Ellis Island, Class Play and Much, Much More by Reade and Nicole

Last week the whole 4th grade visited Ellis Island! Ellis Island is a place where steerage immigrants went. That is the place where they got inspected. The place was active during the Gilded Age. Some of us saw the Statue of Liberty too! The teacher's planned a scavenger hunt around the museum.My class put on a play about women pilots! We had a great time! Also in Social Studies we chose groups to be in to build projects. There are four groups of 4. The topics the groups chose are: the Titanic, the Statue of Liberty, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and tenements, and mansions. These projects are not simple. Stay tuned for the finished products!

In science, my class and I are building robots. In music, we are getting ready for the spring concerts. Don't forget to come and hear us sing next Tuesday and Wednesday. And as you already know, we worked hard on our May Day dances in PE. That was fun!

Kira and Anya's Blog

Wednesday is book club day in the 4A class. The girls are enjoying the History Mystery series. The 4 books are Under Copp's Hill, Secrets on 26th Street, The Strange Case of Baby H, and Ghost Light on Graveyard Shoal. In reading class, Mrs. Amoroso is reading us a book called Ashes of Roses. It is about a girl named Rose who came from Ireland to America with her mother and two sisters. When her mother and one sister go back to Ireland, Rose has to support her and her sister Maureen by getting a job in a sewing factory called the Triangle Waist Co. It was at this factory that there was a big fire. We are just getting to that part of the book.

In PE, we are working on our May Day dances. Our saong is "Trash in the Can". We also went to the Wissahickon Skating Rink for PE last Wed. and are going again this Wed.

In science, as part of the Gilded Age study, the 4th grade is making tenement houses and putting in electricty and switches.

On April 21 and 22, our class is doing a play. There are 3 stories called: "Today's the Day" about the Wright Brothers, "Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride" (Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt), and "Bessie Coleman, Daring to Fly".

Fourth grade gets ready for their trip to Ellis Island on Thursday and are looking forward to their 2nd trip to the skating rink.

Blog written by Alex and Chelsea

Math - We are learning a new kind of long division. This is not the type of long division most adults learned when they were in school.

Social Studies - We are learning about the American Revolution and we took a trip to visit 3 churches that were started at that time. We visited Christ Church, Arch Street Friends Meeting House, and Mother Bethel A.M.E. church. Mrs. Amoroso just finished reading a book aloud to us called Fever, 1793 that takes place in Phila. We are learning about how horrible yellow fever disease was and what it can do to you.

PE - We are learning about basketball and strategies on how to steal the ball and we're working on our picks and pick and rolls.

Art - We just finished making our movies.

MLK Day - For Martin Luther Kind Day we were preparing meals for Aids for Friends. The meals are for people who cannot leave their homes.

Come join us on our Presentation Day if you can. This is the day the girls will be sharing their projects on the American Revolution. They will be sharing information they learned about a famous person who lived at that time.
Monday, Febuary 9 from 8:30 -10:00 am.


Life Issues Begins - Life issues classes with Mrs. Keough began today and the girls will meet with her every Friday for 12 weeks. Topics will include nutrition, body changes, and getting ready for Middle School. Our two nurses, Mrs. Stout and Mrs. Padula will join Mrs. Keough for the unit on menstruation. You will receive a letter soon that outlines all this in more detail.

December News by Cait and Amanda

On Tuesday, December 16 we went to science and Mrs. Amicucci told us that we were going to be able to eat our rock candy that we had made as part of our geology unit. It was yummy! We also made rocks out of clay. The different colors stood for different layers.

In P.E. Mrs. Smith put us in groups of 4. We made up games with our groups and we are performing them for each other this week. It was fun!

Winnie, Maja's new all gray kitten, came to visit on Tuesday. Maja let the whole class hold her. She was so sweet but when she ran under the couch, we almost couldn't get her out. Mrs. Amoroso had to lift up the couch to get Winnie out.

In math we are rounding and estimating numbers. We learned a game called "Multiplication Wrestling." In this game you have to multiply two 2-digit numbers using a process called "FOIL". Ask your daughter to teach you how to play. We played it a lot with our math partners.

Mrs. Amoroso is reading us a book called Fever, 1793. Fever is about a girl named Matilda who lived in Philadelphia. A lot of people in the book are dying from the disease yellow fever. Matilda's mom gets it but we don't know what happened to her yet. Also Matilda gets yellow fever, but she survives. This story is based on true events that took place in Phila. in 1793 and mentions real people who helped during that time, like Dr. Benjamin Rush, Richard Allen, and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

We are getting ready for our first social studies test of the year. We will have a test all about William Penn, Quakers, religious freedom, and Philadelphia and it's first government. The test will be on Friday, January 9, 2009

We are all ready for winter break and look forward to celebrating the time off with our family and friends. 4A wishes everyone a Happy Holiday and fantastic New Year!

Daniela and Taylor's Turn

A couple of days ago, 4A showed their Pennsylvania Region posters to their classmates. It was a fantastic experience learning about the regions, and in a fun way too! In PE, 4A students have been doing DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution), a fitness program. It makes you get up and move to the beat. In music class and chorus, the students of 4A have been playing their recorders. One of the songs they play is "Ode to Joy." A few days ago, 4A went to see their Springside sisters in Mrs. Trueblood's kindergarten. They played math games with them and ate apples and pretzels. it was FUN!

We are studying decimals in math right now and learning about tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. After Thanksgiving we will be learning about metric units of length.

We are now moving into our study of William Penn and early Philadelphia. We will be traveling to center city to visit two churches established during the early 1700's. We will need drivers for this trip. As soon as we have a date for the trip, you'll be notified.

Blog by Maja and Caroline this week!

We recently finished our study on the Maya. We learned that they were an ancient civilization that was wiped out thousands of years ago.

Our class is collecting apples to make an apple pie or other stuff. At lunch, when people buy apples and don't eat them it's a waste. So any apples that 4A doesn't eat, we put in the fridge. Once we have enough, we can make something delicious to eat.

In math, we are doing beginning algebra. We are learning about open sentences where one number is missing and is replaced by a letter. The missing number is called a variable. In writing workshop, we are finishing our first published stories and starting new ones.

We went to Morris Arboretum to see the wetlands there. We had a scavenger hunt. We had lots of fun! For Halloween, we had a parade and an assembly. We also enjoyed giving our performance about the Maya with our headdresses, music, and dancing! We hope you enjoyed it!

From Mrs. Amoroso: Fourth Grade Move Up Night is Tuesday, November 11th from
3:30 - 7:30 pm. The fourth grade girls are dismissed to the cafeteria at 3:30 for a snack and then a tour of Middle school and a chance to do some activities with the fifth grade advisors. The fourth grade parents arrive later (you will be notified of the time) to join their daughters for a pizza dinner (I think) and then a meeting with Mrs. Tinari and some middle school students. It's the first time our fourth graders get to visit Middle school. They have always come back enthusiastic!! There will be other opportunities during the year for the girls and their parents to visit Middle chool again.

News Update by Stephanie and May

We have almost finished our Mayan Headdresses in art. In PE we have been creating Mayan dances for our performance. In music, we have been working on the music that we will play. So get ready for a great performance!

We have recently started studying Pennsylvania. You may have noticed from the homework. We have learned the state flower (Mountain Laurel), the state bird (Ruffed Grouse), the state tree (Hemlock) , the state animal (White-Tailed Deer), and the state fish (Brook Trout). We also learned the state nickname: The Keystone State.

The book Mrs. Amoroso is reading to us is called Running Out of Time. It is about a 13 year-old girl named Jessie. She lives in Clifton, a tourist site. She thinks it's 1840 but then she finds out it's really 1996. Ask your daughter to explain it to you.

We had two ladies come from the EPA to see us in science. Their names were Stephanie Branche-Carter and Regina Poeske. They brought us out to the woods and showed us things to do with wetlands. One thing they taught us was that the red color on the soil is rust.

We recently had an assembly with our Springside sisters. We sang songs like Take Me Out to the Ball Game because the Phillies were playing. Almost everyone wore red in support for the Phillies.