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

View more presentations from Emily Kissner

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.