Friday, November 3, 2017

Happy November!

As we launch into our new non-fiction reading unit, I am so excited by how motivated students are to immerse themselves in the work of learning. Our discussions on "coding" non-fiction texts and understanding the difference between narrative and expository pieces during ELA instruction really calls on them to use everything they ever learned about the art of reading.
Knowing that narrative non-fiction has the characteristics of "stories", while maintaining factual understanding can be challenging for kids. While expository fiction requires students to find ways of learning and retaining information on groups of things often housed under one topic. It can be a demanding, yet stimulating endeavor.
Not only must students read and comprehend the information, they must also find ways of retaining what they are learning. To do this, they must identify the text structure and select an appropriate organizer to help them hold on to new ideas.
These are skills that will be valuable to them as learners throughout their academic careers, and it is thrilling for me to be a part of this process with your child.
Below, please find some links that I think you will find interesting. They will help you have a deeper understanding of some of the work we are doing, and how to be an informed part of the learning going on in our classroom.

Best -
Vivian

Understanding Text Structure I
The Importance of Teaching Text Structure


Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Welcome to the Fourth Grade!


Dear Fourth Grader,

I am so excited to be welcoming you to Fourth Grade! Tuesday, September 5th will be the start of a great new academic and social experience. We are going to have a fantastic year together!
I have spent the summer thinking about and putting together great projects, ideas, and units that we will spend the year exploring. So, to get your minds ready for this year, spend some time over these next few weeks thinking about how we can help make Fourth Grade a great year for you. What will your goals be? How can we work together to achieve them? These are some year-long conversations that we will begin as soon as you arrive in September. Don’t worry about not having answers to these questions right away! Our learning experiences and reflections will be our guides to an exciting and enriching year. Every new day or experience will be an opportunity to add something special to our class. While you are waiting for the first day of school to roll around, I hope that you are reading and practicing your addition, subtraction, division and multiplication facts!
On the first day of school please bring in a few books (2) that you read this summer.  Also, please bring three current pictures of yourself. 
I can’t wait for our first day together! 
These are the school supplies you will need if you haven’t ordered a PTA supply box:
  • Five marble composition books
  • Ten glue sticks
  • One box of colored pencils
  • One box of twistable crayons (crayons in a hard, twistable sleeve)
  • 50 pencils
  • 1 pink eraser
  • One box of tissues
  • Two yellow highlighters
  • Two packages of 3”x3” lined post-its
  • One blue two-pocket folder
  • 1 package of thin markers
  • 1 package of thick markers
  • 1 set of watercolor paints

Love,  
Mrs. Robert

Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday, February 27, 2017

Welcome back 4th grade friends! We are off to another great week of book club work. This week, our focus remains interpretation in social issue clubs. Please find the correct padlet for your club. Happy posting!

Things Not Seen

Raymie Nightingale

Trouble Maker

The Boy on the Porch

Jake Drake: Class Clown

Jake Drake

Fig Pudding

Loser

Freak the Mighty

From the Mixed-Up Files...

Mudshark

Jake Drake: Know-It-All

Friday, February 10, 2017

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed the short story, Marble Champ, by Gary Soto. Please find your padlet to post your responses. Enjoy!

Marble Champ 1

Marble Champ 2

Marble Champ 3

Marble Champ 4

Marble Champ 5

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Good morning 4th graders! I hope you are excited to start your new padlets for the the short story, Stray, by Cynthia Rylant. Below, please find the correct padlet for your group! Happy interpreting!

Stray - Group 1

Stray - Group 2

Stray - Group 3

Stray - Group 4

Stray - Group 5