Dear Parents,
Wow! Another week with 5 full days of school. It was wonderful!
On Tuesday, Mrs. Christopher and I team taught a lesson. Mrs. Christopher came into the 4th grade room. We team taught a lesson on "GOOD FIT BOOKS". Choosing a "Good-Fit Book" takes practice, but with 5 strategies, students are able to better pick a book to read. The 5 strategies use the acronym, I PICK:
I choose a book.
P urpose--Why do I want to read?
I nterest--Does it interest me?
C omprehend--Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now--I know most of the words, using the 5 finger rule.
We demonstrated to students how to choose a shoe based on our purpose of clothing. I brought in Addison's shoes and Mrs. Christopher brought in her doll. The students learned how we use this same process when doing other things in life and that choosing a book is just as important as the picking of shoes we put on our feet!
We had a great time team teaching and we are going to be teaching together during the rest of this year. I know that the students really enjoyed it and so did we.
Ask the students about the layers of the ocean and the ocean food chain. They should be able to tell you the 4 layers of the ocean. The students and I also discussed and learned about the ocean food chain. There are 5 different areas to the food chain, plankton, zooplankton, small fish, large fish, and mammals. These can either be very simple or more complex, we are learning the simple version of the ocean food chain. After, we discuss the food chain and the layers of the ocean we will cover a couple more areas and then decide what animals we will be studying.
Next week is going to be busy. On Wednesday, the students will be taking the NAEP test and learning about their February book project. Thursday I will be attending an Iowa Core Curriculum meeting all day in Elkader and finally on Friday, the students will be swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center. Busy, busy!
To keep up to date on your student follow the blog I started. The internet address is http://www.northwinn4thgrade.blogspot.com/
Or go to the North Winn homepage, elementary, and click on my name. I am going to start putting the Friday letters on there, as well as, fun daily lessons that I will be teaching. I think it will be a great way for you and students to keep up to date.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Wednesday, February 4th—NAEP Testing
Friday, February 6th—Swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center for January Reading Calendar—Keep Reading!!! New project coming soon!
Tuesday/Thursday, February 10th & 12th—Parent/Teacher Conferences
Friday, February 13th and Monday, February 16th—No School
Conferences are coming up, but if you ever have questions or comments that you would like to share, contact me via e-mail or phone.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Good Fit Books
Today, Mrs. Christopher came into the 4th grade room. We team taught a lesson on "GOOD FIT BOOKS". Choosing a "Good-Fit Book" takes practice, but with 5 strategies, students are able to better pick a book to read. The 5 strategies use the acronym, I PICK:
I choose a book.
P urpose--Why do I want to read?
I nterest--Does it interest me?
C omprehend--Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now--I know most of the words, using the 5 finger rule.
We demonstrated to students how to choose a shoe based on our purpose of clothing. I brought in Addison's shoes and Mrs. Christopher brought in her doll. The students learned how we use this same process when doing other things in life and that choosing a book is just as important as the picking of shoes we put on our feet!
I choose a book.
P urpose--Why do I want to read?
I nterest--Does it interest me?
C omprehend--Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now--I know most of the words, using the 5 finger rule.
We demonstrated to students how to choose a shoe based on our purpose of clothing. I brought in Addison's shoes and Mrs. Christopher brought in her doll. The students learned how we use this same process when doing other things in life and that choosing a book is just as important as the picking of shoes we put on our feet!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Northeast Region Slideshows
Here are the 4th Grade Slideshows from the Northeast Region
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/Boston.ppt.htm
Austin, Shane, Deirdre, Kayla
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/new%20York%20city.ppt.htm
Brandon, Weston, Katey and Phoebe
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/newark.ppt.htm
Natalie, Courtney, Liz, Justin
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/Philadelphia.htm
Gavin, Chloe, Nick, Meretta
Enjoy the videos!
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/Boston.ppt.htm
Austin, Shane, Deirdre, Kayla
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/new%20York%20city.ppt.htm
Brandon, Weston, Katey and Phoebe
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/newark.ppt.htm
Natalie, Courtney, Liz, Justin
www.n-winn.k12.ia.us/fourthppt/Philadelphia.htm
Gavin, Chloe, Nick, Meretta
Enjoy the videos!
We had a full week this week!! YEAH!! I was so excited to get in a full week and with testing it made for an easy transition into next week. I continue to wish for full weeks ahead and the snow to stay at bay.
ITBS Testing went well this week. We had “brain food” each day and the students worked extremely hard on the tests. We will get the results back in a month. Unfortunately, not in time for conferences, but they will be mailed to you shortly after we receive them here at school.
OCEANS—The students were able to go across to Ms. Meade’s room for an ocean layers demonstration. Ms. Youngmeyer and Mr. Dignin taught the students about salinity and temperature of the oceans. Ms. Youngmeyer is a Senior and Mr. Dignin is a Junior at Luther, doing a January term with Ms. Meade. We were very fortunate to have them do some wonderful demonstrations and stations with our students. We will continue to study about the ocean and then combine the vertebrates unit and ocean unit into our ocean animal unit. It will be a great combination!
SOCIAL STUDIES—The students will start with a new region next week. We just finished up the Northeast Region and we will start the Southeast Region. We will be studying these states a little differently as there are more states to cover. Students will be putting together projects about states to share with the class.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Wednesday, January 28—1:15 Dismissal Teacher In-Service
Wednesday, February 4th—NAEP Testing
Friday, February 6th—Swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center for January Reading Calendar—Keep Reading!!!
Tuesday/Thursday, February 10th & 12th—Parent/Teacher Conferences
Friday, February 13th and Monday, February 16th—No School
Book Orders—I have included a list of books that I would recommend and their lexile levels. Ask your child what his/her lexile level is and match the books accordingly. Research shows that students who have a book that fits 4 categories are more successful readers and more apt to continue reading without being asked. These categories are purpose (a book to support information that they want to gain or reading just for fun), interest (Do they devour mysteries? Learning more about a pet at home. Or do they want a book similar to the one they just finished?), comprehend and know (Are they able to retell you what the paragraph they just read was about? Does the student know the vocabulary that would go along with that book?) These are just some suggestions. I am taking a graduate class about effectively teaching reading in the classroom. I found that parents could easily help students pick out books using this strategy as well. If you have further questions about this process feel free to ask.
Thanks, Mrs. Wicklund
ITBS Testing went well this week. We had “brain food” each day and the students worked extremely hard on the tests. We will get the results back in a month. Unfortunately, not in time for conferences, but they will be mailed to you shortly after we receive them here at school.
OCEANS—The students were able to go across to Ms. Meade’s room for an ocean layers demonstration. Ms. Youngmeyer and Mr. Dignin taught the students about salinity and temperature of the oceans. Ms. Youngmeyer is a Senior and Mr. Dignin is a Junior at Luther, doing a January term with Ms. Meade. We were very fortunate to have them do some wonderful demonstrations and stations with our students. We will continue to study about the ocean and then combine the vertebrates unit and ocean unit into our ocean animal unit. It will be a great combination!
SOCIAL STUDIES—The students will start with a new region next week. We just finished up the Northeast Region and we will start the Southeast Region. We will be studying these states a little differently as there are more states to cover. Students will be putting together projects about states to share with the class.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Wednesday, January 28—1:15 Dismissal Teacher In-Service
Wednesday, February 4th—NAEP Testing
Friday, February 6th—Swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center for January Reading Calendar—Keep Reading!!!
Tuesday/Thursday, February 10th & 12th—Parent/Teacher Conferences
Friday, February 13th and Monday, February 16th—No School
Book Orders—I have included a list of books that I would recommend and their lexile levels. Ask your child what his/her lexile level is and match the books accordingly. Research shows that students who have a book that fits 4 categories are more successful readers and more apt to continue reading without being asked. These categories are purpose (a book to support information that they want to gain or reading just for fun), interest (Do they devour mysteries? Learning more about a pet at home. Or do they want a book similar to the one they just finished?), comprehend and know (Are they able to retell you what the paragraph they just read was about? Does the student know the vocabulary that would go along with that book?) These are just some suggestions. I am taking a graduate class about effectively teaching reading in the classroom. I found that parents could easily help students pick out books using this strategy as well. If you have further questions about this process feel free to ask.
Thanks, Mrs. Wicklund
Friday, January 9, 2009
Welcome to my blog!
Mrs. Christopher has helped me create a blog and I am so excited to see what can happen with this blog!
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