Social Studies: Economics

We're just about finished with our study of economics! We started out by learning the difference between needs and wants. Then, we learned that people buy goods and services in the community. Finally, we looked at how goods are produced, and the process of production from raw material to finished product.

Here are some activities that you can try!

Goods and services interactive
Do you know the difference between goods and services? This interactive helps you to sort them.

Goods and Services
This page explains the difference between goods and services.

How people make things
Old but good! This link takes you to a variety of factory tours.

Extension: Colonial Economy
We've looked at the basics of economic systems. At this site, you can learn about the economy of colonial New York.

History of Money
Learn interesting facts about money with these games from the U.S. Mint.

Understanding Story Elements

We're working on story elements! Stories all contain some common parts, or elements:

-Characters
-Setting
-Conflict
-Plot
-Theme

Here are some activities that you might like to try.

Cinderella Interactive
This fun interactive helps you to understand story elements.

Create a Story Map
Have a great idea for a story? At this site, from Read Write Think, you will be able to use interactive story mapping tools to create a story map.

Word Girl
From PBS Kids. Watch a short episode online. Can you find the characters? The setting? What is the conflict? How is it solved?

Story Starter
This fun tool from Scholastic lets you create your own story.

Learning About Historians

This week, we learned that historians use primary sources such as documents, photographs, and interviews to learn about the past. We had a visit from local historian Deb McCauslin, who played the role of Sarah Cook Myers in a living history performance.

Mrs. McCauslin helped us to understand how historians learn about the past, and shared some of her research with us. If you're interested in reading more about her, you can visit her website:

Gettysburg Histories

Mrs. McCauslin worked to create a historical marker in Bendersville to commemorate the kidnapping of Kitty Payne. Maybe you can visit the marker and see it for yourself--it's right in front of the Elkhorn Inn.

Students as historians

Students are going to become historians. They will be working with primary sources in two different ways. Students have a homework assignment to interview someone about their school experiences. Some students have already completed their interviews and have great stories to share! While these interviews may not be as dramatic as the story of Kitty Payne, they are snapshots of real history.

Another way that we can learn about the past is by analyzing photographs. We can look at the people, objects, and activities in a photo. Then we can use what we have noticed by breaking down the photograph to make some inferences, or good guesses, about the photo.

You can try this at home! The National Apple Museum has a wonderful online collection of local photographs:

Old photographs of Adams County

Try looking at these pictures. What do you notice? What people do you see? What objects are in the picture? What activities are they doing? (It's also fun to look at how places that you know have changed. Check out the picture of Bendersville on this page.)

If you find a picture that you especially like, write down your observations to share with the class. It's your chance to be a historian!

Multiple Meaning Words

"The student brought a bat to school."

What do you picture when you read this sentence? Do you imagine a students with a baseball bat? Or do you imagine the flying mammal? Bat is a multiple meaning word. The reader needs to use the context to figure out how bat is being used in the sentence.

"On the day of the softball game, the student brought a bat to school."

Now what kind of bat do you imagine? In this sentence, the context shows you which kind of bat the student probably has. A living bat wouldn't be much use at a softball game, so the bat is probably a baseball bat. As readers, we still need a little more information to figure out which meaning is used. Maybe the next sentence will help:

"On the day of the softball game, the student brought a bat to school. She hoped that her lucky wooden bat would help her to hit a home run."

Multiple meaning words can be tricky for readers. Some meanings of words, like the two kinds of bats, aren't connected. But others have a distant connection. Think about the palm of your hand. The word palm as in a palm tree is related. Why do you think someone may have used the word palm to describe the tree? Even though the palm of your hand is a different meaning from a palm tree, both meanings share a common origin.

Some multiple meaning words can be used in different ways. Think about a snack. This word can be used as a noun--think about a snack that you eat! But it can also be used as a verb, as in the sentence, "Bob liked to snack on sunflower seeds." These meanings are also closely related.

To learn more about multiple meaning words, check out this slideshow.

Multiple meaning words

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Hurricane Tracking

Hurricanes are fascinating and very much in the news lately. We've been learning about longitude and latitude by tracking tropical storms on our own maps. By tracking these storms, we're learning how to use the lines of latitude and longitude to find an exact location. We're also learning about how scientists gather and track data.

We've been using the Hurricane Tracker from Weather.com. Here is the link:

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker

This site has great data that is updated frequently. As a class, we enjoyed studying the graphics and figuring out what the different colors mean. How does it show a Category 1 hurricane? How does it show a tropical storm? How is a Category 5 storm represented?

Students have great questions about hurricanes! If you're looking for more information and other activities, you can visit this National Geographic site.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/07/stormy.html

We were also interested in exploring the names for hurricanes. Here is a list of names for future storms.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml


If you're looking for more activities and interactives, you can find other resources at the FEMA website.

http://www.fema.gov/kids/hurr.htm

Learning About Geometry

In fourth grade, our first math unit focuses on geometry. This kind of thinking is very important for students. We'll focus on:

-How are different shapes similar and different?
-How can we identify different shapes?
-How can we use inductive reasoning to solve polygon riddles?
-How do different shapes fit together?
-What are the properties of 3D shapes?

Being able to visualize different shapes, both flat and three-dimensional, has proven to be an important skill for future science and math success. It's exciting to start the school year with such a concrete topic that will help students to build these vital abilities.

Here are some fun resources that you can use to learn more about geometry.

3D Shapes Interactive: This site explores properties of 3D shapes. Look at the "3D Shapes" tab to see an animated sequence showing the vertices and edges of solid shapes.

Quadrilaterals: Learn about the properties of 4-sided polygons. Then, drag the dots to explore how the shapes can change.

Solid Geometry: More with 3D shapes.

Star Gazing: A Cyberchase game that looks at measuring angles.

2D to 3D Morphing: A Cyberchase activity to make 3D shapes out of flat ones. (If you make these, bring them in to share!)

Geometric Shape Flashcards: Use these to practice vocabulary for the unit. (Note: Some of the ideas on the flashcards will not be covered in our unit. Don't worry!)

Hidden Picture: Practice math terms by finding a hidden picture.

Everyday Mathematics Vocabulary: This site, from another school district, has vocabulary sheets for every unit. Download "Unit 1" to see a list of definitions with pictures.

Enjoy learning about geometry!

Learning About Rocks and Minerals

In the last few weeks of school, we're going to learn about rocks and minerals! Our exploration will begin by studying cave formations--after all, we'll be visiting Indian Echo Caverns in a few weeks.

Here are some fun cave websites to explore.

Cave formation animation: This site shows how caves form.

How are caves different? This fun site for kids shows differences between life in caves and life above ground. 

What in the world is karst? While Adams County is not home to many karst formations, much of Pennsylvania is. Learn about karst with animations and info on this page.

Indian Echo Caverns: Learn more about Indian Echo on this page.

Literature Circles in Fourth Grade

Fourth grade is such an interesting year for reading instruction! The first few months are focused on consolidating everything that students have learned in grades K-3. We look at how stories are put together, how we can summarize stories, and how to find story elements. In these months, our focus is on the literal level--what happened? Who is in the story? How do the events fit together?

But as fourth graders mature, we move into looking at literature in new ways. Now that students can read and understand stories at the literal level, it's time to take them a step beyond. Literature circles are a great way to do this. When students read novels with their peers, they can talk about the ideas in the books and share their new understandings. Our focus moves beyond just "What happened?" and into the deeper questions below.

Dialogue: Why do authors use dialogue? How can we tell who is speaking?

Characters: How do characters change throughout a story? Why are these changes important?

Setting: How is the setting important to the story? Could the story happen in a different setting? How would the events change?

Theme: What are some themes to this novel? How do the events of the novel support these themes?

Figurative language: How does the author use words in new and interesting ways? Why did the author choose these particular words? What do we like about an author's language choices?

The move from looking at literature at a literal level to thinking more deeply can be a difficult one. However, I'm so impressed at how students are thinking and learning! Even more, students are asking for new books. One student said, "Mrs. Kissner, we're finished our books--I hope you have new ones for us on Monday." This is something that I will gladly prepare.

Planetarium Visit

Today, we braved the rain to visit the Hatter Planetarium at Gettysburg College! Bill, a very knowledgeable college student, gave us a tour of our solar system and the night sky.

We liked looking at the mechanical equipment at the planetarium!

Students loved the comfy seats and the illuminated dome. But their favorite part was when we learned about meteor showers and watched the asteroids zoom by. Exciting!

Students had excellent questions, ranging from questions about constellation locations, supernovas, and the discovery of the universe. (Wow!) Luckily, our tour guide has a dual major in physics AND philosophy--definitely a plus when talking to fourth graders.

Looking to Learn More?

The Hatter Planetarium offers monthly public events. You can find their schedule at their website.

You can find a monthly sky map here.

NASA has amazing games for kids! You can visit their Kids Club to find games. Or, if you'd like to catch up on the latest news or browse image galleries, you can visit their Education Center.

Exploring Poetry

This week, students have been working on their own poems. They have written about photographs, their experiences, and the tadpoles we have in our classroom.

Writing poetry offers some challenges. How can we write new and interesting ideas, ideas that will make the reader think about the topic in a new way? How can we write our ideas in a way that looks like a poem? And how can we include figurative language, like similes and personification, or sound devices, like alliteration?

I'm thrilled to say that kids have responded to the challenge. Our wall is blossoming with poems! If you get a chance to stop by, come and see all of the amazing poems.

If you want to do some more work with poetry, try these sites:

Poetry interactive: This site, from ReadWriteThink.org, is a fun way to explore how changing the lines in a poem can change the experience of reading it.

Poetry idea engine: This is an interactive that lets you explore different kinds of poetry, like haiku, cinquain, and limericks.

Diamantes: Students loved this tool early in the year! Here, students can write diamante poems.

How do we use water?

As we look at bodies of water, it's important for us to think about how people use water resources. Today we talked about how many gallons of water we use each day. One gallon? Two gallons? Kids were surprised to learn that the average American uses 80-100 gallons of water each day!

Here is a game that you can play to see how much water is used by everyday activities.

If you like Pac-Man, you might enjoy this game from the EPA. Take the water droplet Flow through a maze and answer questions about water use.

Here is the Powerpoint that we used to talk about water resources in Pennsylvania. Do you remember what the word agriculture means? What about tourism?

Water resources

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Seed Experiment Update

Our seeds have sprouted! We're already beginning to see some big differences between the different cups. As one student said, "The salt water must be killing the plants!" Every group has had Plant A--the seed watered with tap water--sprout and grow. But the seeds watered with slightly salty and very salty water are not growing.

Another student brought up a good point: What about other kinds of seeds? This is a great question to investigate! Radish seeds seem to have a problem with saltwater. But are there seeds that can grow in saltwater? How could you find out?

Understanding Lentic and Lotic Ecosystems

As we study bodies of water, we've been looking at the difference between lentic habitats (still water) and lotic habitats (flowing water). We watched some videos of different streams to observe how the water flows. We also tried out this fun interactive, created by a teacher in northern PA:

Lentic/Lotic Interactive


Students sorted cards into piles according to whether the ecosystem was lentic or lotic.

Have you visited any of these water habitats? What have you noticed?

Learning About Water Habitats

In science, we're starting a study of water habitats. Students will be learning about different freshwater and salt water habitats. Here are some fun links to find out more about water habitats.

Coral Reefs
From NOAA, this site has pictures of different coral reefs and the plants and animals that live there.

Vernal Pools
Maybe you have a vernal pool in your own backyard! This special habitat is a puddle that is wet through the spring, but dries up in the summer. Many different kinds of animals, like wood frogs and mole salamanders, lay their eggs here.

Chesapeake Bay
Learn about the organisms that live in the Chesapeake Bay.

Rivers and Streams
Learn about rivers and streams at this site. (Links to other habitats are at the top--have fun exploring!)

Tide Pools
Create a tide pool with this interactive tool.

Keep checking for more fun links. And keep learning new information about our water habitats!

How does saltwater affect seeds?

Early in the school year, fourth graders did an experiment to see which kind of potting soil helped to grow the biggest plants. (We found that the seed starter is the best!)

Now, as we get ready to study different kinds of water habitats, we're examining the effects of salt water. Will saltwater help plants to grow, or harm them? To test this, we're planting seeds in the same kind of soil and watering some with tap water, some with slightly salty water, and some with very salty water.

Before we planted our seeds, students used their prior knowledge to make a hypothesis. Many of them had an idea about what the very salty water would do. But what about the slightly salty water? See what your child thinks!

Once we formed our hypotheses, we planted the seeds. We used radish seeds because they grow quickly and are easy to handle. Watering the seeds gave students another chance to practice using the graduate cylinders!

What will happen? We'll find out! Talk with your child about the experiment. What is your child's hypothesis?

If you used salt on your driveway this winter, how might this affect plants? What about plants that grow along the beach--does the saltwater have an effect on them? Why or why not?

If you are interested in learning about some mystery seeds, visit this fun science blog. Look for updates on our radish seeds!

The Start of Spring

With the sun finally shining, it seems as if we are finally on our way to spring. In science, students learned all about what causes the seasons. Can your child explain it? How is the season changing in Australia right now?

Here is a fun blog, written by a science writer, that gives tips for how to explore nature in any season:

Archimedes Notebook

Another sign of spring is the spring peeper. These tiny frogs make an enormous racket in the spring. Can you hear the peepers where you live? What can you observe about them?

Learning About the Moon

Why does the moon look different on different nights? We worked on many different activities to learn about why the moon changes in appearance.

This was one of our stations. Here, students are shining a flashlight on a basketball, and then looking at it from different angles. They observed how the light changed the basketball's appearance.

Students also used sandwich cookies to find out more about the moon. It was a delicious activity! They took apart the cookies and matched up the parts to the phases of the moon.

You can learn more about the Oreo activity at this website.

You can also find an animation of the phases of the moon.

Try looking outside over the next few nights. What do you notice? What does the moon look like? How does it change?

Comparing and Contrasting

In class, we have been comparing and contrasting. When we compare, we look at how things are similar and different. Fourth graders have to be able to explain how items are similar and different.



We started out by comparing two kinds of candy. Our first step was to generate criteria--what would we look at to compare? Working together, students came up with ideas like size, color, wrappers, and taste.

Our next step was to explore. Students unwrapped the candy and looked at it closely. By taking the time to look carefully, they found new details that they didn't expect to find! (For example, one of the candies is different in the center.)


Finally, students recorded their ideas on their charts. They used their charts to write paragraphs about the similarities and differences. They tried to use compare and contrast clue words--however, like, on the other hand, also, too, both, similarity, difference--to help make their ideas clear.

Learning about comparing and contrasting is important work. As students move into the upper grades, they need to be able to quickly find similarities and differences.

At home, you can try:
-Look at how two items are similar and different. Try examining two different kinds of fruit from the grocery store. What criteria could you use to compare?
-Practice comparing and contrasting different television shows. What criteria would you use? How are they similar? How are they different?
-Try comparing and contrasting two different kinds of candy. What do you notice?
-Listen for the comparing and contrasting clue words. How are they used? When do people use the phrase "on the other hand"?

Using the Suffix -ment

Here is a presentation to help you understand the suffix -ment:

Using The Suffix Ment

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