I'm Done

Hey 4E, 

You guys are doing a wonderful job on your work today.

If you are all done and looking for more to do.......

Reading: read from your book bag and log it.

Writing: do some research and planning for your History to Life project

Math: Khan Academy

Passion Project work

This is all optional. You can do it if you WANT to.

Work hard, play hard.

I am hoping to feel better soon. I am still home today and resting as well as talking with you all. 

Miss you all,

Ms. Chris

Continuity of Instruction for March 25th: Virtual Learning Drill

Questions for Chris: please email me at tchristina@aisch.org

I will be checking my email all day. I will be available for gmail chat between 8:30-10am. Email Ms. Chris or a friend if you get stuck!

Suggested Times	Class	Directions
25 minutes  Listen to an online story  Stop and jot, and comment	Reading	Listen to White Socks Only After listening, go to our class blog “White Socks Only” and follow the prompt to write about your thoughts, and respond to the thoughts of others about White Socks Only.
25 to 30 minutes maximum: you will write a short literacy letter to your teacher	Writing	Read your friend’s comments on the blog about White Socks Only. Open your literacy letter googledoc and write a literacy letter to Ms. Lauren and Ms. Chris. Introduce White Socks Only by Evelyn Colleman. Write a short summary. Tell us what you thought about about the book. Remember to tell us what the text said as well as what you thought. How did your thinking change after reading your friend’s comments?
25 minutes	Math	First watch this video giving the directions for How Efficient is Your Kitchen?  Then click on this Slide show and make your own slide showing your kitchen.
20 minutes: Be an Archaeologist For A Day and Discover the Ancient Indus Valley(an online discovery and learning game)	Social Studies	Be an Archaeologist For A Day and Discover the Ancient Valley of the Indus Click on this link to  visit the Ancient Indus Valley. *Visit each section- timeline, photos, and fun facts. *Scroll down to the Activities Section near the bottom of the page. *Click on the Quiz Discovery- take the Quiz a few times, and check on what you have learned!!!   * Share an interesting fact on our blog about the Indus Valley

Color Group	First Block	Second Block
Arnav, Ava, Benno, Chae Yeon, Danielle, Hyejin, Moeno, Shanmuga, Si Eun, Sunwoo, Tomoyo, Yeong Jun, Hayden, Hana, Suin	Art http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=463	French http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=645
Aika, Charlotte, Seonwon, Gracelyn, Gyuwon, Hakin, Hyewon, Kaitlyn, Niccolo, Nayeon, Seoyoung, Taiyo, Toren, Uta, Vincent, Shaikh, Seongwon	Music http://virtualschool.aisch.org/mod/page/view.php?id=31720	P.E http://virtualschool.aisch.org/mod/page/view.php?id=31808
Dhivya, Hotaka, Jeongyoun, Jihun, Madison, Min Seong, Nathaniel, Ryota, Sanjith, Seungwon, Siyeon, Sydney, Taemin, Tomoki	French http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=645	Music http://virtualschool.aisch.org/mod/page/view.php?id=31720
Amy, Caitlin, Ellen, Leo, Miki, Natalie, Niyanta, Shapur, Shashwat, Sota, Thea, Tizio, Axel, Victor	Art http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=152	Spanish http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=590#section-2
Dominik, E.J., Elin, Jinwon, Kaavin, Lokeshwar, Pia, Robin, Ryan, Samira, Seika, Soobin, Wooseup, Nathan, Sangwoo	Indian Studies http://virtualschool.aisch.org/mod/page/view.php?id=31729	Art http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=152
Akshaya, Christian, Enzo, Justine, Katherine, Mahil, Milena, Palani, Shandaneh, Sujeong, Suman, Yejin, Yul, Mayu, Luca	Spanish http://virtualschool.aisch.org/course/view.php?id=590#section-2	P.E.

White Socks Only

After listening to White Socks Only, write a comment below sharing an important part of the book.
Then reply to your friend's comments and build a conversation in the comment section.

Indus Valley

Remember that historians learn facts and make inferences about the facts they read.
In the comments below, please write an interesting fact you have read about the Indus Valley.  Then write why this fact was important / interesting to you.

Weekly Updates

Announcements

Virtual Learning Drill/Continuity of Instruction:  Wednesday, March 25th

Spring Break:  March 28th-April 

Sprit Week: April 13 - 17. 

          Monday - Pajama Day
          Tuesday - Mismatch Day
          Wednesday  - Career Day
          Thursday - Twins OR Multiples Day
          Friday - 80’s Day 

It's another jam-packed week and everyone is excited for Spring Break.  We are saying good-bye to Uta on Tuesday. He is moving back to Japan, and we have a goodbye party Tuesday afternoon.  

Please read below to learn what is happening in our Units of Study.

Reading Workshop

The historical fiction unit is drawing to a close.  Students have been working in book clubs, and independently, to practice comprehension skills within this challenging drama.  As a close to Book Clubs, groups will be sharing their thoughts on their books in a podcast.  This week, all of our teaching points center on identifying different themes, such as racism, courage, tolerance, equity, and love in different texts.  

Writing Workshop:  Bringing History to Life

Next week, as well as the two weeks following our return from Spring Break, students will be working to bring one historical topic to life through any creative way they choose.  Next week, we will work on narrowing our research topics.  While YouTube is a great way to learn general information about a topic, next week our teaching points will focus on reading non-fiction texts and developing a note taking system to highlight and track information about our focus topics.

Our teaching points will include:

• Determining main idea and supporting details.
• Using multiple sources to find more information.
• Taking meaningful notes that include both facts and ideas.

Math:  Area and Scale Drawings

4E spent a little more time exploring area and perimeter last week than anticipated. We focused on finding the area for non-square shapes which was a challenge and a great source of inquiry. Students will be thinking about the spaces we work and play in and exploring the concepts of scale and area.   

Specific objectives we will focus on this week are:

• Measuring to the nearest quarter inch.
• Drawing "rough" floor maps.
• Using a scale to create a scale drawing.

Solar Energy

Last week we finished our solar cookers. We had 6 solar cookers and 6 cookies. 2 were stolen by animals (crows, we think), 1 was still gooey in the middle, but the other 3 were cooked all the way through. I took the rest of the batter home to cook. The next day, as students were typing up their notes, they could compare their solar cooked cookies to oven cooked cookies. Then we had a yummy snack as we worked!

Indus Valley Civilization

We are starting to talk about the Indus Valley Ancient Civilization. This connects to our studies with the Ganges from the fall and connects to our current Bringing History to Life project. Right now, we are exploring how archaeologists find objects from thousands of years ago and infer to build a story of long ago civilizations.

Specific Objectives we will focus on this week are:

• Infer meaning into everyday Indus Valley objects 
• Explore what archeologists have found and the meaning they make 
• Determine why we explore the past, what is the significance on present and future 
• Connect civilizations with culture and identity 

Reading Response

Chapter 6: Is the Weather Good for Fishing?

Think about Chapter 6 from Number the Stars.

Write one comment answering one of the questions above.

Then respond to a friend's comment, using a Quality Comment. 

Try to build a conversation!

Update

Announcements

Continuity of Instruction Drill:  Thursday, March 25.  The school has already sent out communication on the thinking behind this day.  Plans for 4E will be posted on Moodle, as required, but I will also send an email that tells students their work for the day and it will be posted here, just as it was for our practice session last week. Fourth grade teachers have worked hard as a team to design a day that is engaging both on and off the computer.  

Please read below to learn what's happening in our units of the study this week.

Math:  Area and Scale Drawings

This week, students will be reviewing perimeter and area of geometric shapes as well as their hands and geographic areas. Students will also be thinking about the spaces we work and play in and exploring the concepts of area and scale.    Specific objectives we will focus on this week are:

• Develop and apply formulas for areas of rectangles, parallelograms and triangle
• Measuring to the nearest quarter inch.
• Drawing "rough" floor maps.
• Using a scale to create a scale drawing.

Reading Workshop:  Historical Fiction

This week, we continue our historical fiction unit.  Our mini lessons this week focus on:

• Building ideas slowly while reading.
• Writing responses to our reading.
• Sharing thoughtfully with our peers in book clubs.

Writing Workshop:  Bringing History to Life

Students spent last week brainstorming different historical events and thinking about one they will "Bring to Life".  This unit blends research skills with creativity and students are encouraged to present their learning in any way they choose.  In the past, students have chosen to make a movie, write a historical fiction story of their own, or perform something for the class to show what they've learned.  Now, we are still in the beginning research phase.  Students have progressed well in research this year and our teaching points will aim to challenge them to go deeper into their topic and to use more sophisticated researching skills.  Our teaching points this week will be:

• Identifying keywords to help search about a topic.
• Exploring "nearby ideas" to help search about a topic.  
• Considering the authority of different sources.
• Reflecting on how facts and events help us create ideas and opinions about history.

Solar Energy

We have encouraged the students to really reflect upon the problems and successes of their first solar cookers. This week we will finish our re-designed solar cookers and test them on Wednesday. We will be cooking some cookies, which hopefully we will be able to eat! 

Passion Projects:  Round Two

The second round of Passion Projects started last week.  The students have come up with some truly inspiring ideas of what they want to explore, learn, and do.  This round of Passion Projects has four requirements:

1.  Question:  Define a Guiding Question that will drive the project.  

2.  Create:  Make something, do something, build something.

3.  Find an Expert:  Reach out to people outside of our classroom community to learn more about your project.

4.  Share:  Plan a way to share what you do with an audience outside our classroom.  

We will work to coach students through all of these requirements.  It is our biggest hope that students will be so passionate about their projects that they work on them at home; some students have chosen projects that require work outside of school.  Your support is always appreciated.  Passion Projects will be presented to our class on April 27th and April 28th. 

Homework March 11th

Read the passage below. (or listen)

What is important event in this passage?

Why do you think it is important?

Leave your comments below.

Read your friend's comments and reply to at least one.

Ms. Lauren and I are looking for Quality Comments that show your thinking.

MARCH 11th: Continuity of Instruction Drill

Continuity of Instruction for March 11th (Wednesday): Virtual Learning Drill

Click on this link to watch a video of Ms. Chris giving directions for today.

Click here to talk with Ms. Chris on google hangout!

Here is the survey for when you are done.

Suggested Times	Class	Directions
30 minutes for all students	Inquiry: You will create a new solar cooker design diagram	1st: Open your team's Solar Cooker googledoc. Read the data analysis and conclusion. 2nd: On a piece of paper, draw a design for your next solar cooker. How will you improve your design? What will you do to fix the problems you had before? 3rd: Carefully label your design.  Show the materials you will use. Show how you will solve problems. Show where the food and thermometer will go.

5 min

Survey

I will send a survey to your gmail after 9am.  Please open and answer the survey questions before 9:30. Remember to hit submit and then read over your answers and submit again.

Here is an example of my drawing.  I just started. It is not finished. A finished picture would have MANY labels and support/details for each label.

MAP Test

4E is working hard this morning on their Language Usage MAP Test.

Weekly Update

Announcements:

MAP Testing:  

Tuesday, March 10th 8:45-10:15 Language Usage

Thursday, March 12th 1:30-3:30 Math

Math Project Due Monday, March 9th

Literacy Letter Due Tuesday, March 10th
Continuity of Instruction Practice Wednesday March 11^th 8:45-10:

Continuity of Instruction Practice Drill
We are attempting to simulate what the March 25th virtual learning drill day will look like.  Parents are invited to learn with their child during a one 45 minute lesson being directed by Ms. Chris from another classroom on March 11th, from 8:30 to approximately 10:00 am. We are hoping to arrange for a group of parent volunteers to come in during this time and support the children as they access the lesson, complete, and submit the work. Following the lesson, we will ask students and parents for feedback about how we can better prepare for March 25th. Please let me know if you can come to the school, we have 4 parents signed up so far.

Homework

Despite efforts, and reminders we continue to have trouble with students turning in homework on time. We will be starting to require students to stay in from recess if homework is not completed and turned in on time. We ask for your help. Please ask to see you child's homework book and their book log. They both require a signature every night.

Math:  Math Project and Math Skills Review
 A math project encouraging students to convert units of measurement, create a bar graph and compare measurement is due on Monday. Students have had some time in school to work and build understanding of the project. This week is World Math Day as well as our Math MAP test, we have a lot of math activities, games, and review planned this week. Next week, we will return to our unit of study around measurement and area / perimeter.

Reading Workshop:  Historical Fiction
Students will continue to meet with their book clubs from 3:00-3:30 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  In class, we will be working on the following:
**Close reading of long descriptions.
**Responding to texts in our own way.

Writing Workshop:  Bringing History to Life
We continue to brainstorm and explore different topics in history.  Students will be guided toward topics that interest them.  This week we will:
**Brainstorm historical events and eras related to:  war and conflict, natural disasters, civil rights movements, and inventions.
**Considering the many, many sub-topics that are under one topic.  For example, World War II.

Science:  
The solar ovens were tested on Friday.  Students will complete a guided reflection about what went well, and what could be improved.  We will test them again this week, and actually cook something.

Passion Projects:  Round Two
Students are thrilled to begin our second round of Passion Projects.  During our brainstorming activity, so many good ideas were brought up.
This time around, we are encouraging students to do the following:
DO something:  Create, design, build, and/or test.
Reach Out:  Find an expert outside of our classroom, or even our school, who can give advice or feedback on the project.
Seek a Larger Audience:  Last time we shared our projects with each other; this time, we will be encouraging students to share their learning with even more people.