From Home to Hogwarts

For our last week of school, we prepared for fun in the sun. Tuesday began with a cooking lesson.  We made Jello Pools and Rice Krispie Lawnmowers.  Delicious! Here are the chefs in action.

We then planned our very own “staycations.”  The kids built vacation forts and made videos sharing their creations along with sharing descriptions of the perfect summer day. Here are a few of the videos created by our class travelers.

Getting Ready for our Virtual Field Trip to the Magic Kingdom

Wednesday was filled with creativity and movement.  Students designed Mickey ears to show their personalities in preparation for our virtual field trip on Thursday.  What a creative group!

And then our wonderful Wednesday was the 2021 Virtual Field Day. What an active way to enjoy our last Wednesday of school!  Students chose 5-15 events and earned bronze, silver, and gold medals.  Way to go, athletes!

Thursday, with our mouse ears on, we headed to Disneyland for a day of virtual fun.  Here we are as we prepared to tour Walt Disney’s World. 

During our visit to Disneyland, we visited the Animation Academy and learned how to draw marvelous Mickey Mouse.  Look at our Mickeys.

And we wrapped up our Thursday with student made awards.  Everyone created and presented an award.  It was a special time to show everyone in our class how much they are valued. Here are just a few of the awards presented.

 

And we wrapped up our year with a day of magic.  We learned all about the history of magic tricks and even learned a few to try at home.  We also signed our virtual yearbook and created a beach ball of numbers to keep in touch this summer.  Here are a few fun photos of our last day in 4th grade.

Friday morning song and dance.  Something we always looked forward to.

We had a ball this year and collected emails and phone numbers to stay in touch.

It was a Year to Remember

It was such a great year!  I will look forward to seeing everyone back on campus at Santiago Hills in August.  Until then, as Harry Potter would say, “Have a magical summer!” I loved being your teacher this year. 

Thanks for coming to school each day.  

 

 

What an amazing group of kids!

This week we have enjoyed taking a walk down memory lane.  We created Memory Suitcases and shared things that we will always remember about our year together.  

We remembered writing some awesome graphic novels.

We remembered our Arctic STEM Challenge.

We remembered reading some amazing fantasy fiction books.

We remembered learning all about the California gold rush.

Reader’s Theatre

And then, this week, we made more special memories with our Reader’s Theatre performances. What a fun way to make stories come to life!  Here are some of our groups in action.  Well done, thespians!

Wearing Tie Dye to Show our Tiger Spirit

 

The ABC’s of 4th Grade

With the end of the year nearing, we got together in small groups to write about the ABC’s of 4th grade.  ABC books are informational text that provide content about a topic.  Take a look at each group’s book to learn all about the ins and outs of 4th grade.

Group 1

Group 2

 

Group 3

Group 4

 

Group 5

Group 6

Zooming Into Summer STEM Challenge

Our final STEM project of the year was titled ZOOMING into summer. Students read all about the invention of the wheel and engines and then created CD cars of their own.  Take a look at some of these fun videos of our cars ZOOMING through our houses.  What a great year it was, engineers!

Pollinators and Flowers

In science, we wrapped up our adaptations unit by creating 3D flowers that would attract different pollinators.  Take a look.  Can you figure out which flowers would best attract bees?  Hummingbirds?  Bats? 

It’s not too late to order a yearbook.  Follow the directions below to get your yearbook.

To wrap up our week, we worked in teams and did a scavenger hunt of information about Memorial Day.  We learned so much.  Then, we met Pop artist Romero Britto and learned about his works.  Romero is the most licensed artist in history and is famous for his colorful, joyful paintings.  We used his painting Freedom as inspiration for our own works.  The results were spectacular.  Take a look.

 

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We will look forward to seeing everyone back for our last week of 4th grade. 

Remember that there is no school Monday. 

Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 is our Summer Send-Off at Santiago Hills.

And then early dismissal on Friday, our last day. 

We are looking forward to a great week with our awesome class of 4th grade Muggles.

It’s been a special year!

 

 

 

This Tuesday night is our Student Showcase. Students are looking forward to welcoming you to their Museums of Change and sharing highlights and successes from the year. 

Students will also be sharing a final piece of writing and a recent STEM project. 

The showcase should take about 30-40 minutes with your child serving as your tour guide.  At the end of the evening, students will ask their families to share feedback with our class. Thank you in advance and enjoy the evening.  Your kids have so much to be proud of!  

Dear Families,

I wanted to dedicate this week’s blog post to thanking you all.  What a surprise to see  everyone gathered as I pulled into the parking lot on Friday!  The kids’ smiling faces warmed my heart as they serenaded with “Happy Birthday.”  I cannot thank you enough for taking time out of your day.  It was a treasured time that  I will always remember. Thank you too for the incredibly generous and thoughtful cards and gift cards.  My birthday came early, and it couldn’t have been better. Thanks to each of you!

As we begin the last two weeks of school, we have many fun and exciting things planned.  This week we have two Santiago Hills spirit days.  Tuesday is Tie Dye Tuesday, and students are invited to wear their tie dye.  Thursday is Patriotic Thursday.  Students are invited to wear their red, white, and blue.

Just a reminder that Friday is a Minimum Day and we will wrap up at 1:15. There is no school on Monday, May 31st in honor of Memorial Day.

And for the last week of school, there is a special End of the Year Celebration Drive By on Wednesday, June 2nd from 12:00-1:00 at Santiago Hills.  Students will remain in their cars as they drive by and receive a special end of the year gift. It will be our last time to see one another before fall.  I hope you can attend as it will be a wonderful way to wrap up our incredible year together.  I will look forward to seeing you all.

 

What a Sunsational Week!

Our Monday began with a writing celebration.  Students completed their graphic novels, and we took time to read and enjoy them.  This was a writing project filled with discovery.  Students learned how to reveal the arc of the story through dialogue and pictures, and the results left students smiling.  Here are some examples of our graphic novel panels.

Students wrote fantasy stories, fairy tales, and stories with lessons and morals.  It was exciting to see how students were able to develop important story ideas in this new genre.  Here are the beginnings of a couple novels.

Bright ideas and Document-Based Questions

This week we continued our DBQ project. Using 6 documents, students constructed arguments about who should be the face of California:  Steve Jobs or Walt Disney?  After researching the topic, students composed introductions for their essays.  

      Gold, airplanes, new technology. What do all these things have in common? They’ve all been discovered in California. No wonder “Eureka!” is the state motto of California, which means “I found it!” Many people have contributed to these discoveries. Two of the most important were Walt Disney and Steve Jobs. They changed California’s economy and culture for the better. Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, was an important animator in California history, and also made the popular amusement park, Disneyland. Jobs, the founder of Apple, was important in the history of technology, who created the personal computer and many other technological and sleek Apple products such as Iphones and Ipods. Both men served very important roles in California history, but who is worthy of being the face of California on our state stamp? It is Walt Disney who deserves the honor because of his amazing personality, his creative style, and his ability to lead successfully.

      What makes California, unlike other states? Its opportunities and discoveries. Likewise, the state motto of California is, “Eureka!,” a Greek word meaning, “I found it,” referencing the discovery of gold, which occurred before California was even a state. Two people who have made life-changing discoveries in the golden state are Walt Disney and Steve Jobs. Disney designed loveable childhood favorites such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck seen on TVs around the world, and he created Disneyland, one of the biggest tourist attractions in California. Steve Jobs created electronic devices such as the iPhone and iPad which changed the technology world forever. Both are admirable, but, who should be the face of the Golden State? Both had big personalities, creative styles, and great leadership skills, but Walt Disney outshone Steve Jobs in all three areas and should, therefore, be California’s face on the new state stamp. 

     Throughout history, California has been a land of discovery. James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill years before California was named the 31st state. Later, two resilient men achieved success too. Steve Jobs and Walt Disney were both out-of-the-box thinkers who changed the world for the better. Jobs created the company Apple which sold thousands of advanced but minimalistic technological devices that grew California’s economy. Disney, on the other hand, is known for his fun theme park, Disneyland, and his accomplishments in the movie industry. Both men were very influential and innovative in California’s history. But the question is, who should be the face of California? Although Steve Jobs changed California, Walt Disney is worth honoring because of his powerful personality, his creative style, and his ability to lead others to success. 

• Body Paragraphs

Writers then moved to the body paragraphs.  Our continued focus this year has been organizing ideas and evidence to support our claims and reasons. Here are just a few body paragraphs writers have composed.

     Steve Jobs had an interesting personality. First, he was quite intense. This made Jobs a bit hard to impress and work with, but his intensity gave him the drive to work very hard. He not only worked for profit but also worked with a  “higher purpose” of making the world a better place. (Doc B) Moreover, Jobs was very rebellious. Again according to Document B, Jobs often parked in the handicap space. He didn’t feel like rules that seemed unjust applied to him. His rebelliousness allowed him to think differently. His company made simple designs for computers instead of the previous, larger, clunky, models. This not only brought Apple success but also permanently changed the computer industry. Finally, Jobs was very willful. This is important because Jobs was stubborn and wouldn’t give up. When his inventions didn’t work, he tried again, over and over, until he succeeded. Even though Disney had many traits that led to his success, Jobs’s traits allowed him to be even more successful. Because of his intensity, rebelliousness, and his willfulness, Jobs is the best person to become the face of California.

     Along with a strong personality, Walt Disney also had a creative style. Disney’s style was playful. The note in Document C states, “In creating Disneyland, Disney wanted to capture the small-town atmosphere of his youth, as well as showcase Disney films and characters.” In other words, Disney used colorful patterns  on his  different buildings that were spread out and not too tall. This made Disneyland not as overwhelming as other theme parks and gave it a magical appearance.  In addition, Disney’s creative style was  harmonious. In Document C, the author writes, “Disney’s theme parks weren’t like the others. Everything was harmonious, soft, and unthreatening.” Other theme parks were noisy and chaotic, Disneyland was more inviting and calming, making it every kid’s dream. Lastly, Walt Disney’s creative style was unique. In Document C, the author states, “Walt Disney was the purveyor (seller) of comfort…” Rather than being bustling, loud, and crowded,  Disneyland was a safe place to relax and enjoy the day. Admittedly, Steve Jobs had a minimalistic style with simple designs that were  easy to handle.  Sadly, none of his designs gave the owner quite the same feeling the small-town home of Disneyland provided With his playful, harmonious, and unique designs, Walt Disney is the perfect person to be the face of California.

Stock Market Highs and Lows

This week in math, we have been learning all about the stock market. We are investing  in imaginary companies and  learning a lot about finance.  Here’s a look at one investor’s stock records.

Amazing Adaptations 

In science this week, we explored plant and animal adaptations and then created our own animals with 5 structural adaptations and 3 behavioral adaptations.  Students created slide shows describing their animals and then received a mystery environment and needed to explain whether or not their newly created animal could survive.  Here is a sample of our projectM

Meet the Birdox

 

 

Meet the Rishard

Meet the Dragon-Lobster

 Meeting Henri Rousseau-Friday Art

To accompany our study of adaptations, animal seems like a terrific choice. We focused on the overlapping techniques of Henri Rousseau as we created our toucan scenes.  The results were stunning.

May Bag Pick-Up

Our last bag pick-up will be at Castle Park from 4:00-5:00 next Friday, May 21st. Students should plan to return the 6 books received at our last pick-up in their blue bag.  In return, students will receive a special bag filled with fun supplies we will use the last week of school.  Can’t wait to see you there!

Millionaires for the Month

Olympus Academy

When You trap a Tiger

Hidden Figures

Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change

Heroes, Gods, and Monsters

 

 

We had a wonderful first week of May.  It was a week of joy and laughter as we learned together.  This is such a special group of kids, and I am so grateful that we have gotten to share this year together. 

Heartfelt Gratitude

Thank you too for making Teacher Appreciation Week so special for me. The  Kudo compliments, generous gift cards, and kind notes and emails are greatly appreciated. What a special group of parents we have in our class!  You make me feel valued each and everyday.  Thank you, so much!

 

 

This week we continued to celebrate famous people of the 20th century whose contributions continue to make our lives easier and more enjoyable still today.  As part of this event, students not only dressed the part, they also prepared a gift for our great state that represented their life’s work.

Here are a few of the special presentations we enjoyed at the Golden State Gathering. 

Meet Ray Kroc

Meet Jane Addams

Meet Walt Disney

Meet Audrey Hepburn

Meet Martha Graham

Meet Louis B. Mayer

Meet Frank Lloyd Wright

 

Our Final DBQ of the Year

Our final DBQ this year incorporates our study of famous people from the 20th century

We are busy reading about both of these special people in preparation for our final opinion essay of the year. We think this is going to be a tough decision.

Interesting Infographics to Keep Us Earthquake Safe

As we wrapped up our earthquake unit, students created infographics detailing their knowledge and tips for how to stay safe in earthquake prone California.  Take a look and begin preparing today.

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Exploring Animal Adaptations

This week during science time, we went on a webquest to learn all about protective coloration, camouflage, mimicry, structural, functional, and behavioral adaptations.  We are looking forward to designing our own animals that can survive in different environments.  

Math Function Table Tile Cards

In math, we continued working with positive and negative integers as well as function tables.  We solved math puzzles as we problem solved.

And we wrapped up our week creating “handy bouquets of thanks” for our incredible moms.  Here’s a look at some of our finished gifts of thanks.  Happy Mother’s Day to all our incredible moms.

Student Showcase Coming Soon

And in celebration of our wonderful year together,  we are planning an evening for the students to showcase how they have grown and changed this year. Plan to visit our Museum of Change (virtually)  with your child (from your home) on the evening of Tuesday, May 25th.  It’s going to be a great time of celebration.

 

We wrapped up the month of April with

a myriad of marvelous moments.  Take a look.

 

Marvelous Moments at the Golden State Gathering

This week in social studies we prepared for the Golden State Gathering.  Each student researched a famous person from the 20th century. On Friday, dressed in costume, students presented a one minute speech on their famous people and presented a gift to the golden state that represented his/her contribution to the world. Here are a few of our gathering guests.

  

Marvelous Math Moments

In math, we worked on adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers with x. Here’s a sample of some of our solutions. Way to go, Math Wizards!

We also worked with area and perimeter in word problems. 

Marvelous Reading and Writing Moments

This week we combined our reading and writing skills as we met in book clubs.  As the week began, clubs discussed similarities and differences in the first two books of the Olympus Academy trilogy.

Then, clubs moved onto discussing the themes that run through the trilogy.

Marvelous Moments in Writer’s Workshop

We conferenced about our graphic novel scripts and began illustrating our very own graphic novels.  This week, we are completing our novels and we are looking forward to sharing them next Monday during our writer’s celebration.

Students have been doing a great job with our cursive lessons as well. This week we wrapped up the lower case letters.  Take a look at some of the beautiful penmanship in our class.

Marvelous Moments in Science

We are so excited to begin our science unit on structures of life.  We began with a webquest exploring structural and behavioral adaptations in animals.  This week we will be creating animals of our own and then we will be determining if they could survive in three different mystery environments.  It should be fun!

Most Marvelous Moment 

And we wrapped up our week with a most marvelous moment thanks to Aashi and her mom.  They were our lunch time chefs who taught us how to make Zebra Cake.  Thank you again for a wonderful cooking lesson!

 

 

A stands for algebra.  B is for base isolation systems, and C is for clown art. It really was another awesome April week filled with an array of different activities.

Hands-On Equations

In math, we are growing our algebra skills with Hands-On Equations. Take a look at some of the different expressions and equations we have been solving.

In addition, while working with probability, we explored the concept of fairness in games.  Our project involved creating a fair math game with a theme. Look out Mattel, here come the From Home to Hogwarts kids.

Thanks to our families for playing our games with us and providing feedback. We learned a lot about the importance of correct answers, what makes for a good game length, and how to assure that games are fair. 

Our Adventures at

Olympus Academy Continue

 

 

This week as we began the second book in the trilogy, we explored the concept of power in literature.  We also enjoyed our book club discussions.  Look at our clubs’ creativity as they shared slides that show what they are discovering.

Then, we wrote individual responses to the question. Take a look.

      Zeus has the most power in the story. First of all, Zeus has the power to kick anyone out of Olympus Academy. Since Zeus is the king of the gods, he gets to control the academy. Everyone had to comply with his decisions whether it was good or bad. Most people were afraid of him, since he had the power to do anything, specifically throwing lightning bolts and punishing the bad. Even the relatives of Zeus were powerful. For example, Astra and Vronti are Zeus descendants. They have many powers that they could control well, making them powerful too. In addition, Zeus is the most powerful because he made the Academy students feel nervous or afraid. In the story, Icarus and Pandora were feeling nervous about Zeus. They were afraid that they might get kicked out of the school by him. This proves that even if you are tough, you might be still afraid of Zeus. To prove this, Pandora stands up for herself and is tough about things, and Icarus can handle being talked rudely about. However, Zeus still made them feel unsure and scared. As you can see, Zeus has the most power throughout the story.

     The person who has the most power in the story is Zeus. One reason that Zeus is the most powerful person in The Titan’s Treasure is that even if it is unreasonable, Zeus can find a reason to expel any student. The story stated that if Zeus wanted to, he would find a reason to expel any student. Zeus has this power because he is the ruler of the gods. This power could be both good and bad. He could use his powers to expel those he thinks who stand as a threat to the school. However, he also has the power to expel good people for a bad reason such as Pandora and Icarus who would have been kicking out just because they were a titan descendant if it weren’t for their victory against the sea demon. Another reason that Zeus is the most powerful in The Titan’s Treasure is that he has control over the titans that remained after the war. Zeus had the power to chain Prometheus to a rock and have birds peck out his liver for eternity. If Pandora or Icarus breaks the rules at the academy, Zeus can have them sealed off or maybe killed. This could be beneficial because then the demon that came to school as a teacher could be potentially kicked out by Zeus. However, his power acts like chains to Pandora and Icarus. They cannot explore very far. Zeus has the power to change the whole story.

  Arketa has power in the story The Titan’s Treasure. She influences what many other people think of Pandora. For instance, Arketa insults Pandora, calling her a little Titan scum. Many people hear her (including her siblings, Kiko and Filis) and, because she has power, start to believe her and show even more hatred towards Pandora being a Titan. Additionally, she blames Pandora for stealing the souls of several students at Olympus Academy, including Kiko, whom she (arketa) loved dearly. She causes Pandora’s temper to thin and other people start to seem to like Arketa because many people hate titans, they use Arketa as a power to use against Pandora. The missing souls are causing people to become skeptical towards the one Titan (besides Icarus) in the academy mainly because of Arktea’s bullying. Finally, Arketa actually makes Pandora stronger in a way. If you think about it, Arketa bullies Pandora through Titan’s Treasure, right? Well, it makes Pandora want to fight back more and more. Therefore, one of the only ways she could seriously fight back is using her powers. She releases her powers, and fights back. Arketa certainly has bad power in the Titan’s Treasure.

Simulated Quakes- Testing our Houses

    For our STEM challenge this week, we built base isolation systems for our houses we constructed last week.  Here are a few of the systems built.

We then learned all about civil engineers and material scientists and engineers. We determined which career sounded most interesting and composed paragraphs about which career we would choose.  

 

 

Like the old  saying says, “April showers bring May flowers.”  On Tuesday, we actually saw a few slight showers come to Southern California. Unlike the rain that was more of a sprinkle, this week our class has been showered with creative thinking.  Enjoy this week’s newsletter and some of the fun ways students showed what they are learning.  

Getting to Know the Gods and Goddesses

After selecting gods and goddesses that interested us, we read many stories about them.  We gathered important main ideas and created MISSING and WANTED posters.  Take a look at what our class readers had to say about these interesting mythological creatures.

Cursive 

One of our 4th grade standards is cursive writing.  We have been reviewing  lower case letter formations and practicing together with some lovely results.  

Earthquake Engineering

This week in science, we learned all about base isolation systems and tuned mass dampers (absorbers) in anticipation of building our own earthquake resistant homes.  The results were earth shakingly interesting. Take a look at some of our houses.  Next week, we will test them on a shake table and see how they survive the simulated quake.  In addition, this week we will be getting tips from other scientists on how we might improve our designs before our great shake out.

The Trojan Horse Reading and Racing

This week we read the graphic novel The Trojan Horse.  We sequenced key events in the story and then wrote ACE responses to the question Was the Trojan Horse a good way to handle the situation? Take a look at some of our scholars’ thoughts.

We then built Trojan horses of our own to see which designs would travel the farthest down a 3 feet ramp. We had so much fun, and the results were amazing!

Drawing Zeus

We wrapped up our week with our Friday art lesson.  This week, we learned some drawing tricks that we will use in our graphic novels.  To practice our techniques, we drew Zeus.  This was a fun connection to our reading  of Olympus Academy this week. Here are some our mythological masterpieces.

It was another wonderful week of 4th grade.  I hope everyone has a great weekend, and we’ll see everyone Monday morning.

Galloping Into a Great Week

It was great to have everyone back at school this week.  During our Friday art lesson, we learned  how to use simple shapes like circles to draw something like a horse.  Take a look at our class masterpieces that began with just 4 circles.

 

We were excited to begin Hands-On Equations.  This is a wonderful program that teaches algebraic concepts using a digital balance scale, pawns as x’s, and number cubes.  Here’s a look at some of the Hands-On Equation work that we did this week.

We were all excited to begin learning  about the graphic novel writing process from famed author Gene Yang. We brainstormed ideas for our novels, drew illustrations of our characters and setting, and began outlining our stories. Here are some of the characters you’ll meet in our upcoming stories.

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We have been devouring mythology books on EPIC.  After completing two webquests that introduced us to the Greek gods, students selected a god or goddess to explore more deeply.  We are working on WANTED and MISSING posters for our gods and goddesses.  Look for them next week.

Earthquake Engineering

This week, we have been learning all about earthquakes and volcanoes and how scientists use patterns to develop theories.  After mapping the Ring of Fire, we used an online tool called the Earthquake Explorer to learn all about famous earthquakes and volcanoes throughout history.  Here’s a look at one of our maps.

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Finally,  in this week’s STEM challenge we learned all about kites and how they are fly.  We built our own kites and flew them.  The videos submitted are filled with smiles and joy.  What fun it is to see everyone enjoying learning so much! Here are just a few videos to enjoy.  Well done, STEMgineers!

Ethan’s video

Ariana’s video

Ritvik’s video

Jay’s video

Sophie’s video

Joseph’s video