This year's Art and Literature theme is "Africa". Outside of reading stories and looking at art and books, we were fortunate enough to enrich the student's learning about Africa with a visit from the Cape Cod African Drum and Dance Team last Thursday. It was such an amazing experience. The team not only came and performed, but they also got the student's up out of their seats, and involved them in playing African beats, and taught a couple African dance moves. We had a FANTASTIC time! A HUGE thank you to everyone involved!! Below are some pictures from the great afternoon!
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Following up our Northeastern Region curriculum in Social Studies, we were fortunate enough to visit the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum last Wednesday. We began inside with a quick overview of what the Wampanoag life was, and then headed into the Wequ outside. (Wequ is another name for Wetu.) The students first learned how the structures were built, they investigated both inside, where mats were woven to provide walls, and outside where branches are bent, and tied together to form it's frame. The student's learn got to learn about the different roles men, women, and children played. They learned about the different chores everyone did, and even got to try out some of them on their own, grounding corn to make corn meal. Then the students learned about the different materials made from animal skin, fur, and bones. It was definitely a learning moment for all!
Afterwards, we headed outside to play a quick game of "ball" with a ball made out of deerskin, and deer fur. The student's found out that many of the Wampanoag's used this game as a way of finalizing disputes between tribes, or other tribe members. They also got to spend some time in the garden. Gardens were a large part of the survival of the Wampanoag tribe. We learned about how they used different herbs for food, and medicine, and which crops were planted each Fall. The students also got to pick some beans. After that, we went inside where we learned about different Wampanoag Tribe Sachems (leaders), and the roles they played in their days. The students got to trace their travels, and timelines, as well. Lastly, the students got to each pick out a different musical instrument made from earth materials. They each started a beat, in which every other student followed, and Kitty then played her flute to go with each song. It was a great time had by all, and we are hoping to go back in the Spring to celebrate the Wampanoag New Year! (Thank you, Gina for accompanying us!) Good Afternoon Parents!
I hope everyone is enjoying the day off from school. I just wanted to send out a few reminders as we approach the middle of November. We will be going to the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum tomorrow, and Thursday is our last visit to the Chatham Upweller Facility. This visit wraps up our Life Science Unit, on Monday we move into Physical Science. The students have really enjoyed being able to be out in the "field" for most of our Life Science teachings. With the Physical Science Unit, we will not be heading out of the classroom, but will be doing more hand learning, and experiments in the classroom. These hands on experiments will help make a smooth transition when the students start their science fair projects at the end of January. SAVE THE DATE! Monday, November 17th the students will be presenting their play at morning meeting. They have been working very hard with Ms. Wadsworth since the beginning of the school year, and the play is sure to please! Morning meeting starts at 8:30am. I will have a sign-up sheet outside my classroom door for Parent-Teacher conferences. If for some reason the times posted do not work, please let me know. We can set up something before school any other day as well. Lastly, thank you all so much for reaching out about the holiday wrapping project. I am posting a sign-up sheet at the front of the school in the hallway. I am SO excited- it sure is going to be a hit! See everyone tomorrow! Best Regards, Mrs. Z I am starting a new blog post that will occur every Friday. I am calling it "Five For Friday". These blog posts will have 5 bullet points/questions that you should ask your child about. They will all be different, but will entail five separate things that the students learned that week. I am hoping this will be helpful to you, and will keep you engaged in what we are doing in the classroom. Of course we are learning much more than just 5 things each week, but it will engulf the bigger picture. Hope you enjoy! As we are starting to wrap up our life science unit, the students learned this week all about the digestion process in humans. Of course I got the many "ew, gross" comments, but we got through the major parts of it, and at the end of the week all that really matters is that they learned something (: below are some pics of their flip book they created at the end of this lesson.
The Upweller Facility Trip in Chatham was a very successful one. Following our trip last Spring, the students were able to see how much the shellfish have grown. When we last visited, they were the size of grains of sand- they are now about a quarter of an inch to an inch long. The students were also asked to estimate how many quahogs were in each bucket. They broke up into groups, talked with each other, and ran ideas by each other to figure out the best way to count the quahogs without actually having to count them. Each group came up with similar ideas, they would count one graduated cylinder full first, and then tally how many times they filled up each cylinder...then add/multiply them when they were finished. GO 4TH GRADERS! It was a great project, and they worked cooperatively all along the way.
Good Afternoon,
I'm sorry, I forgot one addition to November. We will begin studying South Africa for the Art and Literature Faire. That being said, I am assigning each student a South African animal that they will be writing research papers about. They are receiving an animal fact sheet today that is due back to me on Wednesday, November 12th. They need to research and record 10 facts about their animal they are being given. I appreciate your help in advance. Thanks so much,Mrs. Z Hi Parents,
Happy November! We have a few things coming up this month that I wanted to send quick reminders about- I also have posted it on my blog. The students did an absolutely amazing job on their first book reports! I was so happy with how enthused they were. We will be starting our next book report today- Award Winning Book Report. Here is a link to where you can find the project choices on my blog. If you go to the drop down menu underneath book reports, you can also find suggestions for 4th grade award winning books. This does not mean that the students need to pick from these choices, but it's ideas for those of you who need them. I will also be going over the book report with the students today in class, and will be giving them a hard copy. The due date for the title of their book they are choosing in due on November 10th (next Monday). We have no school next Tuesday, November 11th, in honor of Veteran's Day. Also- we will be visiting the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum in Mashpee next Wednesday, November 12th. It will coincide with our recent trip to Plimoth Plantation, and touch our curriculum on States and Regions. (The Northeastern Region, specifically). Thursday, November 13th is when the Cape Cod African Drum and Dance Company will be visiting us. Thursday, November 20th, the students will be receiving their progress reports. I will have a sign up on my door for parent/teacher conferences which will take place on Wednesday, December 3rd 2-4pm. On Thursday, November 20th, we will also have the One World, One Rope visitors in the afternoon. On Friday, November 21st, Mr. Clayton will be bringing an orchestra to play for the students. We have no school the week of Thanksgiving, November 24th-28th. We will return to school on Monday, December 1st. Also, a reminder, I update the spelling words weekly on the blog. I also add pictures, updates on what we are doing in class, book report information, math links, wordly wise links, etc. So please make sure you are looking at it weekly (: As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me. Best Regards,Mrs. Z |
Ryann Zabielski
Elementary Director Archives
May 2015
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