Tales Of A 4-5 Something

In class we are doing something called Secret Laurel. Secret Laurel is like Secret Santa except we give each other books from the classroom library, not for keeps, instead of presents. The reason we call it Secret Laurel is because at our school librarian’s name is Laurel. We asked our classmates what kinds of books they liked and we talked with Tim about books that would be good. We did a lot of investigating and thought about what our classmates would like. We are super excited because today (December 20, 2019) we are going to give and receive our books! Grace and Scarlett 

4-5 had a chorus concert on December 18, 2019. It was a group of 57 students singing together. The songs were Tongo, Little Birch Tree, Path To The Moon, and The Mountains are Calling Me. Before the show we saw the other groups practice at the dress rehearsal. There was also a jazz band, middle school chorus, and chamber orchestra. The 4-5 chorus got to perform for them too. We had a lot of fun singing songs we practiced in chorus class! Lucy-Ellen, HJ, and Paloma

In class we are doing folktales in writing workshop. There are many folktales including how berries got edible, how gold got golden and how the world got color and many more stories. All these folktales explain the unexplainable and we are studying folktales because we are studying People's Movement West. Lots of people have folktales in their culture and we heard some from Paul Goble who wrote down folktales from Indigenous People. Here are some links: Rafe's and Dylan's We also made some art like Paul Goble did in his books. Here's some pictures of art work.     by Dylan and Rafe

On November 13th it was Prairie Day. Prairie Day is a day where it is close to wrapping up the study of the Westward Movement. We had a lot of fun activities. There were four groups. One group went to Tims’ Homestation, one to Vanessas’ Homestation, one to Nancys’ Homstation, and one to Kai's Homestation and there was a place where you could get a quick snack. The students brought baked goods and treats for the 4-5 Prairie Day. In Tims’ Homestation, we learned about how kids in the eighteen-hundreds were entertained. They played dominoes where you match two dominoes together or you can knock them down and there were marbles. Where you get a mat and try to hit one marble with another marble. In Nancy’s homestation we made cornhusk dolls. Cornhusk dolls are dolls that are made out of the husk that goes around the corn. In Kai’s homestation you could dress up like people in the 1840’s. They even had bandanas. In Vanessa’s homestation we made miniatures like mini butter churners and mi...

Did you know that Keane makes fingerboards? This is how he makes the fingerboards. He uses thin pieces of wood called veneer and he puts 4 sheets together. He puts them in a mold with vices then he leaves them in the mold overnight. Later, he sands them into the shape of a skateboard shape and puts a graphic on the bottom of the board with sharpie. He then puts sand paper on the top and drills holes then he put on a trucks with tiny bolts and the fingerboard is finished. He has sold them at craft fairs and has fun making them and playing with them . If you want to buy one Keane's fingerboards go to Mocean Skate Shop on Milk Street. This is his first fingerboard  Two of the tools he uses: A drill bit and a fingerboard tool By Keane & harper

Today we are going to be decorating gingerbread cookies with our kindergarten and first grade buddies. We are looking forward to spending time with them. All of the grades in the Lower School have buddies. The early childhood group has older second and third grade buddies and the kindergarten and first grade group has fourth and fifth grade buddies. We have fun reading, going on field trips, making art, and even singing songs.  Emile, JJ, and Tobey.

We like the sensory walk in 4-5! It is fun to have it in the morning. We can use it to wake up our brain whenever we need it. My favorite part is the inch worm walk.

In electricity club, we made a power house from a kit. The power house was made of styrofoam to keep in heat and one time it got up to 29 degrees celsius inside. We used solar power and a blow dryer to make a mini-windmill on the house spin. There were three solar panels and if you put the house in the sun it would spin. When we used the blow dryer, the windmill spun fast enough to generate enough electricity to light up a small light bulb. Electricity club was really fun and we would want to do it again! By Alex and Naomi

This weekend the Nutcracker took place a Merrill Auditorium and Grace was in it! She was on stage with lots of other dancers from all over. She told us the ballet is about a girl who goes on an adventure after her godfather casts a spell on her house. The Nutcracker, mice, candy, and everything come alive. She made a video of things that go on behind the scenes which we will show here . Maybe you will get to see the show?  Grace and Rafe  She also has a poster

In Kai's class we learned about animals and the habitats they live in. We are studying people moving west and the animals are what people would see when they moved west. Some people learned about Raccoons, wolves, and prairie dogs. We made board games to help us learn about animals we didn't study. The fun part was putting facts on the board. We hope you get to play our games.