Grade 4 Language Arts & Social Studies

On Monday evening, Cooper was featured in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Words & Music program. His song was one of several selected to be put to music at our field trip back in December. Hundreds of schools participate in the songwriting unit each year, so it was quite an honor for Cooper’s to be one of only 14 songs performed that night. His co-writers Giselle and Erik did a beautiful job with his words. The event was hosted by up and coming artist Avery Anna.

In class, we spent time reviewing for this week’s final spelling-vocabulary test. The students wrote sentences reflecting the words’ definitions. They also enjoyed playing Around the World and Sparkle.

Much of our time this week was spent finishing research reports. We are almost there! Students used their notecards to outline paragraphs, write rough drafts, and then typed edited versions.

We also took a few minutes on Tuesday to visit the Grade 5 STEAM Fair. We learned about experiments on sodas and tooth decay, bridge-building, pH of soil, and more!

On Monday and Tuesday, we read the final chapters of The Tale of Despereaux, and Wednesday was our final Book Club discussion. It has been so gratifying to see the level of engagement and enthusiasm the students demonstrate as they discuss this amazing book! Thank you to all the families who supplied the snacks and drinks for our meetings.

Also on Wednesday, 4th graders enjoyed rotating between classrooms and signing one another’s yearbooks.

The highlight of this jam-packed week had to be the EOY party on Thursday. We had school in the morning, but we enjoyed pizza for lunch and treats provided by 4M. Then we headed down to the softball field for some sun and fun. Two classes at a time played in the foam, while the others played kickball, corn hole, or relaxed on their towels. It was great to see them enjoy some free time with their friends.

In social studies this week, we read about the Declaration of Independence, and we will wrap up the Revolutionary War next week!

We celebrated Leela’s birthday this week, and Charlie brought in treats, too, for his summer birthday!

In language arts this week, students read Chapters 43-49 in The Tale of Despereaux. They also completed comprehension questions in their packet. We will finish the book next week and have our final Book Club meeting on Wednesday. We also finished learning the vocabulary words from the novel, and our test on those will be next Friday.

We also spent lots of time outlining and writing paragraphs for our research reports. On Thursday we used a tool in Google docs to generate our bibliographies. Students also had fun designing cover pages for their reports.

In social studies, we read about the Second Continental Congress and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Amelia’s 11th birthday!

Highlights of the week were Monday’s yearbook distribution and, of course, Friday’s Field Day. We gathered in Brown Gym and watched each 8th grader receive their personalized copy of the book. K-7 students were excited to get their copies back in their classrooms.

The school spirit at Ensworth is unmatched, and 4th grade’s participation in Field Day with the older students is a rite of passage. We had a beautiful day, lots of fun, great competition, and a victory for the Black Team. Congrats to Penny for breaking a record in the med ball toss. (She threw 31’11” and the record was in the neighborhood of 26′.) Congrats, too, to Samuel’s 4×100 relay team who also broke a record set just last year! (My assignment was to chaperone the Orange girls, so I didn’t have many opportunities to be with the boys.) The parents also got to play a little Newcomb against their daughters!

This week, we tried to put the note-taking phase of our biography project behind us. Final chapters were read, Wikipedia articles were consulted, and we reviewed paragraph organization in preparation for writing next week.

In addition, we embarked on a project based on The Tale of Despereaux. Students chose a character, identified four character traits and found text evidence to support their claim. They cited the page in the book where they found heir evidence, and they had fun coloring their character.

We also read up through Chapter 42 in the novel, finished our packet of questions, and learned more vocabulary words from the book.

In social studies, we read a picture book called Let it begin here! Lexington and Concord and watched the Schoolhouse Rock video, “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” We learned about Paul Revere’s midnight ride, and compared the various accounts of those events. We enjoyed a recording of Longfellow’s poem, a secondary course, as well as challenging read of Paul Revere’s own letter to a friend, a primary source.

The highlight of the week, of course, was the 4th grade’s interdisciplinary event, Humble Roots to Sequined Suits! From the amazing art projects and instrument-playing to the speaking and singing, our students showcased their talents and abilities in such a fun way!

In Morning Meetings, we enjoyed several fun handshakes, sharing about the concert, and playing games of Tens and Heads Up-Seven Up.

What a week it has been in 4th grade! I’m not sure why we thought it was a good idea to put two of our major events back-to-back, but we made it!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spend time reviewing our facts about the Road to the Revolution. We play Around the World and competed in a Kahoot! to practice for today’s quiz.

We also made sure all our signs and speeches were good to go for our big day on Wednesday. The Biography Fair is a 4th grade tradition that goes back close to 40 years. Our community comes together to celebrate our students’ learning in a special way, and the costumes really bring the event and our famous Americans to life. Thank you, parents, for getting them to ‘look the part.’

Our field trip to Camp Widjiwagan was a new one for 4th grade, and I am certain it is the beginning of a new tradition. We came home hot and tired, but everyone had a blast!

Today we had the pleasure of an assembly featuring our modern a cappella group and a rock band from the MS, as well as original performances from the singer-songwriter club. It was fantastic!

This past week, 4th graders read five chapters in The Tale of Despereaux. We finished Book the Third, held our Book Club meeting, and began Book the Fourth. Thank you to all our families for bringing in yummy snacks to accompany our conversation.

We also learned several new vocabulary words from the second half of the novel.

Of course, we spent more time working on our research about famous Americans. Some are wrapping up note-taking and beginning to highlight and organize notes. We all took a look at students’ speeches from the past. With a framework to follow, everyone wrote a rough draft of their speech, met with me, and copied their final draft onto a notecard.

In social studies, we had a lot of fun with a tax simulation. With a few students playing the parts of the monarch, the Parliament, and the tax collector, everyone else got to experience the frustration of the colonists as they were taxed ‘unfairly.’ Smarties were taken away for such reasons as wearing glasses, sporting certain colored socks, having nail polish.

We also read about the Intolerable Acts, Patrick Henry’s fiery speech, and the First Continental Congress. Next week we’ll review the road to the Revolution and take a quiz before the war breaks out.

In Morning Meeting, we enjoyed played Scattergories, Mystery Winker and more!

Thursday night, I had the pleasure of attending the dress rehearsal of dance recital. It was AMAZING!! I so proud of all my student-dancers past and present. What a great show!

Friday’s assembly was a concert from the high school’s chamber singers and the orchestra.

In spite of taking two ERBS every day Monday through Thursday, we still found time to read some chapters in The Tale of Despereaux. We kicked off Book the Third this week and read the first four chapters. We will finish Book the Third early next week and have our Book Club on Wednesday.

We also learned some new vocabulary words from the book.

Most of the time we had was spent reading our biographies and taking notes. With the fair coming up on the 22nd, we are feeling the pressure to get through with this phase of the project.

In social studies, we read brief articles about the growing dissent among American colonists. Learning about issues such as the Quartering Act and “taxation without representation” helps students understand the cause-and- effect relationships between historical events.

This morning we attended the Grade 3 Vocabulary Parade. It’s always a treat to see which words are selected and how the costumes bring the words to life!

The highlight of our week was definitely traveling out to the high school to volunteer with the Special Olympics. We were hoping to meet up with our Harris-Hillman friends, but they couldn’t make it. Our 4th graders jumped right in to help the high schoolers welcome all the students from around Davidson County. Then they all went to a station to lead visitors in activities such as SpikeBall, soccer, a dance party and more! It was a beautiful day out and we enjoyed a cookout on the quad before heading back to our campus about 12:15. (My station was soccer, so I only have pictures from that activity.)

In Morning Meetings this week, we enjoyed some foreign language greetings, gaems of Hidden in Plain Sight and 4E learned how to play Scattergories.

On Tuesday, our Book Club met again to discuss Book the Second of The Tale of Despereaux. Thank you to the families who sent in sweet and salty snacks, as well as CapriSuns, for the kids to enjoy. Our student-led conversation is a great opportunity for everyone to share, debate, and listen to a variety of opinions. We learned about the meaning of characters’ names – Chiaroscuro and Botticelli and how they were inspired by the artistic technique of combining light and dark, as well as the Italian Renaissance painter.

In addition, we spent time each day practicing multiple choice questions and skills they will face on next week’s ERB tests. We read short stories and played a game with slides to review writing mechanics. Today we practiced a 20-minute, 45-question test which covered all types of language arts questions to get a sense of pacing.

In social studies, we read about the Stamp Act, and the growing tension between the colonies and Britain. We discussed the Boston Massacre, and read a picture book about the Boston Tea Party.

Each day, we take 15-30 minutes to read in our biographies and take notes about our famous Americans.

In Morning Meeting this week, we had fun with the Double This greeting, a ‘trash’ketball game, games of Sparkle and much more!

In social studies this week, students worked to create slideshows about various aspects of life in Colonial America. Some surprising facts were shared about restrooms, hunting, clothing and more! 4E shared their slideshows with the class, and 4M is still finishing their presentations.

On Wednesday, we held our first Book Club meeting to discuss Book the First from The Tale of Despereaux. The desks were arranged so they all faced one another. Everyone chose some refreshments and settled in for a student-led conversation, or, in some cases, a debate. The book features a character who is very different from his family and who is accused of breaking the rules. Students discussed their opinions about his rejection his family, the issue of family loyalty and more. We look forward to delving into Book the Second after break, and, of course, another Book Club meeting!

We also learned three new morphemes this week and continued to practice analogies. 4E made flip books with analogies they wrote themselves. We also practiced multiple-choice analogies like the ones we’ll see on ERBs.

Today, the boys and girls were matched with their famous Americans! After spending several days going over a list of people and submitting their requests, they were matched with someone whom they will research and portray at the Biography Fair in April. 4M took a quick trip to the library to pull books they might use. We also readied our notecards so we can begin after the break.

Today, in celebration of Ensworth’s Literacy Week, 4th graders joined with 1st graders for Reading Buddies. Mrs. Jackoboice’s students came to our classroom, and everyone enjoyed reading some picture and chapter books together.

In Morning Meeting this week, 4E enjoyed the shoe greeting, the ‘dab’ handshake, Silent Ball and more.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe break!