"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

 

Today we continued our Biography genre study!  After an extended vacation, thanks to some snow, and a little CMT practice last week, we are back into Reader's Workshop mode.  As a class, we are reading Helen's Big World, The Life of Helen Keller by Doreen Rappaport.  While we read, we are paying close attention to special features of the biography genre and discussing how the time period effects the struggles and achievements in the person's life.  We will also discuss why Helen Keller has a biography written about her.  Tomorrow the class will each submit a blog entry about the Biography we are each partner reading from the Time for Kids series.  Check them out on our Kidblog! 

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

 

 

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"  Today we started our genre study of biographies with a revisit of Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau.  Today, the class was introduced to special features of biographies and what it takes to be a successful reader of biographies.  Our focus within this genre study will be determining WHY people have biographies written about them, including what makes them determined or brave.  We will also discuss how time and place impacted the person's life and note that "studying a subject's life and situation provides us with a window into the time and society in which this person lived."  We will work towards becoming inspired by these peoples' lives as we reflect on the question: "What is the life lesson I am learning from this text?" 

 

 

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Hello sleuths!  We are continuing our Mystery Unit this week, reading the conclusions of our A to Z Mysteries in our book clubs, as well as the conclusion to our whole-class read aloud, The Lucky Lottery.  We are noticing significant ties to Connecticut, as the setting plays a big role in the conclusion to The Lucky Lottery.  Ask your child about "Blue Hills" and the river that the children are cross country skiing along to beat the suspect to the lottery headquarters!  Also, there are hidden hints (foreshadowing) about money along their trail...do you remember what they are?

Webinar in Antarctica!

Today we participated in a webinar in Antarctica, organized by writers of Time for Kids.  Students listened to scientists live from Antarctica.  These scientists described the habitat and answered questions sent in by students!  We learned a lot of new information that coincides with our habitats unit!  Here is our new learning notes from the webinar:
• The scientists sleep in tents
• The scientists build igloos (snow caves) by covering bags of clothes
with snow, then removing bags of clothes
• Trained to build igloos for safety
• Scientists wear “white bunny boots” to protect their feet
• There are no polar bears in Antarctica
• Arctic and Antarctica are different places. The Arctic is the North
Pole; Antarctica is the South Pole
• No Native people on the continent
• The coldest recorded temperature was -128 degrees Fahrenheit
• Some penguins don’t like ice (terrestrial penguins)
• Temperatures are still below freezing temperatures (30 degrees F
today)
• There are 200 different kinds of penguins
• Antarctica is a desert (due to the amount of precipitation and extreme
weather)
• Adelie penguins make their nests out of rocks on dry land
• There are no countries that own Antarctica; it is set up for peaceful
research and science
• The sun never goes down in the summer; scientists sleep during the
daytime hours

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

 

Our Mystery unit is officially underway!  Our focus is Ron Roy's A to Z Mysteries, which we will study as a whole class and in book clubs.  Some students are choosing them as independent reading, too!!!!  As a class, we are reading Lucky Lottery.  Groups are completing case reports on A, B, C, and D.  Good luck, sleuths, as you unravel these marvelous Mysteries!

 

Meet Ron Roy, former West Hill School grade 4 teacher, in this YouTube video!

Meet Ron Roy

 

Winter Break Mosaic

I thought I would share a Winter Break mosaic of how I spent my winter vacation!  I hope you all enjoyed time with your families and friends too!

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Welcome back!  Happy New Year!  Today we shared our non-fiction text feature presentations that were created with the Notability app (described in my previous blog).  Please be sure to study as we wrap up our non-fiction unit of study tomorrow with an assessment!    Check out this great poster from Pinterest to help you study!