Humanities with Hilary

These first two weeks back have been a WHIRLWIND of activity for these kiddos, and they have been up for the challenge.

Our main goal, last week, was to film ourselves saying an excerpt of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” which he gave on August 29, 1963 at the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Students rose to the challenge of being able to tape one another, and support group members in speaking with expression and — as Dr King says — with “the urgency of now.”

As you saw during today’s tekes, students were able to film themselves around the school. We hope you enjoyed the video, and we’ll make sure a copy gets emailed to you as well.

On top of learning about Dr King’s peaceful protests, we also studies the Harlem Renaissance. Renaissance means “rebirth,” and the Harlem Renaissance was a rebirth of the arts in New York City, specifically with art, music, poetry, and dance. Last week, we listened to a few different songs to see how they made us feel. The five main artists we listened to were: Duke Ellington; Billie Holliday; Fats Waller; Bessie Smith; and Chick Webb. The fan favorite songs were “Takin’ the A Train” and “Harlem Congo,” but students also mentioned that they prefer today’s music to that from the 1920s and 30s. As we listened to the music, we took a marker and drew lines, dots, or shapes to represent how the songs made us feel. Here are some examples of what students created:

This week, we analyzed poems written by Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglass Johnson, Margaret Walker and Ann Spencer, just to name a few. Students worked in small groups, and thought about who the speaker/narrator is, how old they are, who they are speaking to, what they are speaking about, how the poem (emotionally) feels, the poem’s theme(s), and how the title relates to the poem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Social Studies this week, we started learning about “The Road to Revolution” — all of the steps that led up to the American Revolutionary War. Our main focus this week was the French-Indian War, also called the 7-Year War. You should ask your student why it was called the 7-Year War if it lasted from 1754-1763. Land and it’s ownership was a big reason for this war and for supporting it, without much thought about who that could harm or affect. While the French [in yellow] began the war with a winning streak (which is why the Spanish [in blue] decided to side with them in this war), by the end it was the British [in green] who came out on top. The maps below show how “ownership” of the land changed during those 63 years, which then affected the future endeavors of our country. Pull up these pictures for your student and ask if they can explain the left picture to the right, and why there was that change!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, all of the students have received their warm fuzzy bookmarks! Reading what these students wrote for one another, and how well they were able to keep to the positives of others, was really wonderful to read. I can’t speak for each of the students, but I know that each 4th Grade teacher and I took to heart what the class wrote about us and how they feel. It immediately brightened each of our days when we received our bookmark.

 

Hebrew with Rimma

The students finished a mini Unit about Weather. We studied how to describe weather and practiced calculating the temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa.

At the end of the unit about weather, children prepare a forecast video about the weather in New York. Please watch their videos on Flipgrid.

We started our new Unit about Traveling and school trips. Students learn how to organize a field trip with a class, how to pack a suitcase for the trip—what type of clothing to take according to weather and the season, what objects to pack etc. Next week students will write an email to the parents letting them know about imaginary trip (when, where to, what to take etc)

Students will discuss what is forbidden on the trip, on the bus, in the park, in the library etc by using the vocabulary that they study this week.

Judaic Studies with Shira

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Judaics class, fourth graders learned rules connected to trees and natures from the Torah. They deciphered the rules in chevruta partners, thought about who the rule is meant to help, and then created posters to present their findings. Ask your child what rule they learned about. 

Fourth graders enjoyed a special Tu Bshvat activity lead by their old buddies, the eights graders!

Math with Justin

Our Fourth Graders are continuing to work hard learning about fractions. Students are learning how about mixed numbers and improper fractions and how to convert between the two forms. They are also learning how to add, subtract, and multiply fractions. They have also been working on simplifying fractions and solving fraction word problems. Try some fraction fun yourself with these virtual cuisenaire rods. Students have also been solving ‘fraction splats’ like this one:

If there are 7 wholes total, can you figure out what is covered by the splat?

All of this fraction expertise will come in handy as we start our next unit on decimals and focus on tenths and hundredths. Students also used fractions to count how many sticky notes could be used to cover a book.

 

Science with Sammi

I am so glad to be back with everyone in school! We have spent the last two weeks reorienting ourselves to school, practicing the science room rules, and reviewing teamwork skills. We had missed some class time due to other awesome things happening in school (like the MLK tekes today), but with the time we did have together we checked out pictures from my vacation in Volcano National Park, stretched a snowman, saved Fred, and built trees out of dominoes to celebrate Tu B’shvat.

 

Music with Heidi

In Music class, Fourth Graders have begun their Powerful Song study with the song “We Shall Overcome.” They watched and had a discussion about a video covering the history of “We Shall Overcome” and how the song changed over time to meet the needs of the people singing it. Students have been singing We Shall Overcome in English and Hebrew.