Monday Message 

Hi Parents,

Thank you to the PTSA for organizing Field Day.  The kids had a blast. 

They rotated through a kickball station, a tug-of-war station, an obstacle course station and a dunk tank station.  

Thanks to Mrs. Montgomery for the photos and video.  Thanks to all the other parent volunteers!

It was a great way to end the year.  Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

Here are some shots of the tessellations we made in math class.  It looks like art, but really it is geometry. 

Each student took a notecard and cut it up using only straight cuts.  They then taped it back together to form an irregular polygon. They traced their polygon over and over to form a pattern.  

With regular polygons you can find the area of the shape using a formula, like length times width.  For irregular polygons it is much more difficult.  We had to trace the shapes on centimeter grid squares and count the squares.  Then we counted partial squares.  In the end there was a surprise. Ask your child what we learned.  

Hey Mothers,

We hope you had a great day yesterday.  You deserve it.  You have raised some really good sons and daughters.  They have all been doing the right things this year. 

Last week, between testing, we worked on some art projects for you.  The kids used their measuring and sewing skills to make you a piece of string art.  All those curves were made with straight lines.  Pretty cool. 

We then decorated plaster ornaments with colored Sharpies.  Some of the designs were pretty fantastic. 

The other pieces of art were done in art class with Miss Mac.  One was Japanese cherry blossoms and the other was a floral design. Did you see the kids writing about them?  They were pretty proud. 

Ask your child all about it!

Last week we worked more on customary and metric units of length.  It was not as easy as you would think!

To be good at the customary system, you have to be good with fractions.  Some rulers are divided into eighths, and some into sixteenths.  Once you find the right measurement, you then have to simplify. 

Metric is easier as everything is based in units of ten, which allows us to use decimals instead of fractions.  It is easier to add and subtract metric than customary.  

The children struggle with keeping the two systems separate.  They tell me things like there are twelve centimeters in a foot.  To fix this they will need a lot of exposure to the two systems.  Ask your child all about it!

Last week we were looking at symmetrical figures as a part of geometry.   We finished the week by making symmetrical designs using various polygons. 

The rule was, whatever you do to the left hand side, you have to do to the right hand side.  Whatever you do to the top, you have to do to the bottom.  In the end,  you  should be able to fold the shape and have it match on both sides. 

Some of these designs have multiple lines of symmetry... and some have none!  It was tricky making things match up. The kids had to keep checking evertime they added a new shape. 

It was a good time.  We had fun.  Ask your child all about it!

Hey Parents,

Thanks for sponsoring your child on last week's fun run.  The kids were super motivated to put on some miles. 

The run started off in the Teen Center gym, and then finished up outside with games and treats.  The kids were happy to get outside after the run, as they were pretty hot by that point. 

The highest number of laps was 60!  Some of the kids were going by so fast that we couldn't even get a picture of them.  They were nothing but a blur. 

This is the biggest fund raising event of the year, and the kids certainly did their part... and they had a lot of fun.  Ask all about it!

Hi Parents,

As we continue with our "Earth Science" unit the kids have been looking at landforms and how they are made.   We have talked about things like mountains, valleys, volcanoes, plains, canyons, glaciers, plates, and so on.  

Last week we looked at how these landforms are represented on a topographic map.  Topographic maps show elevation by using contour lines.  The closer the lines are, the steeper the gradient is.  

The kids stacked foam pieces to model the landforms and then traced each level on to the paper.  It was a fun activity.  Ask your child all about it!

Has your child told you about the 4th grade "Math Traveler" program on Fridays?

We run our Math Traveler program whenever we have a full five-day week.  On Tuesdays, every 4th grade student takes an assessment to see what they know, and what they don't know.  

We then sort the students and tailor small group lessons to help close a gap in math understanding.  These lessons are taught on Friday mornings. 

We have seven groupings, including one with Mr. Bassett.  Students who score 100% on the assessment get to go to "enrichment" with the gifted teacher, Ms. Pealo.   Ask your child all about it!

Often in class the kids play games to learn new martial, or to reinforce old material.  Here are some shots of the kids playing Bingo with mixed numbers and improper fractions.  I showed an improper fraction on the board, they had to find the corresponding mixed number on their card. 

We also play a lot of matching games. We do this in math, but also in language arts as the kids find synonyms, antonyms and vocabulary words. 

Everyone's favorite game is PIG.  It involves two dice and some risk taking.  Ask your child to show you how to play.  You will like it!

Hey Parents,

Check out these rock stars!

Last week we started looking at rocks and we began a unit on Earth science.  The kids sorted the rocks based on texture, weight, cleavage, color and hardness.  

Everyone had a favorite rock, but the hands-down winner was obsidian.  The kids tell me that they mine it in the game Minecraft. 

What other rocks are we learning?  Pumice, granite, slate, sandstone, gneiss, biotite, gypsum,  calcite, and more for a total of twenty-four.  The kids will memorize the rocks and test out this coming week.  We will discuss them throughout the unit.  

The kids had another round of STEM in the library courtesy of Mrs. Marziali and Mrs. Lokey.   It was a good time. 

Students programed robots using code, built projects with giant Legos, and constructed simple machines with pulleys, wheels and levers.  

Often in school we tell the children exactly what to do.  We show them how it is done, and then they follow the steps we gave to get the results we got.  

However, in this case children were given the tools and the time for free exploration.  They were able to decide what to build.  The results were impressive.  Take a look!

Hi Parents,

Reflect on this!

The kids used mirrors to reflect light, lenses to bend light, and prisms to split light.  It was eye opening!

We pulled down the blinds and turned off the lights and had a couple of dark afternoons in the classroom.  The challenge was to get a beam of light to bounce around an object, like a book, and then appear on the back side.  

The kids had some pretty elaborate plans.  They set up multiple mirrors in different arrangements and at different angles.  Some kids got it.  Ask your child about it!

Hi Parents,

Here are some shots of the kids using Snap Circuits.  There were dozens of projects for the kids to complete. 

Things were buzzing, flashing, spinning and flying.  What did the kids learn?  Most importantly they learned that in order to build any project, they first needed to build a circle or a circuit.  Electricity needs to follow a path and return to its source.  

We are coming to the end of our unit on energy.  Last week they took the unit assessment and  the kids did well.  

Next, we begin to look at earth science.  We look at soil, rocks, landforms and erosion. 

Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

Here are some photos the kids measuring mass with balances.  Many people think they are using scales, but a scale measures gravity and weight, and a balance measures mass.   Mass is the amount of stuff inside of something, and it doesn't change based on location.  Weight changes based on location, like if you went to the moon. 

The kids took classroom objects and placed them on the pan.  Then they estimated the weight in grams.  Was the estimate too heavy?  Then remove some weight.  Was the estimate too light?  Then add some weight.  Eventually they got it just right. 

Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

Here are some pics of what you missed on Valentine's Day in our classroom.  There was a lot of candy.  A lot. 

It was fun to see all the home-made cards and the effort the kids put in to making things for their friends.  They were all more excited to give than receive. 

The weather was fantastic on Tuesday and we were able to get outside and run to burn off some of that energy.   It was a very good day. 

Ask your child all about it!

Ms. McPhail-Hastings has been teaching your children the basic elements  of art.  Among the things she is covering are:

• color

• form 

• line

• shape

• space

• texture

The kids have made some masterpieces this year, and some pieces even glow in the dark!  

Right now a lot of their work is hanging on our hallway walls, but we will send it all home at the end of the year.  Ask your child all about it!

Here we are looking at some physical science.  The kids investigated mass, gravity, friction, momentum, kinetic energy and potential energy.  Plus, we measured using the metric system. 

The activity asked the kids to roll a small, medium, and large ball bearing from six different positions on a ramp.  They then measured the eighteen different outcomes. 

Using that data they then made predictions about mixed variables.  For example:  Which would roll farther, a large bearing from a low position on the ramp, or a small bearing from a high position?   Ask your child what they found out!

We spend a lot of time writing in class.  Every week we have a writing prompt and I conference individually with each student.  The topic usually relates to social studies. 

One of the big issues is getting kids to write complete sentences, especially at the beginning of the year.  We see a lot of fragments.  To fix that, we have been doing "sentence maker" work. 

In the "sentence maker" center kids get all the words to a sentence from one of our weekly stories.  The words are scrambled and they need to try to reconstruct them in a way that makes sense.   It all starts with finding the verb first.  Once they find the verb, they can find a subject, then find modifiers, and they are on their way!

Hi Parents,

This past week we worked with magnets and talked about how magnetism is similar to electricity.   You can spin magnets in a generator to make electricity, and you can use electricity to spin magnets in a motor.  

The kids experimented with magnetic fields and then tested their magnets on various objects.  We found that not all metals are magnetic.  Only those with iron were attracted.   We also looked at how magnets affected the needle on a compass and how the same poles repel one another. Opposites attract, right?

Next week we will work with hand generators and we will also try to make electromagnets.    Good times!

Hi Parents,

Let's see what's happening in during specials.  Here we are in music.

Last week the students began learning the ukulele.  They learned some basic chords and by the end of the week they even had a song memorized. 

The kids will continue to work on stringed instruments throughout the third quarter.  In the fourth quarter they will work on patriotic songs. 

If your child enjoys playing the ukulele, there is an after school ukulele club that starts this Wednesday.  Permission slips were sent home last week.  Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

Here are some shocking photos!

The kids spent the last few weeks learning about electricity.   They learned that electricity must travel in a circuit, or a circle.  If the circuit is open, then electricity will not flow.  It must be a closed circuit.    They found they could open and close the circuit with a switch. 

The kids also learned that electricity will not travel through all materials.  Some materials are conductors and others are insulators.  The best conductor is copper. 

In the coming weeks we look at how electricity and magnetism are similar.   Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

Once a week we make it to the library for check-out.  In general the kids are allowed to have three books checked out at a time, but this is pretty flexible.   If they have a good reason to check out more, they usually may. 

There are no restrictions on what type of books they may choose.  There is enough required reading in the classroom, so in the library they are allowed to follow their own interests and check out what they find most appealing. 

The library is well stocked with fiction and non-fiction books.  It also has an expanding collection of audio and digital books.  Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents, 

The kids got the basics of fractions last year in third grade, but now we move into more advanced concepts.

This year we look at:

* Making equivalent fractions
*Finding common denominators
*Finding the greatest common factors
*Simplifying fractions
*Adding and subtracting fractions
*Adding and subtracting mixed numbers
*Converting improper fractions

The best way to start off with this is by using fraction strips.  We continue with that this week.  Ask your child all about it!

Hi Parents,

On the Friday Quiz you often just see basic math problems.  However, in class we do a lot of word problems and problem solving. 

To get good at solving word problems you have to be a good reader.  We teach the students how to underline important information and look for key words.  

The students are often allowed to use calculators during these activities because analyzing the problems and doing the math all at the same time can become overwhelming.   There are many ways to make mistakes. 

Finally, we then have the students write about the problem using a strategey called R.A.C.E.    Ask you child all about it!

Hi Parents,

The kids get a lot of science this year.  Much of it involves investigation and exploration.  They get to test things in a hands-on way. 

Last week the kids went tot the library for a lesson in engineering.  Our Education Technologist, Mrs. Marziali, worked with the kids on building structures.  The goal was to build the highest structure using a given base, and a certain number of blocks. 

Some kids got very creative as they tried to solve the problem. Some structures held up well, and others needed to go back to the drawing board. 

In all, the kids learned a lot about perseverance and not giving up.  It was fun. 

This quarter we spend a lot of time working on division.  We started this week developing the concept, and the best way to do that is with math manipulatives.

The kids started out with twelve chips, and we divided them up into two groups, then three groups, then four groups, but when we divided them into five groups... we had some leftover.  A remainder!

Learning these simple concepts with real objects makes it all so much more understandable.   Seeing is believing.

Once the kids have the concepts we move from concrete items to drawing visual representations and then to just using numbers.   It works!

Hi Parents,

Does your child have highlighters?  We use them all the time in class and it is about this time of the year that they begin to dry up. 

How do we use them?  Well, the students use them while reading  to annotate important information in the text.  They highlight the main idea along with details pertaining to the setting, characters, plot,  and theme.   All the important stuff. 

DoDEA has spent a lot of money buying workbooks that are consumable.  Your child may write in them and take notes as well.  We are trying to get the kids to interact with the text.   

Ask your child if he or she needs more highlighters.  Some kids have none. 

Hey Parents,

Have you ever wondered what we are reading in 4th grade?  Let's take a look. 

We use a series called Benchmark Reading, and it is pretty good.  The kids have a magazine reader that they can write in and we switch that out about every three weeks. 

They also have small books that they read and those change weekly.   These pictures show those books. 

About sixty percent of the reading is non-fiction.  It is about real topics as opposed to fictional stories.  The topics are similar to those we see in science and social studies.  They are high interest and have many photos.  The kids like them.  Ask your child!

Well, now we have even more critters in our room... and they are speedy. 

Last week we started looking at the structures and functions of isopods.  We learned that isopods are not insects, because they have seven pairs of legs and insects only have three.  We also learned that insects use their legs for many things, but isopods just use them for walking. 

We are keeping a science journal and logging our observations as we go.  The kids have many interesting things to say.  

We are always looking at how the behaviors of certain organisms allow them to survive.  Ask your child all about it!

Here is some good news: Every 4th grader has his or her own computer.  We have a lot of tech, and we use a lot of tech.

The kids get work done with technology.  They don't just learn about tech, they use it daily.

In the past you may have seen a lot of paper work coming home with your child.  Every year there is less and less of that.  A lot of that work has become digital.  

Many of the student assessments are now online.  Just as your world has become more virtual, so has theirs.  

They love it!  Ask your child all about it. 

Hi Parents,

In science we are taking an even closer look at our mealworms.  We used observation scopes and the close-up view was fantastic.  Some of the worms have began to pupate and we even had a few that became beetles.  The kids were super impressed. 

The kids are naturally curious and they have their own questions they want answered.  We challenge them to find ways to do this.  

Next week we will move on to pill bugs and sow bugs, but we keep coming back to view the changes in the mealworms.  

Ask your child all about it!