We wrapped up our Heat-Energy Science Unit after two weeks of experimentation and analysis. One of our friends created a video to publish our findings. Please enjoy as she shares about our hard work.
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Our first week back to school was #awesome! Not only is our teacher awesome, but she made us realize each of us is awesome, too, with talents and gifts to share with the world. One thing our tricky teacher is trying out this year is EMPOWERING INSTRUCTION. That means that basically we -the students- get to help make important decisions. On day one, we decided on our expectations for transitioning from one activity to another in our classroom: Move quietly, safely, and taking turns. We also got to decide what we want to do together first thing every morning. We decided to have a meeting in which we will greet each other in a fun way, share out and discuss important ideas, play a game, and sing a song. After we made that decision, we started every day with games, songs, greetings, and discussions. We also got to choose roles, and not just any old class jobs we could do anywhere! These were jobs that matter to us, that mean something, and that we feel passionate about. Because our passions will be the road map of our life, if we're careful about following them. One pretty awesome thing we did was decide what lessons the teacher would teach us in Reading so we can start our Reading Workshop in the next few weeks. She gave us a list of topics she had to cover before we could launch our workshop, and we built a pirate map to guide us toward that destination. We have a ways to go, but we know we will be ready when it's time to launch. X marks the spot!
This year is going to be AWESOME!As I'm sure everyone is aware, it's election day! In 4th Grade, we have been studying the issues in this year's campaigns, and the candidates running for president. We learned that voting is a serious responsibility. We knew we needed to learn what the candidates had to say for themselves. We went to the Time For Kids site to learn about the issues and meet the candidates. All that learning helped us be ready for the vote today. When we got to school this morning, the voting booths were already set up in our 4th Grade hallway. There were two student proctors who were managing the voting machines and passing out "I Voted" stickers. We were surprised to find that our ballots including some questions we were not expecting (e.g. "Should Ms. Willden be retained as a 4th-Grade teacher at Plymouth.") We waited in the lines at the voting station, and we cast our vote. But, we won't know the results until the polls close this afternoon... Who is nervous? For the past several weeks, we have been learning all about the Water Cycle in our Science class. We have learned lots of fancy terms, such as "evaporation" and "precipitation". This week, we did an experiment. We dumped a little water out on the cement outside, traced around it with chalk, and then made observations. And, while we were watching... POOF! The water disappeared. Now, we are basically water cycle experts these days, so we can tell you where the water went. Just ask us! We had the opportunity to go to This Is The Place Heritage Park to learn about our Utah history. We had a ton of fun! Our trip consisted of a long bus ride, and then an introduction to the Park. This place was amazing! It's an entire pioneer village, and all the workers wear period clothing. We got to go to several places. One place was the Blacksmith Shop. The big blacksmith showed us how he makes nails, tools, and even chandeliers! His forge was small, but it made metal hot, hot, hot! It glowed orange in the dim light of the smithy. He wore heavy gloves and was able to bend the metal using tools. He even hammered the metal to change it's shape. When he was done, he had made a decorative leaf out of metal! Another place we went was to the School House. The school master was pretty strict. He made the boys and girls line up in separate lines and bow before going into the school house. He scolded the girls for forgetting to wear their petticoats! When he got into the school, the girls sat on one side and the boys on the other. The desks had slates and chalk on them, and we were able to practice forming the Deseret Alphabet while he explained how school works in 1865. We also learned how students were punished. We are SUPER glad teachers do not paddle students or make them sit on stools with dunce caps on their heads in 2016. We also had the chance to push handcarts. A lot of pioneers moved in to Utah with all their belongings in carts they pushed by hand. It turns out, the handcarts are not so easy to push. And ours did not have everything we own in them! Basically, we are grateful for cars. One of the fun activities we got to do was ride the train. It took us on a tour of the whole village. We saw one-room cabins, the University, a Native American village, and many shops and houses. It was a CHILLY ride, but fun. This field trip was excellent, and we are so grateful to the chaperons who came and made it possible. The view from up at the park is pretty amazing. Since we received a bounce-back pass, some of us might be bugging our parents to take us back for FREE. Our First Term Project was a Reading Fair. We each selected a book to read and review. We made fair boards to display our understanding of the text. We used themes to connect to the text and to the world. It was a lot of work, but we persevered. Our finished products were excellent. When our schoolmates came walking through the fair to see our boards, all the effort was worth the reward of their excitement. Reading rocks! Check out our awesome fair boards! Book Clubs have officially begun in our class! We are all-star readers on a journey of awesomeness! Our Book Club Leaders have been specially trained to run a book club, but are, in fact, not yet experts. As they get started on this journey, we are excited to all be a part of it! Book Clubs meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Soon there will be discussions, and theatrical readings, and popcorn! Soon there will be so many book reviews, our website might not be able to handle it! It's going to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Look Out!
In 4th Grade, we get to go to music or drama classes every week. This week was music! Our amazing music teacher, Ms. Smith, teaches us about instruments and notes, and shows us how to tap into our inner musical potential. Today we got to learn a new song, "Chatter with the Angels." The video below shows our first practice singing the song and playing the instruments at the same time. It's a pretty difficult skill, but we're clever and eager, so we kept at it until we were pleased with our progress. We just love music! This is our first practice with the instruments and the song at the same time. "G, D, G-D-G!"
We did it! After several weeks of planning, writing, thinking, and sharing, we have at last accomplished a major feat: We are published writers!
We walked around all the 4th Grade classes to read our peers' work and leave feedback on the Star Feedback form. We shared everything we loved about their narratives! Then it was time to return to our own class. There we ate lots of tasty snacks and listened as some of our friends read their work aloud. Getting to publishing was a lot of work! But totally worth it. We love writing workshop! We're off to a great start this school year. Math rotations began this week. We went to different classes and had a chance to get to know other teachers in 4th grade. But the exciting this is, we are doing amazing! We have learned a lot about place value, rounding, and comparing numbers to the hundred-thousands. One of the best math activities we did this week was to help us understand expanded form. Mrs. Perez made cups for us to use to show the specific value of each digit in the number. It was so much easier to understand once we were able to manipulate the numbers. Our teachers are awesome! Math is so much fun. And here's the most awesome thing so far... we are all doing so well: the whole 4th grade! It doesn't get much better than this!
4th Grade Math = Awesome! |
Ms. WilldenMy class has been a wild and wonderful learning space. This blog is a compilation of past news and activities from former years in the classroom. Archives
September 2018
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