I began this poetry lesson with a pile of picture books on my lap. I selected a view to read to the kids. We are never too old for a good picture book! As I read through the books, I asked the students to listen for words that “strike the soul.” These are words that…
…make a picture in your mind.
…are an unusual or surprising way of expressing something.
…give a strong feeling.
…evoke (remind you of) a memory.
Students wrote some of these words down in their poetry notebooks as I read. After sharing some of their findings, each student was given a picture book to search for more powerful words. These will be saved for later poetry session as inspiration.
Today, we had a special guest come to our class to teach us how to make synthesizers!
Music Guest, Billy Stepler
Let’s Build Synthesizers
“We are playing with pitches that live in between.”
Billy Stepler has over 15 years of working as a flight test engineer for the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. He has worked on multiple unmanned aerial system programs for the Navy, Air Force, and Special Operations Command. Currently he works as the lead test engineer for Naval aerial targets.
He graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor of science degree in Aerospace Engineering in May 2001. He was selected for the NAWCWD fellowship program and completed his master’s degree in aero-mechanical engineering from USC in May 2006.
The fourth grade students had the privilege of attending the Dorrance Dance show today at the Granada Theater. This show was AMAZING! The show, choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, takes the art of tap dance to a new level. I was unable to take photographs, but here is a video clip about their group.
Today my heart was overflowing with gratitude for the power of poetry to elevate thinking and writing to a different level. There is something magical about it. Students experience a freedom they rarely experience with other types of writing. The prompt for today’s session was an ordinary object. I collected some things from my classroom and around the campus. I placed one object on each student’s desk, and then we began to brainstorm and write. Evan gave me permission to share his poem here.
Flower
by Evan
Why does a flower have so many petals?
Like a forest of trees, but the trees are petals
It is like a caterpillar
The seeds grow into a cocoon and look so green
but open up to be something so different, like a new world
It is not green, it is a design of endless colors, an abstract work of art that is not art at all
It’s own unique thing
On the inside, red with anger
The middle, pink with joy
On the outside, white as a brand new piece of paper with so many possibilities
Today, the fourth grade students were busy solving “fraction of” problems. They counted out a particular number of plastic chips. They worked to figure out a strategy for finding fractions of that number. It is important for students to solidify a concrete understanding of fractional parts before moving to abstract problems.
It’s always so much fun to see our entire EK-12 student body together for a day of fun! Our entire school was divided into mixed-aged teams–a different color for each. The teams competed in three events: the “shoe kick” game, dodge ball, and basketball. We finished the day with a pizza lunch. It was a beautiful day, and a great time was had by all!
Today, we watched this video about bubbles, and read “Soap Bubbles” by Valerie Worth as our mentor text. We are learning about the power of words to show rather than simply tell.
In our next poetry session, we will begin to brainstorm ideas using the following posters to get going.
For the past few weeks, the fourth grade students have been practicing a division strategy called partial quotients. Here’s a demonstration of this strategy by Madison. Notice all the great math thinking. She is using estimating, multiplication, addition, and subtraction to arrive at her final answer.
Johanna, Lisbeth, and Henrik will be sorely missed by our Lower School community. They have a special place in our hearts. They are headed back to Denmark for the next chapter of their lives. While there were some sad faces today, we are grateful for our time with Johanna. I thought this quote from Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White was fitting. “You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” We will treasure your friendship for many years to come.
Johanna’s farewell party included some serenading by several students in our class.
Recent Comments