February 11 — C-c-c-c-c-changes!
Humanities with Hilary
Dear 4th Grade Families,
What a month it has been! The crew took their new groups in stride (and for some, with much excitement), as well as the new desk arrangements in Room 118. We have been doing so many mini-projects, and learning about all these different topics. Here we go!
Reading
Book clubs have finished, and students have created story quilts and wanted signs about their books. On the wanted signs, students picked a character (it could have been the “hero/heroine” or the “villain”), described them, and wrote about why they are wanted. What did they do that would make them “criminals”? On the story quilts, students had the opportunity to draw pictures that represent the book they wrote. Some topics overlapped, like figurines, the stage, and family members, but each was also unique to the student doing the drawing.
** Please go to the bottom of the blog to see reading recommendations from me **
Social Studies
Over the past few weeks, we learned about the triggers that led to the Revolutionary War. Students learned the well known phrase, “No Taxation with Representation,” and the group showed their understanding of what is just and fair. We are now talking about the American Revolutionary War, focusing on battles. After that, we will turn our focus on spies and the work they did. They have been doing a wonderful job investigating primary and secondary sources, always talking about what we see and what it could (and does) mean.
Some topics to chat with your student about:
- What is wrong with calling it “the Battle of Bunker Hill”?
- what is a spy? Do you know of any people are are spies (either currently or back in the 1700s)
- Look at these two photos — what is historically inaccurate with them?
Writing
In Writing, we are working more thoroughly in persuasive writing. We started the unit by writing about ice cream, and why we like it. Using boxes and bullets (making lists of people, and then for each person a list of qualities about them), we transitioned on writing about people we know. Some students are writing about teammates, others about immediate family members, and others are writing about family friends. In this writing unit, each paragraph is a reason for why someone should know about the specific person. We are working on how to stay on topic for each paragraph. For instance, if writing about our brother being good at sports, we don’t want to talk about how he is as a cook or times he takes care of us because that’s not on topic — those are different paragraphs.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Students have been on a journey learning about:
- being our B.E.S.T.
- trying to be more of an ally than a confronter/aggressor
- triggers, and how to calm ourselves
Today we started learning a new aspect of SEL called “FIG TESPN” (so much fun to say, right?). FIG TESPN stands for:
F -Find the Feelings
I -Identify the Problem
G -Guide Yourself with a Goal
T-Think of Many Possible Solutions
E -Envision Consequences
S -Select the Best Solution
P -Plan and Be Prepared for Pitfalls
N-Notice What Happened (Now What?)
Over the next 2-3 months, we are going to go over each of these steps, and connect it to our anti-bullying and being an ally work. In class today, we spent time in the spacious gym to think back to problems we had in younger grades, and problems we’re worried about facing in our future.
2-2-22 Celebrations
Wowzers, were these kiddos AMAZING during the talent show! I was so proud of all of their hard work … AND THOSE TALENTS!! Absolutely blown away.
That day was also our 2-2-22 celebration (because we’re not in school on 2-22-22). In my class, we did two types of drawings. One was to fill in as many circles as we can, but have each circle be about a different topic or type of drawing. The second activity was to turn a 2 into something else, to disguise it. Here are some pictures from the day:
Bubble Experiment
Like all scientists, we tried something on a super cold day this month … and it did not go as planned. But we tried! From prior tryings, I have learned that if you blow bubbles in REALLY cold temperatures, the bubbles freeze and turn into this latex-esque texture, and then react like a balloon that’s overblown. Sadly, while it was cold it was just not cold enough — but we had a BLAST trying it out! Here are some photos of 4th graders playing with bubbles:
Math with Justin
Art with Iviva
Students have spent several weeks studying symmetry by viewing images of animals and plants with vertical, horizontal and/or radial symmetry, and making detailed drawings based on photographs.
Music with Heidi
In Music class, Fourth Graders had the chance to practice xylophone techniques and care. They are learning about the pentatonic scale and how to play Arirang on the xylophone.
**Book Recommendations from Hilary**
Dear families,
I have seen that many of you are asking about book recommendations for your student. Some parents have mentioned that your children gravitate towards graphic novels, or feel that books have too many words in them, or that the text is too small, or that they’re not into any book around. One of the biggest recommendations I can give is for you to use your local library! The staff there has immense knowledge about books and can give a “if you like _____ then you might like _____” type of recommendations. Having your child walk around a library and have the ownership of picking books they are intrigued by can help keep up their interest in reading. Also, because the city is so large, it is easier to borrow a book here than it would be in a different town/city. Another recommendation is to have two types of books around for your student — one that is there in times where they want a relaxing, easy read because they had a long hard day, and another one that might be more challenging for days when your child is up for that adventure of a story. Our goal is to get the kids reading and having the stamina to get lost in a story. Using audio books — especially for more challenging reads — can help students stay engaged!
- Here is a list of colonial books and links that I have created, for students who want to read more historical books (I’ll create another for when we learn about The Civil War): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YtahrhmRBfDcNH0UdiXTxJDA7omgKc8R_uSpt1VN-ws/edit?usp=sharing
- The Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library has created a whole website dedicated to book recommendations by category. http://bookdb.nextgoodbook.com/signup/bl/3887df05ef340386d971d0ef9b1458b1
- The New York City Public Library‘s website has a page where you can look up book recommendations. For me, I chose “children’s literature” for subject/genre. For audience I clicked on “children.” After clicking apply, I got a wonderful list of recommendations by category — books about birds, Afrofuturism, Heroines in literature for young readers, poetry, audiobooks, AND MORE! https://www.nypl.org/collections/nypl-recommendations/lists From this link, you can also look to see where there is a NYPL near you!
- Is your child a reluctant reader? Here is a list of recommendations! (I’m personally a big fan of Hank Zipper books, not just because it’s written by The Fonz)
- Female-centric books: https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=13390
- Is your student into inventors or biographies? Try these websites:
- Does your student love getting sucked into a book, and enjoys series? Try these sites for book recommendations:
- Do you want your child reading the classics? Here are some 4th grade recommendations:
- Here is a list of books that feature diverse leading characters
- Are you looking for recommendations based on grade, specifically in the fantasy genre? Here is a link:
HAPPY READING!
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