Weekly Reflection: December 21

Reporters: Lachlan and Madison    Photographer: Sakurako

 Exploring Conductors and Insulators

Taking apart the parts of the motor 

Exploring Movement !!!

Human conductors completing a circuit

Energy Ball by Lachlan
This week we played with this energy ball. Humans are conductors because they are made of water. If you touch the two brass wires the sound goes off in the energy ball. The whole class connected hands and two people touched the two brass wires and the sound went off.  When there was a break in our human chain the sound stopped.

Opening a Motor by Madison
This week in science we took apart a motor. Taking apart the motor wasn't so hard but putting it back together was. No group did it correct the first time they tried!  We had to make sure that all parts of the circuit were touching so that the circuit was complete.

Weekly Reflection: December 14

Reporters: Sakurako and Hannah   Photographer: Josh

Lightbulb Time!

Discovering how it is done. 

 Lightbulb!

 Check it out, guys!

Electricity by Sakurako
Last week we did a project with a lightbulb, batteries and the wires. We discovered that if the wire was on the lightbulb and the battery it would light up. We also learned that it was a circuit through the wire to the battery, through the other wire, to the lightbulb, into the small wires in the bulb. Then the wires heat up to make light. This was an exiting and awesome class project.    

Food Drive by Hannah
All of student council helped on this caring project.  Students brought in food for people who don't have a lot of food.   We had a assembly to learn about the food pantry. It is a great thing those Panthers did. We donated more food than any school.

Weekly Reflection: December 7

Reporters: Joshua and Susie    Photographer: Grace

Static Electricity Experiments

A piece of string was attracted to a paper towel.

Paper towel being rubbed against a plastic table cloth. 

A styrofoam peanut was attracted to a comb.

Heroes Matter by Susie
This week we did a project with the 2nd and 3rd graders. We got assigned a hero and had to research him or her on pebblego.com or facts4me.com. Then we typed our research up on a Google Doc. We could see everyone working on the Google Doc as we worked. Even though there were some difficulties, we had tons of fun working with each other!

Miss Struebing by Josh
Miss Struebing, our student teacher in music, is going off to pursue her dream of becoming a music teacher. We all wish her well and will miss her a lot. Her games such as Chicken on The Fence Post and others are fun memories to us all. Good luck and best wishes to you, Miss Struebing!

Weekly Reflection: November 30

Reporters: Charles and Grace      Photographer: Lucy

This is Mrs. Cioni with a static balloon. Opposite charges attract. 

She is stuck to a static balloon- opposites attract.        

 His balloon is stuck to his head- Opposites attract.

 Negatively charged balloons repel each other.

Spelling by Charles
This week we are doing a new spelling program. We did a speed sort and put our spelling words in the right column. We tried to beat our time each day.We also did a blind sort. This is when a partner says a word from our spelling bag and we try to spell it and sort it.

Poetry by Grace
This week we started our new poetry unit. We learn different kinds of poetry every day.  So far we learned about acrostic poems, alphabet alliteration poems, cinquains, and color poems.
Here is a student sample:

Black by Charles 

Black is dark as in a empty closet.

Black is lonely.

Black has evil and anger.

Black is the color of my hair.

Black smells like Oreos.

Black tastes like dark chocolate.

Black sounds like a black cat meowing.

Black looks like hungry crows that are waiting for its meal.

Black feels like freezing in the freezer.

Black makes me gloomy.

Black is not my favorite color.

Weekly Reflection: November 16

Reporters: Erin and Patrick     Photographer: Zach

 In class we wrote about something that reminds each of us of Thanksgiving.

We colored the paper with colored pencils and crayons.

When we are done we are showing them to our parents.

If I Ran the School by Erin
This week we took a survey. We went on a site and took a survey. We would fill in ten boxes on what our hobbies are and soon we will be partnered up with some one to help us learn about our interests.

Thanksgiving by Patrick
This Week we wrote about things that remind us of Thanksgiving. We also had to write why they reminded us of Thanksgiving.

Weekly Reflection: November 9

Reporters: Zach and Conor   Photographer: Ben

 Whatzit?

 When you do a quick jab, the Whatzit? acts like a solid.

When you do a slow poke, the Whatzit? acts like a liquid.

Whatzit? by Zach and Conor
 This week in science we made Whatzit. You might ask what is Whatzit? You mix cornstarch and water. We experimented to see if it is a liquid or a solid. We thought it was a liquid at first but, it was both. When we felt it we only felt the top, it felt like a liquid, but when we jabbed hard it felt like a brick.

Explode by Conor and Zach
Have you ever mixed vinegar with baking soda? Well this week in science we did, IT WAS AWESOME! When you mix baking soda with vinegar, BAM, IT EXPLODES! We observed what it would do in a bag. The bag puffed up with carbon dioxide and, IT WAS AWESOME! This was a example of a chemical reaction. I wish we could do that again.

Weekly Reflection: November 2

Reporters: Ben and Nathan    Photographer: Maura

Happy Halloween!

This is a picture from the Halloween parade. 

This is a picture of cups that have different materials in. We are seeing which one evaporates the fastest.

Halloween Party by Ben
At our Halloween party we played a game called Taboo. One person picked a card out of a paper bag. That person could only say one word. That person's team had to guess what it was. We also played a game called Bingo. At first we played 3 in a row. The mom showed two pictures and someone said Bingo already!! Then we played full board Bingo.  Thank you, room moms, for organizing this.

Evaporation Experiment by Nathan
We did an evaporation experiment yesterday.  We were supposed to find out if more evaporation happened in different sized opening containers.  We figured out that the larger opening container had the most evaporation.

Weekly Reflection: October 26

Reporters: Maura and Lauren     Photographer: Will

Orchestra Hall

Waiting for the concert to start

Watching the Symphony of Doom perform

Symphony of Doom by Maura

Today our class went to Orchestra Hall. We listened to some pieces of music that we have listened to in music class. There was very pretty architecture on the ceilings and walls, and the music was great. There was acting and the music helped us picture what the mimes and actors were doing. We got to sit on the balcony and had a great view of the show! I thought that is was a very fun and exciting field trip!

 Testing to see if air takes up space

 Using the scale to measure soap in different states

What the soap looks like as a solid

4th Grade Science by Lauren

This week on Tuesday we had a science morning.  We spent the whole morning learning about matter. We were trying to prove that air takes up space, and that if you change the state of matter then it will not change its weight.  We found out that it won't because you are not adding or taking away from your solid, liquid, or gas.

Weekly Reflection: October 19

Reporters: Lachlan and Will      Photographer: Madison

Matter Investigations

Mad Scientists!

 We carefully recorded our observations.

 Working together, we discovered properties of matter.

In one investigation, we observed how different materials responded to being stirred.  This is dish soap.

What's the Matter? by Lachlan
In science this week we learned about matter. We had balloons filled with different things. We were identifying how it felt and what it smelt like. We opened the balloons and we found out what was in them. We looked at the color of it and we tried to see the little pieces of what made it. Then we stirred them and piled it in a cup. We tried to see it it would stay like that. We tried to see if it was like a solid, liquid or a gas.

The Year of The Dog by Will
This week for the Year of The Dog we finished reading the book. We wrote on the blog about whether or not Pacy would have found her talent if she had not got the award for the book she made. If one thing in the story hadn't happened, she might not have found her talent. I think that The Year of the Dog is a really good book and everyone should read it.

Weekly Reflection: October 12

Reporters: Madison and Hannah    Photographer: Josh

Wacky Robot
(Pictures/Video taken on our new iPad2)

Wacky Robot Video

Wacky Robot by Madison
In science we made directions for a sandwich so we could see how exact a scientist has to be. We were supposed to make directions for a robot so we had to be super specific. Mrs. Cioni and Ms. Ford pretended to be the robot reading the instructions. If you didn't say in your directions "open the bread bag"they would go to the next set of directions. Only one person's directions got all the way through!  We wrote directions twice to make them better.

Field Museum Field Trip by Hannah
All the 4th graders were learning about Naive American tribes. So then we had a little fun at the Field Museum. We went inside a cool Pawnee Lodge and also saw a huge bison. We learned a ton.  See pictures of our field trip to the Field Museum of Natural History by clicking on this link.

Weekly Reflection: October 4

Reporters: Josh and Susie    Photographer: Grace

 Our class learning about pandas in Chinese class.

Our class singing a Chinese song.

Pandas Galore by: Susie

In Chinese class we watched a video about pandas. Pandas are from China. Pandas are xiao (small) when they are born, like a stick of butter.  They are da (big) when they get older.

Native American Real Estate by: Joshua

Yesterday, we  started our Native American project. We are moving a tribe we ( each group studied their own tribe ) studied to a new region and made keynotes on the old region, new region and adaptations in the new place.

Weekly Reflection: September 28

Reporters: Charles and Grace    Photographer: Lucy

TIME for KIDS

Each group read an article and completed a One Pager.

 Then, we discussed the articles with the class.

 This group led a discussion on the teacher strike.

 This group led a discussion on the endangered coral reefs.

 This group led a discussion on this year's drought.

This group led a discussion on whether or not kids should learn cursive.

Native American Jeopardy by Charles
We were learning about Early American cultural regions this week.  We learned how different tribes lived. Jeopardy helped us to study for our test.  It asked us questions like where the regions were at and what artifacts they used.  It was fun!

Skype with Mr. Malone by Grace
On Monday we talked with Mr. Malone through Skype because we were studying hurricanes last week and he fixes houses after hurricanes happen with Habitat for Humanity.  He is in New Orleans. He told us how much it costs for them to build a house and he said about 80 thousand dollars for only one tiny house. We also learned that he elevates the houses about 5 feet off the ground  so if it floods the water will not go in. It was so much fun!  See pictures and video of our Skype at the link below.

http://mrscionisclass.weebly.com/interview-with-mr-malone.html

Weekly Reflection: September 21

Reporters: Patrick and Lucy /Photographer: Erin

Detectives in Action

 Cutting out artifacts

 Reading about regions

 Taking notes

 Discussing our different opinions

 Recording evidence

Detectives in action

Detective Work by Patrick
We were being detectives by reading passages in our History Alive book and predicting what the Native Americans used in the different regions.  We used clues from the text like the resources they had and what needs they had.

Student Elections by Lucy
This week everybody voted for student counsel  president. Fifth grade candidates put up posters, and made speeches. Today we all voted online.

Weekly Reflection: September 14

Reporters: Erin and Zach   Photographer: Conor

Our Dot Day Activity:

 We used markers and coffee filters.

 We designed our dots.

 We squirted our dots with water.

All of our dots.  WE MATTER!!!

International Dot Day by Zach

Today is International Dot Day.  Dot Day is all about showing others You Matter!!! In class we made our own dots with markers and coffee filters to show that we are all different. We sprayed them with water.

The Amazing Hurricanes by Erin

This week we studied Hurricanes. Hurricanes spin counter clockwise because of the earth's rotation. We did stations and one of them we got to research about hurricanes. It was so much FUN!!!

iFruit Winner: Lachlan

Lachlan was this month's winner of the iFruit basket.  Here's our class enjoying the prize- a tasty fruit arrangement of strawberries, oranges, and apples.  Thank you to the D25 Food Services for providing us with this healthy, refreshing snack.