Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a fun & relaxing Winter Vacation! I've greatly enjoyed working with your children each day and look forward to more fun in 4th grade after the break:)

4th Grade Scientists!

Our 4th graders are enjoying the "Mystery Matter" science unit. Vocabulary terms we are using include: Matter, energy, property, soluble, insoluble, acid, base, reaction, and phase change.
Check us out in our lab:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy some pictures below of our recent 4th grade Native American Museum. The kids did a wonderful job of sharing their Legends, "Expert Topic" research reports, and artifacts. Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

Native Americans of New York

Our Native Americans of New York unit is underway! 4th graders are enjoying reading several Iroquois legends, and have begun to write some of their very own legends. One of our favorite authors of Native American legends is Joseph Bruchac! We have also begun choosing a topic of study to research over the next few weeks. Topics include: Homes, food, government, and roles of Native American men, women, and children. The legend, research paper, and artifact that is worked on at home will all be a part of the Native Americans of New York "museum" we have planned for Tuesday, November 24! More info. to follow!

Brookside Museum Field Trip

We had a great day at The Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa! We experienced a variety of Native American crafts and games, learned about Native American food and listened to traditional Native American stories from a Mohawk storyteller. Pictures below!

Off and running in 4th grade!

Our 4th grade class has quickly learned our schedule and daily routines! We are off to a great start. We are having fun in the following areas:
Writing: We've enjoyed decorating our Writer's Notebooks and have begun several lists as a way to organize future writing topic ideas, such as Summer Memories, Top 10 Favorite People, A "Heart Map", and a "Neighborhood Map". Our first published written piece will be a Personal Narrative in which we will choose a "Small Moment" from one of our lists to write about in detail.
Reading: We've enjoyed book shopping for independent reading books, as well as reading from Storyworks magazine during whole group reading time. Character is our reading skill of focus this month in our at-home Reading Logs.
Social Studies: We've begun our study of New York State this week by learning about the geography of our great state, and the features that make it so unique. We've read a great book called "The Big Rock" by Bruce Hiscock that explains how the geography of New York was formed, starting waaaaaaay back in the Ice Age period.
Math: Our first unit involves all things place value up to the millions place. We are practicing writing and saying numbers in standard form, word form, and expanded form. We are also comparing numbers and ordering these numbers from greatest to least, and least to greatest.

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!!!