This week, the students worked on a multi-step "How To" project in Language Arts. First, I modeled "How To" make homemade grape juice. Then, we discussed a few ideas students had chosen in the past. Next, each student chose a "How To" process to describe in 6 steps. Students planned, then created storyboards with pictures and text, then cut apart their sequenced storyboards and scrambled them. Next was the pleasure of challenging a classmate to put their "How To" story in the correct order. Finally, I brought in a jar of my homemade grape juice, and we all toasted "To Fourth Grade!"
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I baked a pizza-sized chocolate chip cookie and brought it to Math with this problem-solving prompt: how can we share it equally? (We wanted to divide it 24 ways.) Once students had solved the problem, we ate the prompt... Students seemed very motivated...
As an extension to the activity of building a Snow Student in August, students responded to related math and language arts prompts later in the week. Their math prompt is shown above. Students used a variety of strategies to achieve the correct answer of 25 minutes. The Writing prompt was: Create a story about a Snow Student. Students generated lots of original writing, and titles included: "Snownado," "The Snow Student," "Curse of the Snow Student," and "Sam, the Snow Student." One example is below.
On the first day of Fourth Grade, students built a Snow Student! They used snow I had saved for them since February. The temperature outside (as measured by the students) was 88 degrees Fahrenheit.
A new arrival emerged August 12th! Welcome to the world an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.
My oldest son found a colorful caterpillar entering the "J" stage in the grass by our herbs, on July 30th. We carefully moved the swath of grass onto our screened porch table, and watched the caterpillar form a pupal skin and chrysalis. The chrysalis hung by a silken thread. Almost two weeks later... an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly emerged! I used my Audubon guide to identify her as a female. I named her Paulina and released her onto my butterfly bush. I have learned that one of the Eastern Black Swallowtail's favorite foods is parsley... which probably explains why we found her next to our three parsley plants. |
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March 2020
AuthorMs. McGill is a public school librarian at Stony Point Elementary. She has previously taught all subjects in 4th & 5th grades, and creative nonfiction at UVa's Young Writers Workshop for nine summers. Categories |