4th Grade

updated 11/20/2025

4th Grade GATE – Fall Highlights

Our 4th grade GATE students have had a productive and creative start to the school year. Throughout the fall, students engaged in collaborative discussions, early design challenges and community-building activities to strengthen their problem solving skills and prepare for our major projects and competitions.

Fall STEAM Challenges

To launch the year, students participated in several hands on STEAM challenges designed to build teamwork, creativity and flexible thinking. These early activities helped students reconnect with the engineering design process while also reinforcing the importance of collaboration and strong communication.

Students began with quick design challenges that required them to brainstorm ideas, build under time constraints, test different solutions and revise their work. They experimented with materials, shared strategies with teammates and discovered how criteria and constraints shape the engineering process.

Students also created their own Virtual Lockers, which allowed them to share their interests, strengths, favorite activities and unique personalities using digital tools. This helped me get to know them better as individuals and as learners, and it gave students a fun, creative way to express themselves at the start of the year.

These early STEAM and creative tasks set the tone for a year filled with curiosity, exploration and meaningful hands on learning.

NJCGTP Annual STEAM Challenge: Do You Want to Build a Snowman

Many of our 4th grade students are currently working on entries for the New Jersey Consortium for Gifted and Talented Programs annual STEAM Challenge, Do You Want to Build a Snowman. Students who chose this option are designing and building three dimensional snow people or snow animals that follow specific height, width and depth guidelines. Their projects must also include at least half recycled or repurposed materials, which has encouraged thoughtful, eco-friendly creativity.

A key part of the challenge involves selecting one of the Seven Pillars of Character and designing the snow person to represent that pillar. Students have been thoughtful and imaginative in planning how their pillar will shine through in the design, materials and story behind their creation.

After Thanksgiving, students will begin writing scripts and recording their videos for the judges, explaining their snow person, the materials they used and how their selected Pillar of Character is reflected in their design. Below is the Google Form that must be completed in order for students to submit their videos for judging for the NJCGTP.  

NJAGC Student Competitions

Some students elected to participate in this year’s New Jersey Association for Gifted Children (NJAGC) statewide competitions instead. This year’s theme is: The Science and Art of Gifted Education: Where Creativity Meets Curiosity  This theme invites students to explore the connection between innovative thinking and artistic expression. Whether through visual art, writing or project-based work, students are creating pieces that highlight their originality, interests and personal passions. Their early work demonstrates how gifted learners blend curiosity, creativity and critical thinking in meaningful and imaginative ways.