Mr. Blanc's Class

Reading Students have learned that knowledge of text structures can help readers determine the main ideas and supporting details from a nonfiction text. The ones we have studied are chronological, problem/solution, cause and effect, compare/contrast, and description. Ask your student to tell you about the different text structures we've studied. Another way you can support your student in their nonfiction reading is to point out how often they use nonfiction reading. Whether it's reading recipes, instructions on how to assemble furniture, street signs, or the back of cereal boxes.  Idiom of the week: the cold shoulder Math Last week students made good progress in their understanding of division. Next week we will increase the difficulty by going from two digit dividends to three and four digit dividends. Last week we learned about prime and composite numbers. Have your child tell you the difference between the two.  Inquiry Students will dig in to our first line of ...

Innovation Fair That you to everyone who joined us for the 4th Grade Innovation Fair! It was great for the students to have an audience to share their hard work with. Inquiry On Monday, we will begin our next inquiry unit under the transdisciplinary theme of How the World Works. The central idea of this unit is people use scientific knowledge to respond to a changing Earth. This unit will be split between the final three weeks before winter break and the first two weeks when we return.  Math We will continue our study of division. Last week students were introduced to the standard algorithm for solving a two digit by one digit problem. Most of the students are still working to get comfortable with the standard algorithm. I may be sending home some extra practice this week for students who could benefit from it.   Reading We will begin our next reading unit this week. Our focus will now shift to informational texts. Please continue to let students read any book of ...

Innovation Fair   When students return from Thanksgiving break we will finish our How We Express Ourselves inquiry unit with the central idea of p eople innovate using creativity and knowledge of energy. The unit will culminate with an Innov ation Fair on Friday, 11/30. It will be in the cafeteria from 2:15-2:45. All are welcome to join! Math Students will come home with their mid unit assessment from our multiplication and division unit. So far we have only touched on multiplication. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will begin division.  Migration Speaker We are extremely lucky to have a guest speaker joining our class on Monday, 11/26! A grandparent of one of our students will share his migration story with all of the 4th graders. Later in the year we will have an inquiry unit on migration.  Scholastic Book Orders  Students were sent home with a Scholastic book order flyer. The best way to order books is online here . Our class code is DKQ...

Reading Students will still be sent home with a reading log on Tuesday, 11/20. However, new vocabulary words will not be sent home because of Thanksgiving break. Idiom of the week: sit on the fence Math Students took their mid unit assessment for our multiplication unit. Next week we will go over our assessments and clear up any misconceptions students may have. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will begin studying division.  Permission Slip  Students were sent home with a permission slip to watch the movie Wonder . The school theme of choose kind was inspired by the book, and we read the book in class, as part of our Who We Are inquiry unit. In order to watch the movie your student will need to return the permission slip by Monday, November 19th. Upcoming Dates  Monday, November 19th - Wonder Permission Slips Due/Art Lit Tuesday, November 20th - Reading Log Due/Vocab Test - Watching Wonder November 21st - November 23rd - No School - Thanks...

Math At the end of next week we will have a mid unit assessment to see how well we are understanding multiplication. We have worked up to two by two digit and four by one digit multiplication. Students learned how to use partial products and the standard algorithm to solve problems. They've also learned how to model the multiplication with place value charts and area models. Idiom of the week : hold your horses Inquiry Next week in our How We Express Ourselves unit we will begin our inquiry into ways innovation expresses creativity. Students will learn some basic computer coding. This will prepare them for our 4th Grade Innovation Fair that will take place at the end of the unit. There will be information coming about the Innovation Fair soon. Writing We have a little bit of a break between our realistic fiction unit and our informational writing unit that will start soon. During this time our writing mini-lessons have focused on conventions. We've been working to u...

Inquiry We are progressing along nicely in our how we express ourselves unit with the Central Idea of people innovate using creativity and knowledge of energy. Our current focus in an inquiry in the transfer and conversion of energy. Students have experimented with mechanical energy by making catapults. Next week they will experiment with electrical, light, thermal, and sound energy. Math  We finished up our first week of our multiplication and division unit. Next week we will work on multiplying by 10's, 100's, and 1,000's. By the end of the week students will begin working on multiplying a one digit number by a four digit number. Like I mentioned in the blog post last week, students who are fluent with their math multiplication facts will find it much easier to be successful in this unit. Students can practice their fact fluency at this link . It can also be accessed on the class websites page under Xtra Math. To sign in students select their name from the class list...

It was great meeting with everyone at conferences! I hope you left with a clear picture of where your student is as a learner and what they can do to continue to grow. Math  Now that we have completed our first unit of the year we will be moving on to multiplication and division. To be successful in this unit students will need to have a strong understanding of place value and know their multiplication facts. In this unit we will work up to multiplying one digit by up to four digit numbers and also two digit by two digit numbers. We will also begin long division and work up to a single digit divisor and a four digit dividend. Reading Students continue to have the expectation of reading three hours outside of school each week. Reading logs are due each Tuesday. There were no new vocabulary words sent home last Tuesday, 10/23 because of conferences. The next set of new vocabulary words will come home on Tuesday, 10/30 and be tested on Tuesday, 11/6. Idiom of the week: out o...