Room 19

Hello parents and fourth graders,

This past month we have been working on the reading skills of main ideas and details, compare and contrast, and sequence. In the month of May we will focus on the skills of problem and solution, cause and effect, making generalizations, and drawing conclusions as we read Leah’s Pony, The Gold Rush Game, Taking the Lead, and Snowflake Bentley.

In the area of mathematics we have been working on measurement.  We have been exploring customary and metric measurements and learning how to convert measurements within the same system.  We also explored the measurements of perimeter and area within different types of polygons and learned about probability. For the month of May we will continue to work with 3-dimensional geometric shapes and will focus on statistics.  We will gather information and measurements from our classmates and then in small groups build an average student.  At the end of the month students will study bridge design and participate in a bridge building simulation within small “companies”.

In writing we are working on the genre of narrative with focus on dialogue, using sensory details and strong verbs.  We have also started to write a play which will be acted out by professional actors in a cold read in the month of June.