Mrs. Beck's 4th Grade
Back To School Edition
Creating Community
We voted on a the name of our class pet We used a cool tool called Plickers which lets kids votes using a card. We'll be using this tool for other learning too. The kids decided to call him Bob. Then, we used Plickers to vote for our class name--which the kids voted in as "Bob's Crew"--named after Minion Bob as well as stuffed dog Bob. :)
We also explored math and science concepts through STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Math) activities. Kids "Saved Sam", using lots of cooperation and communication. They had to get Sam (the gummy worm) back into his boat (plastic cup) with his life preserver on (Gummi Lifesaver) all without touching him with anything but paper clips.
We used some popular fairy tales to jump start our thinking. First, we looked at Jack and the Beanstalk. We built parachutes for Jack (a Lego Mini figure) and measured how fast he fell both with and without the parachute. You can see our data here. We also used Play-Doh and toothpicks to build a beanstalk that would hold Jack. Finally, we built ziplines for Rapunzel to get down from her tower. (See picture above). The kids did a great job problem solving and working together.
As part of our STEM study, we have also been exploring coding and robotics. We have two kinds of robots, Spheros and Dashes (the Dashes are on loan for a couple of weeks). We also created accounts on Code.org and have started going through the coding curriculum. The kids are definitely using their life skills of patience, risk-taking, flexibility and problem solving! The robot does exactly what they tell it to do, and sometimes the "code" isn't what they expected.
It has been great to see the kids coming together as a class group. They are an awesome bunch of 4th graders!
Class Wish List
For the next couple of months, we could still use:
Velcro (strips, squares or circles)
Cardstock (white and other colors)
Hot Cocoa packets (or a big can)--Kids can earn this as a class reward
Styrofoam cups (for the cocoa)
Reams of copy paper (this didn't come in the EduKit School Supply and so our class ran a bit short)
Envelopes (to hold number cards in our math notebooks, as well as the school currency "Cougar Bucks)