End of a very creative week-- Spirit Week!

        The kids totally got into this week. 4th grade had great spirit!!
        The dress up days were decided by the Middle School ASB with Monday as the ever favorite- Pajama Day, followed by Crazy Hair, School Spirit Day and then today, Thursday as Character Day.
        Before each day, we had a short discussion to really make sure that everyone had ideas--brainstorming to be part of the fun. And it was. The kids learned that Bed Head in not crazy, just lazy.  And,that dressing as a vampire is fun, but to be a character required more invention and creative thinking

The picture is from Morning Meeting where each person said who they were. We had Jenessa as a character from the Louis Sachar story we are reading and Eilonwy as Dracula's daughter from Scary High. Adyen was Clark Kent and Hayden as a real life Pawn Dealer. All of the ideas were really unique.

This picture in in character pose-- Be sure to ask and get the full scoop! 

Lunch at Friendship Square

 The kids had about 20 minutes to play together on the structure in downtown Moscow. They loved it!!

Barn Quilts- The Polygon Connection

 Inspired by an article from the insert called Inland 360 of the Moscow Pullman Daily News was a really interesting article about the 4 by 4 foot designs that are being created to celebrate quilt designs in the Grangeville area. These large design are hoisted up on barns in the area.
       Since geometry has been the focus for 4th grade math, the final project was for each student to create a their own quilt design. Each had to have a meaning, only 2 or 3 colors- one of those color had to be white. The design should feel balanced or symmetrical and have a title. The goal for each student was to do through the process of creating polygons on their own with a straight edge ruler. It was really hard, the kids will tell you, but after thorough revisions, they produced vibrant designs.

Gallery of Designs and on the yellow bench--kites created from following technical directions.

Data Collection for the Experiment Opposible Thumbs

 Ms. Harmon came twice to the 4th grade classroom to teach about 'adaptation'. The students looked at form and function of all different organisms. They thought and discussed what could the possible reasons for the form be and how particular shapes help that animal survive. On her second visit, the one in the video, the students worked through 5 different tasks with their thumbs untaped and then with their thumbs taped. One partner did the task as the other partner recorded the time it took for the task to be completed. They really thought about why humans have thumbs!!!
The conversation about taking down accurate information was really interesting and focused on the fact that they had to be accurate in recording otherwise the data won't matter. After all the data had been collected, we talked about how this is the foundation for us to be able to analyze their efforts in the task.  The way the partners worked together was very thoughtful and fun. Once again, parents are such a wonderful addition to our class learning!! Thank you Ms. Harmon (Isaac's Mom).

Laughing Together--Cooperative Musical Chairs!

This is the first class that I have taught that decided to just get to the fun of all sitting on one chair before the game was over!! 

The activity for the Morning Meeting was to play Cooperative Musical Chairs. The record player is used and it is so fun to watch them watch me as they mill around.They try to predict when the needle will be lifted.  Last week in the Morning Meeting activity,the kids had done an all class Lap Sit last week out on the basketball court. They worked together so well. They made a perfect circle. So, once the rules to this game were explained they were excited. They knew how to lap sit. It is hilarious to watch them milling. Milling is not bumping into each other. Each time a chair is removed, the more they laugh. It is such a fun game because they can see what is coming. Everyone wants to be the person on the chair! It is really fun to be the one on the chair and have everyone stack up. They did a great job of balancing and being safe. They like when it works- meaning that they want the cooperation. I think it is always interesting because kids know the difference between playful fun and wild reckless behavior. We talked about they whole process and, of course, they want to play again and again.  Good fun for 4th!!

Venus Flytrap and a Skunk Pelt

In less than 12 hours, a fly was caught. See the closed one?

We have been thinking about adaptation--form and function. And we were looking at carnivorous plants too all over the world using this great story from our Literature book.
          It was our lucky day yesterday as parent brought a Venus Fly Trap to class. Parents are so helpful!! Thank you to Keeahna's Mom.
         The kids have been fascinated with this plant after being able to view a short 2 and half minutes clip from the BBC presentation Life. It is told as a story in that short of a time. The kids were rooting for the fly! That is remarkable because for all the days prior they have been bemoaning the insects.
We marked the day on the calendar and then in 10 expect to see this one open and the carcass inside. We are discussing soil and temperature and what happens if there are no more flies once the weather really changes. Predictions aboundith!!
The other great parent help was Isaac's Mom (Thank you) came in and we looked at specimens from her biology lab-- skulls, butterflies, shells, a shark, a skunk pelt-- all to figure out why the shape, texture, etc., and then to analyze how that animal functions. She was so full of terrific details and will join us again next week for some experiments.

We will be analyzing the form and function of cows and tour the UI Dairy Center soon!

Predicting what will sprout first and why...

Garbanzo beans and wheat sprouting. The wheat sprouted in 36 hours and the beans between 48-60 hours

 On Tuesday, the 4th grade walked over to Mr. Collins' room and he talked about adaptation. We looked at the form and function of wheat seeds and chickpeas (we also call Ms. Bonzo Beans!:)).
 After discussing and then planting, the class wrote a prediction into their science notebooks on which seed they thought would sprout first.  

Next we will look at the structure of leaves. We will do some drawing as they learn the parts at the microscopic level that helps plants thrive and survive.

We will explore cows too and hopefully visit the UI Dairy in the next couple of weeks.