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A Full Five Days!

We were so happy to have our first full week in a while...and got a lot accomplished in that time!

In project, Mrs. Bankston presented a lesson on cyberbullying and kindness, and we completed some work that, connected with all students at Kiker, will be displayed in the cafeteria as a chain.

In ELA, reading, and social studies, we've been integrating all the subject areas in a Vignette Project. Mrs. Forrest modeled a framework in planning a story, using CSERT and our text, I am Malala. We are finding that as we read as a reader, we can also discover craft as a writer, as well as gather information. We are creating stories around fictional characters using a real world setting. Truly, we are creating our own works of Historical Fiction. We've learned extensive ways to use websites, observe artifacts and primary sources, and text to research, and how to incorporate that information into our narrative stories. The plan is to apply this to Texas History. We'll choose a battle and some important figures in Texas in the mid 1800s to meet up with our character. The excitement is building!

Our SBLC scientists have been using the scientific method to make discoveries about Skittles.  Each group designed their own testable question and experiment based on their observations and schema. They've showed such ownership of vocabulary and the parts of the experimental process.  It's been exciting to use math as a tool to improve our accuracy as scientists, from measuring volume or mass to calculating the averages of our multiple trials. With students showing such responsibility with all the parts of the scientific method, we're pumped to design more of our own experiments during upcoming project blocks.




In math, we created fraction comparisons using pictures, numbers, and mathematical vocabulary. Over the past 3 weeks, students have developed an impressive list of strategies for comparing fractions to determine which is greater. Now we're independently applying those strategies and improving our fraction number sense as we carefully analyze.  We also exercised our spatial reasoning with a square tangram puzzle, then considered how each individual tangram shape covered a fraction of the whole square unit. Using manipulatives, color-coding, and partner discussions, we deepened our understanding of equivalent fractions and enjoyed working with 2-dimensional shapes once again.



Next Tuesday the 30th is the 4th Grade field trip to The Bob Bullock Museum. Please wear class shirts and bring a sack lunch!

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