Decimals!!!

 

 

Calia is naming decimals...she does a great job remembering the difference between the "tenths" and "hundredths" place!

Chey is making sure the value of each decimal is shown with our base-ten blocks.

Averi uses cubes to represent the "hundredths" place.

Beau is proud that his group's decimals have been put in order from least to greatest.

Last week our class teamed up with our friends in Miss Manning's class to help each other work on naming, building, and comparing decimals. The children worked hard to make sure they used their understanding of decimal place values to solve each problem. I was so impressed by how focused and hard working all of the students were! I am already looking forward to the next opportunity for this "team learning"....I would like to try it out in writing workshop as well!   Love, Ms. Martin

Outstanding Orchestra Audience!!!

Using Figurative Language

This week in Writing Workshop we are focusing on using "figurative language." This writing technique is used when you write poetry, stories, and even nonfiction.

One example is a "simile." A simile is a sentence that compares two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." A great simile that we could use is "My sister's newborn baby is as small as a peanut." How about a metaphor? A "metaphor" also compares two unlike things without using "like" or "as." For example: "I'm a devil when I get mad at my little brother."

 We are even focusing on "personification". Do you notice the word "person" in it? This helps us remember that this technique gives human qualities/characteristics to animals, objects, or ideas. For example: "The ball jumped into Jonah's hands!"   Finally, we are using hyperboles. A hyperbole is a form of extreme exaggeration. For example "I'm so hungry that I could eat a horse!!"

We have started using figurative language in our own writing and are noticing it a lot in our reading time too!!!!

Written by: Jonah, Cheyenne, and Livi.

Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra

On Wednesday, our class traveled to the Young People's Concert at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center. The performance was fantastic with art, acting, and music combined. First, the ballerina came out and jumped almost as high as the ceiling! Her name was Maddy Faust and she danced to a song called "Aragonaise" from Carmen. The orchestra included some of our favorite instruments such as tubas, clarinets, bassoons, and flutes. The conductor's name was Joan Landry. She was waving her baton like a tree in a hurricane. She also educated us about music and the arts. Then there was a singer named Tom Walsh and he sang "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha. His voice was very big and low. We thought it was so loud that he could be heard all the way from China!

Many of us enjoyed the performance including a song from Harry Potter that started off with three child actors doing the opening scene of the train station and heading to Hogwart's. We were surprised by their acting abilities because they were just about our age.

During some of the songs we saw pictures of both abstract and figurative artwork that young children had created. We like abstract art the best! The whole performance was inspiring because it seemed to have the common theme of "Believe in yourself, and you can do anything!!!"

Written by: Beau, Nick, and Averi.

Weekly Update

   This week was very busy. We had a test in ELA Common Core, it was not easy. On Friday we went over the ORQ ( Open Response Question) part of the  test because a lot of people had trouble with it. We learned how to go back to find details and examples to support our answers.
   In math we are learning about Whats my rule.Whats my rule is when you have an in and out table and have a rule that you follow. If it doesn't have a rule with it you have to figure it out with either +,-,x, or /.
   In science we're talking about food chains . A food chain shows decomposers, producers and consumers in an animal's habitat.If something goes wrong in the food chain like if a animal dies out then a lot of bad things would happen.
               By: Calia, Haley and Alex
                     

Fieldtrip Description

Our class recently went to the Mashpee Woodlands for a field trip. We went on a hike through the woods. Something really cool we saw was woodpecker holes in a tree. We saw a tea berry plant. If you rip the leaves of a tea berry plant in half you will smell mint. We saw moss one kind was bearded moss and reindeer moss. We even saw a couple of Ladies Slippers. It was aswmazing to see a lady slipper!  Also we saw Indian pipe it was small and brown. Next also saw animal scat. Scat means animal droppings. Then we saw a cople of animals some of the animals were a bird, red back salamander,wolfspider and many more! Then we saw a deer trail all the grass was stomped down on the trail. We saw a couple of Mushrooms they had many colors one was blue another was tan and brown. We also saw a Gypsy  moth egg mass on a tree it was tan. We saw many trees too a couple of them were White oak and a Pine tree and Pitch pine. Finally we saw poison ivy you can tell if you see poison ivy because it has three leaves and it's red. We hope you had a good time learning about the Mashpee Woodlands! You should try and visit sometime!

By: Olivia G, Nick, and Alex.

Typed By: Nick, Jonah, and Olivia G.

Amazing Adaptations

Here is a video showing the adaptation of camouflage and ink cloud that an octopus uses to survive in its environment. The children really enjoyed seeing this amazing invertebrate in action!!!

Mashpee Woodlands Trip!

Checking In!

Room 124 has been VERY busy!!  In writing workshop, we have been focusing on Informative Writing. Together, the class composed paragraphs detailing their Earthworm Observation. Now, they are doing their own research on either a whale or penguin. They are taking these details and constructing four complete paragraphs on their own. Each paragraph must have a topic sentence followed by supporting details.

In math, we have moved onto studying place value as well as landmark numbers. We have been collecting a lot of data, organizing it, making graphs, and then using landmark terms ( maximum, minimum, median, mode, and range) to describe the trends of the data.

Because this and next week are both short, we will be having our spelling and fact quizzes next Thursday. That is when their menus need to be turned in as well. Studying a fact triangle by writing out the 4 "fact families" and saying them aloud is a good way to commit facts to memory. 5 triangles/ night is a good amount to focus on. 

Thank you and enjoy your long weekend!!   :)  ~Katie Martin

Class Book

We started a book called "Because of Winn Dixie." It's about a girl named Opal and her dad the preacher and they just moved from Watley to Naomi, Florida in a trailer park for adults. One day Opal went to the grocery store and Winn-Dixie barged in the store and ruined everything and Opal told the store owner that she owned the dog.The precher let Opal keep Win-Dixie. Opal only lives with her father because her mom left when she was young. Since she moved to Naomi, Opal is having a tough time making new friends.


.                           Typed by: Aj and Nick  Written by: Livi, Chy, and Beau
                                 

                                      
 
 

                                                                                                                                          

Mammal Lab

Today, a staff member from the Thorton Burgess Society of Sandwich came in to teach us more about mammals, especially those found in a Cape Cod forest. We saw evidence that an animal was in the forest, we saw their scats, exoskeletons, and their fur.We have been talking about invertabrates and vertabrates in class, there was a shell from a turtle and you could see its spine. Finally, we observed a live rabbit and a box turtle! Did you know a box turtle can live up to 150 years?!
      By: Callia and Nick

What's Happening?!

   The fourth and a half week of school was interesting. First thing to explain is that Ms.Martin brought in an unbelievably HUGE sunflower from her mother's farm. Ms.Martin told us we would save the seeds and feed some to the birds this winter and, we will also take some home for our own and plant them in the spring.
   We also learned about invertebrates. Ms.Martin brought some REAL sponges in last week from Mrs. Richard's art room and it was cool to see that it used to be a real animal. We like mollusks including snails, octopuses, squid, clams, and mussels. We eat some mollusks on Cape Cod!

   In writing workshop, we worked on finding the main idea/topic sentence in a paragraph. We also looked for details in the supporting sentences. We noticed that the topic sentence is usually the first or second sentence and it tells you what the paragraph is going to be about. We are working on writing informative paragraphs on our earthworm observation. We enjoy combining science and writing.

    Written/Typed By: Averi & Haley

Species of Trees in Cape Cod Forests

In science class we identified different kinds of trees. We had specimens of trees for hints. We had to follow along with the words to get the species of trees. The things we used were pinecones, pine- needles, acorns and leaves. I never knew there was such  thing as a Black Oak and I never knew only female holy trees have berries and I think that is amazing. It was interesting to identify the species of trees. I liked how we got to handle the pinecones and notice the features. Next time I'm in the forest I want to try to identify some trees too. We learned evergreen trees always keep their leaves/needles and deciduous trees shed their leaves/needles.

By: Jordan & Beau

Typed by: Jonah, Troy and AJ.

Using a Mathematical Compass

Today we used a mathematical compass.At first it was difficult.We got the hang of it after a few tries.It was fun and two kids came in from Ms Manning's class.They showed us a demonstration.We made a perfect circle from the mathematical compass and made it into a square. It was a fun day in Ms Martin's class! By: Haley

Earthworm Observation

Scientists in Ms. Martin's class worked very hard to complete an observation this past week. We worked on creating a detailed hypothesis and then observed a worm in several different settings: Choice between wet and dry surface, choice between darkness or light, and reaction to "danger" ( vinegar on a Q Tip) We loved watching the worms move and were able to infer that they were able to move so easily/freely because they do not have a back bone. The students are very excited to continue our animal unit!

First Week of School!

Welcome to Room 124...Ms. Martin's 4th grade class. We are always working in different spots of our beautiful classroom...here we are at the "meeting spot" on our Falcon Blue carpets! ;)