Hello families,

I apologize for not being in touch last week -- I hope that  my Instagram photos gave you a sense of what we did at Camp Swampy. It was a lovely few hours, and the students all had a lot of fun. They worked together to clear an area for our meeting circle, and they moved a lot of logs that Mr. Bouchard had cut. It was amazing to see it all come together in just a few minutes! We talked a lot about the history of the place and about what sorts of plants and animals live there now. They all wrote in their journals about how we impact the forest by being in it. Finally, they got together in their "dens" and made forts. Each den also "adopted" and flagged a tree. Next time, we will identify the trees and take some measurements and other observations so we can keep track of how they change over the course of the year. I wish we could go weekly rather than monthly!

We now have the Tower Garden in our classroom. We are growing kale. The students all learned about how plants can be grown hydroponically. This week, we used water test kits to test and then adjust the pH of the water in the Tower Garden. We will be learning about the importance of pH throughout the year.

We started learning about the geography of Vermont this week. We will learn about the mountain ranges, the lake, the main rivers, and the various physiographic regions and their features.  On October 29, right in time for Halloween, we will make Vermont maps out of candy and Rice Krispies Treats. The students will bring them home to eat, so you can decide how much/when/if they can eat them!

In reading, we are continuing to learn strategies for comprehension, focusing mostly on the characters in the books we are reading. We are paying attention to the traits and behaviors of our characters, as well as their struggles and yearnings. I always find that 4th graders learn to love reading in a different way once they start thinking about the characters like this!

We have spent a lot of time planning for our first writing piece. Everyone has a character and a story arc that shows the plot. Today they will begin writing their drafts on their chromebooks, and then we will spend the next few weeks revising and improving the stories. They have some amazing ideas, and I can't wait to see how their stories come out!

In math, we have moved from multiplying one-digit by two-digit numbers to division! This is often a very confusing switch for fourth graders. I was impressed yesterday by what I saw them doing! I am attaching some photos that show some of the strategies we are currently using for both multiplication and division, just so you know what I'm expecting. I know you probably learned to multiply and divide a different way! If these are confusing for you, ask your children to explain them!

Finally, there are a few things in the folder I want to tell you about. I sent home a sample of student writing along with a copy of a recent math assessment. (Due to illnesses and various times students have been out of school, not everyone has these.) I thought it would be helpful for you to have these in front of you when we have our parent conference. I so wish we were having them in person! I also sent home a list of "Words to Learn" for the students who have Word Study with me (others have it with Mrs. Lee.) These are common words your child still needs to learn. A few of the students haven't had a chance to finish this yet (and a few others don't currently have any they are working on) but they will bring them home soon! I suggest letting your child write these in shaving cream, with sidewalk chalk, over and over again with fancy pens, etc.  Make it fun!

That is all for this week. I look forward to meeting with you all over the next 2 weeks -- it's always so good to see parents and get to know them a bit!

Enjoy your weekend and the glory of fall!