You are cordially invited...

...to the Winter Olympics!  Maybe not of the international variety, but equally as exciting for us!!!

Team Wilkinson will have our Winter Break Celebration on Friday December 13 at 12:00.   We will be competing in our own version of the Winter Olympics :)

Check out this awesome invitation:

Battle of the Books!!

Last week Ms. Dallaire introduced us to our expectations and goals for "Battle of the Books".  We will host competitions on the school and district level to find out  who's been monitoring their reading the closest; Battle of the Books is a trivia challenge!!   BoB books will also count for credit towards each student's 20 Book Challenge.  

Ms. Dallaire previewed each book for us by summarizing the main details.   Our Team has already identified the books we are most excited to read.  All of these books are available in our school library---Ms. Wilkinson also has many in our class library!!  At the end of the introduction, Ms. Dallaire gave us bookmarks that will help us keep track of which books we still need to read for our challenge.  

Happy Reading!!

Snow Day!!

What would have been "our" view today...turned into just mine!!  Happy Snow Day Team Wilkinson, stay safe. 

(Important Note: school will now be in session on Tuesday May 27!)

Animal Study Guide

Our next Science test will be on Friday December 13 and will cover Animals (Classifications, Adaptations, Life Cycles, and Needs).  Here is a study guide...for this test, the study guides will not be sent home with students.  Students may bring home a textbook and their Notebook to help them prepare.

Animals Study Guide

 

Sketch a picture and define each vocabulary word

Vocabulary Word	Definition	Picture/Example
Organism
Basic Needs
Living
Non-living
Once living
Characteristics
Survive
Growth
Offspring
Reproduce
Life Cycle
Hibernate
Adaptation
Camouflage
Mimicry

Animals need the following 4 things to survive:

1.      ____________________

2.      ____________________

3.      ____________________

4.      ____________________

 

Animals use their body structures to function in many ways. Identify the animal below. List 3 body structures of the animal. Explain how it uses each structure to function.

Animals are either vertebrates or invertebrates.  What is the difference?  Name an example of each.

 

 

 

 

Animals are classified by various characteristics. Name 3 ways animals can be classified and give an example:

1.       

2.       

3.       

 

Different animals have different life cycles, but all go through the following 4 stages. (Pg. 262)

1.      ________________________

2.      ________________________

3.      ________________________

4.      ________________________

                                      

How can we compare offspring of plants and animals to their parents?

 

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Team Wilkinson is thankful for Lunch Bunch with good friends!!!

Division Strategies

Here are a few short videos detailing the strategies that we have been using in this unit.  Our test is Tuesday November 26--students may choose the strategy that works best for them on the test, they will not be required to use one strategy or the other.

Long Division (no remainder)
Long Division (with remainder)
Partial-Quotient
Partial Quotient (LearnZillion)
Division using Extended Multiplication and Friendly Numbers - this is similar to our PQ strategy and emphasizes the use of multiplication in division

We have also looked at interpreting remainders in real-world settings.  If your child needs more understanding, here is a LearnZillion that we looked at in class.  The main idea we are communicating is that sometimes a remainder can be overlooked (for instance, if all students are to receive 2 cookies and the cafeteria made a few extra) and sometimes we need to account for it (e.g.: we decided it wouldn't be fair to leave someone at school for a field trip, we would need to increase the number of buses we request; or that we would play an extra round of a video game in order to score a high score instead of simply falling short of our goal!).  

November Update

We have had a very busy month, though Ms. Wilkinson has been under the weather and unable to update the blog.   Here is a summary of our learning:

The Science Guy shared some his friends to show us how some animals adapt to their surroundings.   This was a great preview for our Plants & Animals units in Science...

Yes, that is a boa constrictor...in our cafeteria!

We had the opportunity to touch this snake to understand how it's texture assists its ability to grip objects (such as prey or branches, to find shelter). 

Some of the reptiles and amphibians were unfortunately "off-limits", so we could only use our eyes to learn. 

Team Wilkinson also enjoyed the use of Kenwood's iPad cart in Math and Literacy this month.    Here we are performing research for our Q&A reports on weather phenomena that interest us:

And finally, Team Wilkinson earned another celebration--this time we rewarded ourselves with PJ Day!!  Our class shows great leadership in the hallways and follows classroom expectations...so celebrations are frequent for this group :)

When we return from Winter Break, Team Wilkinson will focus on earning compliments in the areas of Teamwork, Leadership and Communication specifically.  We would love your suggestions on how we can celebrate these goals!

The Water Cycle

Today we talked more in-depth about the Water Cycle and how we see it in our everyday life.  Here is a link to an interactive site that may help your child with vocabulary.  This is especially helpful if you are a visual learner :)

Our Weather & the Universe test is scheduled for Friday!

Weather Forecasting 101

Today we had a very special visitor, who came to get us pumped up for our next project.   Lori Farmer, a meteorologist with WDRB Fox 41, introduced us to the study of weather data and explained how she used this information to predict the weather.  Team Wilkinson is now ready to start forecasting on their own!

             What is a meteorologist?

A very special THANK YOU to Mrs. Farmer for her words today!  

Reading Leaders

We had a great morning with our Reading Buddies in Mrs. Beaty's class.  Team Wilkinson showed great leadership by proactively picking good reading spots and synergizing so each student could read aloud.  It's been a few weeks since our last visit and we can tell they are working hard to improve their reading skills!!   

Red Ribbon Magic!

We had a great time at the magic show celebrating Red Ribbon Week!   Our favorite trick was the expanding/shrinking head...it was so cool!  Have your kiddo explain this trick:

       Setting us up for the amazement

      Then sawing Mrs. Stevens in half!!! 

"My Future is Bright--No Drugs in Sight"

Here is a look at our fun first week back; we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week!!!

Monday October 28 - "Sock it to Drugs"....wear crazy or mismatched socks
Tuesday October 29 - Wear RED day   
Wednesday October 30 - "Team Up Against Drugs"...wear your favorite sports team jersey or shirt
Thursday October 31 - "My Future is Bright----No Drugs in Sight!"....wear sunglasses or neon clothes
Friday November 1 - "Don't get Mixed up with Drugs"...wear mismatched clothes

Friday is also FITT Friday!!!

Happy Fall Break, Team Wilkinson!!

Families--
     While everyone this week has a chance to Sharpen their Saw, I wanted to wish you all a safe and enjoyable break!!  I am sure some exciting times are ahead; I can't wait to hear all about everyone's adventures.

     I have asked students to continue their daily routine of reading for 25 minutes and logging their learning in their agendas.  This will help us maintain the stamina we have built in the first weeks of school.  When we return from break, we will start our 20 Book Challenge!!  Team Wilkinson is up to the challenge, no doubt!

     See you on October 28!!!

Tie Day

In honor of our great boss, who visited us today during science, we accessorized today:

         Happy Bosses Day, Mr. Morris!

    ...giving our best boss impression!

Mile Run!

In PE today, we ran a timed mile...4 laps around the track at South!!  The cool morning provided perfect running conditions. Team Wilkinson will continue to work hard in PE so we can improve our times.  :)

     Warmup, stretch and on your mark...

          Aaaaaaaaaaand, they're off!!!

    Our leaders of the pack!!  Way to go!!

Stripes the Tiger has a message for you!!

Come check out our talking Tiger at the Fall Festival, Wednesday October 16 at 6:00. Our kiddos used their synergy all week in creating this, so their placement of the pumpkin was perfect!!

p.s.  If you come, press the black button to hear what Stripes says!!

Brain Break!!

After working very hard during MAP testing this morning, our brains needed a break :) 

B

Weather, Week 1

Our weather unit kicked off this week and we are excited to begin our explorations next week with activities!  First though, we had to build our schema....check out all the things we learned in one just day reading weather books!!

Our week concludes with a look at why we have seasons, and then it's time for for investigations!

             

Sharpen the Saw!

Big thanks to our team moms today who helped us decorate our pumpkin for the Fall Festival next week during our "Sharpen the Saw" time!!  They even snapped a few pics for us while we were working (and writing!!). 

Updated pic of our assembled Team Wilkinson Tiger to come :)

 

Adding our Tiger Stripes!

 

 

Idea generating and revising!

 

 

 

 

We solve multiplication problems in different ways!

Bowties....lattice....say what?!?!

Check out the different ways we're solving multiplication problems in 4th grade!!

Extended Multiplication Practice

On Thursday, Team Wilkinson discovered a shortcut when multiplying numbers that are multiples of 10.   First, solve the basic fact at the beginning of the problem.  Then, add the same number of zeros in the factors to the product.  

 

Here is an example:

300 x 500

First, solve 3 x 5...15.  Now add the same number of zeroes in the factors ("the problem", 4) to the basic fact product...150000.

So 300 x 500 = 150,000. 

Here are some pics of Team Wilkinson working in groups to solve Extended Multiplication Problems. 

We're in 2nd place....

We found out today we are tied for 2nd place in the race to for a Pizza Party....the cafeteria is having a contest to see who can buy the most lunches in one week.  The class that purchases the most lunches will receive a pizza party.

Thursday is Vendor Pizza Day...so our participation on Thursday is easily motivated!!

Go Team Wilkinson!!!

Body System Wrap-Up

Today we wrapped up our look at informational texts related to the Body Systems in Literacy!!  Team Wilkinson had fun exploring new vocabulary and strategies to help us decide what is important information.  Our summary writing is much improved from a week ago.

Many of our kids were interested in the videos that presented us with more information.  Here is a link to the website we used, in case they are seeking more knowledge and experiences.  In class, we read about the Respiratory, Circulatory and Digestive Systems; the website also has information on the Skeletal, Muscular and Endocrine Systems. 

Crazy Hair Day

We celebrated Crazy Hair day for reaching our goal and getting compliments :)

Wonder what we will celebrate next!!

Welcome to our Class Blog!!

Welcome to our classroom page!  I will post updates from our day, reminders, homework and other news here for easy access to what is going on in Team Wilkinson!!