September 21

The class enjoyed celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day last Friday. In honor of this day, during center time, the students looked through pirate books to find sentences and identify subjects and predicates, and they rewrote nursery rhymes to make them more pirate-y. Several of the students read the rewritten rhymes afterwards in excellent pirate voices.

We also have had the privilege of a police officer coming to talk to the class about how to avoid gangs and bullying and what to do if you see anything violent happening. The program is called GREAT, and he will be coming every Monday.

We will have our social studies test tomorrow (Tuesday), as well as a science test on Thursday, covering classification, vertebrates, invertebrates, fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and instincts. Because of the tests this week, we will not have a spelling unit.

Several students have been rushing through bellwork and not finding all the mistakes, but I want to recognize the students who got a hundred percent this past week: Wilfredo, Mason, and Mia. Good work!

September 14, 2009

On September 11, we had a special activity to commemorate the events that happened 8 years ago. The class read a non-fiction book about a fireboat that was used to fight the fires, then we discussed the events together. Afterwards, the students glued a star onto a blue piece of paper and wrote a prayer on it. These papers will be combined with prayers from grades 3 through 8 to create an American flag in the hallway that shows our reflections on the terrorist attacks.

This week, students will continue to use their classifying skills in science as we discuss characteristics of the different animal groups. They will learn about QAR, or question-answer relationships, which looks at whether a person needs to look in the book or use thier own knowledge to answer a question, and can help students find the answer. They are also going to finish working on their first paragraphs that have been through all five steps of the writing process, and they will begin looking at sentence structure and the different types of sentences.

We have a spelling test this Friday. There will also be a social studies test next week on the history of the US through the American Revolution. I will pass out a study guide for the test on Thursday and show the students how to study using the study guide. Right now, I have the test planned for Tuesday, September 22, but that date may be pushed back depending on how long our review activities take.

New School Year

Welcome to the new year at St. Sylvester's! You can see in the pictures above the students working on their covers for their writers' notebooks, which they have been adding entries to ranging from challenges they faced to what they think about their name. There are also pictures of an experiment done in the first week of school. Students needed to manipulate variables to change the distance a "car" made out of index paper went, and at the end, the challenge was to make it go exactly the distance I gave the class.

In reading and writing, we've been studying why author's write, reading selections from picture books and non-fiction books. We'll begin reading Henry and Ribsy soon, while looking at predictions,connections, and questioning skills, while in writing, we'll take a paragraph through the five stages of the writing process. In science, the students are learning how to classify everything from alien slugs to shark teeth, then they'll be classifying animals into vertebrates, invertebrates, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Social studies is focusing on the history of the US and sequencing skills, while in religion we're learning about the covenant and the first three commandments.

Earth Day

The class has been involved in many Earth Day activities this week. The third, fourth and fifth grade led a school wide prayer service on Tuesday, planted flowers and cleaned the yard around the school with our buddies on Wednesday, and watched Disney's Earth movie on Thursday. We've also been talking in class about habitat destruction, what animals have to do to survive with the changes brought on by global warming, and ways we can help the planet. We'll be going to the Nature Museum on Wednesday to look at some more ideas of ways we can help the planet.

In class, we're almost done with our literature circles. Students are creating posters now to "advertise" their book. They also had to write down the theme for the book, and they came up with some amazing ideas-"you can create whatever you want if you really focus," "magic may or may not exist," "life is not always easy, you should appreciate life and not think negatively."

We're also writing adverb poems, using adverbs to describe a sport or game. We already wrote one as a class, and created a list of our favorite adverbs which includes disgustedly, fiercely, curiously, and extremely. Hopefully students will use these more in class.

In social studies, we are beginning to look at the Midwest-our home! Next week, we will have the first states test for this region. Students will bring home a study guide on Monday that has the states and capitols that they need to know labeled.

Museum of Science and Industry

We had a great field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry on March 25. With the 5th grade, we got a tour of the U-505 submarine, captured from Germany during World War II. Afterwards, we learned how submarines rise and sink then made our own periscopes.

Please make sure that the permission slips and money for our trip to watch Disney's new movie on the Earth are turned in before break. We also have a test next week on the Southeast.

Week of March 24

In social studies, we have been learning about the Southeast. Students were asked today to bring in a product from the Southeast, such as something made from cotton or peanuts, or oranges or rice. Look around your house for these items and others, like pecans and peaches, to show students how items from their home come from the Southeast. Since the Southeast also has coal and oil, explain how these resources are used to provide electricity and heat our homes. While studying the Southeast, the students have needed to memorize the location of the states and the names of the capitals. They have a test each week on five or six of the states. From looking at the test grades, one can see the difference between those who studied and those who did not. The easiest way to study would be to have your child learn one or two states each night, then put them all together at the end of the week.

We are also getting ready for our science fair, to be held on April 3. The entire school is participating. Please help your child to gather the materials necessary for his or her group's experiment. The students will be given time to complete the experiments in class.

Above are pictures from our trial about the book Shiloh. Students divided into two sides: those saying that Judd deserved to have the dog Shiloh, and those saying that Marty should keep him. Students then had to call up witnesses, question and cross-examine them, and were then allowed to give closing statements.

Five paragraph essays

The class is learning how to write an essay that is multiple paragraphs. We began today by taking an introductory paragraph that was provided, deciding what each paragraph following it should be about, then breaking into pairs to each write a paragraph. This is a composite of some of the paragraphs students wrote, following the introduction provided.


At the beginning of the school year, none of us thought we would become the close-knit group that we are. Now we work really well together on project and put whole- team effort into everything we do. We encourage one another and treat each other the way we want others to treat us. We even come up with terrific new ideas for our whole school to try. There’s no better team anywhere!

Today, our class puts a lot of effort into everything we do. We worked together to put an electromagnet together and saw how an electromagnet works. We have fun in everything we do instead of fighting and not getting any work done. Our class did stations of chemical changes and physical changes. We work really well together on big projects and our class work. We worked on the Stations of the Cross. We put north, south, east, and west around the room.

We help people and treat them the way we want to be treated. We help people so they could help us, and we treat them nice so they could treat us nice. We also help people so we can be peaceful people. We help moms do chores and we help Ms. Galecki by cleaning after some people, so Ms. Galecki doesn’t have to clean it up. I help my friend read and with her homework. We all treat everyone nice. We help them learn. We help them around the school.

Our class tries to come up with new ideas for our whole school. Once, our class went outside to clean the front of the school and went to plant plants. The school helps with St. Jude’s hospital and classes give money to St. Jude. Our teacher is happy for us that we come up with ideas to try for the fourth grade. If you have ten or more beads, you get to do activities. One of the bead activities we have done is the roller coaster, another activity is painting with our buddies.

School is fun because we work together and do cool projects. Our teacher is nice because she lets us meditate and use our imagination.


The students did an excellent job staying on topic and providing supporting details for the introduction!

Two important dates are coming up. First, we have a science test on electricity and magnetism on Tuesday, March 17th. Students received the study guide for this today. We also have a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry on March 25th. Permission slips and money are due on Friday.

TerraNova

Beginning next Monday, we will be taking the TerraNova tests in school. The last day of our testing will be March 10. During this time, there will be no homework assigned to make sure that students are well-rested and ready to answer the questions to the best of their ability. We have spent the past few weeks reviewing the material, and we will continue to review it this coming week; however, there are several things you can do to help your child prepare. Please make sure that your child:

1. Has at least three sharpened #2 pencils.

2. Goes to sleep early and eats a good breakfast.

3. Brings a healthy snack to school, such as apples, pretzels, or half a sandwich.

4. Arrives at school on time.

Thank you for all your help!

Week of February 9-13

This week in class, students enjoyed an apple tasting presented by the Chicago Tribune. They got a chance to taste four different varieties of apples (Cameo, Fuji, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith), compare their sweetness, tartness, and firmness, then vote on their favorite. All the students enjoyed this activity and loved eating their apples, a healthy treat. They also received a coupon for $3.00 towards apples. Students have also learned about our new President Barack Obama and wrote an essay comparing him to either Langston Hughes, a famous poet we read about, or Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the founder of Chicago.

We're at the halfway point of the third quarter! Progress reports will be sent home next Friday. Any work that has not been turned in as of Tuesday will count as a zero. Missing assignments have been noted on responsibility reports. This includes reading logs. Please make sure your child's work has been turned in.

There is no school on Monday in honor of President's Day. There will be an English test on adjectives next week on Friday, and a social studies test on the Northeast towareds the end of the last week of February.

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week was a great time for our school to come together. We had opportunities to play games with our buddies and compete in the Olympics with the rest of the school. We celebrated an all school Mass at the end of the week and a prayer service and pep rally in the beginning. Students wore pajamas to school and dressed like twins, and had extra reading time with blankets and pillows. We even several people from our class honored: Javier won the award for most effort, Jessica for being the classroom peacemaker, and Alicia for a schoolwide poster contest. Congratulations!

This past week allowed us to have some fun as a class, and it hopefully marks a turning point for the rest of the year. Very few people got to participate in the bead activity last Friday, due to lack of attention, people being unprepared for class, and work not getting completed. Mr. Bennett came into the room today to talk to students about how we have high expectations for them and do not give them any work we do not think they can complete, and we expect to see them put in the effort to meet (and hopefully exceed) our expectations. Their only homework from me for this past weekend was to study for science, yet only three people filled out the study guide to prepare for the test today. Only five people last week had all of their homework turned in on time last week, and only four had all the papers they needed to get signed returned to me today. I am hoping that as we continue in the third quarter, that the students' work ethic and responsibility improves.

End of the 2nd Quarter

In the above photos, you can see the students making density columns and solving the mystery of the stolen CD. We layered liquids like glycerin, rubbing alcohol, and dish soap, then added sugar, flour, and baking soda and observing how they settled or floated to determine the identify of a mystery substance. We've also been measuring a lot in science, looking at volume and mass, using graduated cylinders and balances.

In the next two weeks, we have lots of tests coming up. This week, we will most likely finish reading Sarah, Plain and Tall and take a reading comprehension test. The following week, we will have a test on verbs and a test on reading maps in social studies.

The week afterwards is Catholic Schools Week. It'll begin with parent-teacher conferences on Sunday, January 25, where you will receive the report cards from the second quarter. The slips with the times to meet will be sent home on Tuesday. Last time conferences were held, I know some people had to wait to meet. Please try to come at the time I have written down on the sheet, and if you realize you are not able to make it, let me know before Sunday so I can reschedule you. If you arrive to the meeting late, you will have to wait until there is an open time slot. The conferences should be about 10 minutes each, and if they go over 15 minutes, we will need to find a time to meet during the week. The rest of the week has several fun activities, including a pajama day, school wide Olympics, game night, and peacemaker prayer service.

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!