A busy beginning...

Since coming back from winter break, 4th grade has been very busy!

Today we celebrated Kansas Day by working on and presenting our Famous Kansan powerpoints. Students had been working on them over the past week to practice the writing process and further develop their research skills. Prior to that, students worked on text structures such as problem/solution, cause/effect, description, sequencing, and compare/comtrast, by studying various modes of transportation. In February, we will begin doing activities to distinguish fact and opinion.

We also completed our nutrition unit today for health. During our unit, students learned about the food guide pyramid, types of nutrients, food labels, and how to keep food safe. As a culminating activity, we visited the Douglas County Fairgrounds for their Slice of Agriculture event. While there, students learned about all of the various ingredients that may be be found or put on their pizzas. This included seeing fruits/vegetable demonstrations, a giant tractor which assists in harvesting grain, and live pigs and cows. Students also visited the "House of Germs" which enabled them to see how important washing hands can be! When we come back on Tuesday, we will be introducing our electricity unit.

In math, students have been focusing on multi-digit multiplication. We've gone from multiplying 2 digit by 1 digit problems to 2 digit by 2 digit and 3 digit by 2 digit problems. Students are quickly realizing just how important addition and multiplication facts are to this process. Keep practicing those facts!!!

Students also had the opportunity to meet a famous Lawrence illustrator - Stephen Johnson. He showed us how he creates his books and even shared some new information about upcoming books to look for. Students had a great time learning about his different strategies and techniques!