Hello Everyone! Here is a quick recap on last week.
Reading: We talked about Text Features that are found in information text. Students looked at a variety of books and identified different features in the books, like bold print, titles, subheadings, glossary, index, map, key/legend. For most, this was a review as it was covered in 3rd grade, but a few more features are added in 4th grade. We made a chart of text features and defined the term in our spirals. Students wrote a reading response letter on a google doc and shared it with me. This will be a regular weekly assignment for the first semester. Students may not have a lot of time during class to write their letter, so it will be in their agenda as a homework item to make sure it gets done. The purpose of this letter is for the student to share his/her thinking about what they are reading. We've talked a lot about making connections with literature, observations, wonderings, talking about different aspects of an author's style of writing, comparing authors, among other thinking. Writing: Students begin the writing hour with a 10 minute quick-write about anything. This is their time to write down things they want to remember, to work out something they are thinking about in their head, to make notes of an observation they've made about the world around them. I have given them a number of strategies for choosing something to write about. This week we wrote several kernel essays, which are short essays in which each sentence begins with a "sentence starter". The kernel refers to a basic outline structure they can use when organizing their writing. All of the students have gotten into writing at this point; they love to share what they've written! To that end, we do a lot of "gallery walks" and partner share. During writing last week we also started grammar lessons. Students identified parts of speech - nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. We will move into sentence structure next week. The homework they had for last week was a week ahead of what I was teaching; sorry about that! That is why I am giving them extra credit for turning it in completed. Social Studies: Students are covering their social studies composition books with pictures of their choosing. I will put contact paper on the front cover to protect them. We began talking about Texas Regions. SEL: On Monday, we did a district-mandated lesson on Cyber Safety. As always, it's a pleasure to be here and to work with your children. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
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