Exhibition 3, June 19, 2013

This painting shows an ideal picture of ancient Greece.

Become a biographer!   Select and research one of the famous Greeks or Romans listed:

1)   Hippocrates – a Greek physician is considered the father of medicine.

2)   Aristotle – one of the most important philosophers; he  wrote on logic, nature, psychology, ethics, politics, and art.

3)   Alexander the Great – military genius and leader.

4)   Pericles – famous Greek leader.

5)   Archimedes – a Roman mathematician and scientist.

6)   Homer – Greek poet who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.

7)   Plato – one of the most famous, respected, and influential Greek philosophers of all time.

8)   Pythagoras – philosopher and Greek mathematician.

9)   Socrates – Socrates was a philosopher of ancient Athens renowned for his wisdom and his death by hemlock poison.

10)  Julius Caesar – a great military and political leader of the Roman Republic

11)  Herodotus – Greek historian known as the Father of History.

12)  Spartacus – famous Roman slave and gladiator.

Use the following websites:

Ancient Greece:  People

Hippocrates

Indexes of Biographies      (links to many people in history; choose -500 AD)

Pythagoras

Spartacus

Julius Caesar

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Communities and Individuals

Exhibition 2, March 13, 2013

Ancient Egypt:  Long-lasting Ancient Community

Essential Question:    How did the community of ancient Egypt live, prosper, and endure? 

Students will become “Egyptologists” who investigate the ancient culture and society of ancient Egypt.   Each student will select a topic to explore, research, and create a flip book to be displayed on a group tri-fold.  The groups will be established by a common topic.  Each student will compose an hour-glass poem based on what has been learned about his or her ancient Egyptian topic.

Students will …

• Research their ancient Egyptian topic using classroom text, books, and online resources.
• Determine and describe important facets of their topic.
• Write brief descriptions of these facets and create accompanying illustrations as a “flip book.”
• Present their ancient Egyptian flip book orally to the class.
• Compose an hour-glass poem to uniquely convey what they have learned.

Memoir Compositions:   Community of Memories

Essential Question:  How do I transform my writing to better engage my readers?  What descriptive writing tools can I use to “draw pictures” for my audience?

Students will become authors to write a descriptive, three-paragraph composition about a time they participated in a favorite activity, or how hard they had to work to accomplish something. Our fourth grade writers will use high-value adjectives, strong verbs, and effective organization to create an engaging writing piece.

Communities and Individuals

Exhibition #1:  Monday, November 19, 2012

I.  Early Civilizations:  Survival and Settlement as a Community

For the first exhibition, each student will assume the role of archaeologist “digging up” information about the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia.   In teams, students will select a significant topic about this important early civilization.  Components of the project include:

• Each student will write a factual paragraph describing his/her topic or artifact.
• Each student will create a unique triorama to show graphics and information about that topic or artifact.
• In each group, students will combine their trioramas to present what they’ve learned about Mesopotamia.

Students will be assessed on quality of factual information, organized and clear paragraphs, and neat, well-designed appearance of trioramas.

Common Core Standards:  Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, Reading Informational Texts, History

II. Our Writing Community:  Story Books

            The students will become authors who compose a fully-developed narrative as part of a storybook.   Student stories will evolve from a first to a second draft, through revision and editing, and finally to a published narrative within a self-decorated booklet.

Students will be assessed on a well-formatted table of contents, the development and focus of story ideas, organization of story events, strong word choices, and descriptions of characters and setting.   The storybook cover design should enhance the story and be neatly done.

Common Core Standards:  Writing, Language

III.   How are We a Community through Art: Early man cave paintings

Students will learn about some aspects of the lives of early men by looking at caves paintings, and take a virtual tour of the Lascaux cave in France, discussing what materials were used, why, how the paintings were made and for what purpose. Discussions includes how art can tell stories, communicate ideas, and gives us a lot of information about the lives, hopes and beliefs of cultures with no written language.

Students will create a mixed-media drawing that emulates prehistoric cave paintings such as the ones found in the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet in France, and Altamira in Spain. The final drawing will be on crumpled brown paper to represent rocks, using earth tones Cray-Pas and watercolors in a resist technique.

Students will learn how to use various media and techniques to create different visual effects. Students will be developing their observation skills by drawing animals from photographs and other handouts, and their composition skills by deciding how to best place their animals in their work to achieve balance.

Arts standards assessed:

Use of a variety of materials and media in 2D artwork,

Use of a variety of lines in 2D artwork,

Use of visual texture,

Use of shapes in 2D artwork,

Space and composition,

Observation

IV.   Bridges Build Communities

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, fulcrum, law of gravity, and strength of different geometric shapes.
• Students will present their final bridge, highlighting their individual roles and the process of constructing their bridge.

Bridges will be assessed on the accuracy and neatness 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.

Common Core Standards: Math, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Geometry Science, Technology and Engineering

• One 2-inch three-ring binder (Trapper Keeper is fine)
• 8 dividers with tabs – no pockets
• 100 sheets of wide ruled filler paper
• 1 zippered pencil pouch with holes to fit into the binder
• plastic pencil box
• small package of glue sticks
• 1 box of colored pencils
• 1 metric-standard clear 12-inch ruler with 3 holes to fit in three-ring binder
• 1 dozen sharpened #2 pencils
• 1 hand-held pencil sharpener
• 2 erasers
• package of eraseable pens (black ink)
• 1 Ultra Fine Point Sharpie (black)
• 4 highlighters
• 1 – 8 1?2 X 11 sketch book for Art
• 4 pocket-folders (3-hole punched)
• 2 jumbo book covers
• 1 scissors
• 1 clipboard
• 1 box of tissues for the classroom
• 1 independent reading book