Pinnacle Academy 2015-2016 School Year
Welcome to Mrs. Petti's Fourth Grade!
November 2015 Highlights
(Please scroll down for more slideshows and weekly highlights.)
Highlights of Week 10: Nov. 4 - 6, 2015
Math / Science: The fourth graders applied math skills to find each planet's average distance from the sun. They used calculator skills to calculate each planet's AU (Astronomical Unit), in relation to Earth (with an AU of 1.0). We then used meter sticks outside to show each planet's average distance from the sun. The first four planets were within 1.5 meters of the tree representing the sun (Mars has an AU of 1.5); Neptune was 30 meters away. The students finished coloring and labeling planets drawn to scale, glued into their science journals.
Math / Social Studies: We used tape measures, globes, and the globe's scale of miles (1 inch = 660 miles) to find the shortest distance between various cities.
Math: In addition to our integrated math explorations, we had lessons on problem solving strategies, number sentences, parentheses, and order of operations.
Social Studies: In anticipation of next week's Pow-Wow field trip, we learned some background information about the early peoples of North America and enjoyed an Early People of North America game show on Friday. When the students heard that they would be able to refer to their notes during the game show, there was a flurry of note-taking during Thursday's lesson!
Language Arts: We are continuing daily Power Writing. On this short week, our Word Study work centered on a short list of math terms related to computation. Students are writing a daily sentence in their Readings Logs, highlighting something of interest in their home reading. In guided reading groups, we are continuing to discuss and write responses to specific aspects of the texts.
We reflected on the first quarter and wrote personal academic goals for the coming weeks.
Highlights of Week 12: Nov. 16 - 20, 2015
Math: We are working with decimals in Unit 4 of Everyday Math. This week, we reviewed place value concepts to the thousandths place and found equivalent decimals (for instance, 0.8 = 0.80 or 0.800); applied equivalents as we compared and ordered decimals and as we added and subtracted decimals; and learned how to keep track of a bank balance through a series of deposits and withdrawals. We continue to take fact quizzes on Fridays, and it is an expectation that students will continue practicing basic fact recall at home.
Language Arts: Much of our reading and written work this week was integrated with our science and social studies inquiries. The students are also working on their cursive skills, as we are using cursive for all word study work and much of our writing. We held a class spelling bee; congratulations to our class winner, Adan, and our second place winner, Saliha, both of whom will go on to the school spelling bee.
Science: The fourth graders completed an unit assessment on the sun, Earth, moon, and planets. We launched a new unit on "Wild Weather" by examining a list of weather terms and posing weather-related questions. We had brief conferences on Friday to check in on the students' science fair research, bibliographies, and hypotheses.
Social Studies: We played a new round of Jeopardy with the theme of "Early People of North America" in four small groups. Each student wrote their answers on whiteboards after conferring together. If one team missed a question, the next team had a chance to answer, so every student prepared an answer for every question. It was a lively game, and collectively, the students remembered most of the answers from our earlier shared reading and discussions. Two sixth graders who came to spend a little quiet time in our room seemed quite absorbed in the game as well. Following the game, the students took a written assessment on the same material. We also read in our texts about early Native Americans in Virginia; examined a map drawn by John Smith and compared it to a modern map to get our bearings; explored a website about the Indian village of Werowocomoco; and read a handout on "Wero for Kids." The text and handout introduced us to some of the ways that archaeologists use artifacts and "ecofacts" to learn about the past. The students developed graphic organizers and began composing paragraphs on this topic.
Highlights of Week 11: Nov. 9 - 13, 2015
Social Studies: The fourth graders joined the first, second, and fifth grade classes in visiting a Veteran's Day Powwow, held in an activity room at George Mason University. We watched a Grand Entrance in which the U.S. and Native American flags were carried in and paraded, and numerous Native American veterans were introduced, telling their years and types of service. The students joined in many circle dances, including a Candy Dance during which candy and prizes were scattered on the floor, and the children were invited to scoop them up at the end of the dance. The students were able to get a close-up look at some of the Native American regalia and visited exhibits of Native American crafts.
In preparation for our visit to the Powwow, we began learning about Virginia's first people, using the second chapter of our social studies texts as a resource. Later in the week, the students had opportunities to work on their Google presentations about specific national parks.
Science: The students learned about early astronomers' theories about Earth's place in the solar system and set up simplified models of these theories. We also reviewed some of the highlights of modern space exploration. The students reviewed key information from our study of the solar system in preparation for a unit assessment early next week.
Math: We wrapped up our third unit of study with lessons involving open sentences, true and false number sentences, story problems, and map scales. The students took a unit test on Friday, along with fact recall quizzes.
Language Arts: We have been continuing daily Power Writing. We introduced "word hunt" activities as a Word Study extension. Students have been revising and editing some of their writings for publication. We met in guided reading groups to continue our discussions of Island of the Blue Dolphins and The BFG.
Highlights of Week 13: Nov. 23-24, 2015
The highlight of our short, two-day school week before Thanksgiving was the Thanksgiving luncheon, shared with students in grades 1 - 4. The parents provided a wonderful feast, and it was a festive occasion.
During the final period on Tuesday, we watched a student soccer game, and members of the SGA sold popcorn.
Math: We continued working with decimals into the thousandths in Unit 4 of Everyday Math.
Language Arts: The students made mind maps on the word "thankful," then zeroed in on one idea, creating a more detailed mind map and writing a paragraph on that topic. Using informational text organizers and visiting additional websites, the students expanded on their national parks presentations. We visited the library on Monday.
Science: The students began learning the spellings and definitions of some of the weather-related terms from our new science unit, with a focus on cloud terminology.
Social Studies: We reviewed the story of the original Thanksgiving celebration and worked on finalizing the national parks presentations.