The school year has started off strong in Strawberry Creek!  Thanks to our returning 5th graders for modeling the Strawberry community culture, our new 4th graders were able to learn classroom procedures and expectations quickly.  For example, we use Morning Circle to greet each other and ground ourselves for the work of the day.  Closing Circle is a time for checking on homework, using our organizer, doing jobs and taking care of the classroom, and having one more check-in point as a community before we say goodbye for the afternoon.  

In literacy, we have been studying character traits and we worked on dictionary skills.  We have begun our study on morphology, the smallest units of words that still hold meaning.  We have completed our first independent writing pieces about our summers, our first quick-publish.  In our shared class reading, we talked about banned books and why people choose to ban books.

In fourth grade math, we are reviewing a variety of different multiplication strategies.  We are using the strategy of arrays in conjunction with area models to demonstrate multiplication facts.  We are using large arrays to find smaller arrays in order to make more complicated math problems easier to approach.  We are also examining both prime numbers as well as composite numbers.  In fifth grade math, students have been building on using area models for multiple digit multiplication, and working with volume and surface area to start the year. 

In cultural studies, we discussed elements of identity, exploring bias and stereotypes. We also started examining and making maps.  Students mapped their rooms for homework and then worked in pairs to map the entire UAC campus.  We’ll be learning about scale and mapping the United States.  We also looked at problems with maps, such as distortion and the resulting biased world views that are promoted with the Mercator projection and what that means for the stories maps tell.

In science, we’re studying energy and electricity. Students are excited about the ways in which energy can be transferred from a source to another place to do work such as lighting a bulb or powering a motor.  We examined how circuits work, testing different materials for conductivity and insulating properties.