Author Backtalk Presentations

The fourth grade students did a marvelous job completing their Author Backtalk Presentations! We enjoyed a variety of presentation formats including: videos, interviews, poster presentations, Power Points, and a Voice Thread!

Students have learned to get inside the head of their authors, and that good readers have on-going dialogue with their author as they read. The fourth graders now think about: how the author's life influences their writing, author's purpose, themes, literary elements used by the author, how authors writing stays the same and how it changes between books, how ideas connect between between books, and what types of audiences authors write for.

I am SO proud of your incredible work fourth graders!

Invitation to Notice Dialogue Conventions

When writers use dialogue, they add voice to the story. There are many conventions to be aware of when using dialogue in our own writing, including: quotation marks, commas, paragraphing, end punctuation, and capital letters. Writers can study dialogue published in books as models for good writing patterns and strategies:

"Well you were brave, too," Laura said. "Even if it was only a stump, you thought it was a bear. You'd have hit him on the head with a club, if he had been a bear, wouldn't you, Pa?"
"Yes," said Pa, "I would. You see, I had to." Little House in the Big Woods, pg. 115

The English Language Lesson

Sometimes it's difficult to understand what it is to
be a language learner. Here are some examples
that prove learning English is not easy!

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the
same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

Reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English:
1) I did not object to the object.
2) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
3) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
4) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
5) The farmer could produce produce.

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in
which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which
you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes
off by going on.
And that is just the beginningeven though this is the end.

4th Grade's New Science Webpage!

Parents and students, visit our new science webpage on magnets and electricity. There are discussion boards, activities, pictures, videos, and more! It's a webpage that we create together. Join in the conversation!

Earth Day Poem by Mr. Valentine

Today is your day Earth.
What would you like to do?
Turn on the air conditioning?
Watch TV?
Sit on the couch?
Play video games?
Go to the mall?
No?

You'd rather
watch the sun rise?
Catch some waves?
Climb a mountain?
Hike through the jungle?
Dance in the rain?
Sing with the birds?
Breathe fresh air?
Watch the sunset?
and sleep under the stars?

Me too.
Let's go!

Finding "Show, Not Tell" in Poetry

Dog Love by X.J. Kennedy

In the morning of each school day,
on the corner,
Molly Mutt waits with me
till the school bus stops.
In the afternoon when
it carries me home again
she sits waiting till I come
and up she hops.
She covers me
with sloppy doggy kisses,
she licks my nose
and lunchbox up and down.
Maybe other dogs, I bet,
wouldn't get a kid so wet,
but I wouldn't trade
for all the dogs in town.

I believe the poet uses show, not tell details in this poem. Instead of simply saying, "My dog loves me," the poet gives specific examples like how the dog waits at the bus stop in the morning and after school. Also, the dog is always licking, and even though to some people that might seem gross, to this person, it makes them feel loved - and they wouldn't trade their dog for anything.