Welcome back to school!  The students of Room 112 have made it through their first few days of fourth grade, and I think we can all agree that it’s safe to say… it’s going to be an excellent year!  Our classroom already feels like home, our group already feels like family, and with a new grade level, new classroom and new curriculum this year, excitement is in the air.  Our class blog is here to keep you posted on all the action throughout the year; check back often to see what’s happening, or subscribe (to the right) to be notified when a new post goes up.  (BTW: click any posted image- including the above class portrait- to enlarge.)  Fourth Grade rules!

With beginning-of-year assessments wrapping up and curriculum gaining momentum, Room 112 is gliding into the 4th grade current with style and grace.  This exceptional group has taken on every new task with enthusiasm and energy, consistently demonstrating that all that was learned in 3rd grade is still in there somewhere, and increasingly letting their 4th grade potential shine through.  And if that weren’t already enough, they do it all while looking this good!  To view each beautiful face in its full glory, simply click on it:

4G has been exploring the realm of the social sciences this past week as we’ve been taking an introductory look at the economy, geography, history and politics.  Tasked with finding artifacts from home thought to pertain to each of these fields, students shared with their classmates what they brought and why it might interest the economist, the historian, the geographer or the political scientist.  Thinking like social scientists is preparing us for our academic journey through the United States, in which we will be learning about the corresponding aspects of our country by region throughout the school year.

4G Social Scientists with their Artifacts

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!  Fourth graders at Lincoln have the very important and awesome responsibility of recycling for the whole school all year long.  Partnered with various classmates across the grade, students circulate through each room in the building every Wednesday morning to retrieve, empty and return recycling bins.  To prepare for this honorable obligation, all 3 fourth grade classes watched an informative and entertaining (though quite shocking) video about trash which opened our eyes to the realities of garbage accumulation and how long it takes common items to decompose (did you know it takes disposable diapers up to 550 years to break down, and 1-2 million years for glass?!), and gave us a clear view of why the three Rs are so essential to our planet’s survival.  As a grade, we also spent time creating posters detailing which items should and should not be recycled, which will be placed around the building to serve as reminders for everyone else in the school.  Don’t be trashy; recycle!

making recycling posters for the school

Tonight is Lincoln School’s Open House for the 2011-2012 school year.  Please join me in Room 112 to learn more about what goes on in the classroom and during the school day, about 4th grade homework and curriculum expectations and more.  The evening begins with classroom presentations from the lower grades at 6:30pm; and all are invited to the gym at 7:00pm for teacher introductions and a word from the principal, with upper grade classroom presentations to follow.  Sign-up sheets for both fall and spring conferences will be posted this evening, so bring your calendar to reserve your spot tonight!  (Fall conferences are 11/21 and 11/22 12-8pm, and spring conferences are 3/14 4-8pm, 3/15 12-8pm and 3/16 8am-12pm.)  Parents, looking forward to seeing you soon!

Anna

ANNA

favorite color: pink

favorite food: pasta bake

favorite animal: pug

favorite book: Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford

favorite movie: “The Last Song”

hobbies: soccer, acting, singing and art

favorite things to do: act and watch movies with a big bowl of popcorn and candy

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a wonderful first month of fourth grade, and with routines and expectations settling in, it’s becoming quite clear how bright this group’s stars are going to shine this year.

LANGUAGE ARTS
What We’ve Done: September saw us getting accustomed to our StoryTown reading program, which consists of a new story every week.  We read the story and contemplate comprehension questions as a class on Monday, spend the week writing summaries of the story using graphic organizers, then after re-reading the story independently we take a comprehension test on Friday.  Each week we focus on a new or review grammar concept, for which a worksheet is assigned and due at the end of the week.  In writing with Mrs. Rubenstein on Mondays, we’ve been focusing on writing narrative paragraphs.
What’s Next: The upcoming weeks will consist of more of the same, with the first of our occasional departures from the reading program to read and work with a class novel just around the corner.

MATH
What We’ve Done: We completed Chapter 1 of our math program on understanding place value and ordering numbers up to the millions, and as a class performed very well on the end-of-chapter test.  We’ve begun honing our skills in the way of explaining thought process, regularly dissecting and breaking down problems to expose their roots.
What’s Next: We are currently in the middle of Chapter 2, which has us adding and subtracting larger numbers.  We will have our second chapter test sometime next week.

SCIENCE
What We’ve Done: We’ve been learning lots about ecosystems and their elements in preparation for our field trip to Heller Nature Center next Monday, October 3rd.  Topics and concepts have included kinds of ecosystems, food chains, food webs, habitats, niches and more.
What’s Next: The fourth grade is taking its first field trip to Heller Nature Center next Monday, October 3rd.  We will spend half the day trekking through the forest learning about ecosystems and studying the forest habitat up-close.  Please dress appropriately and remember to bring a sac lunch in a disposable paper bag, as we will be eating at Heller.  If you have not yet returned your permission slip, please do so immediately in order to ensure participation!

deciphering specialty maps

SOCIAL STUDIES
What We’ve Done: We’ve been refreshing our map skills and getting familiar with the regions of the country in our “Social Studies Alive!” program.  We learned about the differing social sciences in Chapter 1, and have been exploring the five regions of our country, map scales and symbols, latitude and longitude and specialty maps in Chapter 2.
What’s Next: Chapter 3 of our program will have us taking a closer look at immigration history in the United States and examining resulting cultural influences of the different regions.  We will also be engaging in an exciting technology-driven class project which will illustrate these influences.

TECHNOLOGY
What We’ve Done: The last few weeks we’ve become familiar with our class blog, learning how to access it, log in, post an entry and comment on each other’s posts.
What’s Next: In the coming weeks we will be getting set up with our individual student district Gmail accounts, which will allow us to email each other and work with Google Docs and other Web 2.0 tools in a very exciting way!

As always, for extra enrichment and support, feel free to utilize the Curriculum Connection on our class blog for interactive online games and activities directly related to our fourth grade curriculum.

at the nature center

Monday the fourth grade went on its first field trip of the year to the Heller Nature Center in Highland Park.

To highlight our current science unit, we spent the day outside in the forest learning first-hand about ecosystems.  Gorgeous weather combined with a bright group of enthusiastic students made for quite a memorable trip.  The day’s activities included:

• identifying living things in the forest habitat
• identifying the various trees of the region using a tree dichotomous key chart
• getting up close and personal with skins and skulls of a few different forest inhabitants
• “forest journaling,” where we sat quietly and let the forest inspire us to write and/or draw something forest-related (take a listen to our “Sounds of the Forest” soundtrack for your own inspiration!)
• conducting experiments on soil to test for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and pH levels
• a “dead log scavenger hunt,” where we rolled logs and looked for various organisms
• a “migration game” which taught us about survival of the fittest

Some things we learned are:

• An ecosystem is a place where living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) things work together to survive.
• Living things can be broken down into three groups: producers, consumers and decomposers.
• Consumers consist of three groups: carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
• Animals with forward facing eyes are hunters (predators), and animals with side-facing eyes are prey: “Eyes in front, likes to hunt; eyes on the side, likes to hide.”
• Animals adapt to their environment with their specific features.
• Bugs play a very important role in our ecosystem as decomposers.

All in all, a very interesting and educational trip! Check out the videos and photos below for a visual recap of our day.  For a complete photo album of the trip, check out the Heller Field Trip Slideshow on Mrs. Gillis’ Flickr Class Photostream.

• An Ecosystem is…
• Forest Journaling
• Dichotomous Key Adventures

observing our ecosystem

rolling logs

migrating

examining predators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HIGHLAND PARK, IL / October 14 / Room 112 / — The incredibly motivated, creative and intelligent students of Mrs. Gillis’ fourth grade class at Lincoln School have written, published and disseminated the first official issue of Gillis Times, the new student-created in-class publication for students, by students.  Independently motivated and intrinsically inspired by the educational and media-diverse environment of their classroom, their classmates and teacher, 4G has- without teacher direction- taken it upon themselves to put this publication together for the purpose of sharing with each other the fun, funny and fantastic things happening in their classroom this year.

“I am so proud of my students,” says their teacher, Mrs. Gillis.  ”This is education at its finest!  What these amazing children have taken upon themselves in the creation of this publication is to strengthen the feeling of community and togetherness that we have built together so far this year.  It is a wonderful and creative outlet in which they can exercise and display their academic skills, and reach out to each other as friends and classmates!”

“During our break time, we like to build something called ‘Gillis City’ out of unifix cubes,” says Sarah, co-creator of the Gillis Times.  ”As the designated artist of ‘Gillis City,’ I’m in charge of making the flag, signs and billboards for our pretend town.   I was thinking to myself, ‘What more could we do to make ‘Gillis City’ more colorful and interesting?’  I really wanted to make it possible for more people to get involved.”

Anna, who started as a builder of “Gillis City,” said she was inspired when Mrs. Gillis gave her a choice of writing prompts which included the option to come up with a newspaper or magazine.  ”Hey,” she said to herself, “why not make a newspaper for ‘Gillis City?’  We should call it the Gillis Times.”  Anna discussed her idea with Sarah, after which they began the process of creating their publication.

Self-appointed mayors of “Gillis City” Jackson, Lillian and Spencer are excited about this new development as well.  They say, “We feel like this is a good thing because we want more people to be involved, and this definitely makes it more interesting.  The bigger the better!”  They said that they also wanted a way to share with parents and friends outside of the class what was happening inside “Gillis City,” and they thought this would be a good way to achieve that.

As a class, we have been in discussion about how to make this initiative a class-wide and year-long effort, in order to allow all those who want to be involved in future publications and happenings inside “Gillis City” to do so.  All are in agreement that it is a superbly fun and exciting endeavor!  Stay tuned for future issues of the Gillis Times.

The Gillis Times, No. 1

click to enlarge

CASEY

favorite color: purple

favorite food: pasta

favorite animal: panda

favorite book: My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald

favorite movie: “Soul Surfer”

hobbies: dance, draw and play with my cousin

favorite things to do: play outside and rollerblade

DANNY

favorite color: blue (but yellow is a close 2nd)

favorite food: strawberries

favorite animal: cat

favorite book: The Goosebumps Series by R.L. Stine

favorite movie: “Billy Madison”

hobbies: hockey and sports in general

favorite things to do: relax, sleep and run around

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO BE FOR HALLOWEEN?”

Maddie: it’s a surprise, but I have wings

Moises: maybe bacon

Spencer: the Headless Horseman

Lillian: I don’t know yet

Billy: it’s a surprise, but I’m pretty sure he got eaten by kraken

Gregory: I don’t know yet

Casey: a Care Bear

Hanna: Blue Raspberry Gummy Bear

Sam: Death

Reece: it’s a surprise, but I live in the cold

Mia: a Care Bear

Jack: it’s a surprise, but I’m evil

Giulio: I don’t know yet

Claire: maybe a marker

Isabel: something scary like a ghost

Josh: a cheeseburger

Sarah: it’s a surprise, but sort of a monster-type thing

Danny: it’s a surprise, but something in a red spandex suit

Jackson: a ketchup bottle

David: it’s a surprise, but it’s cool

Anna: Lucky Charms

The students in Room 112 have spent the past month analyzing the concept of respect, the first of six pillars in our Character Education.  After brainstorming the different forms respect can take and discussing the various elements in our lives for which we have respect, we mapped out our own individual Respect Webs using the computer program “Inspiration.”  To see student webs, click on their categories to find their individual posts.  Click on the image for a larger view!

October has flown by, and before we know it first trimester will be over and Fall Conferences will be upon us!  The students in Room 112 are very much looking forward to a spooky ending to the month with our Halloween celebration next Monday.

LANGUAGE ARTS
What We’ve Done: October has taken us even farther into our StoryTown program, continuing our routine of weekly class readings and individual summaries of each story.  Our spelling lists have become more challenging, and we’ve gotten into more complex (and compound) grammar concepts.  Our October book reports had us reading mysteries and putting together book reports in the form of a puzzle.  In writing, we are in the process of reviewing and practicing expository compositions.  We also just completed our first writing benchmark test of the year.
What’s Next: We will continue exploring the expository genre, begin our first class novel and jump into a new book report.

MATH
What We’ve Done: We completed Chapters 2 and 4 of our math program on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers, fact families and inverse operations as strategies to solve algebraic equations.
What’s Next: We are currently preparing for our first math benchmark test of the year, which will take place next week.  Preparation includes review of concepts covered thus far, including an introductory look at mean, median and mode.  Once the benchmark has been completed, we will begin looking at collecting and organizing data, decimals in money and geometry.

SCIENCE
What We’ve Done: As a culminating project for Chapter 3 of our science program, we each chose a specific ecosystem to research.  The information we are collecting (by book and online) will be organized on a themed poster, which we are creating at school.
What’s Next: We will begin Chapter 4 on “changes in ecosystems,” for which we will compose, direct and present mini-lessons to our classmates.

SOCIAL STUDIES
What We’ve Done: We’ve spent the last few weeks discussing the “peopling of the United States” and taking a look at immigration history for the purposes of identifying american cultural influences at their root.  Our study culminated in a VoiceThread project called “A Diverse Nation,” which summarized and highlighted what we learned (and showed off our artistic and public-speaking skills).
What’s Next: During benchmark testing over the course of the next week or two, we will be engaging in a cross-curricular math-infused project which will have us examining state statistics and ordering of population.  Immediately following the completion of this project, we will begin our virtual tour of the regions of the United States, starting with the Northeast.

exporing the iPads

TECHNOLOGY
What We’ve Done: This has been an exciting month for technology, as we’ve gotten set up with our student district Gmail accounts, collaborated with peers virtually (at school and at home) using Google Docs, learned how to research information, refine searches and differentiate important information online, explored the school’s new iPads, become familiar with the new word processing application (NeoOffice) on the student laptops, and utilized the graphic organizing program “Inspiration” to create beautiful webs illustrating the ways in which we show respect.
What’s Next: In the coming weeks, we will continue to experiment and work with Google Docs, hone our word processing skills and technologically enrich and enhance our curriculum on a daily basis.

As always, for extra enrichment and support, feel free to utilize the Curriculum Connection on our class blog for interactive online games and activities directly related to our fourth grade curriculum.

For the past few weeks, 4G has been studying the peopling of the United States.  We took a close look at various groups who have settled in this land to make up the diverse nation that is our country.  Take a look at our VoiceThread presentation below, which we put together to present a project we made to illustrate the things we learned!

For a larger view, click here: A Diverse Nation Presentation by 4G

Room 112 was a frightfully fun bunch today as we all dressed up for the school Halloween celebration.  Though the morning seemed status quo to the unassuming soul, the afternoon found a transformed group of 4G doppelgangers ready to parade their new look in front of the Lincoln community.  After doing just that, we returned to the classroom for a “spirited” celebration led by our fantastic room parents including pumpkin decorating, Halloween-colored yarn scarf-threading, a Halloween bean bag toss and bookmark-making (for donated books).  The afternoon culminated in a tasty PTA treat of Halloween doughnuts, followed by creative compositions of Halloween acrostic poems (check individual student posts for some spooky prose).  A ghoulish time was had by all!  Check out pictures of all the action below (for a larger image view, check out the 4G class photostream):

Veterans Day Flag Ceremony

The students of Lincoln School participated in a special flag ceremony this morning in honor of Veterans Day, for which there is no school tomorrow.  Two uniformed marines came to lead us in the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance as they held the flag.  We had a chance to hear briefly from the military representatives, who explained a bit about what they do and why, including what the upcoming holiday means to them personally.  Afterward, 4G continued our discussion of the holiday with a word from Tim and Moby from BrainPop about the Armed Forces (username: northshore, password: pop).  Thank you to all veterans and those currently serving for your hard work, commitment and sacrifice so that we can live our lives in freedom!

marines

This week will be one full of deep reflection as we contemplate all the things for which we are thankful in our lives.  In honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we discussed what it really means to be “thankful,” made a comprehensive list in our journals, then created colorful “Wordle” word collages to put our thankfulness on display.  Check out student posts for individual Wordles (click for larger image), and then try one yourself at Wordle.net!

click to enlarge

CLAIRE

favorite color: pink

favorite food: potstickers

favorite animal: pandas

favorite book: The Adventures of Tumtum & Nutmeg by Emily Bearn

favorite movie: “Kung Fu Panda”

hobbies: piano, hip-hop and soccer

favorite things to do: play video games and play with my cat

DAVID

favorite color: green

favorite food: tacos

favorite animal: hedgehog

favorite book: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

favorite movie: “Real Steel”

hobbies: tae kwon do and eating

favorite things to do: play with friends and eat food

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “FOR WHAT ARE YOU MOST THANKFUL?”

Maddie: my family

Moises: my brothers

Spencer: my family

Lillian: my family

Billy: my family

Gregory: my family

Casey: my family

Hanna: my teacher

Sam: my family

Reece: my family

Mia: my family

Jack: food, water and shelter

Giulio: my family

Claire: my life

Josh: my family and my pets

Sarah: life

Danny: life

Jackson: my mom

David: my family

Anna: my sister

If November in 4G seemed like an extra-short month, it’s because it was! Students do not attend school at all in the final week of this month due to Parent-Teacher Conferences and Thanksgiving Break.  Did you know that the first Thanksgiving feast was organized in 1621 and lasted for three days?  Gobble gobble!

Author Lisa Graff Visits Lincoln

LANGUAGE ARTS
What We’ve Done: November presented many cross-curricular opportunities for us in our StoryTown program, with stories related to ecosystems, history and geology.  We explored the themes of many of these stories from the perspective of cause and effect.  Our November book reports had us analyzing and illustrating the changes the main characters went through in our realistic fiction books from beginning to middle to end.  We also had a very special visit from children’s author Lisa Graff, who talked to the fourth grade about her life and her craft on November 15th.  To learn more about Ms. Graff, you can visit her website.
What’s Next: We will being reading the novel “Shiloh” as a class, and we will create picture book-style book reports with stories in the fantasy/science fiction genre.

MATH
What We’ve Done: We took our first math benchmark test of the year, reviewed probability and experimented with input and output.  We began working with various types of graphs and line plots as means to collect and organize date, and we also began looking at decimals as related to money.
What’s Next: After Thanksgiving break we will learn how to solve problems involving elapsed time, and how to select and use standard units and measuring tools in the context of time and temperature.

SCIENCE
What We’ve Done: We brought our Life Science unit to a close with the completion of our ecosystems research projects and posters, and a more detailed look at examples of life and life-cycles in these various ecosystems.
What’s Next: Next up it’s all about the Physical!  Our study of matter and energy will begin with heat, sound and light.

SOCIAL STUDIES
What We’ve Done: We began our virtual tour of the United States with an in-depth look at the Northeast region.  In groups we chose individual states to research and began collaborating on Google Docs to compile and organize the information we’ve found.
What’s Next: We will continue our study of the Northeast with a look at population density and life in the region.  We will also continue our NE state research and begin organizing our information into the format of colorful and informative travel brochures.

TECHNOLOGY
What We’ve Done: We began collaborating in groups on Google Docs to research states in the Northeast and we used the online program “Wordle” to create colorful word collages of things for which we are thankful.
What’s Next: In the coming weeks, we will begin working with the collaborative online storytelling program “Storybird” to create short, (publishable!) art-inspired stories.

As always, for extra enrichment and support, feel free to utilize the Curriculum Connection on our class blog for interactive online games and activities directly related to our fourth grade curriculum.  Happy Thanksgiving!

For the past 6 weeks, the fourth grade students have been fortunate to work with drummer John Knecht, who has studied drumming in 25 countries throughout the world, and who teaches at Highland Park High School. His instruction was funded by Mrs. Lubetkin’s District 112 Education Foundation Opportunity Grant to study multicultural drumming from West Africa, Japan, Brazil and Polynesia.  He and drummer Jason Wolf have been teaching the children how to play various traditional rhythms on drums like the djembe, conga, dundun and talking drum (see video below to witness the drumming in action). Their techniques include using spoken words and catch-phrases  to help memorize the differing rhythmic patterns.

4th Grade Sing Rehearsal

The students of Room 112 have spent the last few weeks getting up-close and personal with various states in the Northeast.  After a general introduction to the region courtesy of our “Social Studies Alive!” textbook and other educational resources, students worked together in groups to do research on their state of choice.  Research was conducted using textbooks and online resources, and groups worked diligently to gather important information about their state as pertains to each of the four categories of the social sciences (including some fun facts).

Groups compiled and organized their research on Google Docs, which allowed them to be extra efficient and productive as they collaborated on one single document simultaneously from individual computers- some groups even coordinated research time via Google Docs from home!  Once research was complete, groups decided how they would present their information to the class.  The choice of format for group presentations was left completely up to the students, with the only requirements being that they present their information in some organized way, including visual resources and/or props.

Final group presentations were spectacular!  Two groups chose to create a Google Presentation slideshow (similar to PowerPoint), incorporating images, video and even audio to enhance their presentation; and two groups chose to write creative scripts and embed their state information in short skits which allowed them to act out their research.  4G’s teacher is extremely proud of all her students, as they truly demonstrated the modern learning experience at its finest: diving head-first into our curriculum, utilizing our technological resources in complex ways and showcasing their ever-growing fourth grade skills!  Well done, 4G!

To view group presentations and slideshows, play below:

MASSACHUSETTS
 by Lillian, Sarah, Jackson, Hanna & Gregory

Read the rest of this entry »

assembly line simulation

One of the first stops on our virtual train tour of the Northeast region was Hershey, PA.  Here we learned about America’s first factories and the system of mass production.  To gain first-hand knowledge and experience with mass production, we simulated assembly lines in a hands-on activity with the other fourth grade classes.  In groups of three, we worked together to cut, place and wrap “chocolates” the way they might have one hundred years ago at Milton Hershey’s chocolate factory!  Taking turns playing the roles of “cutter,” “placer” and “wrapper,” students did their best to work as teams and produce a flawless product.  Once the shift ended, Quality Control (the fourth grade teachers) came around and discarded all product that did not meet factory standards.  We then compared notes about what worked best and what did not in our assembly line groups.  Before reflecting further on the activity in our classrooms, we watched the fun video below for more perspective on the assembly line experience.  Later on this year, we will further enhance our understanding of mass production with a fourth grade field trip to Lawrence Foods, a factory in Elk Grove Village which manufactures ingredients for the baking industry.

HANNA

favorite color: purple

favorite food: pasta with butter

favorite animal: pigs

favorite book: A Dog’s Life by Ann M. Martin

favorite movie: “Despicable Me”

hobbies: dancing, playing tennis and art

favorite thing to do: be with my friends and family

GIULIO

favorite color: orange

favorite food: pasta

favorite animal: dog

favorite book: Eleven Birthdays by Wendy Mass

favorite movie: “Harry Potter” (all of them)

hobbies: sports, especially basketball, soccer and golf

favorite things to do: play with friends and family

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR WINTER BREAK?”

Maddie: getting a visit from my grandparents (coming from Indiana), and my aunt and uncle (coming from Florida)

Moises: visiting my aunt in Lake Bluff

Spencer: driving with my dog to Wisconsin

Lillian: going to Florida to visit my grandparents

Billy: going on a road trip to Louisville, Kentucky

Gregory: staying home, opening presents and relaxing

Casey: staying home and playing in the snow

Hanna: going to New York for my cousin’s Bat Mitzvah

Sam: probably staying home and relaxing

Reece: going on a cruise to the Bahamas

Mia: going to Mexico with my family and family friends, then going to Florida with my grandparents

Jack: visiting my grandma in Ohio, then going to Wisconsin for New Year’s

Giulio: going to Italy for one week, then maybe go skiing at Alpine Valley the second week

Claire: getting a visit from my grandpa (coming in from Arizona), and maybe skiing

Josh: going on a cruise to Belize, then going to Florida

Sarah: staying home and visiting my grandparents

Danny: going to Florida for three days (and my birthday), and then going to the Dominican Republic

Jackson: going to Aruba

David: going to my cousin’s house in Barrington for Christmas

Anna: going to St. Louis to visit all my relatives

With freezing winter temperatures creeping towards us, timing couldn’t be better to begin our new Physical Science unit on Heat.  Conveniently, we explored how heat is transferred with an in-class hands-on directed inquiry (a.k.a. science experiment).  Using paper clips, erasers, paper and our own hands, we observed and made inferences about the cause and effect of friction.  Ask your child to explain our experiment and what we learned to you!

creating friction for our heat experiment

The fourth graders and Lincoln School are participating in a toiletry drive to support the residents of our local shelters.  Students are bringing in toiletries including Kleenex, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap and more to create baggies for those in need.  Don’t miss your chance to participate by sending items in time for the Martin Luther King Day of Service on January 16th,  2012!  Toiletries can be dropped at any donation box outside Lincoln’s classrooms, or at any District 112 school, the Highland Park Firehouse or the Senior Center (to the attention of Cheryl Levi).  Questions can be directed to Lincoln’s representative and coordinator for this initiative, Ms. Ellie Rubenstein.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (for which we have no school on Monday), we have taken time this week to study both the man behind the name and the important role he played in our history.  In anticipation of our upcoming unit on the Southeast, we discussed important things such as the civil rights movement, slavery and freedom, and became familiar with the stories of people like Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.  We watched a movie (Great Americans for Children) and read a book (My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers by Christine King Farris) about Dr. King’s life, watched a video of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech (click here for a transcription of the full speech) and researched his accomplishments using a fantastic dedicated website on Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement from the Seattle Times.  This site exposed us to poignant, moving photos of his life, a selection of mp3s from various speeches that he made, a timeline of his important life events and a detailed biography.

Inspired by Dr. King’s speech, the students of Room 112 reflected on how they could be like Dr. King and make the world a better place, then they came up with their own individual dreams, wrote about and illustrated them, then journaled and blogged about them (of course!).  Check out emerging student posts to see what visions they have for a better world!

Also, don’t forget about the MLK Day of Service on Monday from 10-1:00 at the HP Recreation Center.  Making the world a better place doesn’t have to be a dream for the future; various activities planned will allow you to help make the world a better place now!

All can agree that winter has been fairly mild this year, with considerably less snow than last year (flashback to one year ago today, when the Blizzard of 2011 dumped over 20 inches on us!)…

Still, inquiring minds want to know: will we have 6 more weeks of winter or is spring around the corner?  Puxsutawney Phil will give us his answer tomorrow on Groundhog Day, but the students of 4G made predictions today about what they think that answer will be.  Here are the results:
 

Groundhog Results: 54% NO, 46% YES

And how about you?  Do you think the groundhog will see its shadow tomorrow?  Participate in our poll and make your prediction here:
 

building solid figures with marshmallows and pasta

4G and 4R took geometry to another level last Friday, building solid figures out of marshmallows and pasta.  Unleashing their inner engineers, students were tasked with measuring bits of pasta and putting them together in four different 3-dimensional shapes.  Once constructed, students had to find how many faces, edges and vertices each figure had, find the perimeter and area of the base of each figure, find the volume of the figure, and finally, draw a 3D representation of their figure on paper.  For more images of the edible experience (though we did not eat our creations!), check out the photo album in the 4G Photo Archive!

“In the ’50s, Americans wondered when everyone would be truly equal.
Americans heard the strong voices of those who wanted freedom.
Americans saw Rosa Parks take a stand against prejudice.
Americans wanted the boycott she started to be successful.
Americans felt saddened by the resistance to the boycott.
In the ’50s, America was a place where people wanted a better future for all children.”

With our introduction to the Southeast Region of the United States, 4G has been talking not only about its geography, industry and economy, but also about its rich history.  This history includes the Civil Rights movement and the evolution of freedom and equality as we know it today.  The above poem entitled “America in the 1950s” is from our Social Studies Alive! program.  As a means for comparison between American life then and American life now, students had to fill in the blanks below to compose their own poem about civil rights as we know them to be today.  Check out emerging student posts for individual poetic interpretations and thoughtful commentary on life as we know it!

Today, Americans wonder…
Americans hear…
Americans see…
Americans want…
Americans feel…
Today, America is a place where…

The entire 4th grade took a field trip to Lawrence Foods in Elk Grove Village yesterday to see mass production in action.  The company- started by Mrs. Gillis’ great grandfather and grandfather in 1917, and currently run by her father and brother- manufactures ingredients for the baking industry, including fruit fillings, glazes, icings, jellies, preserves and nutrition and snack bar components.  We participated in an extensive tour of the plant, which allowed us to see the production machinery and factory lines of these delicious ingredients from the “front lines,” gave us one-on-one Q & A time with executive team members, engaged us in a science experiment in the form of a taste test with R & D, had us decorating (and eating!) cupcakes with a bakery expert and more!  We had a chance to reflect on the economy, growing industry and consumer demand as pertains to real-life situations.  All in all, a very informative, interesting and tasty trip.  For more information on Lawrence Foods, visit their website.

ready for our plant tour

on the production floor

Stay tuned for the full photo album, coming soon to the 4G Photo Archive!

MADDIE

favorite color: yellow

favorite food: cheese

favorite animal: shark

favorite book: As Simple as It Seems by Sarah Weeks

favorite movie: “You Again”

hobbies: gymnastics, dancing and playing with my sister

favorite thing to do: be with my family

JACK

favorite color: red

favorite food: shrimp

favorite animal: monkey

favorite book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 6 by Jeff Kinney

favorite movie: “Pirates of the Caribbean 3″

hobbies: play baseball and video games

favorite thing to do: go snowboarding with my family

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO FOR SPRING BREAK?”

Maddie: we might go to Florida

Moises: I would like to go to Mexico see my aunts

Spencer: go to Arizona for my cousin’s Bat Mitzvah, visit my grandparents in Colorado, and visit the Grand Canyon and the “Four Corners”

Lillian: go to Israel for my brother’s Bar Mitzvah

Billy:

Gregory:

Casey: go to Arizona to swim and relax

Hanna: go to Phoenix, Arizona to visit my uncle

Sam: go to Florida

Reece: have a “stay-cation”

Mia: go to Colorado to ski

Jack: go to Hawaii

Giulio: go to Utah to ski with Graham, Matt and Allison

Claire: go to Arizona to visit my grandpa in Sedona

Josh: go on a cruise to the Bahamas

Sarah: go to Florida

Danny: go to Aspen, Colorado to snowboard

Jackson: go to Arizona

David: go to Arizona

Anna: go to Colorado to ski

Fourth grade has the amazing opportunity over the course of the next three weeks to serve as ambassadors for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s School and Youth Program.  For the 2nd year in a row, Lincoln School will participate in the Pennies for Patients fundraiser for children with blood cancers.  Today students from all 3 fourth grade classes were exposed to an informative, inspirational and touching presentation by a representative from the foundation, who came to speak to us about blood cancer and what we can do to help in their initiative to “make big change from small change.”

We learned that leukemia is the most common form of cancer in people aged 20 and under.  We learned that there are over 900,000 people in the nation currently suffering from this illness, and that every 4 minutes someone new is diagnosed.  We also learned about Martez, a seven-year-old boy in his third year of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.  It is with the help of LLS that Martez has been able to receive treatment and is on the road to recovery!  Read Martez’s story here.

As we all know, small change adds up quickly.  Since 1994, millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change by more than 10 million elementary, middle and high school students throughout the country through LLS.  Last year, Lincoln alone raised over $600.  This year, students are already making a difference donating their spare change, visiting other classrooms and encouraging others to do the same, and spreading the word outside of school.  No doubt this year’s endeavor is going to blow last year’s right out of the water!

DONATE NOW!  You don’t have to wait- you can make a donation on behalf of your child, your child’s classroom & teacher by clicking here and making your donation right now!

Lincoln had a very special visit from the Ravinia Jazz Quartet this morning, and 4G had the awesome opportunity to join in the audience along with 4R and the 5th grade.  Drummer Jeff Handley, Pianist Jeremy Kahn, Bassist Chuck Webb and Vocalist Lisa McClowry treated us to live classics like Duke Ellington’s ”It Don’t Mean a Thing,” “Caravan,” “Take the A-Train” and more.  Additionally, Mr. Handley exposed us to some jazz history, including amazing old video clips of The Duke and other jazz musicians from the twenties.  They will visit Lincoln two more times over the course of the next 2 weeks, with more live performances and jazz history just for us!

MIA

favorite color: purple

favorite food: pasta

favorite animal: monkey

favorite book: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater

favorite movie: “The Smurfs”

hobbies: dance and piano

favorite thing to do: play with my friends and be with my family

JACKSON

favorite color: black

favorite food: steak

favorite animal: puppy

favorite book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

favorite movie: “Despicable Me”

hobbies: play sports, video games and watch TV

favorite thing to do: be with most of my family and jump on my trampoline

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING YOU’VE LEARNED SO FAR IN FOURTH GRADE THIS YEAR?”

Maddie: I liked when we did the NE travel brochure because we got to learn things about our state (mine was Vermont) and it was interesting to compare to Illinois.

Moises: For me it was our project “A Diverse Nation” because I finally learned where people who live in the U.S. originally came from.

Spencer: On the Heller Nature Center field trip, I learned that you can count the number of points on a deer’s antlers to see how old they are.

Lillian: I think learning about Massachusetts for the NE brochure was the most interesting, because I didn’t know anything about it and now I know a lot about it.

Billy: I think the most interesting thing I’ve learned is how to be open to new books, because I used to not really take any advice on books, but now I am and I’m really liking everything I’m reading.

Gregory: Making a letter, like the ones we wrote to Lawrence Foods or are writing to the author, because it’s fun doing it.

Casey: I think learning about heat and electricity was the most interesting, because I didn’t know anything about it.

Hanna: Learning about Mrs. Gillis and her daughter Clara, because I like to learn about my teachers.

Sam: I was really into social studies and science (specifically countries and chemical reactions), because I think chemical reactions are really cool, and I think it’s really cool to learn about other cultures.

Reece: The most interesting thing would be the desert, which I researched for our ecosystems project, because it was really cool to learn about all the animals and stuff that live there.

Mia: Learning about the different regions of the U.S. because I like to learn about other places, their geography and climate.

Jack: For me it was learning more about Florida in our SE study because I used to live there.

Giulio: Learning about all the states, especially Maine and New York, which I studied and did projects on for the NE region.

Claire: Learning about everything in the different regions of the U.S. because I didn’t know much about the regions before.  It was fun!

Josh: I’d have to say learning about New York for my NE project, because we got to do a video and learn about a state that I really didn’t know about.

Sarah: I was thinking of so many things, so I’m not sure…  I would say…  This is so hard…  Learning about the NE because I didn’t know much about that region.

Danny: That someone assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. from a bath tub, because that seems weird to me.

Jackson: Learning about Massachusetts for my play for my NE project because I learned all about the state.

David: The open and closed circuits in science, because it was interesting to see how electricity works.

Anna: Finding out that Suzanne Collins (my favorite author) is from Connecticut, which is the state that I researched for my NE project.

counting change for Pennies for Patients

With what barely seemed like winter already behind us, we are springing forward into the final trimester of the year with flying colors!  Spring conferences and third quarter are things of the past, and spring break is in our immediate future.  What does the final stretch of the school year have in store for us?  One thing for certain is a sense of pride, as we should all feel extra proud with the results of our Pennies for Patients initiative.  In just three weeks, fourth grade has led the school to raise over $1500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help children with blood cancers!  It was a special thing to see our children so motivated and excited to do what they can to help those in need.

LANGUAGE ARTS
What We’ve Done: We honed our focus on different reading and writing strategies, including predicting, making connections, questioning, summarizing, making inferences and visualizing.  We learned how to compose a solid and thorough reader response in preparation for the ISATs.  We began reading the novel “Dear Mr. Henshaw” as a class and became inspired to choose our own authors to whom we are in the process of drafting letters to be sent.  We also completed a realistic fiction book jacket for February’s book report and are currently creating original awards for a Newbery Award-winning book for March.
What’s Next: We will continue reading our class novel, learn proper letter-writing format for the final draft of our personal author letters, and begin studying different styles of poetry.  We will also go into more depth with the strategy of reading for information.  Finally, we are excited to begin our Artist-in-Residence program, working with Sooz Main from Columbia College two hours a week for three weeks starting April 9th.  She will have us working with the multi-media of writing, drawing and photography to explore the theme of “everyday monsters.”  Each student will come out of the program with a final product to take home.

MATH
What We’ve Done: We practiced a lot with geometery, measurement, interpreting graph data, mean, median, mode and range in preparation for the ISATs.  We also spent a considerable amount of time discussing math reasoning and strategy in composing extended responses for problem solving.
What’s Next: Next up we will focus on long division and double-digit multiplication.

SCIENCE
What We’ve Done: We explored and conducted multiple experiments with electricity, heat and magnetism, including building a circuit and an electromagnet!  We also spent a large amount of time examining scientific concepts and talking through our own logic and reasoning as relates to the scientific process in preparation for the ISATs.
What’s Next: Right after spring break we will begin our Earth Science unit with rocks and minerals.  We will kick off the unit with an extra-special in-class presentation from the Heller Nature Center about rocks and minerals on April 4th.

SOCIAL STUDIES
What We’ve Done: We began our tour of the Southeast region and are in the process of conducting research to create individual flipbooks detailing the geography, history, industry & economy, agriculture & climate, recreation and fun facts of our assigned states.  We have also taken an introductory look at our homestate, Illinois, in anticipation of our Midwest study.
What’s Next: We will complete our SE flipbooks and learn how to properly cite sources to create bibliographies for our projects.  We will then embark upon the next leg of our virtual tour, heading back home to the Midwest!

TECHNOLOGY
What We’ve Done: We have spent a lot of time discussing internet safety and security, proper “netiquette” and cyberbullying.  We have also been honing our online research skills, learning about sites, tips and tricks for finding and identifying appropriate and relevant information on the web.
What’s Next: We will be attending a grade-level oriented assembly about cyberbullying, to be followed up by a special visit from Lincoln’s School Resource Officer, “Officer Friendly” (a.k.a. Officer Eric Hernandez of the Highland Park Police).  He will wrap up the discussion of cyberbullying with us, including ways to avoid it and ways to handle it.

As always, for extra enrichment and support, feel free to utilize Mrs. Gillis’ ever-growing and newly re-vamped Curriculum Connection for interactive online games and activities directly related to our fourth grade curriculum.  New links are added on a regular basis!

exploring rocks and minerals with Jessica

4G kicked off its earth science unit today with a very special introduction to rocks and minerals.  Led by Jessica from the Heller Nature Center, Room 112 students participated in a program called “What’s Underfoot?” which had them analyzing and making hypotheses about the Illinois geography timeline, learning about and exploring rocks from the three major classification groups (igneous, sedimentary  and metamorphic) using student data sheets to make observations and dichotomous keys to figure out what group each rock belonged to and where in Illinois they are located today, doing streak tests to determine the hardness and color of the rocks and minerals, measuring and weighing the rocks, examining fine details up close with a magnifying glass and more.  All in all, a great hands-on “rockin’” experience!  For more photos of the experience, check out the 4G Photo Archive.

iPad self-portraits

In anticipation of the upcoming artist-in-residence program in which 4th grade will be participating, Mrs. Gillis led all three classes through an iPad Photography orientation this week.  The projects on which students will be working with Columbia artist Sooz Main will be comprised of a few different components, one of which is photography.  We at Lincoln are very lucky to be able to integrate such advanced technology as the iPads into the process and product of our creative, artistic and academic endeavors!  Experimenting with both the regular camera/video and Photo Booth applications (which include neat effect options like mirroring, thermal, x-ray and more), we explored composition, light and self-portraiture.  All students conducted their own individual mini-photo sessions, then honed their critical artistic focus to identify their best three shots to include in our class portfolio: one self-portrait, one “real-life” capture with no effects, and one “alternate reality” capture using a Photo Booth effect.  Click here to see 4G photographers in action and view our class portfolio!  (Please note: photo captions appear only when viewing directly from Picasa.)

Author Sarah Weeks

Well-known children’s author Sarah Weeks visited the students at Lincoln yesterday, much to the delight of many enthusiastic student fans.  Fourth grade students seem to be most familiar with her novels “Pie,” “As Simple as it Seems” and “So B. It,” but she is also known for over 50 other published works including chapter books like “The Oggie Cooder Series,” “The Guy Series,” “The Boyd Series” and picture books including the “Mrs. McNosh” books, “Mac and Cheese,” “If I Were a Lion” and more.  Ms. Weeks talked to us about her family, her childhood, how she became an author, how she gets her ideas and many more interesting personal details about her life and career.  One particularly exciting detail we learned was that Hollywood picked up “So B. It” and is going to turn it into a movie!  For more information about Sarah Weeks, visit her website and blog “Sarah Seven Days.”

SARAH

favorite color: lime green

favorite food: ice cream

favorite animal: monkey

favorite book: ”The Lightning Thief” from the “Percy Jackson & The Olympians” series by Rick Riordan

favorite movie: “Letters to Juliet”

hobbies: singing, soccer and reading

favorite thing to do: spend time with my family and friends

JOSH

favorite color: magenta

favorite food: ribs

favorite animal: dog

favorite book: “Daniel’s Story” by Carol Matas

favorite movie: “Jack & Jill”

hobbies: play sports and video games

favorite thing to do: play with my friends and do sports

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “HOW DO YOU THINK YOU’VE CHANGED THE MOST SINCE THE BEGINNING OF FOURTH GRADE?”

Maddie: I think I have gotten a lot better at math and social studies.

Moises: I think my handwriting has gotten a lot better since the beginning of the year.

Spencer: I think I’m a better writer now.

Lillian: I have become a lot smarter.

Billy: Not only have I grown in size, I’ve grown in mind.

Gregory: I enjoy learning more about the United States.

Casey: I think I have become more mature.

Hanna: I think I’ve gotten a lot better at math and social studies.

Sam: I think I’ve improved in my math skills the most.

Reece: I think I’ve learned and know a lot more now.

Mia: I think I’ve gotten taller and more mature.

Jack: I think I’ve gotten better at earth science.

Giulio: I understand things in a different, more interesting way.

Claire: The thing that’s changed about me the most is the way I think about myself and other people.

Josh: I think I’ve gotten a lot better at spelling.

Sarah: I used to think that I was really bad at math, and now I don’t.

Danny: I think I’ve gone from being terrible at multiplication to being good at multiplication.

Jackson: I think I improved in most subjects.

David: I’m much taller now.

Anna: I think that my organizational skills have improved the most.

Jewel Field Trip

Even though Earth Day is coming up this Sunday, April 22, for 4G “every day is Earth Day.”  Today was an especially earth-conscious day: we started our morning with our usual recycling rounds, created beautiful and artistic word clouds with earth-related words, then took a special grade-level field trip to the local Jewel grocery store to learn more about their recycling program and see it in action.  During our free time over the course of the last two weeks we’ve been brainstorming earth-related words and adding them to a master list in our journals; today we turned those lists into beautifully shaped word clouds using an online program called “Tagxedo.”  Check out emerging student posts for individual Earth Day-themed Tagxedo creations!

recycled bench

This afternoon, the fourth graders hopped over to the Jewel for a tour of the facility and a closer look at all the things they do on a daily basis to reduce, reuse and recycle.  We got to see behind the scenes, saw mass-recycling machines in action, learned about trash management (including the fact that with the recycling program, Jewel reduced its garbage pick up from 3x/day to 3x/month!) and more.  We even sat on a plastic bench made entirely out of recycled plastic bags (3,900 bags to be exact).  Click here to see more photos from our earth-friendly excursion in our photo archive.  Happy Earth Day to all!

LANGUAGE ARTS
What We’ve Done: We  completed class novel “Dear Mr. Henshaw” and composed letters to authors of our own choosing.  Many students have completed final drafts of their letters and sent them out already, and all have been instructed to keep us posted if or when they receive a response!  We are continuing to study proper letter-writing format with our final in-class composition assignment of the year: a persuasive letter to the superintendent in which we must convince him to let us dedicate a school day to celebrate a made-up holiday of our own invention.  We also completed our Artist-in-Residence program with Sooz Main, for which we composed “monster stories” and used the iPads to photograph a scene to illustrate our story.
What’s Next: We will finish our StoryTown curriculum with the remaining stories and summaries of the program, we will wrap up and complete all in-class writing compositions, and we will do our final book report of the year.  We will also have a culminating event for the Artist-in-Residence program in which we will get to check out and show off the final product of our combined monster stories that Sooz will be putting together for us over the course of the next few weeks (date/time TBA).

MATH
What We’ve Done: Since spring break, we reviewed and revisited many concepts from the fourth grade curriculum, and took on new challenges in long division and double-digit multiplication.
What’s Next: We will complete the cumulative chapter test in which we are currently engaged and then focus on those skills in the curriculum that seem to need the most reinforcement for the remainder of the year.

behind the scenes at Jewel-Osco

SCIENCE
What We’ve Done: We have become more familiar with rocks and minerals, and the characteristics used to identify them.  We also learned more about the elements that comprise a science fair project in anticipation of Lincoln’s upcoming annual science night.  The month of April also allowed us to take a closer look at recycling and conserving the earth’s resources, which was highlighted by a special field trip to the local Jewel-Osco to learn more about their recycling program.
What’s Next: Fourth graders involved in the science fair will display and present their projects at Lincoln Science Night on May 15th.  In the classroom, we will continue our study of rocks and minerals until the end of the year.

SOCIAL STUDIES
What We’ve Done: We have completed our tour of the midwest and have just begun final projects, working with partners from Ms. Rubenstein’s class to create a comic strip-like overview of the region with computer program “Comic Life.”
What’s Next: We will finish the year touring the southwest and west regions of the United States.  Time spent will include an optional extra-credit focus project on our homestate using PowerPoint.

TECHNOLOGY
What We’ve Done: We learned how to create a secure password, then had the opportunity to create and individualize our own student Gmail passwords.  All passwords were recorded (and hopefully memorized) then stored in a private location by each student, who was also instructed to share with Mom and/or Dad.  A confidential master password list is being kept by the 4th grade teachers.  We also became familiar with the online program Tagxedo to create beautiful and intricate earth-related word clouds in honor of Earth Day!
What’s Next: The rest of the year will be spent honing safe-search skills and exploring and revisiting various online resources and computer learning programs.  We will also be reinforcing and practicing our typing skills as we help our first grade buddies type up original compositions!

As always, for extra enrichment and support, feel free to utilize Mrs. Gillis’ ever-growing and newly re-vamped Curriculum Connection for interactive online games and activities directly related to our fourth grade curriculum.  New links are added on a regular basis!

Fourth Grade’s virtual tour of the midwest culminated in an assembly line simulation today, recreating the original production line of the Ford Model T in Detroit, Michigan in 1908.  Before the factory work day began, 4G spent a few minutes studying real film of workers putting together a Model T back in 1919.  Upon arrival at the factory (the multipurpose room), student workers then split off into ten groups of six, each with a specific role in the assembly line.

4th Grade's Model T

Though “building” took the form of drawing this time around, each job in the line was responsible for drawing one important part of the car, including the wheels, the headlights and grill, the steering wheel, the windshield and the back door.  In six shifts (allowing each student to complete each job at least once), students were responsible for “building” as many cars as they could while paying special attention to quality (which would directly impact safety and drive-ability).  We even had a Quality Control Manager on the floor who was responsible for supplying groups with car “shells” and inspecting final products.  All in all, fourth graders put out over 150 quality Model Ts!  Check out the 4G photo archive to see more of the assembly line in action.

4th's Ford Model T Gallery

MOISES

favorite color: rainbow

favorite food: pizza

favorite animal: monkey

favorite book: ”The Genius Files” by Dan Gutman

favorite movie: “Shiloh”

hobbies: ride my bike and play outside

favorite thing to do: play video games

REECE

favorite color: blue

favorite food: cheeseburger

favorite animal: weiner dog

favorite book: “The Tale of Desperaux” by Kate DiCamillo

favorite movie: “Real Steel”

hobbies: sports and video games

favorite thing to do: go to Six Flags Great America

MRS. GILLIS ASKS, “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THIS SUMMER?”

Maddie: I am going back to Kentucky for a week and I get to see my best friend.  I’m also going to a drama camp.

Moises: I am going to play a lot with my brothers and my cousins.

Spencer: I’m going to Boston in the first half, and Timberlane Overnight Camp for the second half.

Lillian: I am going to Kamaji Overnight Camp.

Billy: I am going North Star Overnight Camp for the first time, for four weeks.  I also think I’m going to go to Colorado.

Gregory: I might go to California on vacation, and I am definitely going to Wisconsin with my family to visit my cousin.

Casey: I’m going to Agawak Overnight Camp for eight weeks.

Hanna: I am going to Birch Trail Overnight Camp in Wisconsin for the 2nd four weeks.

Sam: I am going to Thunderbird Overnight Camp for eight weeks.

Reece:  I am going to The Grove Overnight Camp in Buffalo Grove for two weeks.  I’m also going to Minnesota to see my grandparents.

Mia: I’m going to Marimeta Overnight Camp for eight weeks.

Jack: I’m going to my grandma’s house in Ohio with my family for the first week, then to Circus Camp for seven weeks.  After Circus Camp, I’m going to Maine for four days.

Giulio: I am going to Ojibwa Overnight Camp for the first four weeks, then to Italy with my parents for the 2nd four weeks.

Claire: I’m going to visit my grandma in Wisconsin, I’m going to Camp Grey for a week, I’m going to a tennis camp and I’m going to Door County with my family.

Josh: I’m going to Ojibwa Overnight Camp.

Sarah: I’m going to Discovery Day Camp.

Danny: I’m going High Five Day camp for the first part, and Horseshoe Overnight Camp for the second part.  I’m also going to be doing baseball all summer, and for the last two weeks I’m going on a trip with my family.

Jackson: I’m going to Ojibwa Overnight Camp.

David: I’m going to Circus Camp.

Anna: I’m doing three things.  I’m going to Kamaji Overnight Camp, then we’re going to a ranch in Durango, Colorado and I am also going to take acting classes.

put-up mural

No, it’s not a typo; it’s the next big thing!  In an effort to extend and reinforce fourth grade’s anti-bullying campaign, students took time together yesterday to focus on how to be nice to their peers and make each other feel good.  Derived from the opposite meaning of the phrase “put down,” put ups (© E. Rubenstein 2012) are phrases and comments intended to lift each other up, to help strengthen our sense of family, community and responsibility for one another’s well-being.  4G, 4R and 4H practiced putting each other up yesterday as we came up with examples, then wrote and illustrated them on a communal mural.  The result is a colorful, beautiful, honorable and meaningful piece of collaborative art that will serve to remind all who see it just how wonderful we can all be to each other and with each other!  Check the mural out up close to get some ideas about how you can be just like our fourth graders and put people up too.

What is your favorite food?  Please vote!

tacos

pizza

burgers

candy

What do you LOVE more, bacon or candy?

I love bacon more!

Okay 4G, I want to make a survey so here is my question and think long and hard before you answer:

What is your favorite part of 4th grade and why?

Thanks,

Maddie

Food: pasta

Color: purple

Animal: monkies

Place to Be: dance

What I Like: SCHOOL!

Something you should know about me is I love pandas.  I love pandas because they’re so cute and chubby!  They are also very fluffy and just amazing! I wish that when I’m older I can go to a panda hospital and go help them out!  I would love to do that because I like helping animals but especially pandas.  They are just like me because they are sometimes relaxed and calm and then they could be loud and playful.  They love to climb trees and eat bamboo.  I think pandas are really interesting and absolutely amazing!

Birds sing happily

Walking with my family

I love spring a lot

I would like to meet Abe Lincoln.  He changed the world for so many people and set a path for others to change the world  too.  Lots of people who are free now would not be without him.  He is an inspiration and a role model for many children.  People all over the world know about him.  That is why I would meet like to meet Abe Lincoln.

I am going to my cousins house for Mother’s Day. I got my mom four things. She will love them. But I am not that happy because my cousins bother me so much and they force me to do things. So this will not be the best Mother’s Day for my mom. This also wastes my time on Saturday and Sunday because we are leaving Saturday at 10 A.M and coming back at 3 P.M. so no free time for me. Bye

I like Mrs. Gillis because she is nice

and because she likes all of us.

I also like Mrs. Gillis because she is FUN!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Gillis is the best.

People can treat the earth like a trash can or like a dump. That’s really mean to the earth, and if you keep doing that then it means that the earth is going to be polluted and no one is going to be able to move, play or even go out of their houses! Nobody should pollute the earth even if they want to go to jail. Everyone needs to stop polluting and tell the person who is polluting to stop. Polluting doesn’t only effect you, but it also effects others. So stop polluting and tell people about it because no one wants to live in trash, be in trash or kill the earth. Help save the earth!!!