Carden of Tucson

I know that most of my recent blogs have been focused on what students are doing in the computer lab. I want to take a minute to detail some of our latest adventures:

In science we entered the world of simple machines and then had a blast with Rube Goldberg machines. We enjoyed playing with ordered pair graphing and cracked a coordinating graph riddle which led the students to a treat in the freezer. Our pastel art projects continued with working on planets and fish. Students have become AMAZING writers and have really worked hard with pre-drafting, rough drafts, editing, and final drafts. We learned about Ellis Island, explored a virtual tour of Ellis Island in the computer lab, and then enjoyed a field trip to the Berger Center for Performing Arts and watched a play about it. In the computer lab we are continuing our typing skills. Students have enjoyed reading floor plans and creating floor plans for their dream homes, dream schools, dream amusment parks, and castles. We are also in the midst of a few Mother’s Day projects that will go home this week.

These last couple of weeks in school will be pretty laid back and pressure free; I know how VERY hard everyone has worked all year!

Warmly,

Ms. Bennon

Simple Machines:

Game 1-

http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/

Game 2-

http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/simple-machines/activities/simple-machines-1/

Information-

http://www.cosi.org/downloads/activities/simplemachines/sm1.html

Rube Goldberg-

Information and activities-

http://www.getsetsite.org/mst/Rube/rube.htm

Game-

http://www.fossweb.com/modules3-6/LeversandPulleys/activities/rubegoldbergmachine.html

 Ellis Island:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm

Reading Practice:

http://internet4classrooms.com/skills-4th-langbuilders.htm

 http://kidport.com/Grade4/Science/ScienceIndex.htm

Animal comparisons

Animal classification

http://internet4classrooms.com/grade_level_help/life_science_fourth_4th_grade_science.htm

13 Animal Groups

23 Buggin You

27 Classifying Critters

50 Insects- insect hunt

                     – insectclopedia

55 Living Things Activity

Hi parents and students!

From what the students told me it sounds like your Spring Breaks were eventful. I am extremely happy to be back in the classroom this week! The good news is that with our natural disaster reports and science experiments completed, I have no more large projects to assign. The bad news is that pretty soon the students will be moving up to 5th grade, and I will miss them tremendously.

This quarter you can expect a few review homework assignments to help everyone remember what was taught earlier in the year and to prepare for the AIMS testing. We will be finishing up our last two science units on weather and animal classification. A big emphasis will be placed on editing and persuasive writing. A few fun books will be read outloud in class for literature and I will be attempting to have the students become experts in different area and lead class discussions.

Today was an amazing day, full of happy faces, jokes and happiness, and lots of focus. We have come so far this year, and I am extremely proud of everyone.

Warmly,

Ms. Bennon

P.S.- I want to invite students to bring in fruit or bagels with cream cheese to share with the class in the mornings. Any day is fine, but please keep them healthy.