Read Across America

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday and Read Across America on March 2nd, we dressed "Seussically" and visited Mrs. Parnell's kindergarten class to read Dr. Seuss books together.  Our fourth graders loved the opportunity to share some of their favorite books with our new friends.  Check out the pictures of our awesome outfits and our reading adventures below!

PARCC Parent Tech Night

The BPS EdTech Team will be hosting a Parent Tech Night on Wednesday, March 18 from 6-8PM at Marshall Simonds Middle School. Join us to learn about the 2015 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments for grades 3-8 in Burlington schools. Participants will be able to explore practice tests and experience features of the PARCC TestNav application being used by students during the assessments.

Please register to attend the March 18 PARCC Parent Tech Night here.

Burlington students in grades 3-8 will be completing the PARCC assessments for English Language Arts and Math during the week of March 23-27. Students will be using their 1:1 iPads for the tests. The BPS EdTech and IT Teams have been preparing student devices and helping to support teachers and students for the upcoming assessments.

For further information check out: http://www.bpsedtech.org/2015/03/04/parent-tech-night-parcc/

Water Cycle Reader's Theater

During the past few weeks we have been practicing reading with expression.  To reinforce this skill, we worked with Mrs. Ardizzoni and Miss Fallon to take part in a Reader's Theatre about the Water Cycle.  We practiced our lines and read them from cue cards while wearing "costumes" in front of the green screen.  We even drew our own backgrounds that will show up behind us in the final project.  Check out our progress below:

The water cycle begins with the sun and water.

Tristan and Alyvia were ocean droplets that turned into water vapor.

Emma learned the importance of the sun to beginning evaporation.

Theo learned that water vapor turns into a cloud.

Brian condensed to become a snowflake that falls out of the cold cloud.

Ellie and Catalina melted into stream water and river water droplets riding the rapids.

Caitlyn and Paul learned what it would be like in a reservoir and to be tapwater.  I hope nobody drinks them or brushes their teeth with them. Ew!

From there, CJ learned what it would be like to be in a drain pipe.  Yikes!

Ayden was proud to be the sewage processing plant that "can even give bath water a bath!"

The process begins again as the water returns to the ocean.

Mrs. Ardizzoni used an ipad to video us.

 While others recorded their parts, we did an art activity to demonstrate the water cycle.

THE WATER CYCLE

Recent Happenings in 213

We have certainly had a lot of snow during the past few weeks, but that hasn't stopped our amazing 4th graders from doing some phenomenal things! Check out what we have been up to!

Mr. Musselman helped us wrap up our unit on matter. We learned about physical and chemical changes. What happens when you pour hot water on an ice cube? When you drop alka seltzer into water, what will you see and feel? What kind of change occurs?

Observation

Discussion

What does it feel like?

Taking notes

 What would the particles look like?

 

Pouring water into the bag with the Alka Seltzer tablet.

Some of us were concerned the bag would explode!

Patterns are all around us! The Burlington Science Center's latest traveling exploration is about patterns found in nature. We learned about patterns that help animals camouflage, constellations, patterns in earthquakes measured by a seismograph, and bird songs. We observed a toad, crayfish, and compared guppies with adult fish. There was even a tiger to touch! Yikes!

 

I wonder if there will be an earthquake in Burlington.

What habitat would best suit a tiger based on the pattern of its fur?

Patterns in electricity

What patterns help Frodo, the toad survive?

I wonder what type of turtle this is.

ROAR!

Have you ever been on a train? Our latest adventure in Social Studies is a train tour of the Northeast region. We have learned about some of the key geographical features of the region, as well as understanding why it is known as "the birthplace" of the United States.  Our first stop was to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Maine.  Miss Fallon is helping us draw our own lighthouses that will catch the light of our classroom windows.