Exploring New York State

This year in social studies, we will be learning all about the history of the great state of New York!  We started off by making our own maps of New York, noting the eight regions of the state, major rivers, lakes and mountain ranges.  This will help us understand where Native Americans settled and why they chose to live where they did. 

Ballroom Dancing!

Ms. Danielle demonstrates the Foxtrot.

This week, the ladies and gentlemen of Class 4-309 started the Dancing Classrooms program.  For ten weeks, we will be learning a variety of ballroom dances taught by a professional dancer (Ms. Danielle).  This week we practiced the dance frame and escort position and learned our first two dances: the Merengue and the Foxtrot.  At the end of our twenty lessons, the fourth graders of P.S. 58 will host a culminating performance, tentatively scheduled for December 6.  Then, six boys and six girls from P.S. 58 will compete in the Colors of the Rainbow Team Match against ballroom dancing teams from other schools in New York City.  For more information about the program, you can visit www.dancingclassrooms.com or watch the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. 

Snapshots of Choice Time

Practicing circle construction with compasses

Playing Trouble with Mr. Marine

Mrs. Vanegas & Gianni

Ms. Rippe & Rosalie

Class 4-309 Self Portraits

These self portraits have pictures of every student in the class.  We wrote time capsules about ourselves and stapled them to our portraits. --Rosalie

 

Weekly Updates from Our Choice Time Bloggers

In class 4-309 we are all in love with our books.We have been reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.  In the last chapter, Fudge is HURT!!!!! He lost his two front teeth "ouch" and Peter is mad with his mom.  What will happen next?---Abby reporting from class 4-309

In writing, we chose our seeds.  The seeds are about our interesting stories that we are writing. We first start by writing in our notebooks. Then we write on draft paper. Then finally we publish them. I love my new teachers Ms. Rippe and Ms. Vanegas. Rosalie reporting from class 4-309

In math, we have been using compasses and we have been learning geometry.  We have been practicing lines, rays, line segments, angles and lots of shapes. --Gianni reporting from class 4-309

Setting High Expectations for the Year

Last week, the members of Class 4-309 set our expectations for the year.  Each student brainstormed rules for the class and then we charted our ideas together.  Next, we grouped similar ideas into categories and agreed on five expectations for the class.   All the members of the class community signed our expectations sheet.  We are going to do our best to make this the best fourth grade year ever!

Students also had a chance to illustrate one of the expectations that is important to them.  Check out some of their ideas:

Class 4-309 Updates on This Week from Our Choice Time Bloggers

At math we have been learning Lines, Rays, and Segments. We have also been learning geometry.We took an assessment with Subtraction, Multiplication, Addition, Fractions and Time.     -Abby

Hi! I'm Nicole here's a quick scoop of what we have done in writing so far. So far we have decorated our writers notebooks with Photos, Stickers, Magazine cutouts, or scraps of paper that we drew on, etc. That was honestly my favorite part of this week because it was so fun and creative! - Nicole


In reading we learned how to fill out our reading logs and focused on our reading stamina. We know how many books to put in our baggies according to our reading levels. Class 4-309 loves fiction books. Every student is hooked on a great book!   -Sophia

This Month in Reading....

This month, we are "building our reading lives" as we launch our 4th Grade Readers' Workshop.  We are sharing about our reading histories, our hopes and past challenges as we set goals for ourselves this year.  We are practicing keeping our reading on track by holding on to the story throughout the book and recognizing confusing parts.  At the end of the month, we will meet our reading partners and practice talking and listening about each others' books.

Each reader should be reading in school and at home each day.  Yesterday, we learned how to keep track of what we are reading in our logs.  Soon, we will begin to go "book shopping" in our classroom library.  What book are you most excited to read next?

Happy Birthday Mrs. Vanegas!

Today we celebrated Mrs. Vanegas' birthday!  She told us she was almost one-third of a century, and we had to do the math.  Then we got to celebrate with some delicious brownies.  Yum!

Check out these websites!

We will be learning about the history of New York State this year. Here are some websites that tell about Native Americans that lived in NYS. Check them out!

http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/early/topic3.html

http://www.bigorrin.org/mohawk_kids.htm

http://www.bigorrin.org/algonquin_kids.htm

http://cybersleuth-kids.com/sleuth/History/Native_Americans/Native_Tribes/index.htm

Classroom Makeover

Before...

After...

 

Welcome Back!

Can you believe it’s September?! The first day of school is next Thursday, September 8.  We’ve been working hard to get ready for our fabulous fourth graders!  We can’t wait to meet you all next week!