Spring Exhibition
Fourth Graders at High Tech Elementary in Point Loma have spent the year studying events throughout American History, specifically focusing on the perspectives of marginalized groups. We began with the colonization of America and its effect on the indigenous populations already living on this land. We discussed how certain groups of people overpower others, and what they do to maintain power once they have it. We then studied Westward Expansion and the California Gold Rush, looking at the effect both events had on California’s indigenous population and on immigrants from China.
For our final portion of this project we studied the American Civil War and the tensions on both sides that led to the Confederacy’s secession from the Union. We discussed the differing opinions of the North and South, the fears President Lincoln had of a divided nation, and the struggle of enslaved Black people to fight for their freedom. With support from our Arts Integration Specialist, Wilfred Paloma, students choreographed dance pieces to share these stories.
As you watch the video below, we encourage you to consider the importance of elevating non-white voices in history, the opportunity to build empathy through taking perspective, and the relevant and lasting impact our history has on our present and future. Thank you for participating in this learning with us.
For our final portion of this project we studied the American Civil War and the tensions on both sides that led to the Confederacy’s secession from the Union. We discussed the differing opinions of the North and South, the fears President Lincoln had of a divided nation, and the struggle of enslaved Black people to fight for their freedom. With support from our Arts Integration Specialist, Wilfred Paloma, students choreographed dance pieces to share these stories.
As you watch the video below, we encourage you to consider the importance of elevating non-white voices in history, the opportunity to build empathy through taking perspective, and the relevant and lasting impact our history has on our present and future. Thank you for participating in this learning with us.
Spring Updates
Springtime sure moves quickly in 4th grade as we are rapidly approaching the end of the year. Before Spring Break we went hiking and bird watching in Julian with Mr. Riley, exhibited our Gold Rush dance and opinion writing pieces, jogged laps at the Jog-A-Thon and did an Egg Drop competition! Oh my! We also switched into Mr. Lizza's Movement and Mindfulness Exploratory class.
As we look ahead to the end of the year, we are excited to begin our study of the American Civil War and work on creating a dance piece that we will use to showcase our knowledge. A daunting task, to be sure, but one that is full of wonderful opportunities!
As we look ahead to the end of the year, we are excited to begin our study of the American Civil War and work on creating a dance piece that we will use to showcase our knowledge. A daunting task, to be sure, but one that is full of wonderful opportunities!
Eagle Mining Company
It seems only fitting that our first field trip since COVID began also happens to be my favorite field trip of the year! We spent the day at the Eagle Mining Company in Julian learning about the history of the gold rush in this area and how the town of Julian came to be as a result of this gold rush. At the Eagle Mine, we got to see a rock crusher that was used to separate the gold from the quartz rock. We also tried our hand at panning for gold, which requires a lot of patience! Lastly, we got to tour the mine shaft and walk through the tunnels that were created by gold miners over 150 years ago. This was such a fun experience, and even more fun to share it with the other two 4th grade classes as well.
This trip provided some real-life context for all that we've been reading and studying over the past few months. We will use what we learned on this trip to add important details to the opinion writing piece we are working on about whether or not we believe the Gold Rush was something positive or negative for California and its people.
This trip provided some real-life context for all that we've been reading and studying over the past few months. We will use what we learned on this trip to add important details to the opinion writing piece we are working on about whether or not we believe the Gold Rush was something positive or negative for California and its people.
Westward Movement and the Gold Rush
Now that we have been back from Winter Break for a few weeks, it's time to get caught up on all the work we've been doing in class! During our first week back, we took a trip to the ice rink to spend some time doing something fun together. It was wonderful to see our classmates encouraging each other and helping each other on the ice. We had so much fun!
Our project picked up with the US expansion west, covering the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican American War. We talked about how this westward movement was only beneficial for some groups of people (namely white settlers) and catastrophic for many others (Native Americans and Mexicans). The differing experiences of various groups of people in our country during this time highlight the importance of exploring history from multiple perspectives, and I am so proud of these 4th graders for being able to differentiate the ways that these groups of people experienced these events. As we move forward we will be exploring the California Gold Rush in depth and looking at its effect on California's population, and early immigration laws in our country.
In other exciting news, Mr. Noel has joined our classroom as a member of the San Diego Teacher Residency program! He will be completing his second semester of student teaching with us and we are happy to have him learn alongside us.
Our project picked up with the US expansion west, covering the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican American War. We talked about how this westward movement was only beneficial for some groups of people (namely white settlers) and catastrophic for many others (Native Americans and Mexicans). The differing experiences of various groups of people in our country during this time highlight the importance of exploring history from multiple perspectives, and I am so proud of these 4th graders for being able to differentiate the ways that these groups of people experienced these events. As we move forward we will be exploring the California Gold Rush in depth and looking at its effect on California's population, and early immigration laws in our country.
In other exciting news, Mr. Noel has joined our classroom as a member of the San Diego Teacher Residency program! He will be completing his second semester of student teaching with us and we are happy to have him learn alongside us.
Catching Up
I'm not sure how four weeks slipped by so quickly -- we've been hard at work with our history project and time is moving fast! Over the past few weeks we have continued to expand our dance vocabulary, working with our dance teacher Wilfred to learn how to interpret images of colonists and natives using movement. We have had deep and meaningful class discussions about the importance of the work we're doing, and why we are studying history from multiple perspectives. We celebrated Halloween, performed our Alice in Wonderland play in Ms. Starry's class, watched a beautiful performance by native dancers from several local tribes, and visited Mr. Riley's 4th grade Engineering exhibition to see what we have to look forward to when we switch into his class this week. Enjoy these photos from the past few weeks!
The Power of Play
To say that this school year has been challenging so far would be a huge understatement -- not only are we rebuilding our stamina for 6 hours of classroom learning, we are also learning how to interact with others, control our immediate needs, and follow along with a group plan that might not be preferred. The trauma of the past year and a half is evident in all of us every day. We are exhausted, we are irritable, we are just trying to do our best to adjust to yet another new way of life and school.
I have noticed that our class, as a whole, has a very low tolerance for non-preferred activities (the phrase "do I have to?" is said more times a day than I can count) especially those that might fall outside our comfort zones. Our dance instruction has been especially difficult for many students, which is both a surprise and a slight disappointment. We had assumed that centering a project around movement would engage students in a way that more traditional academics might not this year. And while I do see some definite hope for the duration of this project, its initial few weeks have been a struggle -- one I hope we can emerge from soon!
All of this being said, I am continually amazed by the resilience of our class. While many individuals in many work sectors were able to carry on with their jobs per usual during the pandemic (perhaps from the confines of their own homes instead of an office), students and teachers had to re-learn again and again what it meant to go to school and to teach... and we're doing it! Every day we are met with opportunities to shape and redefine how we want this school year to look, and despite some complaints and eye-rolls, we are largely succeeding. To that end, we took some time on Friday afternoon to let loose and do what 4th graders do best: play. After a brief evacuation practice, we spent some time at the playground in NTC Park enjoying the late afternoon sun and each other's company.
I have noticed that our class, as a whole, has a very low tolerance for non-preferred activities (the phrase "do I have to?" is said more times a day than I can count) especially those that might fall outside our comfort zones. Our dance instruction has been especially difficult for many students, which is both a surprise and a slight disappointment. We had assumed that centering a project around movement would engage students in a way that more traditional academics might not this year. And while I do see some definite hope for the duration of this project, its initial few weeks have been a struggle -- one I hope we can emerge from soon!
All of this being said, I am continually amazed by the resilience of our class. While many individuals in many work sectors were able to carry on with their jobs per usual during the pandemic (perhaps from the confines of their own homes instead of an office), students and teachers had to re-learn again and again what it meant to go to school and to teach... and we're doing it! Every day we are met with opportunities to shape and redefine how we want this school year to look, and despite some complaints and eye-rolls, we are largely succeeding. To that end, we took some time on Friday afternoon to let loose and do what 4th graders do best: play. After a brief evacuation practice, we spent some time at the playground in NTC Park enjoying the late afternoon sun and each other's company.
Let the Dancing Begin
With our project finally under way, we have been getting into the history of colonization and the effect that had on indigenous people in the Americas. We first talked about Christopher Columbus and his colonization of the Taino population in the Bahamas. Soon we will move into the colonization of the United States and the establishment of the 13 colonies.
We will be focusing heavily on reading non-fiction texts throughout this project, so for the past couple weeks we have been working on identifying non-fiction text features and discerning the difference between how to read fiction vs. nonfiction. Another major component of this project is dance -- the medium through which we will be interpreting and retelling the history stories we are learning. Last Friday, we had our first dance class with Wilfred, an arts integration instructor who will be working with us to choreograph our dances throughout the year!
We will be focusing heavily on reading non-fiction texts throughout this project, so for the past couple weeks we have been working on identifying non-fiction text features and discerning the difference between how to read fiction vs. nonfiction. Another major component of this project is dance -- the medium through which we will be interpreting and retelling the history stories we are learning. Last Friday, we had our first dance class with Wilfred, an arts integration instructor who will be working with us to choreograph our dances throughout the year!
Project Launch!
Our history project has officially launched and we have begun to get into a little bit of our history content around colonization. Our plan for this project is to study events throughout American History and specifically center non-white stories and experiences. The hope is to partner with Arts Education Connection San Diego to work with an arts integration teacher who will help us create a movement based performance through which we will tell the stories we are learning. For our portion on colonization, we will focus on the experience of indigenous people and use indigenous dance moves, music and techniques in order to create a dance piece that honors their experience. Next we will move on to the California Gold Rush and learn about Chinese immigration during that time. Students will study traditional Chinese dance and again use what they've learned to create a dance piece. Our final portion of American History will cover slavery and the Civil War, and we will use dance from West Africa to shape the final aspect of this performance. The goal is to eventually put all of these movement pieces together into one big performance at the end of the year. Here's hoping it all goes to plan!
For our project launch, we discussed dance as a means of storytelling and participated in an online African dance class through the Alvin Ailey School Extension. We had a lot of fun moving our bodies in new ways!
For our project launch, we discussed dance as a means of storytelling and participated in an online African dance class through the Alvin Ailey School Extension. We had a lot of fun moving our bodies in new ways!
Lightning and Thunder
This week, students got a few more hints about our upcoming project launch. We worked on timelines and sequencing events in chronological order by creating life maps of key moments in our lives. We also read a book called If You Lived 100 Years Ago... and used a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast life in the past to present day. Many kids were shocked to learn that electricity and indoor plumbing were a luxury reserved for only the wealthiest families not long ago!
We ended our week with a tropical thunderstorm and enjoyed watching the clouds and lightning while waiting for pickup on Friday afternoon. Oh how I missed small, joyful moments like these. It is so good to be back in this classroom.
We ended our week with a tropical thunderstorm and enjoyed watching the clouds and lightning while waiting for pickup on Friday afternoon. Oh how I missed small, joyful moments like these. It is so good to be back in this classroom.
We Are Family
We have had so much fun continuing to get to know each other and build a strong class family in 4th grade. This week we continued our reading work, brushed up on our understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division and found some time for more team building. We competed to see who could build the tallest tower using Dots candy and dry spaghetti, and we went for a walk on Tuesday afternoon down to the bay.
Our class has so many wonderful qualities, but something I admire most is how well everyone works together and looks out for each other. These kids are excellent problem solvers, caretakers and supporters of everyone in our classroom. They are kind, loving, and always willing to help when someone is in need. It is a pleasure to spend our days together and I am looking forward to getting into some of the exciting project work we have planned once our project officially launches at the end of the month.
Our class has so many wonderful qualities, but something I admire most is how well everyone works together and looks out for each other. These kids are excellent problem solvers, caretakers and supporters of everyone in our classroom. They are kind, loving, and always willing to help when someone is in need. It is a pleasure to spend our days together and I am looking forward to getting into some of the exciting project work we have planned once our project officially launches at the end of the month.
Getting into a Good Book
As we continue to get back into the routine of doing school in person, we spent a lot of time this week working on building good reading habits both independently and with others. Students now have access to a digital library through RazKids where they can find plenty of books at their reading level, both fiction and nonfiction.
4th grade is a big transitional year for reading, where students move from learning to read to reading to learn. The best way to support reading development is to read a variety of books as often as possible (at least 20 minutes a day!) either independently or with an adult. Asking questions like, "why do you think______________" or "what lesson did _______________ learn" or "what is the message in this story" will push students to begin to think "beyond" the text and start to pick up aspects of a story that are less literal.
4th grade is a big transitional year for reading, where students move from learning to read to reading to learn. The best way to support reading development is to read a variety of books as often as possible (at least 20 minutes a day!) either independently or with an adult. Asking questions like, "why do you think______________" or "what lesson did _______________ learn" or "what is the message in this story" will push students to begin to think "beyond" the text and start to pick up aspects of a story that are less literal.
Officially Back to School!
What a joyous thing it was to have our hallways and classrooms filled with students after a year and a half of distance and hybrid learning. This week we focused primarily on establishing routines and expectations to set us all up for a successful school year. We rekindled old friendships and sparked some new ones as well, as we welcomed several new students to our class. We did some fun team building challenges, and had plenty of time to play outside on the playground -- something everyone has missed!
Academics were kept light and fun, as we all eased our way back into a 6 hour school day. We did a week of Inspirational Math using Jo Boaler's curriculum, and worked on having a growth mindset as mathematicians. We practiced critique and review by doing some radial symmetry art with our names and providing kind, helpful and specific feedback for our friends' work in order to help them create a beautiful final draft. I'm looking forward to hanging up these art pieces in our classroom to enjoy all year!
Academics were kept light and fun, as we all eased our way back into a 6 hour school day. We did a week of Inspirational Math using Jo Boaler's curriculum, and worked on having a growth mindset as mathematicians. We practiced critique and review by doing some radial symmetry art with our names and providing kind, helpful and specific feedback for our friends' work in order to help them create a beautiful final draft. I'm looking forward to hanging up these art pieces in our classroom to enjoy all year!