"Chattering" About the Nifty Northeast

Why is the Northeast Region known as "The Birthplace of Our Country?" Why were the first factories located in this region? How did the geography of the Northeast affect the people who live here?   For the answers to these essential questions and to learn even more facts about this region, take a look at the our work below.

Just click on the photo to view our chatterpix creations.    As a culminating activity to our study of the Northeast Region of the US, our class created maps of the region and its major landmarks. Afterwards, each student wrote a short summary of the important geography or history facts he or she learned. Then we used the app called Chatterpix to bring our maps to life.    

Traveling Teddies Are On Their Way

Our bears are off on their adventures across the country and it all began with us giving them a proper sendoff and wishing them farewell.  

We can't wait to learn all about our country from our bears as they travel around the USA. After the send-off, we placed  them ever so carefully on the mailtruck righ here in Topsfield.

 

     

We Are Thankful!

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Geography Game!

Our class is learning all about the Northeast Region of the United States. As we have been touring the region during social studies as we focus on our Essential Question: Why is the Northeast known as the "Birthplace of our Nation?" As we visited, Boston we learned about the American Revolution and how it started in this state. This lead to the forming of our nation.

We will be having a quiz on the states and capitals of this region on Thursday.

Click here to go to a site to practice the locations of the states.

Click here to go to a site to practice the capitals.

FIELD TRIP TOMORROW!

Don't forget tomorrow is our field trip to Lowell Mills. Please arrive at 8:15 with a bag lunch. We will go rain or shine, so please be sure to dress accordingly.

 

Making the Impossible, Possible

The subtitle of The Fourteenth Goldfish is "Believe in the Impossible/ Possible." This very hopeful outlook, which the main character Ellie possesses, has been the topic of discussion lately. We watched this  inspirational video today of a true story. We were amazed at how this group of boys were able to make something impossible become possible.

We will be using this theme in our next writing project. We will be focusing on the following standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.5
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 4 here.)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.6
With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.

Awesome Adaptations!

Who knew that beavers are such amazing animals? Mrs. LaRussa, that's who. We went to CLIC as part of our study of adaptations. Plant and animal adaptations are behavioral or structural features that help an organism survive. We learned that the beaver is an animal built to survive with more adaptations than we can list here. Max volunteered to demonstrate the beaver's many adaptations. For example, they have a third eyelid which is clear (like goggles) to help them see underwater, ear flaps so water does not harm their hearing, and, of course, their famous tails which they use in many ways (as a stool when building or chewing down a tree, as a warning device, and more.)

Watch this video witness a beaver rebuilding their lodge. It is a very personal look at the "engineers of nature" at work.

What do you know about adaptations? Pick your favorite animal and explain some of its adaptations in the comment section.

MA State Standard #6. Give examples of how inherited characteristics may change over time as adaptations to changes in the environment that enable organisms to survive, e.g., shape of beak or feet, placement of eyes on head, length of neck, shape of teeth, color.

GLOBAL READ ALOUD

Fourteenth Goldfish video

Click on the link above to see the trailer video  where Jennifer Holm explains her inspiration for this book.

Wingmasters:Birds of Prey

We have been studying food chains food webs and adaptations as our first unit in science. To enrich our study, we were lucky to have Mr. Jim Parks present his Wingmasters to the fourth graders. He taught us all about birds of prey and their adaptations that help them survive. For example, their talons help them catch their prey, their coloring helps them camouflage and blend in to their environments and some even use mimicry for tricking predators or prey. We are so fortunate that TESPTO's cultural enrichment program brought this powerful lesson to our school.

The Preamble

Each year on September 17th, our country celebrates our Constitution. As part of our study of this important historic document, our class memorized the Preamble. We also created a bulletin board to share what we learned with the students and staff of Proctor School. The Preamble is the beginning of the Constitution of the United States. This important document, which sets up our democratic republic, is 227 years old as of this year.

The Oleweus Program Kick-Off was a huge success. Grades 4, 5 and 6 all performed skits, plays, songs or videos showing what they have learned about the 4 anti-bullying rules. The rules are:

1. I will not bully others
2. I will try to help others who are being bullied.
3. If I see bullying I will tell an adult at school and at home.
4. I will try to include others.

The essential question is:

How do we treat others as we want to be treated?

The fourth grade performed the song, "True Colors," which was all about accepting others' differences. Click on the link to watch the video.

Fun With Factors!

4K has been learning all about factors! Factors are the numbers in a multiplication number sentence. There are many ways to find factors, common factors and the greatest common factor. One way was to make a factor rainbows.

We also used factor ladders to find the Greatest Common Factor. On this video the instructor, uses the words "upside down birthday cake" instead of ladders, but she does a nice job showing you how to make ladders to find the Greatest Common Factor (GCF).

OLEWEUS KICK-OFF

Proctor School's Oleweus Kick-Off is Thursday. Oleweus is an anti-bullying program which teaches children to respect others and to stand up to bullies. All grades are selecting their own way to celebrate these important ideas. Grade four was inspired to perform to the song "True Colors." Click to see our inspiration.

Our Essential Questions for this activity is:
"How do you show respect for others?"
"Why is it important to accept differences in others?"

Wecome to 4K's Blog

Welcome Parents and Students,

4K has spent this week getting to know each other and getting back into our school routines. Here we are working hard on our parent letters.

Hope to see you tonight at 6:00.