This past week Fourth Grade prepared for and had a wonderful time during our Grandparents’ and Grand Friends’ Day on Friday. The students worked very hard to learn two poems, Creature in the Classroom by Jack Prelutsky and Jimmy Jet and His TV Set by Shel Silverstein, which they recited for our special guests, sharing a bit of the poetry unit we are currently working on. The children and I worked on movements, props and various voice inflections to make the poems come alive. The highlight of the performance was during the recitation of the Silverstein poem when the students decorated me with various components of a TV set – a screen, an antenna and an electrical cord – so that I became Jimmy Jet’s TV set. The students had a great time turning their teacher into a TV, and then coming around to “watch” the TV they had created!
We also enjoyed sharing an interactive social studies lesson with our guests. Each child and their guest worked together to come up with a list of items that they would take with them if they were to travel from Independence, Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. There was incredible discussion between the younger and older generations regarding what would be important to take, and what would be left behind. They had to keep in mind that they would be traveling in a Conestoga wagon with both space and weight restrictions. What would your priorities be? For the children and their guests, some of the items that they thought were absolutely essential included a rifle, rope, a barrel of water, a full cook stove, and first aid kits. Do you agree? After coming up with their lists, they shared their ideas with the rest of the class. It was a very interesting experience for everyone involved.
Coming up next week, we will be diving into the study of latitude and longitude in social studies as we continue our map unit. We will also be wrapping up our review of the concepts of estimation, addition and subtraction in math. We will have an assessment of these concepts, and then we will move forward into multiplication. In language arts, we will continue to work on our poetry unit. The students will be creating diamante poems, which are 7 line poems shaped like a diamond. This poem type is an excellent introduction to the concept of comparing and contrasting two different subjects, using synonyms and antonyms. It is also a great jumping off point for our study of the major parts of speech – adjectives, nouns and verbs. In reading we will continue our work with Poppy by Avi, which will include a newly expanded mini-unit in science with Mr. Gore on owls. Not only will the children be dissecting owl pellets, but they will be learning about many other aspects of owls and owl life.
I hope you enjoy the long Columbus Day weekend, and I will look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday!