Student-Led Conferences

Another year of student-led conferences and another year of one impressed teacher! WOW! In order to make our student-led conferences even possible students and teachers have been hard at work preparing. Our first days back after Thanksgiving break was spent reflecting. We asked ourselves what's been going well? What have the challenges been? What have we learned and where have our strengths been? We completed this not only for each subject matter but also in our competency areas. We made a chart and brainstormed together to get our juices flowing.

After we had a lot of different ideas on our charts, we were ready to begin our own digital portfolios. We filled them with glow and grow areas, showed work samples, and even set two specific measurable goals for the next term. This was by far the most rewarding part for students and myself as we had agreed upon language and clear goals moving forward. Once our portfolios were complete it was time to practice. We all so kindly agreed to be each other's "adults at home" so we could practice presenting.

Finally, students were ready to lead their conference and share their learning. Even with a few slight nerves, students absolutely rocked their conferences. Students were so proud of their work and adults from home were nothing but impressed. As I sat through conferences I was beyond impressed with everything students have learned and shared during our first trimester (and I was there every day with them!) not to mention their ability to speak and present so clearly.

Thank you to all students and adults from home for supporting your child as they SHINED during their first student-led conference! I am looking forward to our second round of student-led conferences in the spring.

Disney Day

Today, Howe-Manning 4th graders got to experience one magical day! In honor of Mickey Mouse's 94th birthday, we all headed to Disney (Disney Middleton that is). Students traveled around Disney's magical lands, meeting different characters and reviewing skills across the subject areas. Check out our Disney Map and click on each land to see what we were up to. 

We started our day in Frontierland to practice our geography skills. For Mickey's birthday, Minnie Mouse planned a spectacular trip around the Northeast Region of the United States. Students used iPads to scan QR codes which led them to letters from Minnie and clues about where she was taking Mickey on their trip.

We headed off to Fantasyland for reading (after a quick spin on the teacups). We practiced the different parts of speech with a digital hunt.  

In the afternoon we headed to Adventureland (aka Math) with Mrs. Weeks, we had so much fun spending $200 to buy Mickey's birthday presents. We had to round, add, and even multiply to get as close to spending all $200 as we could.

We also visited Tomorrowland and Toontown for more Disney fun! We could design our own ears, become an Imagineer, code an Elsa snowflake or even complete Disney Escape Rooms

Until tomorrow 4th graders, we might not be at Disney but it is sure to be magical.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.

-Walt Disney

From Middleton to Dublin

Written by Guest Bloggers: Scarlett & Gio

The JDO Foundation is a program we are doing this year where you get partnered with classes from different countries around the world to do fun projects. We were partnered with Mr. Daly’s class from Dublin, Ireland, and are excited to calab with them. We also made a google classroom with their class. We will soon get to write letters, do projects together and learn about their culture. We will also get a partner or maybe two because they have more students than us.

We do a google meet with them every month. When we met each other for the first time we told each other what is so special about our town and what it is like in our school. Here is what we shared about Howe-Manning and Middleton. 

A thing that really interested us is when they told us what kind of sports they had. The sports they had were very different then the sports we have in America. They had a really interesting playground that was different from our school. They did not have a playground instead they had a field and what we call a basketball court and a really nice running track. They called it their “yard” which we thought was fun. 

Their school is known as a technology school. They have a whole computer room in their school and they use VR headsets for learning sometimes. We are looking forward to seeing them again!

Spy Day

4th graders arrived at school Monday to discover some shocking news...Mango was missing! We met at headquarters to get our briefing from Agent Bryson and get caught up to speed. Check the video out here:

Quickly, 4th graders were transformed into spies and ready to use their fictional story element knowledge, mathematical skills, and problem-solving strategies in order to gather clues and uncover the secret information. 

We started by opening our top-secret mission file which had our first clue, spy notebook, invisible pen, and helpful disguise.

Spies discovered the QR code took them to the spy lab where they hunted for hidden clues. There were codes to crack, puzzle pieces to put together, hidden magnifying glasses to use, and mystery high-tech pictures. Check it out:

    

Head to the full spy lab and give it a try yourself here. 

Correctly solving the different clues and discovering the mystery words granted agents access to the confidential information. Secret agents safely rescued our beloved Mango. Just another day in the life of a 4th-grade spy. 

Case closed!