New Epals in Dubai!

This week we finished up our MAP testing. We take this test every fall and spring to determine our growth in math, reading, and language arts. We continued our unit in poetry in Readers Workshop. We practiced writing quatrains, acrostic poems, and limericks. Check out our classroom website to find some neat websites that take you step by step through the process of writing several kinds of poems. http://webmail.sd81.org/~kchoudhary@sd81.org/00026E7F-011F7A50?Plugin=Metro
In Writers Workshop we have been weaving our internal and external stories together to create our memoir. In the afternoons we have been busy researching our exquisite experiments for science as well as working on money in math.

Our most exciting news as that we have new epals in Dubai! We emailed them early in the week and are anxiously waiting a reply. We are going to be learning about their culture as they learn about ours. Technology has made the world so small!

Multicultural Week

Two weeks ago was Multicultural Week here at Washington School. Each year, the students in our school celebrate our many cultures as well as the many cultures of the world. This year, we went to a Polish restaurant in Chicago, The Jolly Club for lunch. We had pierogis and blintzes filled with cheese and potatoes. We learned about manners and how to eat in a nice restaurant.

We also had a Multicultural Program. Many of our classmates performed in the various dances. Some of us participated in African American music, a Readers Theater production for Pakistan and India, or a Bulgarian dance. It was fun to see all of the other students participating in various other productions. We look forward to doing it again next year as 5th graders.

Our Field Trip Friday!

Today we went with the entire 4th grade to visit Graue Mill in Hinsdale. Did you know that Graue Mill was an actual stop on the Underground Railroad? We learned that was a big reason as to why Mr. Graue did not keep good and accurate records. He did not want to get caught. The basement of his mill was the hiding place for the slaves. We saw the water powered mills, how to grind corn, a spinster working on a loom, and what a house might have looked like back in the late 1850's. Before our tour of the mill, we had lunch in the woods and then walked the trail. We had a great day. We are thankful to Mrs. Gorzynski for putting together a fabulous Photostory video that we watched yesterday in Reading Room to prepare for our trip today. Thank you also to Mrs. Gorzynski and Mrs. Piltaver for doing our post field trip activity this afternoon before we went home.

Happy Mothers Day to all of my Champion Moms!!

Solar Week!

We have worked a lot with solar energy this week. We created projects that taught us about the different types of energy. We had a choice board and were able to choose which one we wanted to create. We also built solar cars. The teachers gave us the pieces and we had to build the car at home over spring break. We were able to decorate our cars any way we wanted. We are going to race our cars next Friday at 12:30.
In music, we started using Ipod touches today. We listened to "I Feel Good" by James Brown and were able to watch the music video at the same time. Then we had to write about the meter, the mood, and the instruments used in the song. In Science we created circuits with the Switch On! kits and watched a brain pop about wind and solar energy.
After school, we are working on our different performances for the Multicultural Program. 7 of our classmates are in the performance. Some of them are doing an African American story of music, others are doing the Bulgarian dance, some are even doing a Mexican dance, and others are performing a Readers Theatre piece.April 30th is our performance.
In art, we are making sculptures and finishing optical illusions.
Those of us in Chorus performed in the Music Man back in February when Mrs. Choudhary was still at home with Anthony. It was a huge success. Now we are working on more songs for our Spring Concert. Yesterday, was the performance.
In technology we worked on two websites. We tried to create comics with Toondoo.com, but the website was down. Since we had issues with Toondoo, we moved on and created avatars with Voki.com. We were able to make our own characters using clothes, bling, backgrounds, and even glasses. We were able to make our vokis talk too. It was interesting to see our characters.
Check back next week for our next update. We are excited to begin working with Mrs. Hake's 4th grade class in Missouri with google maps. We will post on our experiences. :) Have a nice weekend!

Week of December 8th

We have a tradition at Washington School in which each class does some research and creates projects about a winter holiday. We put all our projects together and then display and discuss them at the celebration. Our holiday is the Buddhist holiday, Bodhi Day. We have been working hard on our Bodhi day projects and using lots of glitter for our jewels. Next week we are going to decorate cookies shaped like the Banyan tree leaves. In math we learned a silly new song about being rounding heros. Ms. O's singing voice isnt so good. In social studies we finished watching a video about the american revolution. During reading time we have been working on reading graphs and completing cause and effect charts. Next week we are going to make our own ginger bread houses to bring home for winter break.

Mrs. Choudhary had her baby last Friday night. Anthony Nicholas was born December 5th at Loyola University Medical Center. He weighed 9 lbs. 5.6 oz. and measured 20.5 inches long. She and Anthony are resting and adjusting to the new life at home.

The fish!

If you move the mouse over by the fish tank, you will realize that the fish follow the mouse! They are hungry! Just click on the mouse, and it will drop little green food in the tank for these little colorful creatures. Thanks for keeping our fish fed!

December Mix

Enjoy some winter music to get into the holiday season!