From the Library

Fourth graders started the year with a hands-on non-fiction mystery. It was a fun way to learn the Dewey Decimal System. They collected and displayed non-fiction books with the lowest and highest call numbers in a given range.  Some had a wide range (001-99), others had a short range (375-398.24). Then, by looking at the titles, they hypothesized categories for each range of hundreds. The 500s, for example, had The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition at 500, Rocks and Minerals at 549, and Chimpanzees at 599.885. I then showed them just the titles of ten more books and challenged them to place each in the right range. Does a book about weather fit with the 500s or does it belong in the 900s? We discussed why some hundreds have so many more books than others, at least in our library. The girls are now more able to find books  independently in the non-fiction sections of the library. They were interested to know that most libraries use the same system to organize their non-fiction books.

Tech

During the month of October, the girls have continued to work on duct tape and black out poetry as well as Lego Challenges, Take-A-Parts, and Cricut.  At the Take-A-Part station the girls choose an item to take apart and see what it looks like on the 
inside.  The girls have also learned how to use the Cricut software and machine.  Once we have all of the silhouettes cut out, we will be making LED paper circuits!  

Music: Bryn Mawr and the BSO

The view from here, just before this multimedia concert begins!!

French: Visitons l'Afrique Francophone!

Bienvenue en Afrique! In French class, the girls have been learning about French-speaking (or francophone) African countries. This week, girls in both classes are giving petite présentations on a country. Each girl introduces the country in French, states two interesting facts about it in English, and describes the flag in French. They have been researching and working very hard! The presentations have been très intéressantes so far.

Language Arts

October 18th, 2015 - Language Arts

The Fourth Grade girls have wrapped up a unit on The One and Only Ivan, the book the whole class read for summer reading.  The unit began with the girls researching four different aspects of taking care of our world's animals, particularly gorillas like Ivan.  Each group of girls read books to find information on their topic.  As a group, they then made a poster and gave a presentation of their findings to the class.  To end the unit, each student wrote Mrs. Nothstein a letter to encourage her and the Bryn Mawr Lower School to adopt a gorilla in the wild through the World Wildlfe Foundation on behalf of the 4th grade girls!  We are eagerly anticipating her final decision.  Stay tuned! 

As a class, we have also just finished reading Lois Lowry's Newbery Award winning novel, Number the Stars. What a wonderful story!  It has encouraged the girls to learn more about World War II and the events that took place during that time period.  We are also reading Who Was Anne Frank? to further expand our background knowledge, or schema, for this time period in the history of the world.  As you can see from these two units on animals and World War II, an important focus of our work this year is to learn more about global events in both the present and the past!

Happy October!

Music: Recorder Composition

In order to spread out, this group choose to work in the music room "backyard!"

Factor Fun!

Having a dinner party? How many tables will you have?  How many people will be at each table? You can use factors to come up with all the ways you can seat your guests. We did this in math class as we are currently working on factors, multiples, and divisibility rules. Check out all the ways we can seat 24 guests.

Music: Accompanying a Folk Dance

Half of the girls are dancing, and half of the girls are accompanying the dance with a drone, a melodic ostinato, and a color part.