Our State Capital

Last week the fourth grade had the chance to visit our state capital of Annapolis.  Nearly 200 fourth graders boarded the buses early Monday morning and traveled to one of Maryland's most historic and beautiful locations.  The students enjoyed lunch by the water and took in the sites of the town.  From there, we visited the U.S. Naval Academy.  We looked in at the crypt of Captain John Paul Jones, a model of courage and resilience from our Navy's first fleet.  We moved our tour to the State Capitol.  The students got to stand in the same place George Washington resigned his commission after the American Revolution.  The students were excellent representatives of Urbana Elementary.  It was so much fun to see them in a new environment, exploring the history we have learned in school.

A special thank you to our wonderful chaperones who braved the trip and helped make sure everyone was safe and secure during the day!

A Trip Beyond the Stars

This week, our fantastic fourth graders began a project of intergallactic proportions.  In groups of four, students are creating a travel company that specials in vacation packages to different planets.  Each group selected a planet to research and students chose one of four jobs within their company: travel agent, rocket specialist, space suit designer, or astronomer.  The final product will be a presentation of the company's vacation travel plans to clients looking to see their chosen planet.  From the sites that will be seen to the amenities and scientific features of the shuttle to space, our students will be creating everything! The students are excited to work on this project and have already come up with ideas that are out of this world!

Today we went to the Lowe Lab to research information for each person's job.  The students used websites chosen specifically to help them find information for their part of the project.  Our eager scientists couldn't wait to get more research time, so if possible, I have attached the web sites for each job on edmodo to encourage at-home exploration.  Just open the document that matches your job and surf away!

http://www.edmodo.com/student

Hubble and Deep Space

Today in science we discussed constellations and just how far stars are from our eyes on Earth.  We looked at a scale model of the universe and found out that the nearest star after our Sun is 4.5 light years away!

In order to get a better idea of how large space is and what celestial objects are found there, scientists use telescopes to search in the depths of space.  We learned about the Hubble telescope and looked at some of the images this amazing tool has gathered in recent months.  We watched a clip from the Hubble website, sponsored by NASA.  Our students loved to see images of deep space.  For those interested, here is the complete video in the link below.

http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/hubbles_universe_unfiltered/

Enjoy!

A Visit to the ESSL

Last week our class got to take their annual trip to the Earth Science and Space Lab, an out-of-this-world science center that is part of the Frederick County Public School system.  Its goal is to enrich and extend the science curriculum being taught in Frederick County Public School classrooms.  And what great timing for some enrichment!  Our class got to visit the ESSL right in the middle of our unit about space! 

At the ESSL, we listened to some great information about celestial objects.  Our class took part in reenacting the way our planets revolve around the sun.  We acted out the four seasons and explained what classifies a planet as a planet.  We also learned some new, lesser-known facts about the solar system!  Did you know...the Sun actually rotates on an axis too, just like Earth does?  That is why the Sun is a celestial object.

After our lesson, we got a chance to visit the state-of-the-art planetarium in the ESSL.  Here we used monoculars (one half of a binocular) to observe what the stars really look like in the night sky.  We pointed out constellations and even the planets that are visible from Earth!  The technology in the planetarium projects a realistic model of the night sky, so the students could go home that night an look for what they observed in the planetarium that day!

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.

Thank you to our volunteers who came along on our trip.  Your help is always appreciated!  :-) 

Science Fair!

Yes, I have asked the students to participate in the science fair again this year.  My goal is for 100% of the class to participate in the science fair. I will be checking for participation. I think it is important for our students to take initiative and investigate something science-related that they are interested in. It does not need to be a big, detailed project.  Something small that shows that your child learned something new through asking questions and making observations is science!

Below are several websites with LOTS of ideas. These websites allow you to look for projects by science category, which might make it easier to narrow down some ideas.

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science_project_ideas.php

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/

http://sciencefairadventure.com/ 

Students may work with a partner or on their own.  The directions have been sent home with the sign-up form.  Please let me know if there is anything else you need!  Happy Investigating!

The Great Beyond of Space

To infinity and beyond!  After a wonderful and relaxing Spring Break, we began our unit studying the Sun, the earth, and our solar system.  Our first week of the unit was spent learning about how we get day and night and why the moon changes seems to change shape in the night sky.  In the coming weeks, we will be researching the planets and investigating constellations.  It is sure to be an exciting unit!

Below is a great study guide for students to practice naming the phases of the moon.  It comes from Quizlet, an online database of virtual flashcards.  You can study the flashcards provided and then test your knowledge by laying one of the two games available.  Check it out!

Phases of the Moon Flashcards


In other news, these fantastic fourth graders certainly showed this week that they are ready to finish fourth grade with a bang!  They went hard to work when given the task of budgeting an idea for a UES math supply store.  Hired for the day as accountants, the students reviewed adding and subtracting decimals by balancing a checkbook after selecting and purchasing office supplies from  catalog.  Check out these financial firecrackers hard at work.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I would like to give a HUGE thank you full of love and gratitude for everyone who has helped support our fantastic fourth graders this year.  Valentine's Day was a great time to celebrate all the happiness we have as a classroom community and a good time was had by all.  Thank you to the parents who donated their time and generous treats to our class party. 


Check out some of the highlights!

Our classroom looked bright and cheerful with all its decorations!

Great gift bags, compliments of our fabulous room parents!

Everyone got a chance to pass out valentines to the class.  Each student had their own bag!

And of course...plenty of sweet treats to end the day!



Mrs. Pondoc also revealed our class basket for this year's UES Silent Auction.  Thanks to your generous donations, it looks great!  We also just found out that our class basket will be featured in the live auction this year!  What a prize!

Again, thank you for a great Valentine's Day and for all of your sweet support to lead our class to sucess!