Coming Up:

Oct. 31	-   Overnight Informational Meeting - 7:40 a.m. LS Library
Nov. 2 & 3	-   LS Conferences
Nov. 21	-  Grandparents Day
Nov. 25-1 Dec.	-  Erb Testing
Dec. 5-7	-  Fourth Grade Overnight

Social Studies:

Fourth Graders visited two radically different sections of the Columbia River watershed in back to back field trips this week: Oxbow Park (a pristine reach of the Sandy River with wild salmon runs), and Bonneville Dam and Hatchery (a highly engineered hydro-power plant with salmon ladders and hatcheries to offset dam related impact on salmon).

In class, we have been studying the life cycle and habitat requirements of Pacific Salmon. Students headed off on these trips with many questions -- What are the benefits and drawbacks of the dam? How do hatcheries help or hurt wild salmon? What does it feel like to watch salmon spawn in the river vs. watching them return to the hatchery?

One highlight was viewing a dead Chinook Salmon on the banks of the Sandy River. Students observed the many ways this fish was providing nutrients to the surrounding forest and the animals in the area. Consider attending Oxbow Park's "Salmon Homecoming" event  on October 21 and 22 to experience this!

Back in class, we now have some complicated issues to explore through persuasive essays. Some wonderings in class -- Can we continue to have cheap electricity while protecting salmon? What else might be done to help the fish? How can we teach others about what salmon need?

On Friday we followed up by reflecting on these trips with the help and guidance of our service learning coordinator, Kristin Haferbecker. Students were challenged to consider the many perspectives of people, wildlife, and the river itself in regard to the dam, salmon, and the hatcheries.  Many were inspired to consider alternative designs to hatcheries to do a better job at mimicking nature.

Please view some photos of our trips here and here.

Math:

During math this week we tinkered with volume and capacity, while branching into larger numbers and multi-digit multiplication. We had a lively discussion around the finding the area of a page in our math workbook. Kids shared ways to find the area (21cm x 28cm) that ranged from using the standard algorithm for multiplication to covering the page with base ten pieces that could then be counted up. Many agreed that the most efficient way to think about this problem was something like (10 x 28) + ( 10 x 28 ) + (1 x 28) or 280 + 280 + 28 = 588.  This was a natural time to consider how the distributive property of multiplication can help support our mathematical understandings.

Writing/Word Study:

Children are working on completing their small moment stories. In looking over the children’s writing, I realized that the children would benefit from review and practice in adding suffixes to words. So we looked at where syllable breaks occur in words and reviewed some of the rules around adding suffixes such as -ed and -ing to words.

Reading:

We are working on distinguishing between summarizing/retelling vs. synthesizing events in sections of Tiger Rising.

• When retelling  or summarizing sections of a book, we identify key elements and important information in our own words during and after reading to solidify meaning. Five Finger Rules offer one way of organizing details about setting, characters, problems, events and endings.
• Synthesizing has to do with creating original insights, perspectives, and understandings by reflecting on text and merging elements from text and existing schema.

Students used these skills to gain a deeper understanding of the text through their personal reading.

Chaplain's Visit:

Chaplain Craig  visited our classroom to meet and get to know the children. Ask your children about the activity they did with him!

One of the highlights this week was our chapel on Tuesday where hundreds of dearly loved stuffed animals were blessed at the altar.

Our hope was to honor the gift of stuffed animals, which provide opportunities to model love and care, and which offer back the treasure of companionship and security. A surprise visit from our largest and most beloved stuffed animal - Aardy the Aardvark -- was an additional blessing indeed. (Chaplain Craig)

Conference Sign-Up:

Conference sign-ups close on Monday, October 23.