Welcome April

This trimester, to support their learning about the history of Colonial America, students will engage in projects—alone or with a partner—intended to research topics of interest connected to Colonial America.

Through the completion of this project, students will:

1. Gain understanding of a particular person, group, event, or cultural practice or artifact from Colonial times;
2. Conduct research to adequately learn and teach about a topic;
3. Gain an understanding of how life in Colonial America is similar to and different from their lives today;
4. Contribute to a broader collection of research that will paint a picture of life in Colonial America;
5. Utilize technology to communicate their research to their audience; and
6. Create a product that sufficiently communicates the research in an engaging and thoughtful way.

Students will first identify a topic about which they would like to learn. The topic must reveal something about life in Colonial America that can be compared to life today. Students may choose to work alone or with a partner. Once the topic is identified, students will begin the first phase of the project: conducting research. Materials used to support this research will include books as well as web sites. Students will be expected to conduct their research at school (using Shorecrest library resources collected by the teachers, working in the computer lab and classroom) and occasionally at home (visiting the public library). Students will be aided through this process by their classroom teacher as well as the instructional technologist, the librarian and other specialist teachers who may be of assistance.

Sammy and Sean geocaching.

Once the research has been completed, students will decide upon a means to present their research. Again, the choices are open, but the medium should sufficiently allow the project to meet the learning objectives. Students are strongly encouraged to choose media that support their interests and learning styles.

While the choices for media are open, each project must incorporate the use of technology in some way. The technological vehicle may be the foundation of the project, or it may be used to capture and present the project for the purposes of a final presentation.

Today, I conferred with each of the students about her/his choices for a topic for the colonial projects. At this stage, topics are as varied as the students, including clothing, gender roles, Salem witch trials, games, George Washington, the Battle at Bunker Hill, and animals. By the end of the week students will all have a research plan in place and be in the early stages of research.

This week, as you know, fourth grade students are taking the WrAP writing assessment. This year, students have engaged in prompt writing a number of times, setting goals for their future work. Students considered six foundations of quality writing about which we have talked and learned all year: voice, organization, use of details, word choice, sentence fluency and mechanics.  Over the next two days, students will spend two hours planning, drafting, revising, and editing their pieces. All that we have been learning about in writing--both when crafting personal narratives as well as when composing expository pieces--supports their work in prompt writing. This timed, prompt-driven experience is relatively new for students, but great practice for their future work in school.

A book club discussing a well-loved text.

In math, students continue to learn about percentages, as well as how to rewrite fractions and decimals as percents. Today students read and synthesized population data, applying what they have been learning about percentages. Over the next few days we will continue our study, and the unit 9 assessment will take place next Wednesday, April 11.

In reading, students are working on composing the letters from the point of view of two different characters from Tuck Everlasting. The objective of the task is to communicate their deep understanding of the identity of two different characters.

Importantly, for each letter to be successful, it must:

1. Accurately speak from the perspective of a character;
2. Use evidence from the story to support the author's opinions;
3. Include enough details to give the reader the sense that the author truly understands the character;
4. Be organized properly and in an effective way;
5. Correctly spell ALL names as included in the text; and
6. Use conventions properly.

Busy, busy, busy!

Michael helping Manny publish his book.

Upcoming important events:
April 10: Ringling trip
April 16 - 20: Celebrate the Arts
April 19: Author Celebration
April 23: no school