May & June Update
See what's happening in Room 11!
Thank You!
HOT Happenings
April was a brief month, but we still managed to include some HOT activities. Our favorite was our nature poetry, which will soon be gracing our hallway bulletin board. We learned how to be photographers with iPads and surveyed the grounds of John Lyman School for the beauty of nature. We photographed flowers, trees, roots and more. Once we completed our photographs, students chose their favorites on which to base a poem. We worked together as a class by passing clipboards around the room to come up with a list of words (verbs, sounds, textures, nouns, etc.) and phrases (similes and metaphors) to describe the photos. Once the lists were filled with beautiful language, the students took their own papers back and used those lists to create some truly amazing free-verse poetry. I think you will all be quite impressed with their work. It will be hanging in the hallway until the end of the year, so please come check them out.
We also had Art Farm come visit to perform a circus act that displayed balance and motion concepts to tie in with our current science unit. We even created our own balancing circuses from our Eli Whitney kits. Many students have chosen to bring theirs home. Those that did not bring theirs home will have them on display during Share Fair.
Right before April Break we had Mr. Dailey, a Lyman parent, come teach us some hip hop dancing. The kids had a blast dancing to all types of music and learning new dance moves!
Hip Hop Dance Party
Nature Photos
Balancing Circuses
Chicks will be hatching in 8 more days!
May/June Events
(please check your hot pink sheets that went home to be sure I have not missed anything and for specific times)
5/12 - Special Persons' Day
5/17 - 1/2 Concert
5/19 - Class Assembly Share (we just got to add one more share!)
5/26 - Field Day & Early Dismissal
5/29 - Memorial Day - No School
5/31 - 4th Grade Band Concert
5/31 - 6/2 - Spring Book Sale
6/1 - 3/4 Chorus Concert
6/9 - Volunteer Recognition Assembly
6/14 - Share Fair
6/16 - 4th Grade Recognition Assembly & Early Dismissal
6/19 - Step-up Day & Early Dismissal
6/20 - Last Day of School & Early Dismissal
Curriculum Corner
In Readers' Workshop, we are ending our year with an emphasis on fiction stories and getting to know some different book series and the characters in them. We have been working on understanding characters and learning how to make them come alive in our minds and with our voices when we read.
In Writers' Workshop, we have been trying out some different forms of poetry. We've looked at free verse, acrostics, haikus and limericks. Then next I'd like to round out the year with some fiction writing to accompany our fiction reading. We'll be able to creat our own characters and make them come alive.
During Math we have been learning how to read time on both digital and analog clocks. We have also been focusing on money - recognizing coins and their values, and using our skip counting to help us solve money problems. To finish the year, we will be doing some measurement and graphing as well.