French: L'Histoire de Gérard et Brigitte

The girls are hard at work in French class. They have received their Gérard et Ses Copains textbook and are learning to associate visual symbols with vocabulary words. This week, they each received a set of all the words we have learned so far. I told them a story (une histoire) and they had to construct each sentence on their desks as they listened. For example, the picture below reads: Elle joue au foot à l'école avec lui. I encourage you to ask your daughter to read this to you at home!

Upon the conclusion of our petite histoire, the girls created their own sentences using the symbols. They then took a picture in the app Fotobabble and recorded themselves reading what they had made.

Music: Improvisation

4th graders worked in partner groups to create words that fit our duple meter rhythmic building blocks.  We will use these words as the rhythmic basis for a melodic improvisation!

Art: We Are All Artists

Every student started the year by making a small 3x3 inch self-portrait. There are quite a few inherent challenges using small paper and black pen that help the girls get comfortable right way with the art quip: "Turn your uh-oh into an ah-ha."  The girls were encouraged to make a clear choice in their work and to be bold. The works are on display at the entrance of the art studio with the following questions to guide their observations: Which portraits show that the artist used line variation? Which portraits show that the artist made a discovery about herself, her art, or her materials? Which portraits show that the artist tried the blind contour technique to record her observations without looking? Which portraits show that the artist made a clear choice about line, shape texture, value, or space in her work? In art this year we will make art, look at art and talk about art! We are all artists! 

Technology in 4th Grade

We have been very busy during technology in 4th grade.  We began by discussing acceptable use policies.  Next, we joined our Edmodo groups and learned how to use our Google Drive.  In Google Drive we created our World Traveler Digital Passports.

Language Arts in Fourth Grade

Each girl designed a pic collage showing her required summer reading. They are very colorful and show the many different books the girls selected to read. Below is a photo of their finished products. We are getting off to a great start on our independent reading. All of the girls are reading novels set in different African countries. Have your daughter share with you a favorite part of her current selection.

Traveling the World with Fourth Grade

After exploring the continents and oceans of the world, fourth-graders started to investigate culture. Students shared information about what makes us alike and what makes us unique as individuals. Using the app, Edmodo, students listed different holidays, languages spoken at home, values, and how often they saw members of their extended families.  Last week, we discussed the differences between fact and opinion to  help them understand their observations about people and countries.  It was surprising to learn that some countries count the number of continents as six, instead of the seven that we teach here in school. Ask your daughter to tell you why. 

We will continue this conversation in class to lay the foundation for our global study.