The new semester is about to start next week after the PIA (Paced Interim Assessment) on Monday and Tuesday, January 23 and 24. We worked on fractions/decimals/percents, rates and algebra in math along with summarizing, author viewpoint, cause and effect and genres in preparation for the test. I think the students will do well.
I'd like to introduce Andres Lomeli, our new student teacher from GW. Mr. Lomeli started today and will be a great asset to our fourth grade classroom. I plan to have him work with small groups and help with administrative tasks to ensure a smooth-running program. Mr. Lomeli is from California and has been in the master's program at GW since last May. He will be with us until May 4. Welcome Mr. Lomeli!
We are gearing up for a five-week nutrition and farming program on Feb. 6. The students will learn farming and gardening methods, start seeds in the classroom for planting in the spring, start a worm farm and continue to learn about nutrition. The students are currently rehearsing a nutrition play that willl be performed for the lower grades on Friday. We are also continuing with the Be Water Wise DC program. The students counted faucets in the school and measured flow rates, counted toilets and urinals and looked for leaks. They have also measured the impervious areas on school grounds, counted the gutters and drain spouts, observed where storm water pools in areas around the school and calculated how much water Eaton used in the past 12 months. We also calculated how much water each person at Eaton used: nearly 2,000 gallons each! As we continue our studies, we will be thinking about how to save these resources (water and money) and make recommendations this Spring to the DC Council along with the other schools in the city who are participating in the study.
We will start a unit on the Revolutionary War in social studies next week and start a Geometry unit in Math. In language arts, we will focus on non-fiction in both our reading and writing. The students completed their fiction stories last week, and they are posted on the bulletin board outside the classroom. Have a peek!
We also celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday with a trip to Cleveland Park Library last Friday. The students sketched a picture with a freedom theme on paper that they transferred to fabric at the library. The fabric squares will be sewn into two quilts, one for each 4th grade. The drawings are beautiful and meaningful. The students certainly demonstrated the theme with aplomb. We also took a MLK quiz in the classroom from a Scholastic website and learned even more about this important American.
This is all for now. I've attached some photos of our students at work: writing stories, saying goodbye to Emily who moved back to Australia, working at Cleveland Park and acting as detectives to help solve the mystery of a cholera epidemic in London in the 1800s. Their job was to find the source of the outbreak which they successfully accomplished in partnerships after being given lists of victims, a map of London and some clues. Scroll down a bit at the end to view the photos.
Keep warm!
Susan K. Coti
Homework -- Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Coti Math: Study Links 8.2
Vocab. workshop: next two pages
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