Vermont On Demand Informational Books

We are working hard to write a book about Vermont that shows everything we know about the state but also about informational writing!  The hope is that this will help us as we learn about other states and read and write about them!

Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper

This week we started our new read aloud book!  Out Of My Mind is the story of Melody and her differences!  Through this book we have entered into a world that will help us learn empathy for our classmates that have physical and cognitive differences!  We are creating detailed sketches and notes about Melody so that we can really know how she feels, thinks and acts!  My favorite part about this are the creative ways in which people record their thoughts!  Pictures, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, lists, sentences, captions, quotes!

Welcome back!

This morning started off with so much positivity and excitement!  We loved hearing about the adventures you all had over vacation!  Many memories were made with family and friends!  I'm so glad that travels were safe and everyone seems rested and ready to do important work this month!

We celebrated our friends who read 300 minutes this vacation!  We will eat lunch together on Wednesday to honor this achievement!  Katie joined us this morning and began our session of Skills For Life  which will culminate in February!  We discussed the many differences we all have from one another and the acceptance and respect we each deserve based on these differences!  This was a great conversation with time for reflection.  Mostly, it connected to our new read aloud Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.  Ask your child about it!

More writing to share!

This afternoon Annie, Elizabeth, Teryn and Fiona shared writing they have been working on during WIN time!  Each writer planned, drafted, revised and edited their own pieces!  They learned how to type dialogue, correct punctuation, character development and keyboarding!  Way to go writers!  

Other students worked hard during WIN time to master difficult math facts!  Some students worked on building their reading stamina!  Ask your child to share their Kidblog post with you!  They reflected thoughtfully on their WIN time goals!

Opinion Essay Writing Celebration

We did it!  We have working so hard as writers for at least 6 weeks!  We have learned so much about opinion  writing and what it entails!  Today we celebrated our final essays with a Writing Celebration with Mrs. Crowther's and Mrs. Tetreault's classes!  It was fun to hear essays from all the different classes and the variety of topics! Our class's writing topic is someone important in your life so if you look inside your child's backpack you will find a special letter.

Mix It Up

Today we had mix it up with the kindergarteners (Ms. Elia's class) we played "hot potato" and a "cup relay". They were so cute!

Chorus Information

November 16, 2016

Dear Parents,

    The fourth and fifth chorus students will be performing on December 6th at 7pm.   We have been working consistently on five selections and I am excited to share our music with you.  Please have your son/daughter review the words over the Thanksgiving break as we will not use music in the concert.  Students should dress in concert attire which simply means that we will

“dress up”.  Please avoid jeans if at all possible.  This concert will be video-taped.  

     I would like to take this time to thank you for supporting the arts.  This is a wonderful group of students!!  We will start our rehearsals again in January and I hope that your child will participate again.  Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!!

Sincerely,

Amy Southworth

Map of Shelburne!

We supported our Kindergarten Buddies by helping them create their map of Shelburne!  Ask your child which locations and people they helped create!  Your children look forward to this time every week!  We hope to visit our buddies in the outside classroom tomorrow!

Gratitude trees

Our November project was due today. We all brought in our gratitude tree and shared them. We wrote thoughtful comments on sticky notes. All the trees were different and unique. Today's share was amazing.

Division Capture and What's Missing Bingo

We learned two new math games today!  They are both fun and exciting and Bingo based!  They both help you learn your multiplication and division facts!  By, Teryn

Bimoes and Adaptations of Plants and Animals, Writing and Fish in a Tree!

Yesterday and today we have had the excitement of using Google Classroom.  Google Classroom allows me to create assignments and to share resources with the whole class with one easy click.
Google Classroom makes it easy and paperless to pass our directions for a project!  For example, today we used Google Classroom to connect our knowledge about biomes with plants and animals that live in those biomes.  We focused on biomes in the United States (as we will be heading into US Geography shortly).  We then learned about animals and plants in these biomes and pinpointed the adaptations they have to survive in the forest, desert or grasslands.  We created posters to showcase our findings!  We learned about horses, hibiscus flowers, poison ivy, alligators and more!

Through Google Classroom we also began our final opinion piece.  We have been planning and organizing our materials this week and yesterday we began drafting. We have set goals involving punctuation and capitalization as well elaboration and organization. Yesterday, we logged into Google Classroom and created a document for our essay.  These documents are automatically shared with me and organized into a folder in my drive, this way I can read and check in on each and every student from home or from one spot in the classroom!  They love that!  My eyes are always on them!   We plan to finalize these pieces by November 18th!  We will be sharing them with other 4th Graders here at school!

On Thursday, Miranda, our UVM Sophomore Intern, had us do some thoughtful reflection about the themes in the story Fish in A Tree!  This has been our read aloud for many weeks and we are almost finished with it!  Together with Miranda we connected with Ally, the main character in the book, by thinking of our strengths, weaknesses and positivity!  We created these fish to symbolize these three pieces in our lives with words, colors and pictures!  Ask your child about it!

Lastly, ask your child to log into Kidblog and to share their reflections on their learning and goals this week!  There are pictures in some of their posts, too!

Happy Weekend!  Love and Peace to all!

Talking with your child about the Election

Here is a message from Mr. Miller:

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Talking with our children about election results

Today was certainly a day of mixed emotions as our young people pondered the outcome of yesterday's Presidential election.   SCS, like the rest of our country, was an eclectic mix of emotions ranging from elation and excitement at victory to somber and even fearful while pondering the future. It was clearly a day filled with opportunities to remind each other of what it means to be safe, responsible and respectful as we move from a hard fought election into accepting the outcome of our democratic process.   Knowing that some in our community might be struggling to figure out the best means for discussing this at home, our Guidance Counselors Rachel Petraska and Katie Tyler shared this article offering some suggestions on how best to talk with our sons and daughters about the results of yesterday's Presidential Election.  

Experts weigh in: How to talk to your kids about the election results

by Allison Slater Tate - Today Website

It's the morning after Election Day, Donald Trump is the U.S. president-elect, and as President Obama promised, the sun has indeed risen.  But in the wake of many controversial and vitriolic soundbites from the campaigns over the past year, parents all over social media are genuinely asking, "What do I say to my kids this morning?"  Child development expert Dr. Deborah Gilboa, herself a mother of four, told TODAY Parents the way to begin is to tell your children how you feel.   "It's healthy to, in an age-appropriate and gentle way, let your children know how you are affected by this news," she said.

Dr. Gilboa gave TODAY Parents a plan for how to address the election with children this morning, particularly if parents are disappointed themselves:

1. Teach them about how government works. "We have a system of checks and balances so that not even the president can effect big change alone," she said.

2. Look for your values. "Go with them to read about the love and acceptance and support that people are already showing.”

3. Spread your own message of love. "Get involved in telling everyone you know why your family stands strong in its values of inclusion," said Gilboa. "Get your kids involved in that work."

4. Don't lie. "You can only tell your child that everything is going to be OK if you believe that may be true," said Gilboa.

5. Remind girls who were excited at the prospect of a first female president that the fight is not over. Gilboa said to remind girls that people fought from 1848 until 1920 to get women the right to vote in this country, so this delay is just that: a delay, not an end.  Parents can say, "I wish that we already had a woman president, but we are not done fighting to have that happen. Let's think about what we can do to make it happen as soon as possible."

6. Unless you really are moving to Canada, cut out the jokes. Gilboa said you can tell your child that you understand why people are saying they are moving to Canada, but make it clear you won't joke about it, and for a good reason: "I'm not giving up on our country!"

7. If kids are worried they or their friends will now be deported, be honest but optimistic.You can tell nervous children that, though no one knows what will happen for sure, many people believe sending immigrants away would be the wrong thing to do, and remind them they can use the power of their voice to protect others.

"In fear for others, we have to pay attention and speak up. In fear for ourselves, we have to do the same. And be willing to ask all the good people we know to do the same," said Dr. Gilboa.  No matter upset parents might be today about election results, this can be a moment to model resilience for their children, Gilboa said.

"Tell them that you're proud that they're grappling with these issues. Whatever answers you don't have right now, you'll find them together."

Elections and Adding with number sense!

Today we presented our projects about the Presidential Election!  Here are a few things I learned.  I learned that we've had 18 Democratic Presidents and 15 Republican Presidents.  George Washington was not a Democrat or a Republican.  Donald Trump could be the 1st President who has not been a General in The United States Army or been in a public office (representative or senator).   African Americans were finally granted the right to vote in 1965!  Women couldn't vote until 1920!  Hillary and Trump were at one time friends.  They are really close in age, too!  Only 1 year apart!  Polls are used to survey the public about the candidates or about the issues facing our country.  The media uses polls everyday to figure out who is in the lead in the presidential race!  We checked in with the media and Hillary is up by 4% in many of the recent polls!         

The President has many jobs!

Political Parties are groups of people who have the same opinions about how are government should operate!

Caucuses and Primaries are held before the conventions.  In a caucus you vote publicly and in a primary you vote privately.  Campaigns cost a lot of money!  Hillary has spent 1 billion dollars!  

Which one of these candidates will win tomorrow!

During math we used the Give and Take strategy to use our Number Sense to make  problems easier to solve!  Here is an example of it in use!  Ask your child to explain!  

Written by Tia

Friday News!

So much has been happening in Endeavor 4th Grade!  This week our mornings were spent learning about the election, the candidates and the road to the presidency!  Our vocabulary has become richer with words like candidate, campaign, polls, republican, democrat, suffrage, ratification, swing states, electoral college, amendment, and mud slinging and media!    We brainstormed a list of questions we had about the election and then we worked in small groups to find the answers!  All week we've been taking notes, watching videos and learning how to use non-fiction text features to support our understanding of the text. We have been so creative and through in the way that we take notes!  These notes have then been used to create mini projects like books, scripts
and posters to share with the class!  On Monday small groups will present the answers to our questions!  This will add to our knowledge of the election and prepare us as we vote in Team Wonder on Tuesday!  We wonder who will be our top choice?  We also wonder how the voting process will go?  Will we check in?  Will we have privacy? Can we write in our choice?

40,000 PAWsitives! Way to go SCS!

  We had so much fun celebrating our 40, 000 clicks!  Our positive behavior was encouraged and acknowledged today with balloons, music in the cafeteria and raffle prizes of SCS gear at lunch!  Our class made the song playlist that was enjoyed by all K-8 students! Tia won a new t-shirt!