Here we go: Spring Break! I hope you all have a fantastic time with family and friends and come back refreshed for the final push.

In math this week, we continued work on multiplication, division, as well as our Array City project. Our blueprints are finally finished and on the wall, and now we'll begin the next step of re-creating them on a larger scale for our hallway.

One of our students chose the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia; it turns out, his father used to work in the right-hand tower! A very nice personal connection.

As well in math, we have introduced division. Our grade 4s (and some of our grade 3s) are beginning to learn the long division algorithm. We also continue with multiplication, weaving the two together. Number fluency and number sense continue to be a primary focus. I'm finding many of the students can learn the algorithms well enough, but are still developing some of that number fluency and number sense that is required to truly understand what math is about. So, although automaticity, recall, efficient and quick use of algorithms are important for success, we still need to build our number sense in general. 

Also, each week our principal, Mrs. Wickland, gives the entire school a math challenge. You can find her challenges on our school website (here's a link). This week, we worked on the challenge together, and then each student applied their personal learning to it and wrote about it. Here's the challenge, and some of the work below. 

It was also a chance to talk about other concepts, such as parallel lines, lines of symmetry, angles, etc. 

In science we continued building and designing simple machines, focusing this week on levers and a catapult challenge with the other grade 3-4 classes. Students worked individually or in groups and experimented with the length of load arms, resistance arms, fulcrum size, different materials (rubber bands, popsicle sticks, lego, meter sticks) to create a powerful catapult. 

We tested our designs in the hallway before we had our final competition in the gym. 

In social studies, we continued with our study of India, and learned about elephants. We then engaged in an art project, drawing and then painting elephants and decorating them as we discussed the festival of Holi, which occurred March 21st. Some of our students participated in Holi celebrations, and we were lucky enough to have them share some of their pictures and memories.

Have a fantastic break and see you all in April.