Cereal Data

We had our first knock down, drag out math debate yesterday! Based on the data we had collected, would the new Cheerio Crunch cereal (with 8 grams of sugar per serving) be considered sugary or not?

One group argued that the since the range of sugar per serving was 1-20 grams, ten would be the midpoint, and thus, 8 grams of sugar would NOT make be a sugary cereal. Others argued that 15 and 20 grams of sugar were outliers, and since the great majority of the data lay between 2-12, 6 should be considered the midpoint, thus making 8 grams a relatively high amount of sugar. Here are my favorite quotes, capturing the drama if not the mathematics of the moment:

As Sage crossed off data points and Thomas argued, "No!NO! NO!" Gio laughed and said, "This is even better than cable!"

Concerned that one group was ignoring the outliers, Brody said something along the lines of: "We live in Massachusetts. But just because your grandparents live in Florida doesn't mean they're not part of the family! You can't just ignore them!"

Welcome! It's time to post photos and notes from our new year! In the meantime, you can still check out posts from last year's fourth grade!

Slide show of (parts of) our year!

Making our own filaments and more

In this picture, Shannon is making the final connection that will make the nichrome wire filament glow.

Yesterday, students learned to diagram circuits using the symbols that electricians use to represent batteries, wires, and bulbs. Today, students built circuits with batteries in series and in parallel. They noted which had a brighter bulb and predicted which would last longer.

pride

Earlier this week, our students wrote me a final letter, reflecting on their growth and imagining goals for next year. Here are a few quotes about what they are proud of from this year:

• Reading out of my comfort zone in the reading missions unit.

• Reading over 50 books

• Taking something I love (Greek gods) and making poetry about it.

• My math confidence went from 8 to 10.

• I wasn't the biggest fan in writing, but now I enjoy writing.

• How much better I got at throwing a football and a baseball.

• The states: I improved by 25 states between my first test and my last test.

• The poetry and stories I have written.

• Dominating in the Word Olympics for the second year in a row

• I started making more and more time for reading

• More than anything else: winning the Battle of the Books

• My collection of TFK magazines

• How many new friends I have made this year

• I didn't try to change myself to be like other kids

• One last thing I am proud of is the whole class. We have all learned stuff academically, physically, and we have learned how to take care of each other, and not bully one another.

A Closer Look

In this picture, two students from our class are working together to build an electric circuit. When their bulb lights, they know they've done it!

In addition to the circuits we are building, we are reading The Magic School Bus and the Electric School Bus.

This book helps us understand and talk about how electrons run through wires (and other conductors), how magnetism can create electric current, how lightning forms, how switches work, and many important safety rules related to electricity.

Electric Circuits!

Our class is studying electric circuits. First, we had to make a small bulb light with a D battery and a wire. Then the whole class tried to make a big light bulb light. First everyone guessed how many D batteries would make it light. We started with two D batteries and worked our way up. It finally lit at eighteen batteries!

(entry written by Piper)

4th grade visits the Springfield Science Museum

April 29th, the third and fourth grade classes traveled to the Springfield Science Museum. At the Black Holes Special Exhibition Program, our students were able to have hands-on experiences as they explored the properties of black holes. They even piloted an excursion pod into an enormous black hole at the center of our galaxy! Students received Black Hole Explorer's ID cards to use from home when they visit the museum's website. With this card they will be able to continue their space exploration. We reviewed facts about the planets in the Space Explorations Classroom Program. Students volunteered to demonstrate the rotation of the earth and moon as they orbit the sun. It was a memorable and entertaining model! After a picnic lunch by the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden, we went inside the planetarium to learn more about the night sky. It was a wonderful way to extend our understanding of space!

Diane Adams and Ms. L.

April is National Poetry Month!

Our students have been reading poetry! Here are some poetry reading activities we've enjoyed:

• finding poems that represent our inner and outer selves

• choosing poems to perform in pairs and trios

• reading poems aloud

• finding kinds of poems we like

• identifying the characteristics of poems, and then finding poems that are good examples of those characteristics (for example, poems that use repetition, have rhythm, include comparisons, etc.)

• recording favorite lines of poems

We are now reading poems closely in small groups. We talk about the ideas, images, language, and feelings of the poems we read. We find evidence in the poem to support our interpretations.

Heart Goals

Our class has been talking about what it means to bring "our best selves" to our interactions with each other. Here is a sample of the goals they set:

I want to be patient with others.

I want to accept hard things, like a baseball glove accepts a baseball.

I want to put myself in others' shoes.

I want to be able to control when to let out my energy.

I want to make people feel good about themselves.

I want to be nicer to my sister.

Tell the truth but in a nice way.

Stand up for your rights.

Talk to people to get ideas to say.

I am going to let the other person do some too, so I don't do it all for them.

After setting our goals, we represented them using words and images (as seen on the bulletin board shone above).

Proof!

Proving fractions that are NOT equal…

…and fractions that ARE equal!

Our 3-D Wall Map of Mexico!

A glimpse inside the classroom during MCAS

What does it look like when we take the MCAS? What's the feeling in the room like?

On Tuesday our class wrote compositions. Today and tomorrow we are taking the Reading Comprehension test: reading and responding to questions about fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

As I look around, I see students engrossed in reading, while others look back through the stories, searching for evidence to help them answer a question. Some are writing the longer answers required by the "open response" questions. Many students have already written half a page or more! The atmosphere is focused and intent.

Earlier this morning, we took a break for snack and to run around outside. Later in the morning we will break for our "Smart Moves" exercises. If students need more time after lunch, they will have more time, while others who have finished move on to math and art.

What are they sharing in 4th grade?

We are in the midst of our three-way conferences. Students perused their portfolios, searching for pieces of work from each subject area to share with their parents. Here are some of the items they've chosen:

• published writing projects (essays, 2010 compositions, personal narratives)
• evidence of passing their multiplication and/or division combinations tests
• our wall-size, 3D map of Mexico
• reading lists
• science binders (based on their studies of whales and of plant growth)
• Word Olympics word lists (and medals)
• mathematical proofs
• math assessments
• independent Mexico research
• drawing and writing about "the First Thanksgiving"

We've also reflected on goals we set for the year and, in some cases, set new goals!

striving

I love when kids strive to apply what they are learning. Here are paraphrases of statements two students made recently:

Dylan: I know I can make my story even better. I just don't know how. I've been revising and revising it, but still, I know I can make it better.

Shannon: My partner and I read Click, Clack, Moo which I'd read a lot of times before. But I'd never really thought about how the cows are resourceful.

(This last quote relates to our focus this week on resourcefulness. Your child may ask you for a good resourceful story tonight!)

Writing excerpts!

Here are a few excerpts from our personal narratives-in-progress:

From Eric's story of diving to the bottom of his friend's pool:

I was about two feet away when I got a weird feeling, a feeling I had never had before. It built up in my stomach, getting bigger until it was huge. It wasn't just a feeling anymore. It was a monster stuck, wanting to get out, pounding the walls of my stomach. It was mad. It wanted air.

From Owen's story about holding his new baby niece:

Then I saw her. I was one of the first people to hold her. I was so happy. I almost held her the whole time. I didn't want to let her go, but I had to let her go. Everybody was jealous. They all wanted to hold her first. But I held her first. It felt like I was holding a rare item. As soon as I held her, it felt like I was warming up by a nice, hot wood stove.

From Hunter's story about getting to know Django (when Hunter was young and Django was a puppy):

One day before I went to bed, I put my hand out very cautiously and touched his warm, soft fur. Then I pulled my hand back as fast as I could. Then I realized that he wouldn't bite, he wouldn't even scratch, he wouldn't hurt you at all. Then I started liking him. Then he licked me, then I loved him.

From Fiona's story about a summer day swimming and playing with her friends:

"Bombs awayla!" I holler as I take a flying leap off the raft at the head of Silver Lake. A perfect pencil dive! Down, down, down I go. I can see the deadly darkness closing in around me through tightly clamped eyelids. It is so dramatically cold that it must be cold enough to paralyze an elephant! Cold! Dark! Cold! Dark! Ahhhhhhh! SPLUT! I am ankle deep in old sticks, rotting leaves, and moldy pine needles at the bottom of the lake. Great!

Chichen Itza

Bienvenido a Mexico! This image of Chichen Itza, a Mayan ruin, drew oohs and ahs from our a small group of students studying Mexican history.

Have you been to Mexico? Would you be willing to come in and share your photos? If so, we would very much enjoy hearing about (and seeing) your experiences in Mexico!

Hasta luego!

Look how tall we are!

Here are a few of our Wisconsin fast growing plants. In a matter of weeks they have shot up from seeds to over 20 centimeters in height!

We pollinated them using "bee sticks." They quickly flowered, and we are now seeing seed pods. Come in and check them out!

Aztec history

In social studies our class has been studying Mexico. Students have rotated through three different activities: studying Mexican history, making a wall map of Mexico, and doing independent research on a Mexico topic of their choice.

Here is a link to an Aztec history site that one group of students has enjoyed:

Aztec site

raising the level of our narrative writing

A quote from Dylan:

"At first I thought, 'This is going to be a really short story.' Then you started teaching us things--and my story started to get longer and longer and longer!"

Here's what we've been teaching/learning:

• how to find seed ideas by thinking of turning points in our lives

• how to listen carefully and encouragingly to each others' ideas

• how writers ask themselves, "What am I really trying to say?"

• how to use timelines as tools for planning and revising our stories

• how to study and create leads

The Big Field of Cake!

This is Shannon's fabulous home project/MCBA project! The project demonstrates her measurement ability as well as her understanding of The Big Field, one of 25 books nominated for this year's Massachusetts Book Award. The cake tasted as good as it looked!

Geometric Logic Puzzles

Is a square an equilateral rectangle? If two skis are parallel, are they still parallel if one of them breaks?

Our class has been engaged in a couple of interesting math discussions. One focused on how it is that you can call a square a rectangle, but you cannot call a rectangle a square. (This naturally flies in the face of our students' sense of fairness and logic!) The second discussion focused on whether lines (or in this case, sides of polygons) can be called parallel if one side is longer than the other (as in a classical trapezoid) or if one side "starts" before the other (as in a classical parallelogram). We broke a number of popsicle sticks in our quest for the truth!

Apostrophe intervention!

What to do? A large poster in our school was incorrectly punctuated. Some students argued to leave it be. After all, didn't people misspell things on Twitter all the time? And wouldn't you pronounce the word ("heart's") the same--whether or not an apostrophe lingered there? Luckily, Mr. Mahler dropped by just as the discussion heated up. His opinion? Take care of it. (He noted, among other things, that a poster is a public message, whereas many Twitter messages are private.) So two students snuck into the gym armed with scissors and tape. Moments later the poster read, "There's joy in our hearts today!" Phew.

So please, if you spot a misplaced apostrophe (or any other questionable punctuation), let us know. We'll take care of it!