This is an example of an excellent conclusion because it contains:

• 3-5 sentences
• summary of findings
• hypothesis proved/disproved
• possible errors

Fourth graders are writing, computing, researching and investigating as they prepare for their 3rd and final exhibition of their 4th grade year.

Many students have reached their goal of Multiplication Master as they demonstrate their proficiency with multiplication facts.  All students are beginning a review of fractions and the study probability.

Fourth grade scientists are investigating biomes and comparing criteria like temperature, humidity and precipitation between biomes, and will be building cell models soon.

Student poets are writing and sharing original poetry.   Students recently wrote couplet poems entitled “I Made a Mistake.”  Look for student poetry and writing to be added to our Fourth Grade web page.

Students are moving from critical readers to blooming playwrights as we read, analyze, and author a play based on the folktale, “A Grain of Rice.”

The Number Project

January 28, 2010-Number Paragraph draft-due

February 11, 2010-Final Number Paragraph due

February 26, 2010-Final Project due

I   Research
You have chosen a number to research.  You will need to explore the following areas in regard to your number.  Classify your number as:
•Prime or composite
•Even or odd
•Abundant, deficient, or perfect
•A symbol in another number system (both ancient and            modern)
In addition include the following information in your presentation:
•the complete factor set of your number
•the proper set of factors for your number
•your number squared
•your number cubed
•your number with two different place values
•your number in words
•your number in expanded notation
•your number written in french or spanish
•at least 3 other significant facts about your number
II Write
There are many resources available to you in the classroom library, and you are encouraged to seek other sources such as the public library or Internet sites.  Some class time will be used for your work on this project, however you will also need to work on it at home.  When you have gathered all of the information that is available on your number, write at least one paragraph sharing what you have learned.

III Present
Design a creative and original presentation for your number.  Examples will be exhibited in class.  Pay close attention to making your number project attractive and inviting.  On Monday, February 18th you will begin practicing your presentation for exhibition.

We are at the halfway point of our school year – it is hard to believe how far our fourth graders have come!    Please replenish your child’s school supplies – pencils, erasers, erasable pens, colored pencils are greatly needed.  We would like our students to be able to do their work well, and to do that, they need these essential supplies.

Fourth Graders are moving along – doing research and drafts for their State Brochures.  Students are gaining knowledge about their state resources, history, geography, capitals, and more.    For the second exhibition, each student will assume the role of a State Specialist and Regional Expert responsible for writing and designing a state brochure.  The following pages are in their brochures:

• What is the history of____________________?

Students will highlight significant events of their state’s history and identify where the events took place.   Information will include the date of statehood, historic sites, and important landmarks.

• What comes from____________________?

Students will give examples of natural resources grown, or raised, as well as manufactured products.

• What is there to see in ______________?

Students will provide examples of state land forms, water forms, and national parks.

• What are the numbers in___________________?

Students will give statistical information about their state including      population facts, climate, and capital city and its location.

• State Trivia for _______________________

Students will include interesting state facts, unique qualities of their state, and noteworthy people.

In addition, students will produce an illustrated report about an “Incredible Person” from their state.  In Art students will create landscapes representing their states.  In Community Service Learning, students are understanding the use of persuasive language by developing ads for their states.

Students have started writing stories in their writing journals as well as learning about “reading as thinking.” They are beginning to search for books in our classroom libraries and enjoying D.I.R.T. (Daily Independent Reading Time) during Advisory. The Traits of Writing and the Writing Process will be introduced shortly, with a focus on the Ideas trait.  As for grammar, sentences (avoiding run-ons, subject/predicate, types of sentences) are being emphasized. Students have completed the NWEA testing in both reading and math.  In Reading, fourth graders are developing their fluency by reading aloud a play, “The Curse of King Tut,” in our supplemental Scholastic magazine, Storyworks.

Fourth graders are completing a project for our unit of “Many Dreams, One Nation,” which starts with understanding the lives of Native Americans – who are they? Where did they come from? How did they get to North America? What did they contribute to our American culture?

4th grade scientists are studying energy and participating in the first of many labs.  They are experimenting with kinetic, potential, solar, sound, heat, magnetism, chemical, and electrical energy.  Ask your child about these activities.

In Math students have completed their first unit assesment and will be  extending their ideas about data collection, organization, display, and analysis and reviewing procedures for addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers.  Emphasis will be placed on mastering the vocabulary associated with mathematics and helping students to clearly communicate the language of numbers.

Watch for 4th graders communicating with their hands and speaking silently.  Students are learning American Sign Language and loving it!

The Fourth Grade is Off and Running

We are energized by our new students and eager for them to learn more about the culture of the MCCPS community.  To that end we are working to assist 4th graders to become better acquainted with rules and procedures as well as helping them to organize their binders and other materials in the classroom.  Academic work began immediately with skills building and assessment in every content area of the curriculum.  We are anxious to share their progress and more about our program at Parent Teacher Night this Thursday at 6:30 P.M.  Please don’t miss this opportunity to learn about all the exciting learning opportunities your children will have this school year.
See you on Thursday!
Fourth Grade Teachers

Playwrights, Actors, Poets, Mathematicians, Biologists and More

4th Graders Study about China and Life Cycles

A month into our third trimester, fourth graders are finishing up a whirlwind Global Studies “tour” of our northern neighbor, Canada, and will soon conduct a brief “journey” to our southern one, Mexico. The curriculum focus is on the geography, history and culture, and how each country gained its independence.

After April vacation, we will begin to concentrate our energies on Ancient China, when fourth graders will learn about this fascinating civilization from the Confucius to the First Emperor, from the terracotta soldiers to the unbelievable array of inventions made in Ancient China. Fourth graders will be reading a Chinese folktale, “A Grain of Rice,” and developing a script based on this story.

In Writing, students are starting to share and appreciate different forms of poetry and we will be composing various types of poems, from couplets to haikus to free verse. In Reading, fourth graders are discussing folktales, with a spotlight on American tall tales such as John Henry and Pecos Bill. This trimester we will also be talking about myths, which dovetails well with our current classroom read aloud, The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

New Year, New Projects, New Excitement

The Fourth Grade has many new and exciting content areas to understand and skills to refine for this second trimester. Work has already begun to integrate those content areas and skills in Exhibition projects for Trimester 2.

Our major focus in the Humanities is on nonfiction reading, research, and writing. Students have selected states to discover their state’s history, products, resources, geography, climate, and location. Students are using various resources to find information, from atlases to websites. They will design and publish a state brochure to demonstrate their learning. Not only will students become knowledgeable about their states, but will also understand the unique regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West) of our country. Students will identify all states and their capitals, as well as the major rivers and mountain ranges of the U.S.

For nonfiction reading, students have chosen a biography of a person from their state. This month, they are grasping what a biography is, why a biography is written, and how to better comprehend nonfiction text. To apply their understanding, students will be composing an hourglass bio-poem and creating a bio-doll about their state’s famous person. In addition, students will be reading in small group, leveled-text, biography book clubs.

First Trimester

Students are completing their bridge designs, buying materials from the warehouse and building their bridges. Each student performs one of four important roles in the project: architect, carpenter, accountant and construction manager. Every student is writing about their experience with the project in a journal and applying what they have practiced in math to construction and purchasing. In math class students are beginning work on multiplication and division, number sentences and algebra. In Global Studies, fourth graders have completed their research, graphic organizers, and first draft of their immigration stories. In Modern Languages, students, on their way to America, are learning to communicate as “immigrants” with a French immigration official. In Writing, students have been creating haunted stories in their writing journals, identifying homophones, and practicing dictionary skills. In Reading, students have complete “Sees Behind Trees,” a novel about a Native American boy’s passage to adulthood, and will begin reading “Hannah’s Journal,” a diary-like novel about a Russian girl’s journey to America.

Students have started writing stories in their writing journals as well as learning about “reading as thinking.” They are beginning to search for books in our classroom libraries and enjoying D.I.R.T. (Daily Independent Reading Time) during Advisory. The Traits of Writing and the Writing Process will be introduced shortly, with a focus on the Ideas and Organization traits. As for grammar, sentences, nouns, and verbs will be emphasized. Students have completed the NWEA testing in both reading and math.

Fourth graders have just begun our unit on “Many Dreams, One Nation,” which starts with understanding the lives of Native Americans – who are they? Where did they come from? How did they get to North America? What did they contribute to our American culture? In Reading, we are connecting this topic with the novel, “Sees Behind Trees,” by Michael Dorris.

As part of their first exhibition, fourth grade students will learn about immigration and will choose their countries of origin. Plans are under way for designing and building bridges and students are learning American Sign Language for their performance on exhibition night.

Students will be extending their ideas about data collection, organization, display, and analysis and reviewing procedures for addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers. After the Unit II assessment, 4th graders can look forward to working towards total recall of multiplication facts and using these facts to find basic division facts as well as learning a problem solving scheme to solve number stories and find mathematical models for more complicated problems. Students will also learn new algebra vocabulary.

Students are learning about energy as they experience hands-on science and work in lab groups to explore various forms of energy. Soon we will begin our study of bridges as we address the technology & engineering standards for fourth grade. Students will complete lab activities, use computer simulations, and watch a video to understand concepts involved in bridge building. As soon as students have completed their lab work, bridge companies will be formed and students will begin designing their own bridges.

Marblehead Community Charter
Public School Work & Wellness Exhibition June 17, 2009
Grade Four Overview
I.  ANCIENT CHINA:  DRAGON AND LOTUS  The Dragon and Lotus, both prevalent symbols in ancient China reflect the history and culture of this impressive civilization.
Students will become playwrights, producers, directors, and actors to present a play based on the Chinese folktale, A Grain of Rice by Helena Clare Pittman.  A mathematics unit connected to the folktale will enhance students’ understanding of place value, estimation, multiplication and very large numbers.

Student poets will compose Asian haiku poems integrated with the Science benchmarks of plant and animal life.
Student historians will research Chinese inventions and technologies and display their findings.
Student mathematicians will study the geometry of tangrams and create original designs with tangram pieces.  Tangrams are believed to have originated in ancient China.

Students will compose China inspired songs on the keyboard, sing a song about China, and learn band instruments enough to be able to learn Ming Court.

In art, students will make miniature Chinese dragon puppets like the ones used in festivals such as Chinese New Year.
II.  SIMILES, STANZAS, SENSES, AND STARS:  GRADE FOUR POETS  Grade Four students will become performers and poets to enhance their understanding of this delightful, serious, humorous, and sensitive writing form.  As budding poets, Grade Four students will write poetry:
Similes: Students will recognize examples of similes in a poem.
Stanzas:Students will create various poem structures and identify rhyme and                   rhythm in poems.
Senses:  Students will use sensory images in poetry.
Stars: Students will recite poetry, both assigned and of their choice, with
expression and clarity.
III.  METAMORPHOSIS:  THE LIFE CYCLE  Students will take on the role of biologists and photojournalists as they study the life cycles of plants, butterflies and frogs.
Working in teams, students will research and create LifeCycleScapes, that will record and narrate the different stages of a life.  Students will take photos, create an introduction, and edit their descriptions and transitions as a group.  Individual students will be responsible for creating an illustration of an entire life cycle.
Students will maintain a daily journal of observations of the life cycle of live tadpoles and caterpillars and grow a plant from seed to flower while recording its daily growth.

In addition each student will complete an Independent Species Study that focuses on a particular frog, butterfly or plant species and create a detailed scientific drawing of the particular species.

Communities & Individuals
Exhibition #1
Grade 4 ? Overview
Exhibition Date:  Monday, November 24, 2008

I.   Many Dreams:  One Nation

For the first exhibition, each student will assume the role of an immigrant who came to America.  Students will choose their country of origin and it may or may not be related to their heritage.  Components of the project include:

•    Each student will write a three-paragraph narrative describing where he/she came from and why, their journey to America, as well as the immigrant’s hopes for a future in America.

•    Each student will create a unique collage of his or her immigrant story.

•    For exhibition night, each student will dress in costume to represent his or her country of origin.

•    Each student will research and record a recipe from his or her chosen country.

•    Students will prepare a passport that will include at least one stamp from a country en route to America.

•    Students will encounter and dialogue with a French/Spanish “customs agent” on their journey.

II.   Bridges Make Connections

Working in Company Construction Teams of three or four, students will assume the jobs of Project Director, Architect, Carpenter, and Accountant as they work together to build a bridge.

•    Each company member (student) will perform only the duties listed for his or her job and will also be responsible for periodically checking the work of other members of their company (for example, the architect designs and draws the plans for the bridge, but will also be responsible for checking the company’s balance sheet maintained by the accountant.)

•    Each student will learn to write checks, balance accounts, and work within a budget.

•    Each student will be required to maintain a task schedule and work with other members of their company to accomplish a common goal.

•    Each student will keep a journal detailing individual and group process and progress

•    Students will learn and apply concepts such as stress, fulcrums, the law of gravity and the strength of different geometric shapes.

•    Each student will complete the “Bridges in Art” activity.

Bridges will be assessed on the neatness and accuracy of the building plans and finished bridge, cost of the bridge as compared to their proposed budget and how well the finished bridge matches the plans.  Bridges will also be judged for strength.  More detailed instructions will be given to students when bridge companies are formed.

III. “Welcome ”
Students will explore one of the many different ways, forms and means of communication through the study of the hearing impaired and American Sign Language.  They will learn the basics of sign language communication and perform a song on Exhibition night.