Talking, listening, singing

Students discuss and listen actively while Ms. T.'s class observes.

What a fantastic start to a very busy couple of weeks. Today, we worked with Ms. Telemachos' class and modeled a whole class book discussion. After reading the book Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree, students in our class reflected independently about what they believed the most important theme of the book to be. As we moved into our standard open circle, Ms. Telemachos' students filed in our room and sat around us at our desks, prepared to observe our conversation in action. They were asked to watch us and try and decipher what our rules of engagement are, and what we do to promote active, thoughtful communication.

Ms. Telemachos' students were able to observe our students making eye contact with one another while speaking, avoiding looking and speaking directly and only to the teacher, using body language to show interest and understanding, using the language of "I agree with" and "I disagree with" to connect their thoughts to one another, and supporting all of their opinions and thoughts with evidence from the text.

Our students have been having rich, thoughtful conversations, and today's was no exception. In Nora Hurston, students identified two themes about which to talk. One, students felt that the story was really about the importance of never giving up on a dream. After Chloe made a connection to another book we read recently, students then considered that the book is about how gender should not limit people to do or achieve what they want. Our goal, of course, is for students to transfer this high level of thinking consistently to conversations surrounding the books they read independently.

Sammy and McKenna share at Town Meeting.

Today, students had the opportunity to meet with their grade-level colony groups for a second time. After completing their visuals for the initial slides of their VoiceThreads, students spent another chunk of time researching their subjects. Last week we moved from using books and are now navigating through a number of on line sources. Conducting research is tricky business. Many of the topics on which students are focused are not easily found. Students are learning that in order to learn about a given topic, a great deal of skimming and reading is required.

In science, students are working to learn to complete lab reports with each experiment we conduct. Last week, we created streams from single water sources, observing what happened to the water streams as it was poured into our stream tables as well as collecting and observing the run-off from those streams. Some students predicted that all of the water poured onto the soil would simply be absorbed into the ground. While some water was absorbed, much of the water flowed down the slopes. Students observed that as water streamed down our sloped land, it carved paths in the ground. This erosion left behind exposed gravel and deposited a load of sand at the base of each slope. The run-off collected was very murky and brown, but by the end of the day, students had already observed that some of the debris was rising to the surface of the water, while other matter was sinking to the bottom.

As we do for each experiment, students took before and after aerial pictures of their stream tables, using the photos to aid in their observations well after the experiments are complete. Student photographers take the pictures and upload them to iPhoto. This week, students will begin selecting their best images and editing them in iPhoto for use by their groups.

Fourth graders begin another round in technology this week. Each student will be conducting on line research to learn about a different jazz musician. After doing their research--in a manner similar to what they've been doing in social studies--students will be using Glogster to create digital posters. A glog is a multi-media presentation of information, which can incorporate movies, pictures, music and text. (Click here to see an example of a glog.) Students will collect and record relevant information from sites made available on Mrs. Baralt's Symbaloo. They will also search for usable images and video clips to add to the poster. And an important part of searching for all of this information is learning to properly site it. Then, students will incorporate all of this information into their posters. Of course, this research project is intended to support students' learning as we prepare for our grade level show one week from Friday. We will post links to the glogs as soon as they are finished.

Students should be well on their way to collecting and assembling articles for their We Haz Jazz costumes. With the show coming next week, we would like to collect costumes next Monday at school. Please, on Monday, send to school your child's costume. A form will come home tomorrow. Please return this form with your student's costume by next Monday. If you are in need of an item, please let me know sooner rather than later. The more time we have, the greater the chance we will find what your child needs.

Upcoming important events:
January 27: Grandparents and Special Friends Day / noon dismissal
February 2: We Haz Jazz dress rehearsal
February 3: We Haz Jazz performance, 8:30
February 9: Conference Day