I'm a little late posting this week because I wanted to make sure that I had pictures from the kids' quality bonding time with some therapy dogs on Monday! I didn't get to meet the dogs, but from the photos and from what the kids relayed to me, they were very cute. The kids went in groups of five and spent about fifteen minutes or so bonding with the dogs. We were one of the lucky grade levels who got this opportunity this year, and it was a nice way to head into our final two days of MCAS. Fortunately the math MCAS involves a lot less reading and writing than the ELA portion, so everyone was done by lunch time on both days. AND the fourth grade MCAS is officially behind us, woohooo!

In our final week of our theme unit, we looked back at all the fiction stories we've read over the course of the school year, and identified common themes among those texts. We also discussed how the choices the author and illustrator make often play into the theme of the text. For example, an author might write a story from the perspective of a character who learns a vital lesson about friendship. By taking on the perspective of the character who learns that lesson, we really get an inside look at his thoughts and feelings as he navigates his peer relationships, which can lead us to the theme of the story.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Ava B. and Lydia. Ava B. has taken on the lead role for a presentation on syllables that will be put on for my homeroom this week. She's done some work at home and come in early before school to work on it. I'm proud of her extra effort! Lydia is a pro when it comes to theme. She excels when it comes to digging deeper into a text and pulling out a lesson that applies to life and our world. I enjoyed having lunch with her and April today. :)