tangrams

In all my years of teaching, I have never explored tangrams. I found a nice bucket of these unique shapes in my supply closet (a teacher had given them to me long ago), and I decided it would be fun to teach the kids how to use them. A tangram is an old Chinese puzzle that is made by taking a square and cutting it into seven shapes. These shapes are then used to create the shapes of animals, people, and objects.

We began our exploration by sharing a picture book titled Grandfather Tang's Story. Grandfather Tang tells the story of two fairy foxes who play a shape-shifting game of tag. As each fox turns into a different animal, Grandfather Tang would create the animal with his tangrams. The kids were hooked. I gave each student his or her own set of tangrams and challenged them to put them into a square. Our kids quickly mastered this challenge, and we began creating all kinds of shapes (a running man, seal, bear, duck, boat). Tangrams are a great mathematical tool - they force us to think spatially, look for patterns, and try new strategies to solve problems. I was so proud of our kids. If you'd like to learn more about tangrams, I've included some links on the blog's sidebar. You can make your own tangrams and begin creating! Take a look at the pictures below to get an idea of what tangrams are all about...

Tangrams

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Science Investigation

I presented the kids with this question, "What item will hold the most water - a sponge, cloth, or paper towel?" I gave each team of scientists a small piece of sponge, cloth, paper towel, two cups, a graduated cylinder, and a stopwatch. Together we created procedures for our investigation, and our teams set out to find their results. I was very impressed with how our students designed the experiment. They did an incredible job keeping constants the same: we filled each cup half way with water, held each item under water for 30 seconds, squeezed each item as hard as we could. The kids really thought through each aspect of the investigation. As we hypothesized, the sponge ended up holding the most water. We inferred that it's shape, size, and spongy quality all helped it retain the most water. This was a wonderful way for kids to be introduced to the scientific process. Here are some photos of our scientists as work...

Our First Week of School

At the end of our first week, I was able to capture some of our students talking about their favorite parts of our week. Enjoy the video below...

A New School Year!

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year! This blog is a place to share the happenings and discoveries of our 4th grade class. I'll be posting photos, videos, student work, and much more - all to give you a "peek" at what goes in our classroom. I originally was going to shut down this blog and begin using the district's blog provider, but at this time the district program does not allow embedded video. So...I will continue using this blog address. Videos are a big part of our classroom, and I want you to see it all!

If you are unsure about what a blog is or how to leave a comment, I have created a short video tutorial that gives you step by step directions on how to participate with our classroom blog. I look forward to talking and collaborating with you through this endeavor. Welcome!