Watershed Coming to Fourth Grade

 

The Watershed, a free program from USC Upstate is coming to the Wonder Lab at OES!  4th Graders will be going on... 

"An Incredible Journey"

Time: 45 minutes

Through the use of an engaging game from the Project Wet curriculum, students will be challenged to answer questions like...

“Where will the water you drink today, be tomorrow?” in their quest to understand the water cycle.

 

We will have fun learning science as we pretend to be water molecules moving from place to place on Tuesday. This will be a great review of our study of clouds and the water cycle as we get ready for our test this week.  Get ready to use your vocabulary words:

precipitation

condensation

runoff

evaporation

transpiration

stratus

cumulus

cirrus

 

 

Our new I-pads have changed our classroom immensely! Now that we  all finally got our Apple IDs, we are in the process of downloading apps that will help us in every subject area.  Each of our 4th grade teachers are busy finding the perfect ones to make their subjects charged with technology.  Although we have lots of time to discover things independently and at our own speed with

 

 

Apples at our fingertips, we also have "apples down" time where we work with partners and small groups to learn.  Here are a few pics of us working with a partner in a match-up game where we are trying to match conjunctions with their definitions...two brains are always better than one!  

 

 

  

Rocket Design and Native American Home Collaboration

The challenge: to design a paper rocket with a sheet of copy paper, scissors, and tape that will blast off and land further than anyone else's.

The manipulated variable is the length we decide to make the cylinder of the rocket.  Is longer better? 

Check out all three design teams!  Seems to be true!

We have finished studying 5 different regions where Native Americans settled.  We examined their climate, clothing, culture, and homes. After we planned what materials we would need, we brainstormed ideas on how to best use those materials to recreate their homes.  We quickly learned that collaboration takes patience, good communication skills, and a little give and take.  It wasn't enough to have a good idea, you had to convince others that it would work

 

 

 

 

 

 After two weeks of collaboration on these two projects there was one student who stood out.  Ayrianna earned the Captain of Character in Collaboration for her patience and ability to work well with just about anyone!  Congratulations, Ayrianna!

 

Oakland Open House Coming Soon!

Cooper and the 4th Grade would like to cordially invite you to our Open House on Tuesday, September 15th.  We would especially like you to see our Native American projects, our memoirs, Native American cloths and all of our Treasure Maps. 

 

Our rockets from our recent Rocket Launch will also be on display. Photos of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be revealed that evening. A special thank you to Kaydence's and Reese's dads who  came out to help. We had some last minute troubleshooting to adjust the width of the bottom of the rocket, so it would fit on the launch pad.

The manipulated variable was the length of the cylinder. We  had to predict what length might take our rocket the farthest. Mrs. Johnson recorded the data during the launch and we are finishing up our graphs on Monday.  Thank you to Mrs. Burns for planning our launch and Mr. Carroll for building our launch pad!  

Don't Laugh at Me!

 

We are continuing with our KINDNESS PBL as we take a look at an additional read-aloud beside WONDER. If you want to watch the video you can have a sneak peek...just click above.

 

 

 

Now that everyone has brought in just the right supplies for our various regions, we have made real progress on our Native American homes.  It is our favorite part of the day! The messier the better, right Brianna?

Austin prefers working separately from his mostly girl group. 

The girls are fine with that except now he has all the clay!

The more hands the better!

Cardboard?  I know what to do with that!

Raymond doesn't seem to mind his all girl group.

4th Grade and Cooper are Lovin' WONDER

 

 

4th Grade has begun their first PBL on Kindness.  We have made kindness bracelets after coming up with an acronym for K.I.N.D.N.E.S.S. In Social Studies as we were studying Native American symbols, the students wrote statements about kindness on their N.A. Kindness Cloths. 


Our students are also currently working on their Kindness Calendar where they choose which kindnesses to complete, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on their calendar and getting a parent signature. These are due on the Tuesday after Labor Day Holiday.

Now, we are reading the award winning book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.  It is a memoir written by a 10 year old boy living in Manhattan.  He has been home schooled by his mother due to a rare facial deformity.  His parents decide to enroll him in Beecher Prep, a private school, for the start of middle school. Although extremely self-conscious and scared of being around kids his own age, he gradually gets used to and even begins to enjoy school.  Auggie faces many obstacles, mostly because of Julian who encourages others to avoid and isolate him.

Through this book and other activities we have planned, we hope that the students will see that they will always be faced with choices on how to treat others and that even small kindnesses can have a large impact. At the end of the first nine weeks we hope to find the answer to our driving question: "How can one person change the world?" 

 These 6 Math Wiz Kids have managed to change their baseline score for multiplication timed tests by scoring 90% or higher.  Their tests are posted on the 4th grade hallway along with all the other 4th graders that have reached this goal.  This means they are exempt from studying and getting the multiplication log signed each night and taking the Friday test.  I'm so proud of these 6 students for achieving their goal!!

This class is quickly learning our 3 Classroom Rules:
BE KIND, BE RESPECTFUL, AND BE ORGANIZED!  They are working in teams to be the top marble earners each week.  Two groups with the most marbles spends 15 minutes on Friday afternoon having Challenge Time.  Here are some pictures of our winning groups at Challenge Time:

 

The First Week of School

 

 

 

 There's so much work to be done in a classroom, so we got started early with a "Job Match-up Game" where all the jobs were posted and a description had to be matched to the correct job.  After careful consideration, we filled out job applications, applying for a first and second choice.  Of course, we had to list our qualifications for each job.  Here are two job application examples:

 

Kellan applied for Pet Care for our 2 hermit crabs with these qualifications that she says make her a good candidate..."I'm very focused and gentle with animals and I get here at 6:30.  Also I know Brownie and Spike very well from Summer Camp."  Her second choice was Door Holder and Greeter with the qualifications of..."I am a people person and I am good at opening doors."




Check out Raymond's application.  He's applying for Pet Care (which, by the way, was a very popular job) and Line Leader.







We began working in groups on Tuesday to see What makes a difficult task easier? or How can you work with your teammates to accomplish a task?  After trying to stack 6 cups using only a rubber band with 4 strings tied to it, this is what we came up with:
1. Focus
2. Cooperate
3. Everyone tries
4. Stay positive
5. Never give up
Here are a few pics and videos to show how much fun we had!

 

 

 

 



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Ahoy, Matey!

Don't be Afraid!!  Dive into 4th Grade!

If  you have found this blog, congratulations!  You are one step closer to being ready for your 4th grade adventure, the most exciting year yet at Oakland Elementary!  We will sail the 7 seas stopping long enough to discover gobs of new things...like how to build a rocket that can go further than the moon and stars, create a Lego structure while learning all about fractional parts, read books that will have you so engrossed you'll want to miss recess (well, almost!), and be part of a team of environmental scientists hired to save pelicans from an oil spill in the Gulf. So, don't be afraid!  You will have more fun than you ever thought possible in the best 4th grade in the world.

Here's a list of supplies you will need for your adventure:

Multiple packs of mechanical pencils
big pink eraser  (mistakes  are part of learning)
plastic pocket folder (NOT the one with the metal brads inside)

1 package colored pencils (and a small sharpener...our class sharpener won't work for these)

large Ziploc baggie with your name on it(this will take the place of a pencil pouch to keep at school)

Several packs of notebook paper – wide ruled

4 white glue sticks 

1 ½” Three ring binder with dividers (6 dividers)

20 clear sheet protectors

3 marble covered composition notebook with sewn in pages

2 highlighters

1 package of dry erase markers

1 package of washable markers 

2 packs of sticky notes

3 packs of index cards

1 container of Clorox Wipes

Optional: Kleenex and small treats/prizes for our treasure box 

 

After you gather your list of supplies, you may want to get started setting up your binder before you come the first day.  (If you come to "Meet the Teacher" on August 12th, I'll have a packet of sticky labels to help you.)

 

Here's how you'll set up your binder:

1. First, label a clear sheet protector NEWSLETTER and put it in the front of your notebook.

2. Put a plastic pocket folder labeled TAKE HOME FOLDER next to that. 
 
3. Third, put another clear sheet protector and label it HOMEWORK.

4. Fourth, put a divider labeled SOC. ST., followed by 2 sheet protectors.

5. Fifth, put a divider labeled READING, followed by 7 sheet protectors.

6. Sixth, put a divider labeled ELA, followed by 7 sheet protectors.

7. Seventh, put a divider labeled SCIENCE, followed by 2 sheet protectors.

8. Eighth, put a divider labeled EXTRA PAPER and put a pack of notebook paper there.

9. Next, put a sticky label at the top AND your name at the bottom of each of your composition notebooks.

·       MY WONDER NOTEBOOK,

·       MY WRITER’S NOTEBOOK,

·       I  LOVE  MATH

 

 

             Start planning for our “Things I Treasure” project.  Brainstorm a list of people, activities, places and things that you love!   Now decide how you want to display your treasures on a map you will be given. at "Meet the Teacher;" it looks just like this.  You will use drawings, pictures, and/or words and put them right on the map.  This will be due on the 2^nd day of school.  It’s how you will introduce yourself to our class.  I'm working on mine right now!! 

 

 

                        

                                See you soon, matey!
                                          I can't wait!