4th Grade MP3 Campus

School Data is open on the 1st for parent reviews. These are due by the 5th. We hope the cut and paste grade level newsletter will be helpful to supplement your remote learning plan reviews. Thank you for submitting in a timely manner and if you need help please reach out to your SLPC.

Topics: patterns, expressions and equations, visual representations, visual algebra, brain teasers, multiplication fact fluency and strategies

Activities: This month we focused on how we can identify patterns in math and how to express them as an expression as well as deciding if the number is growing by addition or multiplication (or a combination of both). We also looked at visual patterns and created numerical representations as well as finding multiple ways to identify how a pattern is growing. During the second half of the month, we focused on self-assessing the currently level of fact fluency with multiplication and then played targeted games to help increase our fluency. Our first strategy we focused on was derived facts where you use a known fact to help solve an unknown fact. For example, if I'm stuck on 7x12 I can solve 7x10 and 7x2 and add the two products together.

Teacher Tip: Fact fluency is an important part of mathematical success. One of the best ways to increase fluency is to play games that require repeated use of the skill. I will be sending home several games with your student in the coming weeks, encourage them to teach you the game and incorporate games into your math routine.

Teacher Info: Mrs. Kurashige, skurashige@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: web plan, organization, text features, writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish, share), editing marks, indenting paragraphs, bibliography format and purpose

Activities: We have made a lot of headway on our information books. Students completed web plans and now are drafting each of their 3+ sections. We are working toward each section having a topic sentence, lots of detail sentences, a wrap-up sentence, and a factual tone. We discussed the purpose of many text features and how they help an author to teach about their topic. It is a pleasure to see all the creative ways students are working to share their information (i.e., diagrams, mini flashcards, maps, models).

We have also been carving out time to work on writing complete answers. Students are working to meet these four goals when they answer a comprehension question: answer restates the question, answer is correct, all sentences begin with a capital, all sentences end with a proper end mark.

One of our highlights this month was our Gallery Walk. Students enjoyed reading each other's books and giving each other compliments.

Teacher Tip: When your student is answering a comprehension question, ask them to self-check that they have met all four goals of a strong answer (answer restates the question, answer is correct, all sentences begin with a capital, all sentences end with a proper end mark).

Teacher Info: Mrs. Giesen, jgiesen@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Our learning objectives this month were the following: Students will learn that light is a form of energy that travels in straight lines from a light source, find out how light can reflect (bounce off) from the surface of a mirror, learn that an object is seen only when light from that object enters an eye, learn that white light is a mixture of all colors of light, learn that light can be absorbed and reflected by matter, learn that the apparent color of an object is the result of the light it reflects, observe that the apparent color of an object is affected by the color of light striking it, predict outcomes of investigations and compare results.

Activities: Students used mirrors and a flashlight to reflect light rays in different directions. Students used mirrors to direct light rays onto specific items and specific locations. Students learned that matter has color based on what light is reflected by that object as all other colors are absorbed. Students used tubes and colored plastics to observe how colors are perceived when seen through another color. Objects placed in the green tube will appear green only if they reflect green light (the only light coming into the tube) otherwise they will appear black. Objects that reflect red light will appear red or white in the red tube. Objects that absorb red light will appear black in the red tube. Matter can reflect or absorb light.

Vocabulary: light source, rays, reflect, absorb, appearance, white light, shadows, color

Teacher Info: Mrs DeWaard, hdewaard@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Engineering and Design: Students create programmable models to demonstrate the knowledge and operation of digital tools and technological systems. Investigate balance and /or stability, effects of change in position on model’s movement, how force affect the motion of objects, modify an existing model or program to solve a problem. Observe and measure accurately to answer questions.

Activities: Specific Builds: Moon base- Student built and programmed a robot that can drive and turn in different directions simulating be able to move on the surface of the moon. Students used a sample program to move and turn the robot, investigating how the program works, and modified the parameters and carry out further tests.

Challenge Project: Paper Span Bridge- Students worked with a partner to design and build a paper bridge to hold a maximum amount of weight. Constraints: use only the supplies provided to the team (5 sheets of copy paper, 6 inches of tape, and scissors). The bridge structure must be at least 8 inches (width of a sheet of paper) wide, span 15 inches and be suspended at least 5 inches off the table. Analysis of each structure’s success was based on the maximum weight the structure was able to hold.

Challenge Project: 12 Card Tower- Students worked with a partner to design and build a free-standing paper tower for maximum height. Constraints: use only the supplies provided to the team (12 4x6 index cards, 12 inches of tape, and scissors). Structure must be free standing (cannot be attached to anything). Analysis of each structure’s success was based on the maximum height of the structure.

Teacher Tip: Robotics, Engineering and Design Topics and activities can be included in your independent Science Class review.

Teacher Info: Mrs. Brannen - Room 8 lbrannen@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Script writing/puppetry, informational reading, Thanksgiving Escape Room

Activities: Fourth graders completed the writing of their ABC dialogue or original play scripts, practiced and then presented to their classmates. How fun to hear their creative ideas and added expression! They enjoyed working with the animal puppets and are looking forward to the opportunity to create their own puppet as well. After watching a power point presentation about Veterans Day, students wrote their own acrostic poem based on the word veteran. These are now on display in our classroom. With a need to work on reading informational text, students used a non-fiction reading and writing packet for Veterans Day to learn who veterans are, what Veterans Day is about, how it is celebrated and how it differs from Memorial Day. Through peer collaboration, students engaged in a Thanksgiving Escape Room activity. The escape room took students on a secret mission while reading passages, answering questions and decoding cludes by using Morse code, cryptograms and others. Every group was successful in cracking the code. Through their reading, they learned about Thanksgiving, history and traditions around the world. In addition, our class finished listening to the third book in the Addy series. Again, this series has brought about some deeper conversations about the characters, their choices, the time period and how we see changes since that time.

Teacher Info: Mrs. Elgersma, gelgersma@meridian.wednet.edu