It's Rocket Time in 213!

Do you know of Sir Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion? Fourth graders are learning all about force, motion and flight.  We are going to actually demonstrate Newton's third law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction!

Each year our amazing Burlington Science Center helps  as we learn about this topic by acquiring rockets to build in our classrooms.  Then Ms. Pavlicek and Mr. Musselman come to our school and assist us as we set them off.  Join the fourth graders of Pine Glen on Friday, October 31st as we watch how gravity, lift, thrust, and drag are put into effect.  

3...2...1...BLAST OFF!

It takes a lot of listening skills, following directions carefully and teamwork to build our rockets.  Check out the progress we made this week!  Captions written by the students of 213.

Tristan and Theo cutting out parachutes for our rockets

Cutting and measuring the strings together

Parachutes in the making!

Building my parachute had lots of steps!

Teamwork and rocket building in 213!

Neighbors tying parachute strings

We are attaching our nosecones.

Parachute time!

Theo cutting out fins for his rocket!

Kids working hard to make their fins.

Working hard!  Trying to make awesome fins for a rocket!

Coloring rocket fins. Aren't they pretty?

Decorating my awesome fins!!!!!! :o)

Read Aloud

Did you know that President Taft was tone deaf and that he is the only president to have sworn in two other presidents?  He was also the first president to own a car and the last to keep a cow at the White House.  Perhaps you did know that President Taft was a rather large man.

Today, Judy read us a story called President Taft is Stuck in the Bath.  This is a hilarious story about an incident at the White House that required a lot of assistance.  As a result of the conundrum, a personalized and quite large bathtub was created for the 27th President. It is questionable as to whether or not this account is true, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  

Our class measured out the 8 foot by 4 foot bathtub that was supposedly built for the President after the event and then we tried to see how many fourth graders would fit in it.  We determined that our entire class could fit inside standing up and sitting scrunched up, but there were a few of us left out when we sat comfortably in the tub.

Tremont

TREMONT IS FINALLY HERE! We are so excited to meet our furry friend. He has been hopping around our classroom and checking out the work that the students are doing. His favorite spot to sit is under the rocking chair. Some of our awesome 213ers were inspired to write about our classroom pet. Check out his biopoem below.

Tremont

Class pet of 213

Lover of carrots, hay and bouncing

Who feels passionate about lettuce, anxious to hop, and is excited to be back with Mrs. Visocchi

Who needs to play, jump and get exercise

Who gives our room excitement, energy and a thrilling feel

Who fears getting stomped on, coming out of his cage, and who fears being alone

Who would like to brighten up the classroom, go in and out of his cage whenever he wants, and see Snoopy dance

Resident of Burlington

Visocchi

By Ella and Emma

Confidentiality Meeting

If you are interested in coming into our classroom to volunteer or in being a chaperone for a field trip in the spring, it is now mandatory to have BOTH an updated CORI form on file as well as attending a confidentiality meeting.  The next meeting is with Mr. Lyons this FRIDAY, October 10th at 8:30am.

Enrichment

Enrichment!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

    This year the fourth grade has 2 enrichment activities already booked that support our Social Studies and our Science curriculum.  Lowell Mills will be sending a representative to Pine Glen in the beginning of December to do an enrichment program with us about immigration.  This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to do some hands-on activities and to gain a deeper understanding of the immigration process.

    Another exciting activity that will be taking place in October is Rocket Day.  The students will have the opportunity to build a rocket and then to blast it off on October 31st in the Pine Glen side parking lot beginning at 9AM.  Parents will be invited to this event.  Please check your child’s folder and the fourth grade teachers’ blogs to learn more.  This is a great Science activity that reinforces our force, motion, and flight unit.  

    The cost for these events is $15.  Please make checks out to Pine Glen 4th Grade or send cash to your child’s teacher by Monday, October 20th.

We are still looking into booking at least one additional field trip in the spring.  

Thank you!

Mrs. Visocchi

Ms. Hayes

Mrs. Finn

Read Alouds

Every two weeks, Judy comes in and reads aloud a picture book to our ELA class.  Judy was a volunteer as part of The Bridges program, Growing Older, Growing Together, which is in intergenerational program that brings fourth grade students and older adults of our community together. Our ELA class will participate in this program in January. Judy continues to volunteer her time apart from the program in our classroom.  We love listening to the stories that she shares with us.  Today we read Steven Kellogg's The Mysterious Tadpole. We typically follow up the reading with a writing, drawing, or ipad activity.  Today, inspired by the tadpole in the story who eats cheeseburgers, we made an ordinary animal extraordinary, gave it a name, and decided what it would eat by drawing it using our Drawing Pad app.

Social Scientists

Taking notes

Discussing what we learned

Exploring artifacts

Working together!

 

Making posters

Final products

Our first Social Studies unit is learning about the four social scientists (geographer, economist, historian, and political scientist).  The students read and took notes about the scientists in their Social Studies Alive! textbooks.  Then we did an activity in groups with artifact bags to determine which artifact each scientist would use.  For example, an economist would use receipts to understand the way people spend money, while a geographer looks at maps and nature. To show what they learned, the fourth graders brought in pictures and examples from home of artifacts that each scientist might use and placed the items on posters.  Finally, they presented the posters to our class and displayed them in the hall for others to enjoy.