Fourth Grade 2014-2015

Fourth Grade 2014-2015

Thursday, November 15, 2012

November 15, 2012



The students have been hard at work in science class lately! We've been learning about the forces that shape Earth's surface, such as plate movement, earthquakes, erosion, and weathering. This has led to lots of hands on activities, from trying to crack rocks through freezing water (weathering) to looking at how glaciers cause erosion. You can see pictures of the students completing experiments above. We are going to look at some fossils today and tomorrow, and their test on this unit will be next week on Tuesday.

We're also wrapping up our units in English on nouns and in social studies on maps. Both of these tests will be the second week after Thanksgiving, the week of December 3rd. We begin many of our English units by writing poems, and the students have been having fun imagining the creative things they would find in a messy locker!

Students received their Bibles on Tuesday during the Bible ceremony. These Bibles are their own to keep, but we will be using them in religion class in school starting after Thanksgiving. They will also need to use them in middle school. I encourage the students to take their Bibles home to read, but they will need to remember to bring them back to school. We complete one of my favorite projects of the year, making a Jesse Tree, during Advent, and the students will need to use their Bibles to complete this. They will receive more details about this project after the break, but each student's assignment will be due on a different day, so please watch their assignment notebooks for this.

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving break!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

November 4, 2012



Thank you everyone who came to conferences! I really enjoy getting to sit down and speak with each family about their child's progress and goals for the rest of the year. If you think of anything you forgot to ask, or would like to speak more about something from their report cards, please don't hesitate to contact me.

The students did a beautiful job writing their paragraphs for the Day of the Dead, and they were really excited to share them, too! Below are pictures from sharing their projects, creating the ofrendas on Halloween, and learning CPR.



We have a social studies test on Wednesday. After the test, we're going to begin studying maps. In science, we've begun learning about Earth science and geology, and in writing, we're going to begin a unit on nouns.

I know I've been gone a few days this year, and I wanted to explain why. I am taking a class with Ms. Garber, who teaches science for the middle school, at the Museum of Science and Industry. These are wonderful classes that give me more background in science, as well as tons of ideas for experiments and the materials to complete them. I've already taken classes on Earth science and environmental science through the museum, and we've already done experiments and investigations from these classes, such as creating a food web about Lake Michigan animals, testing soil pollution, using seismographs to discover where earthquakes happened, and trying to figure out how many pennies were in a closed opaque container. The classes I'm taking now are on physical science and energy, and though it is unfortunate that I need to miss school, I know that the material I am able to bring back will be extremely beneficial to the students.