Mining Songs by Caroline

There have been many things going on during social studies. We have lately been doing a lot of fun projects. I am going to tell you about one of them. It's called mining songs.

So first, we picked a tune to go along with our song. For example, my group picked Fancy. Next, Mrs. Mills (our teacher) gave us a text all about the miners and their lives and our group read the text together. After that, the groups made up a song that had words that matched what the text said so the song told about the miners and their life. Finally, we rehearsed our songs until they felt comfortable. The last step was to add a little actions to the song and show them to the class.

 

Fourth Grade Recess By Megan

Every day at lunch and recess time everyone likes to go outside and play games. Most of the kids at recess like to play 4-square. 4-square is a very fun game to play. For some people, it gets tempting to play when you get out or when you get someone else out.

Sometimes when people get really competitive and throw ''cherry bombs," it usually goes over the fence - and goes under cars!

Knollwood Times by Braiden

A few weeks ago we started a journalism unit. I can see most of our class loves this unit.

I like: 1. we publish every day, 2. it's fun, 3. it's just...GREAT!

We have learned the four 4'ws - who, what, where, and when. We have learned to eliminate the I-voice (the I-voice is speaking in 1st person) and use 3rd person, we have also learned so much more.

We all have written great stories and our first story Mrs. Mills used as an example was awesome.

This is the best unit and I think we are writing amazing stories.

Oh, and my signature way to end my stories...

Stay classy, New Jersey.

This is the journalist checklist. We try to use all the things on the checklist in our stories.

This chart shows phrases and words that we should try to use in the news stories we write.

These are some of the amazing news stories kids wrote and chose as their piece for the celebration.

Angle Tangle Game by Lily

The Angle Tangle math game is when you and your opponent draw a random angle without measuring and your opponent quickly measures your angle. Then you measure the angle to make sure your opponent's answer is right, if your opponent's answer is not correct tell your opponent the right answer and tell her/him how you got the correct answer. You & the opponent switch turns. The object of the game is to get one degree off or completely right, that counts as right.

Sing the Song from Home on the Range by Quinn

While we visited the Midwest region in social studies, we learned about cowboys. We did the song to show how it was back in the cowboy days. We did it to the tune of Home on the Range. The cowboys back in the day herded cows. In the song we included what the cowboys see, hear, smell, and feel. It was a lot of fun!(To me)!

The videos below were taken by Quinn during some of the class performances of their songs about being a cowboy to the tune of "Home on the Range."

 

Room 101's Invention Convention by Maia

This blog post is about room 101's Invention Convention. It's where all the kids in our class think of a real life problem. Then, they have to make an invention to solve that problem. It's really fun and cool to make your own invention because it solves your own problem and, it's just fun to make!

Your invention could not only help you, but it can help other people who have the same problem as you! Most of all, it's awesome to display your invention for the parents! Maybe, you could make your own invention too!

Invention Convention by Christina

Invention Convention is filled with fun and science. Invention Convention is when everyone's family comes in to see your invention. The kids have made things that they can use if they have a problem and maybe other people have the same problem. The kids have to make a speech to explain their invention.

Vocab Raps by Jack S.

Once every two Fridays, we have Vocab Raps. We get lanyards that have vocab words like grit and pessimistic. So at Lit Skills, we do raps (or songs) that have our vocab words in it and at the end, we perform them in front of the class. Hope you enjoy the videos!

The videos below include some of the vocab raps performed by our class. The first video includes footage shot by Jack S.

Book Fair by Maisy

Are you looking for a book? Have an extra 10 bucks to spare? Looking for a book and don't know where to find it? The Book Fair is the place. It's where you can find bestsellers. You can even buy books for your teachers.

The video above includes photos taken by Maisy at the Book Fair. 

Vocabulary Work

Every other week or so, we've introduced 3-5 new vocabulary words to the class. These words have been tied to our class work somehow; they may have appeared in a read aloud, been used to describe traits as learners that we're working to adopt, or are more sophisticated words to use in our writing and speaking.

When introducing new vocabulary words, we teach the definition, synonyms, and antonyms words explicitly and the students copy them in their vocabulary notebooks along with a sentence and picture for each word. Additionally, we have physical actions that we do as we say each word that help us recall the meaning of the words. We post our vocabulary word cards (pictured below) around our room. They're color-coded to show what part of speech each word is and have the synonyms in the right-hand corners and antonyms in the left-hand corners.

We've recently begun wearing a vocabulary word on Friday. Each student is given a word on a lanyard as he or she arrives Friday morning, we greet each other with our vocabulary names, and then do our best to use the words throughout the day. Our goal is that we begin to use these words more automatically in our speaking and writing and that we recognize them in our reading. 

During Lit Skills, we've spent some time working on getting to know these words more thoroughly. We've written and performed vocabulary raps, taken turns leading the class in mimicking the motion to our word, and, most recently, created short skits that show the meaning of the words.

The videos below show our most recent work with the skits inspired by tingoed.com. We used the video for "chide" on Tingo Ed for inspiration (you can watch that video here: http://www.tingoed.com/vocab-videos---chide.html). The videos show our work towards growing more comfortable with the words.

Research Celebration! by Maddie

I like to research animals because you learn more about the animal you choose. I chose frogs.

I got to learn more about frogs, like that some frogs eat other frogs! Some frogs also eat other insects or rodents.

My classmates chose a topic and for a couple weeks, we gathered ideas, facts, and things we didn't know about that topic.

My video will show my classmates' projects. Everyone included one idea from their notebook and added facts using a paragraph or boxes and bullets.

The video above includes photos and video that Maddie took during our nonfiction research celebration, during which each student shared a slide they created in a class slideshow on Google Drive. Each classmate has access to our class slideshow, and so can share it with their families at home through their Google Drive account.

How to Play Beat the Calculator by Cameron

For Beat the Calculator, you get a sheet and pick two cards. There are three players: the Caller, the Brain, and the Calculator. 

The caller calls out a problem using the cards. The player with the calculator has to beat the Brain and the Brain has to beat the Calculator. Then, if the Brain or the Calculator gets the answer correct, they win. And for the Calculator, you can't use your brain, you have to use the calculator. And the Brain can't use the calculator.

Play it, it's fun!!!

Multiplication Baseball by Connor

Multiplication Baseball is fun and competitive. The competition when you get to bat and you try to get on base. It is also when you're pitching, to try to never get easy an multiplication fact. And when you get up to bat, you always want to get a lucky fact.

It is fun when you are trying to get on base. When you are with your friends it makes it more fun. In conclusion, Multiplication Baseball is fun.

In the video above, Connor and Lucas demonstrate an inning of Multiplication Baseball. 

Hershey Mass Production

We're currently studying the Northeast region in social studies. One of our essential questions is, "Why did our nation's first factories start here?" We learned that the water and people in the Northeast region influenced factories being built here. Many factories were built near rivers and used the water to power their factories. In addition, the Northeast's population provided people power for the factories.

We "stopped" at the Hershey Factory to learn about mass production. Students worked in groups of three and specialized in one job: wrap cutter, candy placer, or candy wrapper. For three minutes, students worked in an assembly line to (re)wrap Hershey Kisses. Groups wrapped between 8 and 15 pieces of candy during this time.

After the activity, we thought a little about what it would be like to work in a factory, specializing in one job, for a 40 hour work week. Many students recognized it may not be as exciting to do the same job for eight hours a day as it was to do it for three minutes in class.

The video below includes some photos and video of our mass production.

Hershey Mass Production from kate mills on Vimeo.

Capture the Flag by Maisy

Capture the Flag is a very fun sport to play. But when it comes to an argument, you have to be honest. Honesty is something you have to have when you play Capture the Flag. If you want to play Capture the Flag, you also have to have speed and agility. Speed is very important. If you want to try to get the ball you have to run across the field and run back.

The video above was created by Maisy from photos she took at recess.

KNOCKOUT by Harry

Knockout is played at recess. You play this game by trying to get the person in front of you out by shooting after they missed to get them out.

The game Knockout is played on the basketball courts at recess. If you want to play, you can just join wherever you want.

Fire Safety Assembly by Ellie

This week we had a fire safety assembly and you learned lots about fire safety. For example, "KEEP OUT AND STAY OUT!" and like "Stop, drop, and roll!" And they showed us their equipment they wear when there is a fire and I thought that was cool! You should make a meeting spot outside in case there is a fire.

FIRE!

Handball by Andrew

A bunch of fourth graders at recess started to play a new game called Handball.

The things you need are a ball, a net, and friends. There is a goalie in the net and as many friends on the field as you want. You need one pass before you shoot. Every time the goalie makes a save or a team scores a goal, the goalie throws the ball out. And that is how you play Handball.

Invention Crazy! by Ellie

Invention time! All over Room 101 are inventions that we worked on. One of the classes came in and looked at the tables. There were different types of inventions.

Some are sporty and some are trendy. We worked hard.

There's a lot going on in Room 101. Lots of inventions and very hard work.

Fun Art by Michael

When Mr. Z showed us the Jackson Pollock project, we all got excited. We thought it was splatter paint, but we would put the paint down and blow it with a straw. And at the end of the day, Mr. Z showed us jacksonpollock.org. It was really cool. I even go to it when I get bored. You can visit it at: jacksonpollock.org.