Camp Edwards was a great success! I am sharing minimal pictures at this point, but a wonderful video will be coming your way. (Shhh... it's a secret!)
We are fully immersed in our study of Immigration - mostly centered on the Ellis Island time period, but also a broad view of the history of our country from Native Americans to current day. Since the majority of our study is centered around the Ellis Island time period, we will learn through role play and have an experiential day of "Immigration Simulation" on June 1st. The children have been working in small group "families" and building their story. Their stories include some historical background of the country they are leaving, the reason for leaving and the life they hope to create for themselves once in America. On the "Immigration Simulation" day they will make passports, take passage to the port, make the voyage on the ship, process through Ellis Island health checks and answer questions for manifest documentation to be approved for entrance.
We are looking for some foreign language speakers to assist us in being Ellis Island processors. Please contact me if you speak another language and are available on June 1st from 1:00 - 2:30.
Our final math unit has us stepping up the multiplication and division of higher numbers. Double Digit time Double Digit as well as 3 digit numbers divided by 2 digit numbers. As we enter this unit, we build upon our past practice of the use of the “open array” method, as it is very helpful for students to make sense of how numbers are broken up by place value. We will also be exploring other methods such as the “break – apart/wrestling” method, which is the distributive method, as well as the “bow-tie” method, which is a pre-cursor to the traditional algorithm that will be taught in 5th grade. These three methods are components of the “partial products” understanding which is the foundational understanding behind multi-digit multiplication.
Also, in connection to math, we have been working on Line Design, which has led us to a 4th grade tradition of String Art. This has been a wonderful culminating activity for our geometric unit.
In connection with our immigration study, we have been working in Book Clubs with immigration historical fiction books. The kids have been self directed with this project. They have decided on jobs, amount of reading and sharing times. They are to meet 1 - 2 times weekly and have to hold each other accountable to the reading and assignments. In the end, each group will summarize their book to the full group and share their learnings of that perspective of immigration. It is exciting to see how collaborative and motivated they are.
We have finally had a chance for everyone to share their Expert Reports through our in class presentations. I have been so very impressed with their effort and knowledge. With the weather changing, we have become a restless audience, so it's a good thing we got through them all. Be on the lookout for the red book to come home this week with the final scores.
Next week will be the final week for Spelling, Weekly Review & TFK.
Keep up the study of the 50 states - Location, Postal Abbreviations, Spelling & Capitals. It's our goal to have all 4 accomplished in the next few weeks.
More information coming soon regarding our End of Year class party. If your child is a summer birthday, we hope to celebrate him/her then.
Line Design
String Art - nailing
Camp Edwards
Factor Bingo
String Art - stringing
Mayfest!
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