First Week of ELA - Grade 4

This year, I'll make the most of the first week of school. My students will have some fun while addressing a few simple standards:

• RL.4.5 - Distinguishing between poetry, prose, and drama
• W.4.4 - Writing drama and poetry
• RI.4.4 - Finding word meaning
• L.4.1, L.4.2 - Identifying nouns and verbs; capitalizing proper nouns; abbreviating salutations

(Click on image to grab these lesson plans!)

Reading Literature:

• I start the year with a Beginning of Year Reading Assessment. This baseline assessment features "The North Wind and the Sun." Students answer questions and construct responses for RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.3, RL.4.4, RL.4.5, and RL.4.6.
• We continue with Prose, Drama, and Poetry, a simple unit that teaches kids about the elements of each form of literature.

English:

• On the first day of school, students complete an activity page about themselves then write a paragraph about one area of their lives. This Back-to-School Writing Activity gives me an indication of students' baseline writing skills. (Many thanks to Laura Strickland of Whimsy Clips for the fantastic graphics in this freebie!)
• We continue with two fun activities that reinforce the differences between prose, drama, and poetry. First, in groups, students rewrite "The North Wind and the Sun" as a play then present it to the class. Second, they create simple "I Spy" poetry.

Mechanics:

• We begin our comprehensive eighteen-week Mechanics unit with simple concepts. This first week provides instruction and practice of identifying nouns and verbs, capitalizing proper nouns, and punctuating salutations.

Reading Nonfiction:

• Right from the start, I want my students to explore Finding Word Meaning. They learn to look between commas and parentheses, use context clues, analyze word parts, and consider related words. 

My first day of school is tomorrow, and I can't wait to hit the road running! These simple beginning of year lessons will prepare my students for more complex assignments as they move into fourth grade.

Enjoy!

Brenda

Classroom Makeover

My classroom needs a makeover! The berry-colored paint is bright and cheery, but it has chipped and peeled - - - and I have no bulletin boards. 

First step: the sink area. I found some coordinating placemats at the Dollar Store (each $1, of course), and set to work covering the unsightly dents. 

Wow! What a difference! I added some Scientific Method posters, and voila! I'll be sharing more of my classroom makeover in the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

Brenda

Identifying Text Structure

For the second part of my informational text unit, I'm tackling text structure. So far, it's been a blast! I finished the PowerPoint presentation and just couldn't wait to show it off.

The colorful graphics and lively animations will give a kick-start to this unit! Take a look:

At the risk of repeating myself - - - I'm getting revved up about the approaching school year!

Enjoy!

Brenda

Finding Word Meaning

Finding Word Meaning, the first in my series of informational text units, is finished! Yay! This year, I want to address nonfiction in a much more deliberate way. I better hurry up because - - - yikes! - - - school starts in just one month!

For this unit, I thought long and hard about the skills my students need. Let's face it, "Look it up in the dictionary," is not the most efficient way (and it doesn't make kids better readers). I came up with four strategies for my fourth graders: using words and phrases set off my commas, using context clues, using word parts, and using related words. This Quick Reference Guide explains it all, and I've attached it for your use. (Just click here, or on the image, to download it.)

At one time, I thought my students employed these skills naturally, but that's just not true. Teachers need to point out ways to figure out the meanings of words and terms in text, and then students need to practice them. As with my literature units, I decided to introduce the strategies with a PowerPoint presentation. After that, I'll see what they can do using an exit ticket.

From there, some students will receive remediation on targeted skills with practice worksheets, and everyone else will start practicing with differentiated mixed practice worksheets. I don't know about you, but students in my class do not come to me with the same degree of readiness. Therefore, I need to make this challenging task accessible to all. 

Self-directed students who already have a good handle on finding word meaning can use Mixed Practice A. They'll read an informational paragraph, identify words that can be defined using the strategies, identify the strategy, and define the word. Middle-of-the road students will use Mixed Practice B. They get the same paragraph, but the words are listed below. Struggling students will also analyze words in the same paragraph, but theirs are chunked into smaller pieces of text on Mixed Practice C. Four sets of worksheets should do the trick . . . and the assessment is differentiated too.

Okay, I admit it, I'm getting sort of excited for school to start up again.

Enjoy!

Brenda

Fourth Day of Math & Beyond - Grade 4

In this era of high-stakes testing, I know that my students will also need to write to explain. How can a teacher find time for all of this? I've decided to layer my instruction.

On days that my students aren't playing Math Facts Baseball, I give them a little bell work that requires explaining. It's quick, easy, and effective!

The examples below require my students to discuss place value (4.NBT.1). This really makes them think! As the beginning weeks of school tick by, the Writing to Explain problem cards will also ask them to explain their reasoning for writing numbers in standard form, words, and expanded form; comparing two numbers; and rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.

These short activities require metacognition. As students think about their own reasoning, deeper understanding is achieved. I first used this strategy last year, and it really made a difference!

Enjoy!

Brenda

Third Day of Math - Grade 4

It's time to get down to business. the first half of the day will be dedicated to Math Facts Baseball. It's been a hit in my class for years! Each student takes four three-minute timed tests: addition, subtractions, multiplication, and division. Then they go up to bat. For each test that's 100% correct, they get a base. One test correct is a single; two, a double; three, a triple, and four, a home run. 

If you want to learn more about this fun, motivational game,

head over to my blog post from July 29th.

After Math Facts Baseball, we begin our first math unit: Place Value. By this time, I've figured out which students in my class need to stay with basic level mathematics and which are ready for a challenge. Two sets of parallel activities and worksheets - - - one set reaching to 999,999 and the other to 999,999,999 - - - allow me to differentiate appropriately.

(Use a little Beyonce to teach this lesson.

Click here to find out how!)

The first topic is reading large numbers, which is easy if you break it down into periods.

Several years ago, I shared detailed ideas for teaching place value in my blog. If you'd like to read more, simply click on a topic:

• Reading Multi-Digit Whole Numbers
• Building Multi-Digit Whole Numbers
• Introducing Multi-Digit Whole Numbers in Standard Form, Words, and Expanded Form
• Practicing Multi-Digit Whole Numbers in Standard Form, Words, and Expanded Form
• Rounding Multi-Digit Whole Numbers

Place value is the key to our number system and an essential building block for working with numbers in base ten. Once we get this down, the rest of the year is a snap! ;- )

Enjoy!

Brenda

P.S. Would you like a free PowerPoint presentation that explains how I start the year in mathematics? Click here!

Second Day of Math - Grade 4

On Day #1, I assessed my students' skills with multi-digit whole numbers with some fun task cards. Now it's time to measure their fluency with multiplication facts and start instruction.

Thank goodness for educational apps! Fact Navigator from Multiplication.com makes timed tests easy. Simply click on Pre-Test Multiplication and up pops a 36-problem online test. When finished, the student hits FINISHED, and the test is automatically scored with the time displayed at the top. You can have kids print their tests, or, like I do, record their scores using a clipboard.

With Fact Navigator, assessing students' multiplication facts takes only a few minutes. Now it's time to move on to a little instruction . . . built into a beginning-of-year ice breaker.

What's more special to a kid than his birthday? First, I tell the class that we're going to make a human graph. We'll line up along a wall outside the building (so that a passing airplane could see our graph). The only rule is NO TALKING. What? No talking? How will we get this done? After a few minutes of confusion, someone figures out that they can hold up fingers to express the month of their birth. They move around, and pretty soon, a human graph emerges.

We move quickly back into the classroom, and each student places a cupcake on a class pictograph, like this:

For Birthday Graphing kit, click here.

We discuss different types of graphs, focusing on pictographs and bar graphs (that compare) and line graphs (that show change over time). We talk about titles, labels, scales, and keys/legends. I introduce the x- and y-axes, which will be important later in the year.

Finally, each student is asked to create a horizontal bar graph using the data from our vertical picture graph. As they finish, I hang these on the wall as well. The class is getting that lived-in look, and kids feel the ownership with their birthdays and bar graphs displayed proudly.

With two days down, my students have moved around the room to complete a set of task cards, played on the computer, created a human graph together, assembled a pictograph on the wall, and produced a bar graph. To them, math class has been fun and engaging. I'm feeling the math love as well, but in a different way. I now have baseline data for writing numbers in standard form, words and expanded form, rounding, comparing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, as well as multiplication facts fluency. Whew! Additionally, I've reviewed graphs and taught one new concept: the x- and y-axes (as well as z, which I threw in for fun).

I love the the beginning of a new year in math! To share my plans with you, I've created Beginning of the Year Math Lesson Plans, a free PowerPoint presentation.

Enjoy!

Brenda