Third Nine Weeks, Week 9

Reading: The students will begin small book clubs this week, reading and discussing books in small groups.

Language Arts: The students are finishing up their hero essays this week as well as writing a short story in the style of Mike Thaler, the author coming to visit Shades Cahaba next week.

Math: The students have done a spectacular job of adding and subtracting fractions!  We will add a little complication this week as we add in mixed numbers and improper fractions.  We will also begin multiplying whole numbers with fractions.  If you happen to be doing some cooking over the next few weeks where you need to do some doubling or tripling in a recipe, show your fourth grader and see if he/she can help you!

Science: We are going to be doing some exciting things in science this week!  Last week, the students discovered how to make a light bulb light up and just what it took to complete a circuit.  This week, we'll be doing some more work with electricity as students investigate circuits more in depth as well as conductors and insulators.  We'll be spending some time in the Maker's Space as well!

Magic City Harvest

Magic City Harvest is a local organization that works to get food to people who need it.  They coordinate with restaurants, grocery stores, and even schools to collect some of the left over food and take it shelters around town.  Over the past two days, the students have diligently painted gorgeous bowls to help Magic City Harvest with a fundraising campaign called the Empty Bowl Project.  They took special care and time painting these bowls knowing that they would go to someone else's home and in the process raise money for a wonderful organization.  I'm so proud of these kiddos!  

To find out more about the fundraiser, visit Magic City Harvest's website. 

Third Nine Weeks, Week 8

Reading: We will continue to look at figurative language this week.  There will be a test on Friday where students will need to identify different types of figurative language as well as write some of their own examples.

Language: The students are typing their hero essays this week.

Math: The students have really been doing a great job with fractions.  Our focus this week is on adding and subtracting fractions.  We are also beginning to look into the relationship between mixed numbers and improper fractions.

Science: We are beginning our electricity unit this week as the students investigate complete circuits.

Alabama History: We will finish our unit on Statehood this week with a test on Friday.  Students should know the steps to becoming a state, the state capitals and the three branches of government.

Maker Space

The Homewood City Schools Foundation generously granted a great deal of funds to Shades Cahaba to use as a Maker Space classroom.  This classroom is about as cool as it can get complete with a Lego wall, tools, robots, iPads, and dry-erase tables.  The teachers will be using this classroom to teach science and engineering in a variety of ways.  Today, our class went to the Maker Space room to experiment with some of the items in the room.  The students had a spectacular time!

Snap Circuits

Dash and Dot Robots

Sphero Robot

Little Bits

Snap Circuits

Lego Wall

Little Bits

Dash and Dot

Add caption

Code.org

Dash and Dot Robots

Sphero

Third Nine Weeks, Week 7

We are looking forward to the Winter Festival this Saturday from 12-4!

Reading: We are continuing to look at a variety of figurative language.  Students should be on the lookout for similes, metaphors, hyperboles, idioms, personification, onomatopoeias, and alliteration.  I also hope to see the students using these in their writing.

Language: Students are planning and drafting their essays about their heroes.

Math: We are still focusing on fractions this week, in particular adding and subtracting fractions.

Alabama History: The students will be learning about the three branches of government.  If you haven't had a discussion with your child about who you support for the upcoming presidential election, and why, this may be a good week to do so!

Owlmazing Race

What an Owlmazing Day we had!  The students were dressed up so fabulously to represent Team Gryffindor, they had a wonderful time moving through the different activities, they were great sports, they cheered each other on, helped each other out and had so much fun!  Thank you for helping to prepare their costumes, helping to make the games and activities possible, and for your donations of sponsorship for this event.  What a wonderful day!

Solving Math Problems

Wellness Jeopardy

2 miles in 5 minutes

A huge thank you to Allison Langley for helping to design the poster!

Moving marshmallows with chopsticks

Planning a Healthy Meal

Bounce Brigade