Plymouth Journals: Landing in the New World

On November 11, 1620, the Mayflower landed in the New World. In our journals, we wrote about the landing from point of view of Saints, Strangers and the Wampanaog. Take a peek into the start of some of our journal entries!

Personal Essay Writing Celebration: Take Four

Here's a link to information about our Personal Essay Writing Celebration! Enjoy our last video where we share some of the comments we received!

Personal Essay Writing Celebration: Take Three

Here's a link to information about our Personal Essay Writing Celebration! Enjoy another video where we share some of the comments we received. 

Personal Essay Writing Celebration: Take Two

Here's a link to information about our Personal Essay Writing Celebration! Enjoy another video where we share some of the comments we received.

Personal Essay Writing Celebration

We celebrated our accomplishments during our personal essay unit as part of a writing celebration last Tuesday! We enthusiastically read and commented on our essays. Our essays included strong thesis statements, and we used varied types of evidence to support our thesis statements. We concluded our celebration by meeting to share some of the comments our classmates left for us. Enjoy our short video where we share some of the comments we received!

Plymouth Perspectives: A Teenage Boy

To learn more about our Plymouth study, click here! Here's a journal entry from the perspective of a teenager traveling on the Mayflower!

Plymouth Perspectives: An Adult Male

To learn more about our Plymouth study, click here! Here's a journal entry from the perspective on an adult male, one of the first travelers to depart the boat and explore the New World! 

Plymouth Perspectives: A Child

To learn more about our Plymouth study, click here! Here's a journal entry from the perspective of a child traveling on the Mayflower!

Plymouth Perspectives: The Wampanoag

To learn more about our Plymouth study, click here! Here's a journal entry from a member of the Wampanoag tribe!

Plymouth Perspectives: A Teenage Boy

As part of our American Colonization study, each student in the class has assumed the role of a real traveler on the Mayflower or a real member of the Wampanoag tribe.  Each student has a unique role on the journey. Some are men, and some are women. Some are adults, and some are children. Some are Saints, and some are Strangers. Some travel alone, and some travel with their families. Because each student has a different role, the diary entries they write about their experiences end up being quite different. We have several videos to share of us reading entries written from our unique perspective.

Enjoy this video from the perspective of a teenage male Stranger traveling on the Mayflower with his family!

Books to Costa Rica!

Here is a picture of the school we donated books to in Costa Rica. Last week, Yana stopped by our classroom to bring us thank-you notes from the students and to share stories from her travels. Of particular interest was the fact that there was no garbage service in the town, only recycling. That meant that residents had to be creative about what they did with their waste! 

If you missed it, here's our earlier entry about the books we donated!

The Memory Bank Book Review (by Dylan)

The Memory Bank is a great book for big dreamers. One reason is because the characters love to dream. For an example, one of the reasons Hope loves to dream is because her dreams lead her to her missing sister Honey. Another reason is because it takes place in a Memory Bank where dreams are stored. The last reason is because it shows pictures of Hope's dreams. As you can see, all dreamers should read The Memory Bank!

Spaceheadz Book Review (by Bria)

Spaceheadz is a must-read book in fourth grade. For example, it's something that you would get hooked on. One reason this book got me hooked is that Michael K. does stuff that you think he might not even do. Another reason is that the characters are different from the characters in other books. One reason I think this book has different characters than other books is that they think really differently than other books and have different personalities. Last but not least is that you can learn a few things in the whole book and really in the end. In Spaceheadz, I learned that people are not always what they seem. As you can see Spaceheadz is a good book for everybody, and I mean everybody. So I hope you read this because I love it and it was one of the greatest books that I read of all time!

Reading Partnership Celebration!

Today, we presented our award-show style speeches to thank our partners for all the support they have given us during our November Reading Partnership Unit! We learned so many things from working with our partners over the past month! Here are a few of our thank-you videos.

Are you and your partner planning to continue reading together? What is your plan for continuing your partnership? 

Official CD Release: 12/2/2010

After much anticipation, our CD of podcasts was officially released today! Enjoy listening to the tracks on your CD! Post comments here letting the writers know what you enjoyed about their podcast!

Also, enjoy a short video we filmed dancing once we had all our CDs!

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Nine

Watch as our ninth and final group hosts a talk show where different famous explorers visit as guests!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Eight

Our eighth group explored the true nature of Christopher Columbus through a talk show with various guest experts!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Seven

Watch to see who really discovered America!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well?

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Six

Watch as Christopher Columbus and his crew prepare for their voyage and begin sailing!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Five

Watch as our fifth group puts Christopher Columbus on trial and uses common picture books as evidence against him!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Four

Enjoy our fourth group's skit about Columbus and his first voyage to America!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Three

Watch as our third group questions their classmates to determine what they know about exploration and discovery!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group Two

Watch as our second group puts Christopher Columbus on trial!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

Exploration and Discovery Project: Group One

Our Exploration and Discovery unit concluded today with the presentation of our final projects. Each group chose a topic they were interested in and created some sort of presentation about their topic. The results are informative, creative and at times hilarious. I'll be posting one video from each of the nine groups. These short videos are just a peak into each group's presentation! Enjoy!

What did you learn about exploration and discovery from watching this video? What did you notice that the group did particularly well? 

(My previous attempts to upload videos directly to blogger were mostly unsuccessfully, but I'm sticking with it! I'm hopeful these new, shorter videos will upload easier.)

Podcast CD Release Date: 12/2/2010

The wait is over! Our Podcast CD will officially be released this Thursday, December 2!!!

Before this can happen, we need YOUR help coming up with a name and cover for our CD! 

Here's some important information to keep in mind:

• The podcast contains our personal narratives and our short fiction pieces.
• Each student in the class has a podcast on the CD. 
• During our writing unit, we really focused on bringing meaning into our pieces and on adding a variety of details. 

Post your name ideas here or bring them to class! Bring in your CD cover designs by Tuesday. A CD cover should be 12 centimeters long by 12 centimeters wide (a square with a perimeter of 12 centimeters on each side). 

Exploration and Discovery Projects

Who really discovered America?  What were the interactions between the Taino and Christopher Columbus like? How did European explorers treat the indigenous populations they encountered? Do the books we read tell the full story of exploration and discovery? 

In small groups, we decided on the question about exploration and discovery that we are most interested in pursuing, and we created our own projects to help us answer that question. Project presentations will take place on Tuesday! Here's just a small sampling of the work we have been doing to prepare!

Students prepare a poster of evidence AGAINST Christopher Columbus to present at their upcoming trial!

Other students make props for their skits. 

Atlases and other classroom resources help us as we prepare our materials. 

Group members share the responsibility for their work evenly.

The props we make require us to be creative and to use our knowledge of the time period. 

Rehearsal is a key step for anyone preparing for an upcoming talk show!

Using resources outside of books helps us add depth to our learning.

A practicing talk show guest uses a visual aid to drive home her point.

Students work diligently to ensure they will be prepared.

Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving, and we're off for the holiday. What are you thankful for this year? 

Book Fair Success!

Thank you for your generous book fair donations! Check out some of the fantastic new books we have for our classroom library. Click on the pictures to enlarge them!

Which book are you most excited about reading? Why?

Books to Costa Rica!

In just one day, our class collected over 100 books to donate to a school in rural Costa Rica! We brought in the books Thursday morning and by Friday morning, they were already at the school in Costa Rica. We've received two emails so far about the donation. The first is from the woman who brought the books to Costa Rica.

Dear Class 4-324, Thank you so much for sharing your love of reading and books with boys and girls in Costa Rica.  Thank you for gathering such a wonderful collection of books on a such a short notice.  Katie often tells me what an amazing bunch of kids you are!  I am so excited to be a "book transporter" between you and the children at a small rural school in Costa Rica.  Sincerely, Yana

Then, we received an email from the director of the Nature Kids School in Drake Bay, Costa Rica, where Yana donated the books. How exciting!

Hello Katie,

My name is Pamela and I am in charge of the Nature Kids School in Drake Bay.  I just wanted to let  you know so you can tell your students that we just got the  books from Yana.  She will visit us again next Friday and hopefully take some photos of the school and children. 

All of the books will be very useful for our students who are both children and adults. 

Thank you all so very much and the children will be sending notes and pictures very soon.  We do not have regular mail service, but we do have access to the internet at the school and hopefully we can stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Pamela

Nature Kids

Bahia Drake

Here are just some of the books we brought in!

Here are the books loaded into Yana's suitcase, ready to take to Costa Rica!

The Peacemaker Story (by Sam and Michael)

We created a comic about the Iroquois and how the Iroquois Confederacy started, particularly about an evil guy named Tadadaho. Sam used a Microsoft Office spreadsheet to type up the story of the Iroquois Confederacy. Michael made the illustrations and captions. Click on any of the pictures to see the comic enlarged!

What did you learn about the Peacemaker story from this comic? What lingering questions do you have about the Peacemaker and the Iroquois Confederacy? 

Jacqueline Woodson Visits!

Jacqueline Woodson came to our school today to speak to all the fourth graders as part of the "Meet the Writer" program. We've read several books by Jacqueline Woodson so far this year, so listening to her tell her stories and recite from her books today was certainly a treat. We're still considering where Mama might be in Our Gracie Aunt and the different themes in The Other Side!

To learn more about Jacqueline Woodson, check out her website!

What was your favorite part of Jacqueline Woodson's visit? What questions are you still dying to ask her? 

The City of Ember (by Ellis)

BOOK REVIEW of

 THE CITY OF EMBER

The City is Ember is a really good book about a boy named Doon Harrow and a girl named Lina Mayfleet. Ember is a city underground that the “Builders” built for them. Everyone is always nervous because they keep on getting blackouts. The only lights in Ember are street lamps, lampposts, etc.

And they don’t have enough light bulbs!!!!! The story is about how Lina and Doon escape Ember.

Green Books: Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco-friendly paper, we hope to raise awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on the Eco-Libris website.

Sometimes kids think that adults control everything and that they are powerless to make a difference. But Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet teaches readers that kids are all powerful. In her book, Canadian author Janet Wilson profiles 10 young environmentalists from around the world who are each taking action to help specific environmental causes. Through these profiles, Wilson shows that kids can do a lot to help the environment and spread the message of conservation! For example, Sam Levine of the United States helped start an organic vegetable garden at a school to connect kids directly to their food.

The stories Wilson includes feel attainable. We hear the story of Janine Licare of Costa Rica who started small, selling painted rocks with a friend to raise money to build overhead monkey bridges. Eventually as the girls wanted to do more, they expanded their operation and opened a store to sell their products and the work of other artists. From their humble beginning, Janine and her friend Aislin have made a world of difference in the rainforest.

Now only does this book profile 10 children, it also contains a helpful reference section in the back. For example, in the "How You Can Help Save the Planet" section, Wilson details ways kids can help save the earth. These ideas include everything from unplugging the TV and going outside to play to writing letters to world leaders to advocate for climate change. And this is just one of the bonus sections in the back! You can also learn how "Kids Create" and how "Kids Take Action."

This book is excellent because it goes beyond just telling ways that kids are making a difference around the world. It also teaches kids a lot about the small steps they can take to make a big difference. For example, Wilson recommends that students become more aware of the products they use that are grown in the rainforest so they can make informed decisions about whether or not to use them. Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet is also significant because usually authors write books about adults saving the environment, but this one has kids saving the Earth, so it's more relevant to the readers. It shows you that you can save the earth too!

Our Earth: How Kids Are Saving the Planet is not just environmental in its theme. It's also environmental in its production! It is printed on Forest Stewardship Council Certified paper!

We recommend this book for people who care about the environment and want to save it. This is also a great book for people who don't yet care about the environment and need some serious inspiration. The book is particularly great for kids ages 7 to 13 who want to hear extraordinary stories about ordinary kids.

Kids--Janet Wilson is counting on you to save the Earth, and we are too! Go kids! Save the Earth!

Nerds and The Merman (by Bria and Jane)

Title: The Merman
Author: Dick King Smith
Stars: (One being the worst;  five being the best):





Comments: A very moving story that gets you hooked FAST! It makes you want to keep on reading it for  HOURS! Very EMOTIONAL! You will LOVE the story, THE MERMAN!

-Bria

Title: Nerds 1
Author: Michael Buckley
Stars: (One being the worst; five being the best):



Comments: A great, hilarious story with tons of action! Great characters with real personalities! Will satisfy the reader with a thirst for action!

-Jane

Our Iroquois Skits: Take Four

Here's our fourth Iroquois skit. Scroll down to view more!

What did you learn about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois from watching this skit?

"Belly Up" Book Review (by Leela)

It’s the grand opening of the theme park, "Fun Jungle," and their mascot, Henry Hippo, is a big hit- no matter how grumpy he is.

Until Henry ends up dead. Teddy Fiztroy finds himself in the middle of a plot for money death and daughters.

After getting some highly classified info, he joins Summer on a case, which is far more dangerous than expected.

But, after finding the murder weapon—you have to find out who used the murder weapon—right?

Hold the phone! We have a development in the story!

More animals than Henry have died!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll give you a hint- almost all the animals that died were from the Amazon Rain forest!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With out giving anything else away, who would black mail someone into hiding the fact that they were smuggling emeralds?

Read-: Belly up!

Our Iroquois Skits: Take Three

Here's our third Iroquois skit! Scroll up and down to view more!

What did you learn about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois from this skit? 

Our Iroquois Skits: Take Two

Here's our second Iroquois skit. Students had a few periods to rehearse their skits and study resources to make sure their presentations were accurate.

What did you learn about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois from this skit? 

Our Iroquois Skits: Take One

As our culminating project for our Iroquois unit, we produced our own short, improvised skits that capture the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois. They upload slowly, so I'll be posting them one at a time! 

What did you learn about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois from this skit? 

Exploring and Discovering During Family Friday!

For Family Friday today, we had a chance to read books about exploration and discovery with our family and friends. We read books, discussed our ideas with others, and used our social studies notebooks to capture our thoughts about exploration. Many of the beautiful books we read today were from www.donorschoose.org, a website that helps public school teachers get the supplies they need for their classrooms.

What did you learn about exploration and discovery today? What big ideas are you growing? What questions are you pondering? Post your ideas, questions, and comments here. Another historian might be able to help you by answering your question or providing some evidence for an idea! Be sure to read the comments so you can help out other historians!

Halloween Cookie Decorating

We celebrated Halloween on Friday by decorating sugar cookies! Thank you for all your donations of cookies, icing, sprinkles, plates, napkins and knives.

We want to especially thank Chloe's family for donating gourds for each of us to take home!