Have you ever heard of a spice o meter?

By B.H.W.

It is a chart in our classroom. It says super spicy if we are good. If our class would be quiet and good,and awesome the teacher would fill up the chart.When it is filled up we will get a prize like extra recess or a humwork pass.We got this from a friend named Chip in the first week of class because he knew we liked spicy foods. 19 out of 23 kids in are class like spice foods.That is why my friend Chip brought the chart in.

Classroom Spicy for 4.r.y.

Welcome to the amazing 4.r.y.  We have been doing some thing called the spice o meter.  The spice o meter is a pepper on a whiteboard that we try to fill up.  If we fill it up we get a reward.

How to fill it up

What's that I'm scared of? Ohh its a pepper falling from a tree.  Wow, that’s a big pepper. Where did it come from? Probably a pepper tree.We earn spicy points by making good choices and doing good in class with transitions and all of those good choices.

We fill up a lot of spice o meters and fast.  We filled up 2 spice o meters and were working on one. One is a rectangle the other is the shape of a hot sauce bottle and, the one we're working on is the shape of a pepper.  

Our Mascot                   

What's that? ?It smells like hot wings!! What that's not hot wings its a tiny bottle of hot sauce. 4.r.y’s mascot is a tiny bottle of hot sauce. our mascot was given to our class by C.G. She gave it to us because our class is spicy, and we love all things spicy. Also, we have a catchphrase that is wow that's a lot of hot sauce.                                                                                         

Our Class Reward
For our reward we vote. WE decide what we want.

Some people want a homework pass. A homework pass is when you get a free night of homework. Others want extra recess. Most want a picnic. A picnic is when we eat lunch outside than when we Finish we go and play. Some people want a movie. We want a movie because we want to skip periods to watch a movie. There now you have the spicy in 4.R.Y. We love the spice o meter and we're gonna keep it.

RY Weekly - Math Edition

 Complete with interviews, surveys, and information, this edition is all about my favorite topic, math!

About Math

Math is a skill with other skills kids learn about things they may use to take on real life situations. For example, have you ever been in a situation that you had 20,000 dollars, deposit 500 dollars into a bank and withdraw 250 dollars, so you want to know how much you have left? Use math! In 4RY, we can challenge ourselves by picking a challenge on the challenge wall! There are challenges A through L, plus a wizard challenge if we REALLY want to challenge ourselves! From Monday to Thursday, we usually do a stations-related activity. There are 3 stations, the Teaching Station, where we learn a certain skill, the Independent Station, where we practice the thing we learned at the Teaching Station, and the Game Station, where we have fun while learning! On Friday, we do Hands-on Equations, where we learn Algebra!

Unit 3 of Math

In our last unit of math, we learned about multiplication vocabulary and more things about numbers! Want to know the definition of a multiple? Here’s one! “A number you obtain by skip counting by another number. For example, the first 5 multiples of 4 are 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20.”

“Not so Challenging” Survey

This week’s math question is: Are

the math challenges that you have

done HARD? Here’s the results.

1 person found the math challenges hard, 10 people found the math challenges easy, 8 people found the math challenges kind of hard, and 3 people haven’t done any math challenges yet! I respect all of your opinions. If you see me coming around with a survey, feel free to call me over and answer!

Interview

Here’s an interview with one of our respected and wise students, Thomas Hodge! Our first question we asked to him was “What goal are you trying to accomplish in Unit 3?” His amazing answer was “The goal that I am trying to accomplish in Unit 3 is to improve my skills that i practice in this unit.” Our next question was “ Do you feel you are accomplishing that goal you have set in Unit 3?” His next amazing answer was “Yes, I feel that I am accomplishing that goal I have set in Unit 3.” Our third and final question was “And most of all, are you having fun?” His wise and descriptive answer was “Yes!” That’s all for now, keep an eye out for our next edition!

4RY Times

                                        A Trip To Broadmoor        

                                                By: C.E, P.L, and C.G                                                 

Broadmoor is one of the best places for everyone who likes or loves nature, Broadmoor is a place for people who adore  hiking, walking, seeing awesome animals and field trips!

What Is Broadmoor

            

Broadmoor is a wildlife sanctuary where everything that lives there lives there

on their own will. Broadmoor is located in Natick. Natick(and Broadmoor)

have beautiful trees, grass, and flowers! Broadmoor is a great place for everyone who likes or  loves nature, hiking, and field trips.

                          

Why We Went There

  We went to broadmoor because we wanted to learn more about plants. Broadmoor is a very science like place. that is the reason we went there - to learn about everything plant related.

                                          Pollination

Pollination is an very important part of a plant's life . Pollination is when when the pollinator such as a bee comes to the flower hungry for nectar the bee doesn't know  he's getting pollen all over him he flies to another flower some of the pollen on him gets stuck to the sticky stigma then it goes down the style into the ovary that helps it make the eggs called ovules than the ovary swells and turns into a fruit. Phat is the process of pollination, (also another reason we went there).

                                                      Plant adaptations

A plant adaptations is how different kinds of plant survive in different kinds of habitats: marsh,meadow and forest.

              

                  Seed Dispersal

Seed dispersal is when seeds reproduce and fly off into the world to its new home in many different ways.

These were the things we learned on our Broadmoor field trip.

            

Here are some experiments we did before we went to Broadmoor....                                  

           

Before we went to broadmoor we planted beans and pea seeds then we tried to see if our plants could stay alive in different conditions. We made a hypothesis also known as a scientific guess.

                                              Plants We Saw

We saw lots of types of leaves. We saw compound leaves, we saw regular leaves. We also saw lots of trees like  pine trees My favorite was the oak tree. We also saw lots of plants. Some of our class favorites  were duckweed and dandelions.     but My favorite type of plant I saw was milk weed! Because we got to disperse its seeds!!!That means help it reproduce. which  means help its baby plants grow far away.

`

                                        Animals We Saw

The favorite things we saw at broadmoor were animals. We also saw a lot of animals.  Some of the things I saw were squirrels and chipmunks and some birds.we  saw were ducks and a heran. We even saw a snake!!! but it was a garter snake. which is one one of the smallest snakes. We liked most of the animals we saw.

                              Did You Like Broadmoor

      Most people liked the trip to to Broadmoor.  14 people like it but 6 people didn’t. We are going to hear from a person who liked Broadmoor.

Why did you like BroadmoorT.H.?

“Because it has a lot of wildlife.”  

What did you see?

“Ducks, a squirrel, a chipmunk, a snake, a heron, and lots of other birds."

That’s great! Thank You T.H.!

Now we are going to talk to someone who didn’t like Broadmoor.

Why didn’t you like BroadmoorG.L.

Because it is boring “zzzzzzz.”

Did you like anything about Broadmoor

“Yes.”

What did you like about Broadmoor

“Lunch”.

Um.. Okay... Thank you G.L.

 

Science in 4RY

by CPHM and A.S

Science is very exciting in our classroom. We have already started our first experiment! 4RY’s first unit in science is plants. We are testing what a plant needs to grow. We did this experiment by having each group form a hypothesis. For example, my group’s hypothesis was that a plant needed air to grow. So one plant was completely sealed off with no air. The second plant had some air but not a lot. The last plant had all the air a plant can have. The two plants that had some or a lot of air germinated, but the one with no air didn’t. So now we know that a plant needs air to grow. Another group tested if a plant needed water so one plant would be watered once a day. Another plant was watered three times a day. And the last one wasn’t watered at all, surprisingly the dry one grew!

Now, an exclusive interview on how your plant is growing with A.S!

Me: How is your plant doing A.S?

A.S: Its doing good.

Me: Great, got any thoughts about it? A.S: No Me: Okay what does it look like?

Me:oh wait is that A.S!? Me: well how do you feel about your plant.

A.S: Terrible! it barely grew and the experiment is almost over!

Me: Well That's okay  at least it grew, mine didn’t grow at all.

A.S: I had to replant

Me: Mine is completely drowned

A.S:Oh

Me: Well it was still fun right?

A.S:YES

THE END

Prizes

                      PRIZES    

Give me a P!                                                        By:S.N ,S.C  ,C.G

Give me a R!

Give me an I!

Give me a Z!

Give me a E!

Give me a S!

        PRIZES

Learn about the prizes in 4RY     

The prizes we have in 4RY are the artichoke of excellence, the cone of excellence, inspector frog and the spice-o- meter.

The Way they Look                        

  The artichoke of excellence is green and actually a candle. Some of its wax leaves have broken off. Inspector frog is a frog puppet. He also has a hole in his mouth, sadly. The cone of excellence are  rubbery small cones that say way to go and good job.

     

Behave Well                                                                                             

Behave well to earn the artichoke of excellence. This means  listen well.  It’s the same with the cone. To earn inspector frog a super neat desk is the key, and inspector frog usually has a pencil in his mouth. To earn spice-o- meter points the whole class has to do something really good, for example good transitions, clean up when the teacher says to, follow directions and listen to the teacher ( Miss.Ryan)

Other Physical Prizes

    Other prizes we  have are jogs ,quite time, 30 second dance parties and more. When we do a jog it is normally after All-School-Meeting. Quiet time is after our special when we’re all sweaty and tired and we need a need time to sit in a chair and read a book, draw or finish a morning work activity. A 30 second dance party is when Miss.Ryan says “30 second dance party!” Or she starts to play music.

Every one loves when they get a prize. They know that they did something really well. Now you know  the wonderful prizes that we earn in 4RY.

We hope you try really hard from now on. You never know you might get one of the prizes some day.

Extra Math Practice - Quick Links

Fun Math LInks

Use the list of links below for additional math practice!

Children can use these links as their daily math fact practice and more!

A plus math  

Everyday Math Online   

Logic Puzzles

Illuminations - NCTM

Math Fact Cafe

Multiplication.com

Kids Pay Math Games

Fraction Games

Place Value

Visual Fractions

Common Core Math Review

AAAFractions

Cool Math

Khan Academy

Spring Update

Welcome back! With our final school vacation behind us, 4Ry springs forward into many excited learning endeavors.

Upcoming events:

• Rescheduled Twigging Walk - Tuesday, April 28th at 1:15. Please wear long pants, sleeves, and appropriate walking shoes.
• Wax Museum - Thursday, April 30th. 9:00 - 9:45. All are welcome! Parents, please enjoy your tour of the 4Ry House of Wax!
• 4th Grade Math MCAS - Wednesday, May 13th and Thursday, May 14th

4Ry Happenings

• The children are finishing the preparations for the 4Ry House of Wax. By this time the children have read biographies, taken notes, planned, written, and revised their speeches. Upon returning to school, the final steps will be to rehearse our speeches so that they can be read fluently and with confidence. (Some children may choose to memorize their speeches). In addition, each child should be assembling a costume and any small props that will be used on Thursday. All costumes and props should come to school with your child on Wednesday or Thursday morning.

• The excitement and enthusiasm for our Roald Dahl book clubs is infectious. Each child chose to read a book by Roald Dahl, and book clubs formed based on their preferences. The children are learning how to read closely, track for character change and theme, and identify author's patterns and territories by comparing text features. The children know how to facilitate their own book clubs implementing text based protocols that enable each child to have a voice and to have the opportunity to listen responsively as each group member shares his or her thinking and textual evidence.

• We are about to revisit the opinion genre in writing. Students will share their opinions about their worlds in the form of a thesis statement. They will learn to support their theses with reasons, evidence, facts, and explanations. Eventually, our opinion writing skills will be connected to our work in reading as we write literary essays about our Roald Dahl book club books. The children have already begun to think critically about their beliefs about characters, themes, and other complexities in Dahl's story lines.

• In math, the students have recently completed a short unit of study in area and perimeter. In the coming days, we will revisit geometry of 2-D figures and explore the properties of geometric solids. A small portion of each day is devoted to math review so that the children maintain understanding of multi-digit multiplication and division, fractions, decimals, geometry, and graphing.

• In social studies, the students recently completed inquiry-based research projects about the indigenous peoples of North America. After compiling their research, the children worked in small groups to create technology based projects to teach the rest of the class about the ways of life of the indigenous people that they studied. The class was then given opportunities to compare and contrast each indigenous group. They were able to draw connections between each groups geographic region (climate, elevation, resources, etc...) and their culture, clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

• We have embarked on our journey through the solar system in science. In this unit of study, the students learn about our home solar system, planetary motion, the phases of the moon, and the seasons. 

• During Open Circle, the children revealed that they felt that the fourth grade has been impacted by social cliques. In the students words, they feel that there are "invisible fences that divide us." I am so proud of the students for their ability to identify a problem, come to the realization that things can change and that they can in fact be the agents of positive change, and by pushing themselves outside of their comfort zones by engaging in a lunchtime social experiment. The fourth grade has had two "mix-up" days so far. Children were assigned to table groups in the lunch room that were created to incorporate boys and girls and encourage each child to get to know someone new. The children have participated in creating "conversation cards," to facilitate dialogue. While many children have agreed that change is slow and we might not see improvement right away, they have enjoyed talking with other kids at lunch. We will revisit "mix -up" days with the fourth grade class periodically and debrief with the children during Open Circle. It is my hope that the children will learn to broaden their social horizons while acquiring important skills for social problem solving that they can carry with them into their futures.

As always, feel free to send me an email with any questions or concerns!

Thank you,

Mrs. Ryan