Happy Holidays!

Our class wishes you a happy and healthy holiday season--see you in 2017!

Type To Learn!

Today our class got our usernames and passwords for Type To Learn 4. This is a great program that teaches typing using fun games. And we can even access it at home!

Animal Adaptations Project

As a culminating project for our animal adaptations unit, our class created their own animals.  Each student thought about the habitat, prey, predators and adaptations of their animal before creating a clay model in CLIC.  We then took pictures of our animals with iPads, cropped the pictures and used the app Explain Everything to make beautiful presentations.  Check out our work!

I am NOT a turkey!

This time of year is tough for turkeys, so our class decided to give them disguises! In the speech bubbles, our turkeys explain all the reasons why they are actually NOT turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!

Recent Projects

We have been up to a lot in our classroom!  Fortunately, many of you were able to see some of these projects in person at Open House but, in case you couldn't make it, here's an overview of some of our recent projects.

We read this poem by George Ella Lyon and talked about how she used unique items and memories from her life to build an extremely descriptive poem.

We then wrote our own "I Am From" poems using the original as a template.

After decorating them with tissue paper, glue and water, the final products look great!

As a team-building activity, each child received a notecard with the name of one of their classmates.  They wrote a word that they thought described that person, then passed the notecard to their neighbor.  By the end, each student had a notecard filled with positive words that describe them.

We then used these words to create word splashes, using the website "tagul".

We then laminated each one and put them together, making a word splash "quilt"!

During WIN, some of use explored using mandalas as a way to understand symmetry.

The class did a very careful job with these and they came out beautifully!

Stay tuned for more of our projects!

Geography Gameshow

On Thursday, we were lucky enough to be visited by Neal Nichols, an artist, traveler and Cape Cod native.  Neal has created a program called "Geography Gameshow" in which he introduces 4th graders to US history and geography while he draws a map of the entire United States by memory.

Asha answering questions about the years states received statehood.

The final map!

Thank you to TESPO for sponsoring this event!

Owl Pellets

This week, our class had the opportunity to dissect owl pellets in CLIC.  We had a blast pulling apart the pellets and seeing what kinds of bones were inside.  We then took the bones and recreated the skeletons of mice and other rodents!

Animal Adaptations and Birds of Prey

This week, our class was lucky enough to experience two enrichment activities relating to Science.  The first was a visit from Mrs. Condon, the CLIC teacher, who led us through an activity about the adaptations of beavers.  We learned a lot of interesting things about beavers, including that they can use their tail as a chair!

Mrs. Condon pointing out some adaptations of beavers.

Stephanie was a very good sport and modeled the adaptations of a beaver, including clear eyelids (the goggles), two layers of fat for insulation (the foam) and webbed feet (the flippers)!

Thanks, Stephanie!

On Thursday, we had a visit from Mr. Parks who runs a program called "Wingmasters".  Mr. Parks has spent years rescuing and rehabilitation injured birds of prey.  He brought in some of these birds, including a Peregrine Falcon (the fastest animal on earth), a Barred Owl, an American Kestrel (the only type of falcon that lives in Topsfield) and the very cute Northern Saw-Whet Owl.  We were amazed by these incredible birds of prey!

Thank you to TESPO for funding this wonderful program!

Gummy Bears in Science?!

This week in Science, we conducted a really fun experiment involving gummy bears in different solutions.  

We started by making observations, asking questions and forming hypotheses.

Then we put our gummy bears in the four different solutions and let them sit overnight.

The next day we made observations about our gummy bears.  A lot had happened overnight!

Then we shared our observations as a class.

Though all four gummy bears were affected by the different solutions, it seemed as though the water and baking soda mixture caused the most change.

This would be an easy experiment to try out at home with different solutions!

 

Simple Science

Today we went to CLIC for the first time to experiment with what we've been studying in Science and Social Studies.  We, as a class, are writing this post using the scientific method.
Step 1: Observations: When we walked into the CLIC room, we saw some materials on the tables.  We didn't know what they were for.  We saw a piece of cork, a magnet, a bowl of water, and a message on the board.  Mrs. Condon explained that we were going to do an experiment where we made a compass out of simple materials, including a sewing needle.
Step 2: Problem: What would happen to the cork, needle and magnet to turn it into a compass?
Step 3:  Hypothesis: Some of our hypotheses were: 

• we would use the magnet  and rub the needle to turn it into a compass
• we were going to drop the magnet into the water and it would point north
• we were going to put the cork over the magnet, put the needle on the cork and it would stick

Step 4: Experiment: Here are our steps

1.) Pick up the needle and the magnet

2.) Rub the magnet on the needle and pass it in one direction

3.) Rub it about 30-40 times

4.) Put down the magnet and the needle

5.) Lay the piece of cork on the water

6.) Lightly place the needle on the piece of cork

7.) Watch as the needle starts to spin and point north

Step 5: Results: In order to turn a needle into a compass, you have to magnetize the needle so it points north.

Step 6: Conclusion: Some of us had hypotheses that were correct or close, while others were not correct.  However, we know that an incorrect hypothesis can be as useful as one that's correct.

****Written by the members of Mrs. Lampe's class!**** 

Surface tension, compasses, and Secret Knowledge of 4th Graders!

We had a great week settling into routines and learning a lot!  Here are a couple highlights:

We explored the reading strategy of visualizing by listening to different pieces of classical music and drawing what we pictured in our minds.  We found out the names of the pieces of music at the end and were surprised by how accurate some of our mental images were!

We solidified our knowledge of cardinal and ordinal directions my making compasses...

...our finished products!

We practiced using the scientific method in an experiment with surface tension.  We were surprised as to how many drops of water could fit on a penny!  We even learned a trick to make a paperclip float!

In Writing, we read parts of "The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups" for inspiration.

We also signed up for Google Classroom, organized our folders and began writing our "Secret Knowledge of Fourth Graders" on the Chromebooks. 

We had quite a busy week! :)

Our First Full Week!

We've had a busy week here in the 4th grade!  It has been wonderful making new friends, connecting with old ones and coming together cooperatively as a class.  Here are some highlights from this week:

We enjoyed checking out our class library and learning all about how to read independently.

We learned about the scientific method and how it can help us be successful scientists.

We did an experiment that included pennies, vinegar and salt.  Ask one of us what happened!

We started our mentor sentences, beginning with "First Day Jitters".

We also practiced making observations in Science with Mystery Bags.

Some were easy to figure out...others were tougher!

We had a great first week!

Welcome!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and is beginning to get excited for 4th grade!  We are going to have a wonderful year together!  There are a couple things I would like you (and your parents) to keep in mind:

1.)  You will need some photos of your family, hobbies, sports teams you like, your favorite singers, etc. to decorate your writing journal.  You won't need them on the first day of school, but bring them in as soon as you can.

2.)  Your family can put their email address into the box on the right to receive updates on this blog (it will only send them for the main page, not homework or spelling pages).

3.)  You should plan to have a reusable water bottle that "lives" at school.

4.)  In addition to the supplies on the list on the Proctor website, you will need a sturdy folder (plastic, if possible) for homework and notes, and a large, three-ring binder which will serve as your portfolio in our classroom.

5.)  If you have any questions, please send me an email at: klampe@topsfieldps.org.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I am so excited to see you in September!

Caribbean Country Projects

On Friday, May 27th, the 4th grade presented our "Around the World" projects.  Our class was lucky enough to study the Caribbean, focusing on 8 different countries.  Each group researched their country's climate, languages, economy, customs and more, and then created a Google Slide presentation.  They also created topographical maps of their countries from salt dough and beautiful recreations of the country's flag.  Everyone got some great practice with public speaking and presenting, and did a wonderful job showcasing their countries.  Excellent job! Please click on the slideshows below to view...you may need to open this on a computer instead of your phone. 

Southwest Postcard

As a culminating project for our unit on the Southwest, our class researched the four states and wrote scripts, covering culture, history, climate and more.  Each child then recorded their part of the research.  A special thank you to Mrs. Klipfel for her creativity and hard work!

Midwest Slideshow

As a culminating project for our unit on the Midwest, our class worked with Mrs. Murphy's class to create a Google Slides presentation.  Each group was assigned a state and worked in separate classrooms, utilizing Google's comments to communicate.  All the research and images were found independently.  The classes did a wonderful job and we hope you enjoy our project!

Wax Museum

On Thursday, March 3rd, the fourth grade had their annual Wax Museum. Each student read a biography about a famous person, took notes and wrote a speech. They then memorized their speech and put together a costume, all helping to transform them into their famous person. The class did a wonderful job and should be very proud of their fantastic performance!

Our famous class!

Annie Oakley, Stephen Spielberg and Sally Ride

Babe Ruth, Maria Tallchief, Jackie Robinson and Ronald Reagan

Well done, fourth grade!