Today we were able to join up with Mrs. Hankin's class for science. We presented the fact that a scientist/mathematician, Isaac Newton, discovered the three laws of motion that we are going to study in depth over the next few weeks. So, we wanted to know what they knew about Newton...like what did this man even look like? Here are just some of the results to that question. This was a fantastic lead in to some great discussions. Tomorrow, we will again join Mrs. Hankin's class to take a deeper look into Law One.
You may have noticed the first writing prompt off to the side of this post. Students were told today that they need to write in 4th grade quality and at least a half page entry in their language notebook everyday. If students do not have a language notebook we discussed possible solutions they could go to until a notebook is obtained. Students were also told that their notebooks would be checked daily for completion. I will be collecting each student's notebook at least once a week for further grading. There will be a writing grade on the next report card. A large percentage of that grade will be for participating in the writing prompt nightly. Students also record the prompt in their planner daily now. So what does 4th grade quality work look like? According to your children it is:
1. Proper capitalization of proper nouns.
2. Proper capitalization of the next word after a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
3. Proper use of commas, ending punctuation, and apostrophes
4. Spaces in between their words
5. Done in their best handwriting: cursive or print.
6. Details, details, details. The teacher cannot read our minds.
Please have your child read aloud their writing entry to you nightly. When they do this, they often catch grammar mistakes quickly. Feel free to edit their entries and have them make corrections. This is a home-school connection and all the feedback they can get will make them better writers. Thanks to all the parents that emailed or wrote comments of thanks for doing this assignment. It matters to me that it matters to you!
