Tales Of A 4-5 Something

It is getting closer to the end of the school year and for many of us it will be the last year in the Lower School.  I want to tell you about the final project in math.  It is the culminating project called The World's Fair.  It is really exciting because you have to learn about a country and share what you learn with math.  We will make a 2D or 3D village that will hold all of our reporting.  Japan, Germany, Greece. Chile, Cambodia, Greece, Italy, England, France, Brazil, China, Egypt, and Ireland are the countries we are looking at.  We will use books and some websites. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_countrystats.html http://www.nationmaster.com/countries http://www.geohive.com/ Culminating means wrapping up.  We are wrapping up our math classes but we have a lot of fun and hard work left to do.  We will post some pictures once we get going.   - Lucy

A Sketch of our species and an identification card. We just started our last S/SS class of the year focused on Urban Ecology with Linda and Kai and Invasive Species with Tim and Nancy.  We will focus on drawing nature, finding data in nature, and sharing our data with the scientists at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute .  The scientists will see if our information is true and if it is they will use it for their own research.  I wonder if there are invasive species of plants on campus?   - Lucy You can look at our data by following the link to Vital Signs .  Explore the data for Nancy Leaf, Nancy Root, Nancy Stem, Nancy Seed, Kai Leaf, Kai Stem, Kai Root, Kai Seed, Linda Lead, Linda Stem, Linda Seed, Linda Root, Tim Root, Tim Seed, Tim Stem, and Tim Leaf. An invasive species on Spring St. Data Collecting An invasive species on Danforth St. Data Collecting Observing Urban Ecology Nature Journaling Observing Urban Ecol...

Sure, making your IP may be tough but it is nothing compared to when it is time to present.  The day before you present it seems like ALL the pressure is on you.  You know that when you go up in front of your parents and friends, to read out loud from your couple pages all about your topic, that it is literally now or never.  I was the very first person from my homestation to present this year.  My nerves were shakier than they had been ever been before.  I stood up and read the whole 2 pages.  Sure I messed up a ton but it felt absolutely AMAZING to be rewarded with all the claps and cheers!   After that, everything was back to normal and man did it feel great to not have any more deadlines.  That day you know that when you come home you will be congratulated by your parents because they were there too.  To me I was a bit embarrassed when my parents congratulated me but that was probably because I knew that I got some of my facts mixed up wi...

Have you ever wondered what we do that everyone is always talking about in 4-5? Well, here is one of the things; an IP. So what is an IP? An IP is when you write a research paper on a subject that connects to what we studied or will study this year.  There also has to be a good book on the subject that we can read over February break. Aside from crafting a research paper you also create a visual aid, which is a piece of art that represents the subject. So, today I presented my IP on the Dust Bowl to Linda’s and Tim’s homestation and the families of the others that presented after me. Writing the paper was not too hard and the subject was quite interesting but it was very sad. Both my parents came as well as my brother and his girlfriend. I presented first and I was really nervous.  At first, when I came to the front of the room to present, I was very tense. As I got farther into the paper I got more comfortable. However, I was shaking and still very nervous. Afterwards, I aske...

Not warmed up for math class when you really need to be? Well thanks to Tim there’s a solution for that. All you have to do is go into Tim’s home station and find the morning math problem. The math problem will be displayed prominently across the SMARTBoard screen. Fill in your name, the date, and the problem title on an answer sheet. There will be space below to show your work. Don’t forget to check! On Friday, Tim will announce the winner and that lucky person will win a reasonable treat for their time. They also get their face on the Math-Wall-Of-Fame. Finally, they can share their thinking using some apps in the iPads. Here are two examples. Just click the play button. Lily's Math: Thysie's Math:

CHIRT is a year-long independent reading project.  Students read books, talk about their reading with others, and share their opinion through projects and writing reviews.  Here is a book summary of Charlotte's Web created on Puppet Pals.  TM-H