4th grade happenings the past two weeks.

Language Arts
The learners have started new book groups. The are doing different activities and facilitating meetings on their own for this round. It is nice to see how they handle different aspects of group work in this situation. You can really see how the structure and practice of facilitated book groups gives them the tools to have successful coversations about literature on their own. Learners had the opportunity to choose the books they didn't "get" in the Realistic Fiction group or were able to choose a Fantasy book, which they are connecting to our Read Aloud novel, Tuck Everlasting that we finished a few weeks ago. These groups range in size from independent study (1) to six learners all based on choice.

In Writer's Workshop we've been working on Revising for Word Choice and Voice. We talked about how action verbs help a story be more engaging. Then we had a short review of verbs, especially action verbs. We learned/reviewed the subject and predicate of a sentence. We talked about formal vs. casual voice in our writing and when it is or isn't appropriate. We recognized how much dialogue helps a story's "Voice". With all of these minilessons, we then went back to our current draft to improve it. We learned more about how to have a meaningful feedback conference with peers, and had a chance to practice. There is a Six-Trait Checklist connected to their "Light" essay homework this week. Please note that these are traits and expectations well be working on improving all year and I do not expect all learners to include all of these things. We have had a lot of practice with Ideas, Voice, and Conventions. We'll continue working on mulitparagraph organization, word choice, and sentence fluency through Writer's Workshop.

Word Work happens every Tuesday morning. There has been some confusion regarding homework and expectations and so I am yet again, trying something new. We began buddy checks with learners still mastering No Excuse Words. They will now be testing each other at school on their new lightning, shark, and turtle words. They will bring home a list of Shark and Turtle words that they need to practice at home, so that they can be quizzed the following week on their mastery. those learners who mastered their No Excuse List are working in a small group on other grammar and spelling skills.


It's Electric
Learners have been conducting different experiments with electricity. They have used cells (batteries), wires, light bulbs, and other means to make a curcuit. They should understand what curcuits are, including short, open, and closed. (They know to never create a short curcuit.)Gina Reidy helped the learners explore Conductors and Insulators. They experimented with switches this week. Many learners created their own switches using different material, while others worked with actual switch components.