Fourth Grade 2014-2015

Fourth Grade 2014-2015

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Mid-October News and Lots of Pictures





The class had a lot of fun this past week experimenting with mealworms. Above, we are conducting an experiment to see whether they like white or blue paper better. We went through most of the steps of a scientific experiment: writing out a question, hypothesis, variables, observations, and conclusions. This even inspired Andy to conduct his own experiment on whether mealwoms liked lettuce or apples better when he took them home for the night!







The Hispanic Heritage celebration went really well. Our table on Ecaudor looked great, and the students had the opportunity to walk around with their buddies and explore artifacts from other countries, like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Chile and Columbia. In other classroom news, the class has finished their first stories that we've taken all the way through the writing process, beginning with exploring ideas in writer's notebooks, to drafting, revising, editing, and finally publishing and sharing with the class. Students wrote about a range of things, from summer vacations to birthday parties to ghost stories to sea slugs. I've also seen some great writing in the Beverly Cleary books we made. Miya and Alicia used a great simile, saying a bike was "as red as a strawberry," and George and Javier set their story up like a journal, skipping weeks or months in between chapters. The class has also been learning about the up-coming elections. We talked about the electoral college today and a mock election between Halloween and Christmas. Christmas won the popular vote, but whe I divided the students up into "states," Halloween was the winner.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Little Buddies and Little Bugs



This has been a busy week, trying to get things ready for the Hispanic Heritage Festival. Last week, we finished painting our migajons, made from bread and glue, with our preschool-4 buddies. We also painted "turtle shells" that Ms. B made into maracas. We researched animals from the Galapagos Islands, drew pictures of them, and glued them together into a collage, as well as finishing up our PowerPoint slides about Ecuador.

Another highlight of the week was observing the superworms, which are like mealworms but bigger. The students brought them outside to look at them and record their observations. After noting that they had 6 legs and exoskeletons, they were able to conclude that these were a type of insect! Hopefully, we'll have a chance to try some experiments with them next week, such as testing to see what color they like best. Our science test will be the Tuesday after that, on October 21st. 

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

September News


Welcome to our new fourth grade blog! Hopefully, this will be a great way to update everyone on our latest classroom event, and eventually, publish stories and articles from the students themselves.

We've had a very busy September, getting to know each other and getting started in all our subjects. We've already read several short stories, including one about sea turtles, and finished our first chapter book, Henry and Ribsy. Students are currently creating a new character that would fit into the world of Beverly Cleary, drawing pictures and writing stories about him or her. In writing, students have been learning about sentences, writing in their writer's notebooks, and are now taking a story they want to share through the five stages of the writing process: exploring, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

Students have also learned just about everything they can about plants in science, and they have had an introduction to American history, beginning with European exploreres arriving in North America and meeting the Native Americans, up through the Civil War. Once we finish history, we'll move on to the geography of the United States, leaving a more in-depth study of history to fifth grade. We've dissected flowers, "built" seeds and had contests to see how well they travel through air, water, and on animals, and we've planted seeds in different conditions to see how well they grow. We've had some surprising results so far; the tallest plants are the ones that don't get any sun! We'll have to see if this changes as the weeks progress.




















In religion, the fourth grade has planned and read for two masses, learned about St. Francis of Assisi, and studied the parts of Mass and the stories Jesus told about the Kingdom of God. We've also had the privilige of participating in the GREAT program, where a police officer comes in once a week to teach the kids about communicating, how to manage anger and rumors, and other strategies they need to resist joining gangs.

The latest project has been getting ready for Hispanic Heritage month. Our country is Ecuador, and we have been creating a class PowerPoint to tell the school about it. We are buddies with the preschool 4 year olds, and we have made migajons out of bread and glue with them, as well as learning about the Galapagos Islands and studying the artist Oswaldo Guayasamin.

October will be a big month for us. Soon, I'll be updating you with information about our Day of the Dead ofrendas, field trips to the National Museum of Mexican Art and to see Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, and our experiments with mealworms!