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.
