The Genre of Fantasy Explored in Fourth Grade

Fourth grade students are discovering the structure of fantasy books as they read, think, write and engage in conversation in book clubs. Ella Enchanted, City of Ember and Into the Land of the Unicorns are the books being read by students in their book clubs.  Students are examining the craft of writing as well as reading. They have discovered that setting is very important in a fantasy book and that the author has the ability through their writing to bring the setting to life for the reader. 

Fantasy books that are exciting to talk about have well developed characters who change and grow throughout the course of the book. All three of these books have finely drawn characters that the readers care enough to think deeply and share their ideas in their book clubs. A quest is an integral part of a fantasy book as well and this helps mark the difference between fantasy and the realistic fiction genre. Reading and discussing fantasy books helps students to explore a world different from their own and to relate to characters that they might not encounter outside of a book, which also helps to foster empathy in the reader.

The Amazing Thrid Grade Acrobats!

Whoa, look at third grade go!

Whoa, look at third grade go!

Our third grade engineers in training are gaining a lot of experience with creating functional and structurally complete simple machines.  In science class, third grade is using building kits and guides to create a variety of simple machines. After going out to the playground to identify how simple machines are being utilized in as many ways as they could, students began building levers of their choice.  The students then used their imaginations and wrote in their journals about how they would transform their creations into playground equipment.  They all came up with wonderfully bright ideas that will come in handy as they prepare for the Invention Convention in April.

Digging Deeper into Ancient Egypt

We are now fully immersed in our social studies exploration, and every day brings a new opportunity for learning something about ancient Egypt! We have enjoyed many wonderful picture books, including Seeker of Knowledge, by James Rumford, which gave second graders a chance to learn more about the Frenchman who finally deciphered the ancient Egyptian writing called hieroglyphs. Pepi and the Secret Names, by Jill Paton Walsh and Fiona French, allowed the students to practice their understanding of this ancient writing as they deciphered parts of this exciting and colorful story.

In the “House of Life” or scribe school, the students used their new knowledge of hierogylphs to create cartouches. A cartouche is an oval shaped frame of rope that contains a royal name and can often be found carved into statues and tombs. The students learned that very few ancient Egyptians could read or write. It was the job of the scribes, who trained as young men in "The House of Life," to record information. Recently, each second grader became a scribe and created a cartouche with his/her name in it. Stop in soon and see their great work on display outside in the hallway and see if you can decipher each "royal" name in second grade.

Yet another book we enjoyed is The Blue Faience Hippopotamus, by Joan Grant.  This sweet tale about a love sick hippo was the inspiration for this week’s project in Art class!  Each student fashioned a small hippo out of clay and will glaze it after an initial firing in the kiln. 

Estudio de Egipto en 2º Grado / Egypt Study in 2nd Grade

To integrate with their History unit on Egipto (Egypt), el segundo (2º) grado has been learning some Spanish vocabulary related to this study. We began by viewing a PowerPoint that introduced us to the geography of Egipto. To understand the country’s coordinates on a mapa (map), we first learned about the brújula (compass) and the puntos cardinales (cardinal points):

norte – north

sur- south

este – east

oeste – west

noreste – northeast

sureste - southeast

noroeste – northwest

suroeste - southwest

Afterwards, using a large floor mapa, the students were invited to locate and determine the whereabouts of Egipto and its neighbors. Upon asking, ¿Dónde está….? (Where is…?) , the students were able to respond as follows…

Egipto está noreste de África. – Egypt is northeast of Africa.

Sudán está sur de Egipto. – Sudan is south of Egypt.

Libia está oeste de Egipto. – Libya is west of Egypt.

Arabia Saudí está al este de Egipto. – Saudi Arabia is east of Egypt

El mar Mediterráneo está al norte de Egipto. – The Mediterranean Sea is north of Egypt.

El mar Rojo está al este de Egipto. – The Red Sea is east of Egypt.

The second graders were having so much fun determining the location of Egipto’s neighbors that they asked for more opportunities to find other countries. So, to challenge them, each was asked to find a given country’s name…in Spanish!

¿Dónde está Inglaterra (England)?

¿Dónde está Japón (Japan)?

¿Dónde está Turquía (Turkey)?

We also learned how to read latitud (latitude) and longitud (longitude) on el mapa. The students were provided with activities to showcase their knowledge and they were truly remarkable!

Next, we will be learning vocabulary for artifacts and places pertaining to ancient Egypt. Stay tuned!

Getting ready for the Post Office!

First Grade has been hard at work preparing for the start of this year's postal service to the whole AFS community!  Get your pens, pencils, paper and envelopes ready!!

We've been reading lots of great books to inspire us and help us understand the workings of our own postal system, including the true story of a little girl who was mailed to her grandmother's home because her parents couldn't afford a train ticket!

We visited the Elkins Park Post Office for a tour and the students had the opportunity to hand cancel their very own mail.  We also visited our own 'post office' in Tyson House where Kathleen guided the students to stamp their very special valentines through the stamping machine!!  It was quite amazing!

We have been practicing our letter writing skills by making special valentine notes with our fourth grade partners for The Breathing Room Foundation and for our families and special friends. And of course, we designed our hero stamps!!  We've also created some fantastic mailboxes, one is in the LS front lobby and another outside the library. Plus, you will love our very informative posters to help you learn all you need to know to send your letters!

So, please get busy writing your cards and letters.  You can purchase stamps for 10¢ each in first grade! We can't wait to see you!!

It's All About ENERGY!!!!

First grade is currently studying the types of matter (solid, liquid, gas, and plasma) in science class. They have already learned about some of the differences between each type including the differences in molecular structure.

The students recently learned that the most common way to encourage matter to change state is to add or decrease the energy of the molecules. In class, the students practiced changing the energy of molecules by making thermometers. Although the thermometers weren’t an accurate gauge of temperature, they were able to experiment with the science behind how actual thermometers work. The students rubbed their hands together to create friction and heat energy and then transferred the energy to the liquid water and rubbing alcohol inside the “thermometer” by gently touching the sides. By doing this they were able to see that as the molecules in the liquid gained energy they became more active and began traveling up the straw.  We then took our “thermometers” outside into the cold air and watched the molecules lose energy. The students noticed that as the molecules lost energy the liquid began to bubble under the straw and realized that it happened because instead of gaining energy and traveling up it was losing energy and pushing back down.

There was much fascination as students observed the different reactions of the liquid in their thermometers and discussed their thoughts as to what was happening!