Last Friday, the 13th (!), we went over to New Hampton fish hatchery.  We stripped male brook trout of milt and female brook trout of eggs.  Did you know that a female brook trout produces 400 - 600 eggs per year? The hatchery has 1.3 million eggs incubating at any one time.  The eggs have an 85% chance of survival.
In addition, we climbed a mountain with Mr. Wetmore and discussed the watershed.  Did you know that there are many factors that contribute to the health of a river?  Human impact, erosion, and farming are a few examples.
With Ms. Allen (Petunia), we made river art to demonstrate out knowledge of the riffle, the run, and the pool.  The riparian zone is the area that surrounds the river. It prevents the banks from eroding, protects the river from trash, and keeps the water shaded and cool.

Mrs. O'Leary's Cow

Today we learned a song about the Great Chicago Fire.  Legend tells us that Mrs. O' Leary's cow kicked a lantern over at 9:30 PM on the evening of  October 8, 1871 and ignited the city of Chicago in flames.  After over a hundred years, in 1997, the story was extinguished and Mrs. O'Leary's name was cleared. We used this example of history to discuss rumors and fire safety.
Here's the song we sang today about Mrs. O'Leary's cow:

Late one night, when we were all in bed,
Old Mother Leary left a lantern in the shed,
And when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said,
"There'll be a HOT time on the old town tonight."
FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!

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Today we read a book called Turtle in the Sea by Jim Arnosky. We also watched a video on sea turtles from Time for Kids online. Then, Petunia led us through a lesson on drawing sea turtles. Take a look at the bale of turtles below:

 

 

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Sundaes

We've earned sundaes!  Tomorrow we are going to have an ice cream sundae party.  This was something we had to earn as a team.  We had to work together to get 12 paper sundaes. After the 12, we get REAL sundaes!

In science, we've been studying rocks and minerals.  Today we learned about the streak test.  You can learn about the test here.

In math we took a test on unit 2.  We focused on patterns in this unit.

Social studies has had us exploring the globe!  We've used student-sized globes to learn about the continents and we've been working with atlases to find out about different features in a map.

Daily 5 has been pretty exciting!  We've been using ipads to read and check our comprehension.  We've also been reading a really interesting article on Alcatraz.  This has prompted us to write a summary.  Did you know Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers escaped Alcatraz?  Supposedly they are out there somewhere...Ask your fourth grader about the article tonight!

Mathematician Kurtz Came for a Visit today!

Mrs. Kurtz, our math title I teacher came to visit today. She taught us a lesson on patterns. Here's a picture:

 

 

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Awesome Day!

Today in class we learned about fact families, globes, and rocks and minerals.  It is PEACE day.  Peace day was established in 1981 and observed in 1982.  Happy Peace day!

Painting Portraits

One of my favorite projects of the school year is the one in which the kids make self-portraits. Finally, all of the portraits are done and the installment is almost finished - come and see it at Open House.

In other news, students have been working hard at getting homework done and their LION books signed.  In fourth grade, students are expected to read 30 minutes every night. Typically, there's a mad minute and some piece of math that was started in class earlier in the day. Spelling words come home weekly. Homework should take no longer than 40 minutes. If it does, please write me a note to let me know and we'll figure out a way to complete the assignments. In additon, if you have a family emergency and your child is/was unable to do their homework, jot me a note.

Four Winds starts Monday morning, September 28th at 8:15. Be sure to ask your child about their experiences. We'll post photos of the lesson soon.

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