Young Engineers

Our enrichment teacher, Mrs. Hart, visited our classroom this week to share an engineering workshop with our entire class. Students learned about different towers around the world--The Eiffel Tower in France, CN Tower in Canada, Axum Stelae in Ethiopia, and the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan--just to name a few.

Mrs. Hart asked students to observe the photographs and share their discoveries about these famous towers with their classmates. Students were then challenged to create a tower of their own. Each student received an 8 1/2 X 11 inch piece of paper and a roll of scotch tape. The rules were that kids could cut and fold the paper. Tape could only be used to keep a section of folded paper together but couldn't be used for attaching the tower to the desk. The tower needed to be strong enough to stand on its own. Mrs. Hart has been doing this project in different schools around the district and the record for the tallest tower was 36 inches. After about 20 minutes of work, two of our students broke the record! See the photo below of their tower!

A special thanks to Mrs. Hart who has worked hard to keep our enrichment program going under some difficult circumstances. We hope the enrichment program can return to Westmere in the future! 

Fun on the Erie Canal

We had a fantastic field trip to the Waterford Visitor's Center this week!  Students participated in a variety of activities while there. First we got on our life jackets and boarded the boat for a trip through the lock. Next we walked along the Old Champlain Canal because it is the most similar to the original Erie Canal we have been learning about in school. Kids followed the original towpath where mules and hoagees once walked. Each student was able to tow a wagon full of 40lb weights along the gravel towpath.  Then, they each had the chance to pull a 400lb model of a barge boat in the canal. Ask your 4th grader to fill you in on which they preferred to tow along!  After a snack by the canal and a few canal games, we moved to the famous tugboat Urger. Students were able to meet the crew of this 100+year old tugboat. We even got a chance to board the tugboat and check out the living quarters, the captain's wheel and the diesel engine that now powers it. Thank you to our chaperones for your help!

Erie Canal

We are learning about the Industrial Revolution in Social Studies. Students completed a webquest on the Erie Canal in our MacBook lab. Mrs. Russo has taught the class a great song about the canal. Ask your 4th grader to sing it to you. Next week the staff from the Waterford Visitor's Center will visit us to prepare us for our field trip to the Erie Canal on May 16th.

Battle Week

Has your 4th grader told you about Battle Week? We are using an interactive website (revolutionarywaranimated.com) to learn more about some of the battles of the American Revolution. The students are so engaged and interested in learning what happened during each battle. Check it out at home with your child!

Colonial Day in 4th Grade

Colonial Day was a huge success! Kids were so excited to see each other dressed in colonial costumes. All 4th graders walked to the colonial classroom with their payments of corn, animal skins or wood for the fire. Boys were able to sit closest to the fire and the girls and those who had no payment for the schoolmaster had to sit in the back rows of our one room schoolhouse. Students practiced their manners and ABCs. Later, girls were dismissed and attended Dame School where they learned to clean, sew and churn homemade butter. Boys remained for an arithmetic lesson. Girls created samplers and practiced calligraphy while boys learned to knot ropes and practice their tinsmithing skills. We all gathered to play "London Bridges", marbles, clothespin drop and other colonial games. A special thank you to all of the families who joined us in the afternoon for our colonial diary entry readings. Also, thank you to the families who provided our colonial snacks.

A Busy Week

This week fourth graders celebrated the official first day of the second half of the school year.  These next few months will fly by, and soon, they will be 5th graders!   In keeping with the theme, students created 1/2 self portraits.  They are using these portraits as the basis for our newest writing piece, The Real Me.  This piece will help them express both who they are on the outside as well as who they are on the inside.  

Students also visited the MacBook Lab to work on webquest where they were able to review prefixes and suffixes through a series of online games.  Ask your fourth grader to tell you about some of the challenges they had.  

In preparation for Colonial Day on February 12th, students are working with a partner to create a Then & Now booklet that highlights some of the differences between their lives today and those of children living in colonial times. The students are very excited to dress up in period clothing.  We made hornbooks to use in our colonial school.  

Mark your calendars!  Parents are invited to join us on Colonial Day at 1:00 for a special presentation in our classroom.  We will share some historical fiction writing we have been working on in class.  This will also be a great opportunity for Mrs. Martone to meet the families she has not met yet!

Reminders:  

Family Fun Night - Friday, 2/1 from 6-8pm

Please return the blue form to Mrs. Reed-Best if you plan on participating in the Free Throw Contest on 2/7/13.

4th Grade Concert on Thursday, 2/7/13 at 7pm