Fractured Fairytales

Today the fourth graders are taking home their first major writing project of the year.  After reading folktales and fairytales from different cultures around the world, the girls began writing their own "fractured" fairytales in which they could change one major aspect of a well-known tale. Even just a change to the setting or main character of a story often altered the entire tale's trajectory. The fourth graders loved getting creative with this project, and their published books infuse wit and, often, humor into familiar stories.

Last week, we celebrated the girls' accomplishments with a Publishing Party with the first grade. Each fourth grader read her story aloud to a group of students, and we finished the party off with a "Sparkling Lemonade Toast" to the authors.  Be sure to read your daughter's tale tonight!

French: L'Afrique Francophone

Last week, we concluded our unit on French-speaking Africa. The girls created fantastiques posters on countries such as Madagascar, le Congo, Djibouti, le Mali, and more. They described la géographie, le climat, and le drapeau, among other things. In the pictures below, they are viewing and taking notes on their classmates' projects.

From the Library

Fourth graders started off the year with a few great books:
Charlotte Moundlic's The Bathing Costume
Kate Coombs' The Secret Keeper
Michael Catchpool's The Cloud Spinner
Odile Weulersee's Nasreddine
Lenore Look's Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding

They've also just finished the Partner Book project. In pairs, they chose a book to read together as a mini book group and then presented their book to the class. They included:

Title, Author, Date of Publication
A brief description of the plot (no spoilers!)
Something about the story upon which they enthusiastically agree
Something about the book about which they politely disagree
Their thoughts on who might love this book

The girls enjoyed their five minutes in the limelight.

Happy Halloween!

The 4th Graders had so much fun at today's Halloween parade and party. Thank you to all of the parents who sent in goodies and volunteered! Happy Halloween to all!

Making in Computer Science

Throughout the year, fourth grade students learn how to use various tools and machines that will be used for projects in science, art, and for the International Bazaar.  Below are the girls learning how to solder in preparation for adding lights to their 3rd grade doll houses.  The girls are also learning how to use the Cricut machine and design program to create light up birthday cards!

Art_Imagery of Our World

The fourth graders have come up with 3 or more symbols of their world considering who they are as individuals, members of groups, and citizens of the world. They have morphed the symbols together to create a surrealist metaphor of their own world thinking about their culture, their interests, their passions, their strengths, their people and their places. This work of art which focuses on who they are sets them up to look at art around the world. They learned the complexity of symbols and personal meaning and going forward will be curious about other places and people using the prompt: I notice, I wonder, I think. 


Changing a literal object into a metaphorical symbol...

Combining imagery to create new meaning...

In process, blending colors to complete...

Science: Fun with Magnets!

By playing with magnets and doing experiments with them, we discovered their properties. We tested various objects to see which materials are attracted to a magnet.

Holding a magnet beside a dish filled with iron filings allowed us to view the force field around the magnet.

We experimented to find out what materials magnetic force would travel through. We played a game with a magnetic "boat" (a ping pong ball with a sail on top and a magnet on the bottom.)  By changing the polarity of the magnets surrounding the boat, we were able to move it from place to place. 

We had a great time as we worked in groups of 2-3 to develop our own original magnetic games. It was fun to show them to the class and then to play each other's games!