Category Archives: 4th grade

4th Grade Reflection

In 4th grade we did a lot of things. We did projects, read alouds and more. In 4th grade we did lots of projects. Here are some of the projects we did:  a wetland wevideo project, toy theater, colonial america project, biography project and the curiosity project. We also did a lot of read alouds. Some of them were Blood On the River, Book Scavenger and Tiger Rising.

We also covered a lot of subjects. My favorite subject is Social Studies. I like Social Studies because I like learning about things that that went on way before I was born. I also like it because it is fun to learn things that you can’t experience because the event happened before I was born.

My favorite read aloud this year was Book Scavenger. I like Book Scavenger because I think the blend of suspense, mystery and excitement make Book Scavenger a really good thrilling read aloud.

My favorite project was Toy Theater because it is Social Studies and I like learning about history.

Overall,  I thought that that 4th grade was a very fun year for me!

PSA Reflection

In 4th grade, we had to make a video on an ecosystem. First we had to pick our topic. I picked wetlands because I thought they looked interesting. Then we had to do research. The video had to be about Human Impact on our ecosystem. I researched the way humans changed wetland, whether it was good or bad. I had to have enough information to fill the video. We needed to have a 60 second video. After doing all the research we needed to write a script. We had to write a draft of what we would write/say in the video. Next, we had to make a storyboard. A storyboard is a place where you draw what you want your video to look like so you can picture what your video will look like. We had to draw pictures of what we wanted our images in our video to be and add the words from our script. Then, we started the actual video. We had to put in pictures and words. Then, we had to edit. We had to do a lot of editing. When we were done editing, we got to add music. Then we added voice recordings. After that, once we had an adult watch it we finished it!

Overall, I really liked this project. It was fun to create a video on an ecosystem and know that a lot of people may watch it! Even though it was hard work, I thought this project was fun and liked it a lot.

Here is my final piece:

 

Biography Project – Anne Frank

 

Anne Frank was a Jewish child growing up in Holland during World War 2. When the Nazis invaded Holland on May 10, 1940 it was impossible to leave Holland so Anne and her family had no choice but to go into hiding.

 

Childhood/Early Life

Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929. She was born in Germany and lived there from when she was born to the age of 4. At the time Anne Frank was born, Germany was having economic problems (the result of World War 1). In 1933 when Anne was 4, Adolf Hitler rose to power and started to discriminate Jews, soon Anne’s father realized that Germany was no longer a safe place to raise his family. So, he decided to move his family to Holland. Anne and her sister Margot were enrolled at Montessori School. But then, the Germans invaded Holland. Anne and her family were no longer safe.

During the time of German occupation Anne had to wear a yellow star to show she was Jewish. Anne was also forced to leave her beloved Montessori School and go to one just for Jews. Anne’s 13th birthday was coming up. This would be the last birthday she would ever celebrate. For her birthday she got her diary, the one that has become so famous over the past 50-60 years. The happy times didn’t last. Less than a month after Anne’s birthday There was a letter from the Germans saying that Margot had to work in a German factory. Now the family had only 1 choice; they had to go into hiding.

Early in the morning of June 6, 1942  Anne’s mother woke her up and told her to dress in 2 undershirts, 3 pairs of pants, a dress, a skirt, a jacket, a summer coat, 2 pairs of stockings, sturdy shoes, a woolen cap and a scarf. Anne did what she was told. She had no idea where she was going. The hiders were joined by 4 other people, Peter Van Daan, Mrs. Van Daan, Mr. Van Daan and Dr. Albert Dussel. They also had helpers. They were Miep Van Santen, Elli Vossen, Mr. Kraler and Mr. Koophuis. In the hiding place (known now as the Secret Annex) Anne had to whisper and tiptoe in the Secret Annex. For such a lively young girl it was terrible. Everyone in the Secret Annex was getting on everyone’s nerves. In the evening everyone gathered around the radio to hear news about the war. Miep and Elli did their best to make life better for the people in the Secret Annex. The hiders all wished for something. Anne wished to go back to school. The 8 hiders had many close calls. Once in April, 1944 a burglary really frightened everyone. The police had come to investigate the burglary and they rattled the secret door. The 8 hiders sat in the pitch dark and waited. Someone even suggested they get rid of the forbidden radio and burn Anne’s diary. Luckily the hiders didn’t get caught. In 1944, Anne and Peter Van Daan started to hang out together to relieve the bordism. Soon they developed strong crushes on each other. Everyday the hiders went around their daily business wondering if/when they would be discovered. The about the news about the war was getting better and Anne started to fantasize that maybe she would be able to go back to school soon. But then, on the morning of Friday, August 4, 1944, Anne and the others were discovered. People think that someone guessed Jews were hiding on the premises and betrayed them to the Nazis. They gathered their belongings and went first to the Gestapo headquarters, then to the Westerbork prison camp, and the to the Auschwitz prison camp. Later, Anne and Margot were moved to the Bergen-Belsen prison camp. There, Anne became very sick with typhus. Luckily her friend Lies Goosen was also at that prison camp and actually had medicine and food because she got a passport to South America before she was arrested so, she sent 2 packages to Anne. Anne only caught 1. Soon after Margot died, after that Anne also became very ill and died shortly after. Anne died 2 months before the war ended and 3 months before her 16th birthday.

 

Challenges/Obstacles

Anne faced many challenges in her life. Her biggest one was hiding from the Nazis. Anne was very lively so the Secret Annex felt like prison for her. One of her other challenges was that she could not go to places like the public pool, movie theaters, certain shops and was even forced to leave her beloved Montessori School and go to a school just for Jews. Overall Anne’s challenge was being a Jewish girl growing up in Holland during World War 2.

 

Impact on the World

Although Anne died a long time ago, her diary lives on. Millions of people read Anne’s diary. It was printed in around 60 languages. Her diary explains the true horrors of World War 2 through the eyes a young, Jewish girl in hiding.

 

St. Paul’s Trip

St. Paul’s Church was built in 1765. The church was built the way it was because it needed to be able to fit a lot of people and it needed to be strong. The church was used as a hospital in the American Revolution. A battle, called the Battle of Pell’s Point happened near it. The Battle of Pell’s Point was a battle so the British could not get to Manhattan and so the British could not trap Washington’s men and to delay the British. In the Battle of Pell’s Point, The American Army hid behind stone walls and when the British came they fired. Overall, I really enjoyed going there.

Ecosystem – Wetland

Have you ever wondered what wetlands are? Wetlands are areas of land that is completely soaked in water and have water rising up above the land making a big pool of water. Wetlands are on every continent except Antarctica. They are usually found along the coast or near rivers. Wetland consumers consist of panthers, crocodiles, alligators, bears, snakes, hippos, rhinos, rabbits and deer. Even though these are some of the wetland consumers there are many, many more. Wetland producers also consist of many producers such as mangrove trees, cattails, reeds, dogwood, waterlilies, moss, fern, hibiscus and hyacinths. These are only a few of the many wetland producers. Aside from just general wetlands there are some more well known wetlands such as the Everglades in southern Florida and the Pantanal in southern Brazil. Wetlands help us in many different ways. For instance wetlands clean and enrich our oceans and lakes and they contribute to the fertility of surrounding soil by adding minerals to it. People get thing from wetlands too. We get fish, blueberries, timber, wild rice and cranberries from wetlands. There are different types of wetlands. The main types of wetland are bogs, marshes, swamps and fens. Sadly, wetlands only cover 6% of the earth. That’s because humans are draining wetlands for more farmland. Wetlands do so much for us, so I think that we should do more for them.

 

Learning From Our Differences

In today’s learning from our differences I learned a lot about physical disabilities. One thing I learned from it was that you should respect a person with disabilities, not feel bad for them. Another thing I learned was that people can do really amazing things when they have physical disabilities, possibly even more amazing because they have that disability. Overall I really liked this program.

Colonial America Reflexion

The process of this book was long and hard. First, we had to research on regular colonial life for our Chapter 1. We also had to research for Chapter 2, but this time we picked our top 3 choices and our teacher chose our topic out of our 3 choices. Then, we had to write out our chapters 1 and 2. Next, we had to type those chapters. After that, we used our topic research to write our Chapter 3 which is a letter that has to do with your topic. Then, we typed our chapter 3. Next, we wrote our chapter 4 and typed it. After that, we had to type our glossary and bibliography. Last, we had to put in images, captions and finishing touches. That’s how we made our book.

I really liked working on the colonial america books. I especially liked writing chapter 3  because I liked being able to make something up and use history to make it into a letter. I also liked writing chapter 2 because I liked learning about colonial doctors.

The most challenging part of this process for me was researching for my chapter 2 because it was difficult to find anymore information then what I already had.

I learned that I really like to write historical fiction.

If I did this project again, I think I would have tried to find more images because I would like a few more images.

Overall, I really liked writing this book.

 

Colonial Day

I learned so much on Colonial Day! My favorite activity was Dame School because I thought it was cool to learn about what school was like in the 1700’s. I also thought it was interesting the way they punished you when you got something wrong, and how they taught you to read prayers instead of real books. I also liked Tin Smithing because I thought it was cool to make holes through a design, and for it to come out kind of like braille.

One thing I learned about the Colonial times is that people would have a stenciling artist to stencil their walls with milk paint so the bugs that ate away at the wood couldn’t eat away at the wood anymore.

One thing I want to learn more about the Colonial times is the cooking and textiles they did.

Colonial times is different from today by how much work we do vs. how much they did. For example, back in the Colonial times they actually had to spend hours making their butter, and all we have to do is go to the store and buy it.

Overall, I really enjoyed all the activities and thought Colonial Day was really fun.

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