Egg Drop Experiment

Last summer, I had the most awesome opportunity to attend the Mickelson Exxon Mobil Teacher's Academy in Jersey City, New Jersey. Our very first experiment at the academy was the experiment we did in class today and I loved every minute of it! We started just as the students did, completing the mini experiments first and then applying what we learned from the smaller experiments to the "bigger picture".

The goal is to get an egg into a glass of water with only a broom. The obstacle is the pizza pan and toilet paper holder that is holding the egg above the cup! Sounds impossible, doesn't it? One of the coolest things was being able to test out any "wonderings" we had about what other things would work with the experiment. Let me just say, that we tested the egg drop with three cups and three eggs and it worked!

This experiment is used to discuss Newton's First Law of Motion dealing with inertia, stating that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object at motion will remain in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. To hear a kid recite that and really know what it means, is like music to my ears! Here are some video clips and snap shots from our science experiments on motion and force- enjoy!

School of Rock Math Stations

The station above focused on sorting multiples fore numbers 2 and 3 into a Venn Diagram. If the multiples they drew from the bag were not multiples of 2 or 3, then they layed it off to the side. We used the Halloween glow sticks to create the Venn Diagram since this was the day we were dressing up to celebrate Halloween, but they did not glow long enough! After students sorted all the numbers, they recorded the information from the Venn Diagram into their science and math journals, so I review it later in the day.

The station above reviewed a concept we covered during a recent science unit on how to measure using grams as the unit of measurement. Students had several items to weigh and then they had to take those findings and create a bar graph to display the data. This was an eye opener and a quick way to see if students really understand how to create graphs!

This was the third station of the day- creating factor kites. Students drew out a number from a bag and then they had to write down all the factors for that number on the kite tails. Once they had checked their work with their think-pair-share partner, they constructed their kite and we have the kites displayed in our room.

SCHOOL OF ROCK on Black Out Friday!

Stay tuned for our second Black Out Friday theme- School of Rock! Fourth grade is finishing up a science unit on sound and our next unit is on the rock cycle, so we thought it would be very fitting to go with the theme of "School of Rock"! Our focus this Friday will be reviewing our sound unit by sharing some homemade instruments created by students, and we will visit our outdoor classroom to observe rocks in different stages of the rock cycle. We will be using our science notebooks to document our observations. We will also use our findings to inspire a piece of personal writing! (There is a great article and useful rubrics about this in the Science and Children magazine, November 2011, Volume 49, Number 3 issue) Check back to see what we've learned- we can't wait to share!

Student Visitor from Last Year!

Last week, Madison, a student who was in my homeroom last year, paid me a visit this week. She shared with our class what she recieved from President Obama! She had written the President during school last year and just this week, she received an official letter and picture from the White House, along with a picture of his dog, Bo! It was very exciting to see her response from the White House and I was so glad she brought it in to share with our class!

Our First Student of the Week- Elijah

Elijah is our first student of the week from Studio 214! This picture was taken of all three fourth grade students who earned student of the week this past Friday. Stay tuned each week for a picture of the fourth grade students who achieve this honor!

Did you notice the girl and boy's bike in the background? That is another behavior incentive to reward students "Caught Being Good". If students are seen doing random acts of kindness for others, their name is written on a ticket and placed into a drawing that will take place right before Christmas break. There is not a limit to how many times their names can be added to the drawing!

September Student of the Month

This past month's student of the month went to Hannah! Way to go, Hannah, and keep up the great work! Starting the third week of October, we will be participating in Student of the Week, as a school wide behavior incentive!

Students who earn Student of the Week will get to choose a prize from our class treasure chest and will be recognized at our morning assembly on Friday of each week. Parents and Guardians- you are welcome to join us during the morning assembly, starting at 7:25, to see your child recognized!

Author's Purpose

This week we have been discussing and writing using author's purpose: to persuade, to inform, and to entertain. During the beginning of the week, we used an awesome SMART Notebook that focused on Author's purpose and students came up to check their understanding of this concept. On Thursday and Friday, we used mini candy bars as props in a writing task. Students could choose any of the three author's purposes to create a writing piece about their candy bar. These writing pieces are outside our classroom, hanging in the hall. It is really neat to see the different perspectives the students took with their writing! If you are at school this week, come check them out!