Google Earth

Today we used Google Earth and our knowledge of longitude and latitude to find exact locations. Some of the places that students explored include the White House, the Eiffel Tower and Parliament! Students had a great time using the iPads to look around each of these locations and even were able to take tours of many of these locations.

Take a look!

Secret Snowflake!

Good afternoon,

To bring some holiday cheer to Room 327 we started Secret Snowflake today! Students were assigned their snowflake and received some information about him or her to add to their people file. They can use this information while making each night's project. When students arrive at school each morning they will put their item into our box designated for secret snowflake and then I will pass out at some point during the day. I am so excited to see how creative students get with this small token of happiness!

Below are the small projects that students are completing each night to give to their snowflake the following day:



Miss Leifer

The East

Happy Friday!!


In Social Studies throughout Trimester 1 students have been studying the East region. The culminating project involved researching and presenting information regarding one state. Students used both text resources and iPads to gather information regarding the physical features, natural resources, climate and places to visit within their state. Once research was done students had the option to either write an informative letter about their state or create a poster. Below are a few examples by the talented researchers and artists within our classroom!

Miss Leifer

Need for Supplies!

Hi parents,

Thank you for your generous donations throughout the year so far. If you are willing and able to, our classroom is in need of paper towels. We would appreciate any help with this!

Thank you!
Miss Leifer

Non-fiction December

Hello families!

Did you know that December is non-fiction month in room 327? Are you ready for a challenge? Our class certainly is!

Today, in order to inspire an interest in non-fiction and to make sure that we are reading diverse genres, we made ourselves a reading challenge. Students decided that between now and Winter break they would commit to reading 125 non-fiction books as a class. That's an average of 5 non-fiction books per student!  We will set up a chart in order to keep track of our reading and post it in the classroom. Along the way we'll be able to discuss information that we have learned from these texts, explore the non-fiction text structures and write in response to our reading! Lots of fun to be had.

Please feel free to read non-fiction texts with your child at home. Any texts on the December reading log count, along with texts read in school.

Room 327 can do it!

Miss Leifer

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone had a restful thanksgiving break! Along with the excitement that December brings, it also is the time of year where our first report card is sent home. Grades close at the end of this week and report cards are sent home on the 21st, so be on the look out!

Miss Leifer

Reading and Writing

Our class has started to dive into texts in order to determine the theme, or message, of the story. We learned that theme is not specific to one text, but can be applied to more than one text. It also is a lesson that can be taken and applied to ones own life.

Today we read the book Sheila Rae, The Brave and determined the theme. Students also provided evidence in support of their answer.

In writing we are working on creating a descriptive setting. We learned that this description could either be the location or story takes place in, or a description of a story critical character. Most recently student's discovered that a word referent is another way to refer to a noun without using that specific noun. For example, some word referents for tiger might be: animal, predator, menace, carnivore, hunter, stalker, creature, etc. I was impressed by the amount of word referents the students came up with and I'm excited to see how they use word referents to make their writing more interesting!

Miss Leifer

Hard workers

Hi families,

The class has been working hard at understanding long division and being precise when solving using the traditional algorithm. Many students are consistently checking their work with multiplication; a great way to practice both skills! Next week we will be solving multiplication and division word problems! Many of these are three steps and require lots of thinking in order to accurately represent and solve. I am excited for students to use their growth mindset to help them tackle these. Be sure to ask your child how it is going next week.

In social studies we are also wrapping up our unit on map skills and moving onto studying The East. Students will have a quiz on the state locations and spelling on Wednesday 11/18. Then they will have a quiz on the location, capital and postal code on Tuesday 11/24. We are filling out a study guide today which will go home in their homework folder. The quizzes will also be written in their planner. Happy studying!!

Tomorrow is the Floral Fun Fair from 10-3. I hope to see everyone there!!

Miss Leifer

Fall Festival

Hi families!

This afternoon we had our fall festival, where we made fall themed paper bag books and we created our classroom scarecrow for the FSS scarecrow walk happening on Friday! More pictures to come of the scarecrow when the rain has subsided and we can put him up, but ask your child to give you a clue about what he is!

We have finished reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane for read aloud, and students were buzzing about the ending. It definitely provided some cliff hangers along the way, and students were eager to keep reading each day!

As a reminder, although there is no Harvest Hoedown this year, students are still invited to dress in the country spirit on Friday. In continuing with the harvest celebration, we will be attending a short folk music presentation on Friday afternoon.

Miss Leifer

Field Trip

Hi Families!

We had a wonderful time on our field trip today! The students learned a lot about rocks and minerals during The Changing Earth presentation, had time to explor the galleries, and chose a mineral for a future research project. Many kids reported that their favorite room was the mammal room. Our class used FACTS/CARES and expected behavior, and were fantastic representatives from FSS. Thank you to our chaperones, Mrs. McManus, Mrs. Bruschi, Mr. Yu and Mrs. Smith for coming along! We were so happy to share our learning with you.

Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Reading Comprehension

As readers, we have started to practice the reading strategy of questioning as we read. Good readers stay active as they are reading and question things that are happening, things that might happen, what words mean, characters intentions, and many more things! Some of our questions are answered in the text and some are not. Sometimes these unanswered questions are the best discussion starters! 

Today we finished reading the book The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery from History. The students really enjoyed it! They were disappointed that the book ended as a cliff hanger, and had many great questions along the way. 

When you child is reading at home, ask them to share some questions they had during reading with you!

October Book Orders

Thursday, October 15 will be the last day for students to submit October book orders. Remember you can purchase books online with our classroom code or by sending the order form and a check into school with your child. Checks should be made out to Scholastic Book Orders.

Thanks!! Happy reading :)

First Field Trip

Last week I sent home permission slips for our first field trip of the year to the Harvard Museum of Natural History! The field trip will happen on October 22, and we will leave school at 8:15. Students need to arrive to school by 8:00am. Please return the permission slip by Thursday, October 8. If you would like to be a chaperone please check with the office to make sure you have a current CORI check on file. In general CORI checks take 2 weeks to process and are valid for three years.

Curriculum Night & Student Council speeches

It was great to meet most of you last night at curriculum night! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to come into our classroom and learn about the 4th grade curriculum. The students' are so lucky to have such supportive parents who truly care about their learning and success. Many parents asked me for apps or websites to help support their children at home. In the coming weeks I will compile a list and add them to the blog for your reference.


 Twenty three out of 25 students ran for student council and presented their speeches this afternoon. Each and every one did a fantastic job! I could tell that it was a very meaningful experience to each child, and a lot of thoughtful preparation went into each speech. It takes courage to get up and speak in front of a group, so it's great to see that so many students felt comfortable and confident amongst classmates. Even if your child was not elected to Student Council, there will be plenty of opportunities to participate this year. Congratulations to all students who ran!

Team work!

Each week our class has team game on Fridays. This is one way that we are able to work on skills like cooperation, leadership, and sportsmanship while having fun! The first week of school we tried an indoor activity where students needed to build a tower of cups by using an elastic with strings attached. The groups did great! While only two groups were able to finish, students had a great time problem solving and communicating about strategies. During our conversation after the activity, many students reflected on how important it was to stay calm and move as a group. Below are some pictures from our experience.

Growth Mindset

The students of room 327 have been learning about how we all can grow our brains! We read Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak and The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires and have discussed the big ideas from the two books. We learned that mistakes help our brain to grow and stretch and to stay calm and persevere through challenging situations. Students will be working on creating their own commitments on how they will work to grow their brain this year in 4th grade on Wednesday!

Reminder! 4th grade Curriculum night is September 29 from 6:30-7:45.