The Bad Beginning

The One and Only Ivan Book Trailer

Edgar Allan's Official Crime Investigation Notebook

It Only Looks Easy Book Trailer

It Only Looks Easy Book Trailer

The One and Only Ivan

The One And Only Ivan

Flora and Ulysses Book Trailer

May 28, 2015

It's hard to believe we're almost done with the year! The fourth grade has continued to work hard on everything from research papers to geometry problems, but we're also having fun going on treasure hunts for "T" day and creating book trailers for our literature circle books.

The students are almost done with their research papers, and they've done outstanding work. Almost all of them have finished typing their papers in computer class, and they are currently working on adding a cover page, bibliography, and text features. These are due on Monday.

We had a special visitor today. Mr. Lindo came to the classroom to talk about engineering, and he brought a flame tube he built to show how sound travels in waves. Even though it was hot outside, it was fun to watch the flames dance to the music! Our science test on heat, light, and sound will be tomorrow.

Next week, we are going to Humboldt Park with the middle school on Monday and to the Shedd Aquarium on Wednesday. Students will receive their summer work in math and reading on Tuesday from their middle school teachers. Friday is our last day of school. That day ends at 1:00 and there will be not be extended care. Students also need to start returning anything they borrowed from the classroom next week, especially library books.

May 13, 2015

The students did a fantastic job on the science fair! I was very impressed with all their presentations and how much they had learned. We have our science fair Open House tonight, and everyone is welcome to come see the whole school's projects between 5:30 and 7:30.


We've been busy with a lot of great projects in school, too. Students are continuing to meet with their literature circle books and we've been discussing protagonists and antagonists, how to use quotes from the book to describe characters, and different points of view. Next week, we'll begin using the iPads to create movie trailers. In writing, students have been busy researching different types of animals. They're starting to put their notes together into outlines now, we'll start typing them in computer class next week, and then use different text features to help our readers understand our topic better.

We're continuing our study of geometry in math, looking at squares and rectangles and how to find the perimeter of figures made up of different rectangles. In science, we're studying heat, light, and sound. There are tons of hands-on activities we're doing with these, such as testing to see if a thermometer inside of a mitten will be warmer than one outside, using tuning forks and making our own instruments and telephones to explore sound, and using spectroscopes to see the different colors in light. We will have a test in math and science before the end of May. Math will most likely be on Wednesday, May 27, and science will be on Thursday, May 28.

There are many other fun activities coming up as we wrap up the year! These include our awards ceremony at 6:00 on Wednesday, May 28 (students can dress down the next day if they come to our evening event) and a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium on Wednesday, May 3.

May 1, 2015

We began the ABC countdown yesterday! It's hard to believe there's only 25 more days of school left, and they'll be busy ones.

We'll take our test today on electricity, and then begin studying heat, light, and sound next week. We'll also share our science fair projects next week. Students will have time in class on Monday to work on their presentations, and then the projects are due on Thursday, May 7 (this is pushed back one day from the original due date). We'll share them with our own class on Thursday and Friday, and with the rest of the school on May 11, 12, and 13. You can see the circuit rooms students made for the electricity unit below, along with an art project we've been working on.


 In math, we're learning about parallel, perpendicular, vertical, and horizontal lines. This unit and the next are both short, so we do already have a test coming up on lines. The test will be Thursday, May 14.

Students are reading their books in a new set of literature circles this week, and they are continuing to have great conversations about their books. After writing several poems, we're about to start working on research projects. I'm going to have lots of books about animals, but students are welcome to choose any subject they'd like to research. They just need to have three books about that topic by Thursday, May 14.

Finally, congratulations again to the winners of the UIC economic poster contest! There was an awards ceremony on Wednesday. (Not pictured is Angelis.)