Open House

It was great to see so many families at tonight's open house. We love getting to meet all the parents and siblings. We also got to  see a lot of former students! We love to see how everyone has grown.

Guess whooooo came to visit?

Today we had a couple of special guests in 4th grade. Steve rom the Pequotsepos Nature Center and his friend Mr. Bill ( a great horned owl) came by to teach us a little something about owls.

Students learned about owl adaptations that help an owl survive. Steve talked about hearing, vision, feathers and talons.

Afterward, all the 4th graders were able to dissect owl pellets! It was a very exciting visit!

This visit coincides with our owl research projects that we are completing in reading as well as the upcoming reading of the book Poppy by Avi.

What is the effect of a flowing stream on the land?

Students investigated this question in science yesterday. They bulldozed their land into a 20x5cm block and used a cup with a small hole in the bottom to represent the source of the stream. Two liters of water were poured at a constant rate to simulate the flowing stream.

Students then observed what effects the stream had on the land. Notice the gravel now showing, and the beach (delta) at the end of he streams. We are wondering why the gravel did not make it into the delta.

Each group also collected run-off from their stream tables. We will be collecting more from other investigations and comparing how much soil is  moved as we change the force of the water.

Just Another Day in 4th Grade

We have been busy in 4th grade this week, which is nothing new...we are always busy!

In science we made it rain on our stream tables. We are studying the effects of water on the land. We will be modeling streams and rivers in the next few investigations and discussing how the force of the water affects the amount of erosion that occurs.

Rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 etc. is the topic of the week. Students are learning how to use a number line to help them round larger numbers. From here we will move on to estimating, and then adding and subtracting large numbers using the traditional algorithm.  Math is very hands-on and fun. Don't worry if you are not seeing a math text book, they are using many different resources to learn each concept.

Reading has been a real "hoot" lately. Really...we are reading about owls and beginning our first short research project. Students are discovering the many adaptations owls have that help them survive. We will have a guest owl coming into the classes in a couple of weeks and we will be disecting owl pellets (owl vomit) to find out what they eat! (Yum)

We have an early release day this Thursday. Students will be dismissed at 1:50. The PTO spelling challenge is coming up. It's not only a great fundraiser but a good practice for the 4th grade spelling bee later this year.  We will be visiting the book fair on Monday, September 30th.  There will be information coming home on that soon.

What's going on in 4th grade?

It feels like summer has returned this week! It is so warm upstairs in the 4th grade, but we know that cooler, fall weather is right around the corner. The 4th grade is working hard here in Ashaway. In reading we are implementing the new Common Core State Standards for ELA. Both reading classes are working on "close reading". Students are monitoring their understanding by summarizing what they have read and backing up and rereading if they are unclear about something.  They are also figuring out new vocabulary words by using context clues, graphics, and prior knowledge to help them formulate a definition. We have been reading articles about deer mice, porcupines and nocturnal animals to gather background knowledge before we read
"Poppy" by Avi. Soon we will begin to read and learn about owls. We will also be doing a short research project on owls.

In math we are working on place value of numbers to the millions. Students have been writing numbers in standard, word and expanded form. We have done some fun activities and lessons to go along with this.

We have begun our land and water science unit. Today we created a model of the water cylce in our stream tables. We talked about why scientists use models and why we use models in our classroom. I will try to post pictures and videos of our science lessons. They are very exciting and fun!

Trying Something New

With each new school year comes change. Whether it be new students, new teachers or new principals, each year holds the excitement and anticipation of the unknown. At Ashaway Elementary School we are experiencing all of these things this year. So in the spirit of change, the 4th grade teachers have decided to try a new way of communicating with parents about the happenings in our classrooms. We have decided to start this 4th grade blog. Here we will keep you updated on classroom activities, projects, field trips and anything else that happens to come up. This will replace both our monthly newsletters and our website.  We hope you will follow our journey through this new school year. It promises to be full of excitement and change!