Hoosier Walk of Fame Update

Due dates for our Hoosier Walk of Fame Projects are fast approaching.  Please look over the following information to help you finish them up! 

Presentation Dress Rehearsal

On May 22nd and 23rd we will be doing practice runs of our presentations.  Please bring all costumes and props for the run through.  I will be grading their projects on these days.  Below you will see the day that the kids signed up to do their run through.  If you are using any props or costumes, I would encourage you to keep them at school after the run throughs so that they will be ready for the following week.  

How will the kids be graded? 

The kids will be receiving two grades for this project; one for social studies and one for listening and speaking.  The social studies grade will be based on the slide show that the students create.  The listening and speaking grade will be based on their oral presentation.   Please don't forget that the kids can access their slideshow and research on google docs.  You do not need to download the google chrome app.  You can just open google form any browser.  The kids will just need to log in.  They can work on their projects at home if they need some more time.  

Slideshow Presentation Scale

Listening and Speaking Rubric

 Hoosier Walk of Fame Invite

Please feel free to join us at our Walk of Fame on May 29th and 30th.  The kids would love for everyone to attend.

Hoosier Walk of Fame

Our class has been hard at work researching different influential people from Indiana.  Check out this list of people who all started right here in Indiana!

Famous Hoosier - Researcher from our Class

Jay Cutler..............................Caiden
Amelia Earhart.......................Sarah
Rex Grossman......................Orlando
Jim Davis...............................Makayla
Jeff Samardzija......................Ariel
Michael Jackson....................Kara
Colonel Sanders....................Morgan
Eric Gordon............................Logan
David Letterman.....................Andrew
Larry Bird...............................Sean
Mike Neal...............................Josh
Abraham Lincoln....................Norman
Colonel Eli Lilly.......................Lillian
Madelyn Pugh........................Madalyn
Johnny Appleseed.................Kristen
David Wolf.............................Brandon         

Our Goal for this Project

Our next step is to take this information we have gathered and create slide show presentations.   These presentations will be shared with our school and community at our Hoosier Walk of Fame.  At the Walk of Fame the students will be presenting information about their Hoosier as if they are that person.  We are encouraging all of the students to dress up like their Hoosier on the day of  their presentations.  

Here we are hard at work...
We are really excited about 
sharing our final products!

To be continued...

Extra! Extra! Read All About it!

Planning a Trip this Summer?

Have you thought about staying in Indiana?

This past month our writing goal was to create high interest list articles.  Our class has been working hard to create list articles about famous Indiana Landmarks.  In this project our main goal was to work on writing...but along the way we have learned so much more.  We looked carefully at magazines and their page layouts.  We learned how to create page layouts of our own using the program Pages.  We also had to do a little research about our Indiana landmarks before we could start writing.  We learned a little more about collecting research in Google Docs and organizing the information we found.  This project helped us learn more about Indiana...which is part of our 4th grade social studies standards.  It took a lot of hard work...but the end products were amazing.  I am really proud of my class and all of their hard work!

We wanted to share what we learned with our community.  We found a spot outside the office that we could hang up our articles for the whole school to read.  Even visitors to the school can read our articles while waiting in the office.  We have even placed copies of our articles in the magazine file so that people are able to take copies home to help them plan their vacations this summer.  So...the next time you walk into the school feel free to take one of our articles.  We hope they help you plan a great summer vacation.

Big Universe

We have access to a new program for reading called Big Universe.  This is a great resource that provides lots of books for the kids to access to read.  They can search for books by their reading level, genre, interest, and more.  Each student has their own log in.  Once they log in they can add books to their personal bookshelves.  They can add or delete books from their shelves at their leisure.  I can also assign books to their shelves that I would like for them to read.  We have been using it during our independent reading time this past week and all of the kids have really enjoyed reading from it.

Here is the best part...they can access their bookshelf from any computer.  They have access 24/7 to great books!  They will even have access over the summer.  The following link will take you directly to the website so that you can check it out.  Just log in and enjoy some great books!

Big Universe

The students usernames and passwords are the same as they use to log into their computers.
Our group username is tcsc-in

Have you read at home today?

Reading Calendar Data...

Every month the kids are supposed to record how much they are reading at home.  Our goal is that we will each read at least 420 minutes a month.  This is really important.  Research shows us that students who read more outside of school do better on achievement tests.  

So How Are We Doing...

If you take a look at the graph, each number across the bottom represents a student.  Along the left had side we have the number of minutes read.  The yellow line in the middle represents the goal line (420 minutes).  We have been collecting this data for 5 months now.  Each student should have 5 dots above their number.  The numbers are kept private so the kids only know their number.  Have them tell you what their number is.

So...if we take a look at January (purple dots), only 56% of our class turned in their reading logs.  44% of our class meet the goal of 420 minutes in January.  

Let's see if we can increase the amount of reading we are doing at home.  Don't forget that the February Reading Log is due on February 28th.  

If you have misplaced yours please click on this link to print a new one.   
February Reading Log

Student Treasure Books

Calling 

All Writers...
As you know, we are working on completing our Student Treasure Books.  I am sure that you have seen some of these papers come home...if not be on the look out for them.  This is an exciting program that allows our students to publish their writing into a hard bound book.  The kids have been working hard on them and I am excited to see the finished products.  

Here are just a few reminders:

• Edited and Revised Draft is due 2-12-14
• Final Draft Written in the Book is due 2-14-14
• Illustrations and Book Cover is due 2-19-14
• Completed Book is due 2-20-14

Order forms are coming home today.  Remember...everyone gets ONE FREE COPY!  The order form is only if you want more than one copy.  IMPORTANT...even if you don't want an extra copy you need to return the order form.  Just simply put a check mark in the box that says "No" and sign the bottom of the form.  You don't need to fill in any of the other information unless you are ordering another copy.  

Thank you for all of your support with this at home.  With all of the snow days and delays we would never have completed this project on time.  

What's Important?

"Reading is all about thinking"...is one of my favorite sayings.  I am sure my class does not love it as much as I do.  It's true though, as we read we are thinking about the information in a story or text.  We may not realize that we are doing it, but that's what reading is all about.

We have been working on paying attention to our thinking as we read all year.  This past week though we have added a new twist.  Readers also need to determine what information is important to remember and what information is just interesting.  We did the following demonstration to help us understand...

Before Reading...

A Book

This represents a book.
We talked about how a book has a lot of information inside it. (aka..the water and the noodles)

Our Brain 

This strainer represents our brain.
As we read, all of the information in the book goes
through our brain.

As we read, the information from the story or text (the water and noodles) passes through our brain (the strainer).  This is what it looks like after we are done reading the story or text. 

After Reading... 

The book

After we read the story or text, only the interesting information from the book is left.

Our Brain

All of the important information from the story or text sticks to our brain.  That is the information that is going to help us understand what we have read.

This is the anchor chart that we created to help us remember.

So...as you read together at home, ask your child to tell you what is the interesting information and what is the important information.  Happy Reading!