The Christmas Season

Our Jesse tree is now almost complete. We've finally arrived at the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus, and will hear about Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the magi. As we approach Christmas, please remind your child that this is a season of giving, which can include gifts like hugs, smiles, or kind deeds, and that Jesus should be the center of our celebrations.

We are almost done with several different subject areas now. We only have one chapter left to read of The Whipping Boy, where we have been talking about cause and effect. We've also discussed different elements of a plot, including rising action, climax, falling action, and solution, and made "story mountains" for books we've read in class and the play we went to see. We are also discussing parts of a paragraph and adding good topic sentences, transition words, and conclusions to how-to paragraphs. In science, we're learning about the solar system, which is leading to many interesting questions. If your child wants to explore this subject some more, some websites I recommend include:

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/osskids/index.html
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/

Finally, we have been talking about the economy and government in social studies, and doing activities like creating business plans for our own businesses and nominating people (sometimes imaginary) to serve in the various branches of the government. We will have an open notebook test tomorrow on the topics we have covered in social studies.

Advent Joy

As we begin this season of Advent, it's important to remember to be awake, watchful, and ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus and his entrance into our lives. In school, we are creating a Jesse Tree, which begins with the story of the creation of the world and tells the stories of the ancestors of Jesus and the prophets in the Old Testament. So far, we've heard about Joseph, who was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, as well as the story of Adam and Eve and the creation of the world. Each student has at least one story, is making a symbol to represent the story to put on our tree, and is sharing a summary of the story with the class. To continue the spirit of prepartion during Advent at home, I encourage you to pray with your child and find time to be silent and reflect on what Christmas really means to us.

We finished our science unit on adaptations with some "Insect Olympics," where students tested what adaptations that insects had allowed them to win various events, such as drinking water from a puddle, jumping, and digging for food. Right now, students are creating their own insects that could live in our classroom, drawing a picture and writing a paragraph about its adaptations.

The students took the English test on nouns on Wednesday. Due to the many low grades, students have an opportunity to retake the test on Tuesday if they have returned the original test signed and have completed the review packet I put together. I will also hold an optional review session before school on Tuesday morning, from 7:30-8.

Please remember to come to the Christmas concert this Sunday! It starts at 2:30, but students should be there by at least 2:15 (or earlier) so that we can get ready.

The pictures are from the day before Thanksgiving, where we celebrated worms. Students acted out parts of the book How to Eat Fried Worms, and they got to take actual fried worms home with them to try if they wanted to.

Late Assignment Policy

Lately, students have been having trouble turning work in on time. In the first quarter, the only thing I gave a late grade for (took points off) was the reading log. This quarter, students will lose 1 point for every assignment that is turned in late. This includes late homework and classwork. In class, when I want students to turn something in, I always stop them from what they are working on, wait until the room is quiet, and then explain what should be turned in, usually holding up an example. We always turn work in to the same place, the homework box. Homework that I want to be turned in is circled on the homework board (as it has been since the beginning of the year), and I remind them to turn it in before we pray. This has been the policy since the beginning of the year, and students should be used to the routine by now.

We have a field trip coming up to see a play version of the book Holes on December 10th. This book was done as a read aloud in third grade, and I highly encourage students to read it again (or read it for the first time if they weren't here last year)! While we will not be reading this book in class, the play will still be a great opportunity to see how professional actors and actresses turn a book into a play, speak fluently and with emotion, and see a great story acted out. This does tie into our current reading project, where students are reenacting scenes from How to Eat Fried Worms. We've divided into four groups, each with a scene and script to share with the class.

In English, we're continuing to look at nouns. Since I would like to go over possessive nouns in more depth, I am pushing the test back to the week after Thanksgiving, probably the Wednesday. I will send a study guide home before Thanksgiving so students can review it over the break. Students have not received a study guide for the quiz in social studies since they will be allowed to use the books we've been creating and taking notes in. The quiz will ask students to apply their knowledge, using the map they create to describe landforms in different regions and looking at their cause and effect chart to predict the weather.

November News

We've started reading one of our funniest books, How to Eat Fried Worms. In this book, Billy makes a bet that he can eat 15 worms in 15 days for $50. While reading, we're paying close attention to the characters' traits and using specific examples from the book as evidence of these traits, and sequencing the events in the story. We also took a poll of things the students would be willing to eat for $50. Only 4 of them said they'd be willing to eat worms (though 9 said they'd eat a fried cockroach); maybe we'll see who's really willing to eat a worm at the end of the unit!

We've also been playing some fun games in science. Today, we played a game called Seed, Mouse, Fox, where students had to catch the animal or plant they needed for energy in order to survive. At the end of each round, students changed roles based on whether they were successful in finding their prey, which also demonstrated how populations of animals and plants can changed based on the resources and predators in the area.

We have several upcoming tests in the next week. Next Tuesday, we'll have a test on ecosystems and food chains. They have already received the study guide for this. The following Tuesday (right before Thanksgiving), they'll have a test on nouns: proper and common nouns, plural nouns, and possessive nouns. They'll also have a quiz in social studies, where they will be able to use the booklet were we've been writing notes down.

Church Bulletin Article

The fourth grade finished up October with lots of different cultural experiences. We went to the opera to see Mozart's Magic Flute, and celebrated both Halloween and the Day of the Dead. Our Day of the Dead experience included making ofrendas after interviewing people about a relative who has passed away, visiting the National Museum of Mexican Art, coloring in skeletons for the classroom, and making skull masks with our preschool buddies. Below is an article that talks more about these activities that will be published in the church bulletin this Sunday.

Opera and Ofrendas in Fourth Grade
The fourth grade has had the opportunity to learn about many different cultural experiences lately. Two favorites have been going to see Mozart’s Magic Flute and learning about the Day of the Dead.

The 3rd through 8th grade went to see Lyric Opera perform The Magic Flute in a version meant just for students at Lake View High School on November 29th. To prepare for this, the 4th grade read about the life of Mozart, discussed the plot of the opera, and brought in “birthday gifts” for their favorite characters. The opera was beautiful, with many arias, an evil queen, and even a dragon that was hiding in a bedroom closet! Marcos said, “It was funny and pretty cool. I liked when the dragon came out the second time and Tamino hit him with his wand.” The students also looked wonderful, dressing up for the event in dresses and suits.

Another big event in October is the celebration of the Day of the Dead. All of the grades participate, bringing in objects to remember loved ones, making pop-up books about the celebration, or creating skull masks. In 4th grade, our celebration centered around remembering someone from our family who has died. Each student chose a relative and interviewed two people about him or her. They then wrote a paragraph about the life of the loved one and brought in objects to create a shoebox ofrenda, or altar. We decorate dthe ofrendas with feathers, tissue paper flowers, glitter, and pictures that the students had drawn, and then we displayed them in our classroom for other classes and parents to see. The students had a great time learning about their family and decorating the altars. Paul said, “I liked the paintings in the museum, and I learned more about my great-grandma.”

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.

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. 

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!