Nerd House Coffee Talk
Home of Ms. Smalling's Brewed Strong Crew!
Closer!!!!
We are so close to our due date, and I'm ready to pop!! Please cross your fingers and toes over the next few days that our chicks continue to be winners and pip their way out of their shells. Chicks have a 21 day fertilization to hatch life cycle, and Wednesday will be our 21st day. We have a new incubator that we will be using for our next hatch which begins Wednesday as well.
Upcoming Events
April 24th - May 26th: Reading Assessment Window Opens (DRA)
May 8th: 4th Grade Math STAAR
May 9th: 4th Grade Reading STAAR
May 16th: WITS Anthology Reading
May 15th - 19th: Smalling Junior Achievement Begins
4th Grade Students from Ms. Lindsay and Ms. Smalling's Classes Join The Amazing Race!
On Friday, Ms. Lindsay and I tried to make math review fun. We had clues for the students to solve about different faculty around the building. Once they solved the clue, they were off and running to solve a math problem! It was great fun, and the students did really well. The feedback was so good, we've decided to do it again this Friday. Enjoy the pictures, courtesy of Tyler Fargason.
Speaking Subjectively
Personal Finance and Review
Personal finance is our last big topic before we begin the review process for STAAR. We've created a blended model for the students to get their information. They will be receiving instruction from me as well as doing many activities set up for them via our learning management system, ItsLearning. Review will also occur daily. After the test, we will begin our transition to 5th grade math.
Food Webs - Not Chains!
We are investigating how various organisms in an ecosystem interact. Producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and decomposers are on the brain. The students each have an ecosystem to web and present.
iSearch
All students have selected their research topics and questions. We are currently in the process of gathering information from five reputable sources after explaining our prior knowledge. The due date sheet it forthcoming.
Spelling - Is Currently Taking a Hiatus from New Words
We will be concentrating on using the rules we've learning in our writing to create papers that are mistake-free.
Class Novel Study - Fish In A Tree
We have focused on Chapters 30 - 44 this week, and we will be moving on to the completion of the book this week.
http://www.lyndamullalyhunt.com/books/fish-in-a-tree/Writing
Now that the test writing genre monkey is off our backs, we are going to be focusing on research writing. This will be done using student chosen topics in the first person. If you have additional questions about this type of writing, please feel free to google I-Search.
Follow us on Twitter!
Email: Anne-Louise.Smalling@springbranchisd.com
Phone: 713-251-6363
Twitter: @SmallingAnne