Math Problem By Ellis

There are 136 people at a mansion for a family reunion. Each person gets to eat five crackers. How many crackers were there in all? Post the answer below.

Making Your Own Podcast!

So, you're ready to make your podcast? Here are some step-by-step directions to help you get started.

1) Practice reading your piece aloud to several different partners. Make sure you're reading with expression and meaning.
2) Double-click on Garage Band to open it (It should be a small guitar icon in your toolbar. If it is not there, you will need to go into Applications to find it. I can help you with that.)
3) On the screen that says "New Project," click "Podcast," and then click "Choose."
4) On the next screen, save your podcast as your first name (Ex. "Katie") and for where choose "Desktop." Don't change any of the other settings!
5) Garage Band will open!
6) Click on either "Male Voice" or "Female Voice" on the left side of the screen. It does not matter which you click on.
6) Now you are ready to record. Click the red circle to STOP the recording. Talk clearly into the computer.
7) Click on the red button again to STOP recording when you are finished.
8) To play your podcast back, bring the thin red line all the way to the start of the podcast. Click the play arrow or press the space bar. Your podcast will play back to you!
9) If you like your podcast, go to File and select Save!

If you need inspiration, you can always listen to Ray Martinez's podcast! Make sure you click the small play arrow to start the podcast.

Buzz

In our class we've been working on a game called Buzz.

In this game instead of counting by 2s, 5s, and 3s, we counted by what's called a prime number. A prime number is a number is a number were you can only multiply it by one and its own number (such as 7, 5, or 3).

The way you play this game is you count by 1s and when ever you get to the chosen prime number or one of its factors you say buzz. For example, if the prime number was 7, you could say: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, buzz, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, buzz, etc. 

If you chose to do this game a little more difficultly you can count by more than 1 prime number (your limit is 3 numbers). This time if you get to any of the factors of your numbers you can say buzz for the first, fizz for the second, and jazz for the third.

To know when the game ends 1 person either says the number instead of saying buzz or if somebody says buzz at the wrong time.

Special thanks to Sam's dad (John) for teaching us this game.

This entry is written by Mayu and Andrew!

(Update: 11/1/10: Here is a picture from our morning with John!)

The Game of Leftovers

This week, we've been playing "The Game of Leftovers" in class. It's a great way to practice division and think about the relationship between multiplication and division.

Try out the game at home. You will need:

• 15 counters, tiles, pennies, small objects, etc. 
• 6 plates, pieces of paper, post-it notes, index cards, etc. 
• 1 die or 1 spinner with 6 spaces or the numbers 1-6 cut up and put in a container
• A piece of paper to record your results on 

Player One begins by rolling the die. Put out the number of plates that you roll (ex. 5 plates) and then divide the counters evenly between the plates (ex. 3 tiles per plate). Record the division number sentence (ex. 15/5 = 3 tiles). If there are any leftovers (remainders) that cannot be divided evenly between the plates put out, you get to keep them!

Continue taking turns until there are no counters left! The player who collected the most leftovers (the most counters) is the winner! 

Push your thinking deeper as you play. Are there any numbers that are difficult to get out of, numbers that you get stuck in for a long time? What makes those numbers difficult to roll out of? Are there any numbers for which it is easy to get leftovers? Why? 

Iroquois Values, Beliefs and Traditions

We synthesized all of our learning about the Iroquois by considering what we know about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois. We came up with so many ideas, both from our whole class lessons and from the books we've been exploring with our partners.  Thank you Jane, Ellis and Leela for designing these beautiful charts! Click on any of the pictures to see the charts enlarged. 

 

Historians, do you have any thoughts about the values, beliefs and traditions of the Iroquois that you haven't shared yet? Post them here!

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker (by Leela)

Here's a cartoon about Hiawatha and the Peacemaker that Leela created. The first picture shows the entire cartoon, and the following pictures show close-up views of different sections of the cartoon in order. Click on a picture to see it larger! Do you see Leela's inspiration from The Thing About Georgie? 

Post by Leela

Tadodaho (by Ellis)

This is a picture of Tadodaho who was an Iroquois leader. He is an evil leader and he has twisted snakes in his hair to show how evil he was. He always wanted war and not peace, but another leader named Hiawatha wanted peace. Tadodaho was so rude that he killed Hiawatha's wife and daughters! But when Hiawatha told Tadodaho that if they all made peace his tribe could be the capital, he finally agreed. They dug up a pine tree and put all their weapons in it and they would not use them again.

Entry by Ellis

Student Blog Entries!

Students,

Our blog needs YOUR help! So far, I've been writing all the entries for our classroom blog. Now, you get the chance to participate and write your own submissions for the blog.

Here are just some of the ideas we came up with in class:

• a review of a book that you just loved and know other kids in the class might love too!
• a summary of what we are learning in class about a particular subject (the Iroquois, multiplication, etc.) 
• comics, illustrations, etc. that capture our learning on a particular subject (a comic about recycling, an illustration of Tadadaho) 

I am so happy to work with you during school or lunch/recess time to create and perfect entries for our classroom blog. Blog entries are like little published pieces, and we can work together to get them published for our blog audience.

Do you have any other ideas for how what you could write/create for our classroom blog? Post them here!

Improvisation

We're loving our Tuesday afternoon improvisation lessons with Mike and Laura. We often begin with voice and breathing warm-ups.

Then, we'll play a round of "Pass It," where we pass imaginary objects and words to improvisors around the circle.

Mike and Laura will demonstrate for us a new improv game. The two rules are: 1) Always say yes!  2) Always make your partner look good!

Then, we'll get a chance to break into small groups and try out the game, pushing our improvisation work deeper each week. Sometimes, we'll even perform for the class! Here we're Getting on the Bus. As each new student joins, everyone in the car has to assume the character trait of the entering student. So when Ava entered bored, everyone in the car immediately became bored.

Try out some of the games at home! Play Pass It, Ask the Expert or Job Interview. Experiment with some breathing exercises. What did you try? How did it go? 

Reading Marathon Update!

We've made it! In only four weeks of school, our class has officially read OVER 200 BOOKS!

We hit 238 books today!!

Our Reading Marathon will be scheduled for an upcoming morning. We will have a chance to read for an hour and a half, wearing pajamas and enjoying snacks as we read.

I wonder what our next reading goal should be. Any suggestions?

100 Comment Challenge!

Our 100 Comment Challenge officially kicks off today! Our goal in the next week is to get 100 comments on our class blog. We're at 34 comments right now. Help us out by reading a blog post or two and leaving your thoughts. If you're not sure to comment, click on the "How to Comment" page on the top of the screen to see a handy tutorial!

How Many Ways Can You Solve 16 x 13?

Today in class, we looked at different ways we could solve multiplication problems when we did not automatically know the multiplication combination. One problem we looked closely at was 14 x 12. Mr. Jones had purchased 14 dozen bagels, and it was our job to determine how many bagels he had purchased.

We broke up the numbers in so many different ways.

Let's think about the problem 16 x 13. How many different ways can you think of to break up these numbers to multiply them? Post your ideas here!

First Family Friday and Writing Celebration

Last Friday was our first Family Friday! Families came into the room to celebrate our first published writing pieces. We began by sharing a video of our favorite lines with everyone. Then, we met in small groups to share our pieces. We wrote each other notes, telling what we especially admired about each writer's writing. Here are some pictures of our morning! Click on a picture to see it larger.

Andy Warhol and iPhoto

Our Andy Warhol-inspired self-portraits are complete! The self-portraits were made using iPhoto editing tools. Interested in creating your own self-portrait inspired by Andy Warhol? Ask a fourth grade explorer for help!

Visit the classroom to see our self-portraits for yourself!

Creative Ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Last week we produced a quick screencast to share a few of our ideas on how common household objects could be reduced, reused and recycled. Each pair of students shared one idea in the screencast below. To find out the rest of their ideas, hunt for their posters around the school!

Inspired by Lois Lowry

Today, we read Crow Call by Lois Lowry, a beautiful story about her experiences crow hunting with her father one morning after he returned from World War II.

As we approached writing, we allowed ourselves to be inspired by Robert Frost's words. When someone asked him, "How do I learn to write?" He replied, "Read Anna Karenina, read Anna Karenina, read Anna Karenina." We realized he could have just as easily said, "Read Crow Call, read Crow Call, read Crow Call." In order to learn all we could from a text, we needed to read it, then re-read it and re-read it. We tried this with Crow Call, reading the text thinking, "What has Lois Lowry done that I could emulate in my own writing?"

Here are just some of the ideas we came up with! Click on the charts to see our ideas enlarged!

Do you have any additional ideas about what Lois Lowry did as a writer that you could try in your writing? Share them here!

Reading Marathon Update!

Wow! The Fourth Grade Explorers are really going above and beyond when it comes to reading! Students have read 144 books since the second week of school. They're pushing themselves to read for more than the 30 required minutes each night. One student logged two hours of reading in one night last week. Keep up the good work, and we'll be to our Reading Marathon before you know it!