What Are We Learning in Math?

Here are 16 crayons.  One-fourth of the crayons are in the pencil cup.  How many are flat on the table? 

(Answer:  3/4 or 12.)

1/4 of 16 = 4

3/4 of 16=12

Directions and Instructions

Last week in Reader's Workshop we learned about procedural text.
This includes recipes, instructions, how-to articles, and directions.

Procedural text gives steps in order and might use clue words such as first, next, before, or after.

Sometimes pictures or diagrams are included to make the instructions easy to understand.

Mrs. Alaniz gave the example of how she had to read procedural text to install and play her new Wii game. Now Mrs. Alaniz can have fun with her new game because she read the directions carefully!

How have you used procedural text? 

The City of Ember

Our sixth class read-aloud of the year is The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.  It is a mysterious book.  It is about a town that is dark and gloomy. When kids turn twelve they get a job. The builders of the City of Ember wrote instructions for the citizens and placed them in a box that is going to open many years later.  The citizens of Ember experience blackouts and shortages making life very difficult, tough, and challenging.  The two main characters are Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow.  They are very unique and interesting kids. 

Our class is enjoying this well-written and adventurous novel.  We hope you will go to your library and check out the book for yourself! 

Skyping With An Engineer

Today we skyped with Julie Owen. 
She is a civil engineer in California. A civil engineer designs and constucts public works like schools, subways, water treatment plants, and even hospitals!
It's not easy to be an engineer. You have to study a lot of math and science. Julie imagined math and science as a puzzle, and that's how she decided that she wanted to be a civil engineer. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot!
Maybe we can Skype with her again someday.

During our Skype session today, some of the students in 4D had "Skype Jobs" (an idea from Silvia Tolisano, author and technology integration facilitator).  One student monitored the elapsed time of our Skype call:  46 min. 
One student charted our call on Google Earth.
One student was our Videographer and recorded the event on our Flip camera.
Another student was our Photographer and took photos.
One student wrote math word problems using data we learned on our call.
Another student blogged about the event: read her post above!
Everyone posted questions and responses on Today's Meet.  Fifth grade joined us, too, so it was a great learning day!
A class in Pennsylvania also joined us on this Skype call. 

4D thanks our wonderful technology integration specialist Mrs. Pryor for her help in arranging the visit. 
4D strives to be a "globally connected" classroom!

40-Book Challenge Update

At the beginning of the school year, Mrs. Alaniz posed the 40-Book Challenge to our class.  The 40-Book Challenge comes from Donalyn Miller, teacher and author of The Book Whisperer .

Can we each read 40 chapter books this school year?  Many of our classmates have reached that goal.  Several have exceeded it. 
We like to keep a class total of the number of books we have read. 
Here is our total so far:

779

We were happy to see the total!  Our new goal is 1,000 books by the end of the school year.

Keep on reading, 4D! 

All About Adverbs

DO YOU NEED AN ADVERB?

Adverbs tell HOW about a verb.

Adverbs tell WHERE about a verb.

Adverbs tell WHEN about a verb.

If you have ever needed to answer these questions, you have needed an adverb!  They are very useful words!

(The underlined words are verbs.)

HOW:  The runner ran the race quickly.

WHERE:   The waiter placed the tray down there.

WHEN:  She never forgets her homework.

Can you  use adverbs to tell about what you like to do after school?

Remember to use a verb, too! 



Virtual Field Trip--Learning About Tornadoes

Our class went on a virtual field trip yesterday!
(Mrs. Alaniz liked this field trip because we didn't need to get on a bus or pack lunches!)
Our field trip was hosted by Reed Timmer, a meteorologist from Discovery Channel's "Stormchasers". 

We learned alot about tornados and how to be safe. Did you know that even the smallest of tornadoes can do so much damage?

Tornadoes are very dangerous. Metorologists put out a warning or a watch alert. The difference between a warning and a watch is that a watch means you have to be prepared and a warning means to take precautions immediately.You also hear a siren if there are chances for a tornado where you live. It usually rains around tornadoes. Tornadoes have short lives so they don't stay around for a long time.

We also learned about weather balloons and how tornadoes are measured.  Meterologists use the Enhanced Fujita Scale.  The strongest tornadoes are an E5. 

What did you like about the virtual field trip? 

Sam Houston: A Texas Hero

We have been studying a Texas historical figure:

Sam Houston
1793-1863

Sam Houston was born in 1793 in Virginia.  He died in 1863. He worked in a village in Tennessee. He loved adventures.


Sam Houston liked the Cherokee people and learned their language. He dressed like them and lived with them, too.




Sam Houston served in the U.S. Congress. Later he became the governor of Tennessee. He got elected president of the Republic of Texas in 1836.  He led the troops in the Battle of San Jacinto. He planned a suprise attack. Luckily, his army won the battle. Houston injured his ankle, then soon he recovered from the ankle.


He was also elected governor of Texas in 1859.


Click here to learn more about Sam Houston.


What do you think is most interesting about this Texas leader?