Text-based essay writing is not exactly a bundle of fun. But unfortunately, it's something the kids need to learn, and much of our week was centered on this type of writing. Students read and noted their thinking about an article and folktale related to fear. They then planned and wrote a response to the question, "Based on the two passages, how does fear affect people?" They needed to use evidence from both passages to prove their answer to the question. The hardest part of this process is expanding on that text evidence. Students need to explain or say more about each of the (at least four) pieces of evidence to prove their central idea, which is their answer to the question and the point they're trying to prove. This is the part where they need to articulate their inferences, which is always the most challenging aspect of text-based expository writing. BUT the good news is that we've made a lot of progress over the school year when it comes to writing about texts, and most kids worked really hard on their essays. Another type of writing we've begun exploring is text-based narrative writing, which is referred to as "narrative writing tasks". This involves reading a passage, then writing in response to a prompt that has students either writing the next scene of the story, writing a new ending to the story, or writing the story from a different character's perspective. A lot is involved with this type of writing because not only do you have to understand the passage and weave elements from the passage into your writing, you need to be able to write in a way that encompasses description, characterization, dialogue--all the pieces that make for a good story. Honestly though, narrative writing tasks are a bit more fun to teach than essays, because they allow kids to get creative. So, as you can see, there's a lot of writing going on in 4th grade right now!

This week was our first week with our new end-of-the-year behavior contract. We all worked together to brainstorm the expectations outlined on this contract, and student participation on field trips is contingent upon meeting these expectations. We'll continue to emphasize that mistakes happen--it is inevitable that kids be forgetful or act impulsively at times. This contract is more for students to really think about choices made in the classroom and at school so that we can have a positive remainder of the school year. These kids are all very very capable, and I am confident that with effort and a positive mindset, they will all meet be able to join us for any end-of-the-year trips and celebrations.

Below you'll see some photos of the kids in action, from Owen's extra credit presentation to the fifth graders coming in to share work with us. Our Bucket Fillers of the week were Lacy and Petya. Lacy is our extra homework all star. She is currently making progress towards her third homework pass of the school year! I love her creativity, and I love how motivated she is. Her and Petra also played clever April Fools Day jokes on my homeroom on Monday, which were much better than my attempt at one when I pretended to assign a 5-paragraph essay and the students didn't blink an eye...I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing?! Petya is awesome. He is so reliable when it comes to participating in classroom discussions, and his essay this week was absolutely excellent. I really like his personality in that he can be both goofy and focused, and both humble and confident. I'm looking forward to lunch with both Petya and Lacy this week!