Below are some photos and curricular updates for the month. Enjoy! Science: Through investigation using the design process, students created simple machines to solve problems. Photos show students creating balances to observe which clay ball weighs more and parachutes using plastic bags, string, tape, tin foil, and washers to hit a target. Reading Workshop: Our biography unit is underway! Students have chosen important figures in history to research based on the accomplishments and contributions the historical figure has made for the betterment of society. Our culmination project, the living wax museum, will be held on Friday, March 1 from 8:45 to 9:45 during Fathers’ Morning. All are invited to attend during this time. Writing Workshop: In conjunction with Reading Workshop, students will be composing biographical speeches based on their research of their chosen figure. The students will present their speeches on Fathers’ Morning. *Below is our research timeline to help the students organize for their presentations. All work will be completed in class unless there is an unforeseeable snow day that interferes. Wax Museum TimelineSocial Studies:
We have concluded our study of the Northeast region and we will begin our next unit on the Southeast region. Students will be required to learn the states’ name, location and capital as well as create a commercial for their state.
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Happy New Year! Enjoy the updates.Social Studies: We will be exploring the regions of North America, with an emphasis on Pennsylvania. We have already begun our exploration of the Northeast region. At the conclusion of each region study, the children will be expected to know the states and capital of the studied region. Science: We have recently begun a new unit on Technology and the Design Process. Students will discover how technology is applied to science and that through technology scientists help solve problems and provide solutions. In this unit the students will investigate six simple machines (wheel and axle, inclined plane, pulley, screw, wedge, and lever), how they can be used to form complex machines and how they are used to help people. Reading Workshop: Our historical fiction unit is underway. As a class, we are exploring time periods from the Pre-Revolutionary War up to Civil Rights. The children are keeping track of the little details that depict historical events in their reading journals. We are working toward understanding different points of view, character development, how the times affected the people, their attitudes and ways of life. Writing: The next writing piece will be a historical fiction story with the central theme of friendship. The children are tasked to create a story where two main characters are friends who wouldn’t have been during the time of their story. We will also continue our dissection of paragraph development, proper grammar and mechanics. Math:
The fabulous fourth graders started division this week! We are discovering how to divide by single digit numbers, how to use remainders in division problems, how to estimate quotients, and how to model division. The terrific third graders are exploring how to use multiplication to find how many in all, skip count, apply multiplication properties to find products, and understand word problems to solve multiplication. The children are working on memorizing their facts. Greetings Families, We would like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday! We are so appreciative to spend our days with your children, it truly is a gift. We look forward to the new adventures together in the new year. Thank you for your generosity and thoughtfulness, we are very grateful this holiday season. Singing along with Mr. Smith on the saxophone. German Holiday Lesson with Frau RaueReading Workshop In November, we are diving into our Nonfiction Reading unit. The students are learning how to identify informational texts, its features as well as practicing the different options of recording and interpreting information. We will celebrate the end of this unit by creating an "Ocean" museum wing featuring our projects and research gathered and interpreted by the children. Social Studies Our government and community study finds us learning about elections. The students have campaigned for three types of cookies: Oreo, Chocolate Chip, and Nilla Wafer cookies. The process consisted of research of their candidate, flyers, posters, buttons and speeches. May the best cookie win! Science
Students are discovering different forms of energy and how energy can change. Through our most recent experiment students investigated how light and matter interact through reflection, refraction, and absorption. While studying this unit students will be exposed to new vocabulary such as, electrical energy, sound energy, potential and kinetic energy, open and closed circuit, pitch and wave. Help your child make these words a part of his or her vocabulary when you talk together about energy at its forms.
Social Studies Students explored the tools of geography as they learned to understand how topographers show various information. Students were paired and plotted their own course around Disney theme parks (Thank you Cilli family for the much appreciated maps). Land and water forms were the subject of the musical raps that the children wrote and performed for the class and younger students. Reading Workshop
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Mrs. Kearney Mrs. AlbrightWe are the 3rd and 4th grade teachers of The Walden School! We enjoy collaborating to plan and implement enriching lessons for all students. Our goals are to foster a safe, secure and meaningful environment where students can maximize their potential. Archives
February 2019
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