7 Continents and 5 Oceans with Grade 4

Fourth-graders are learning about maps and atlases.

How quickly can you correctly identify the world's continents and oceans on your first try? 

If you need a refresher before clicking the link above, watch this video.

If you'd like to be able to identify the countries on each continent, try playing the geography games on freerice.com. This site donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme for every correct answer.

Songs of the Seasons

source: harpercollins.com

In kindergarten, the students helped me read an interactive book called Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. We knocked on the trunk, jiggled the book, blew away fallen leaves, closed our eyes and counted to 10 ... and after every action, the tree had changed with the seasons!

We followed up the reading with a discussion of the seasons and how they encompass different months and holidays, like Halloween. I now know what all the kids are dressing up as (and was happy to hear that one will be a Ghostbuster ... nice to know they're still around).

Finally, we watched some old-school Sesame Street videos with songs about the seasons. Enjoy!

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo - AM K

I remember being introduced to a ton of great books via the Reading Rainbow TV show. One such title is Abiyoyo, a South African lullaby adapted by none other than Pete Seeger. I shared it with the kindergartners, who enjoyed singing along. ZOOP!

AM K students drew pictures of what they would make disappear if they had a magic wand like the father in the story.

Around the World in Grade 4

Fourth-graders are learning about maps and atlases in preparation for research about different countries' cultures.

How quickly can you correctly identify the world's continents and oceans on your first try? 

If you need a refresher before clicking the link above, watch this video.

AM K Loves Pete the Cat!

Some days you just really need Pete the Cat to come in and remind you, "It's all good." We read about his white shoes via the singalong video below, then did some Pete the Cat dot-to-dot coloring after checkout.

 

PM K Loves Pete the Cat!

Some days you just really need Pete the Cat to come in and remind you, "It's all good." We read about his white shoes via the singalong video below, then did some Pete the Cat dot-to-dot coloring after checkout.

 

 

Lucky eeny-meeny-miney-mo winner and first
kindergartner to check out a new Pete the Cat book!

Don't Be Like Vanilla Ice

Remember to credit all of your sources when you're presenting research ... don't use someone else's ideas, photos, or bass lines and pass them off as your own. List the books, web sites, videos, interviews, and anything else you may have used in a bibliography.

Meet the Elements!

Can You Moo? K Animal Sounds

The library often sounds a little like a zoo, but this past month, it also sounded like a farm! I read a selection of animal sounds books to the kindergarten classes, including:

scholastic.com

goodreads.com

Because students' animal sounds sometimes got a little ... enthusiastic ... I taught them the conductor's cut-off signal. Which reminded me of The Sesame Street All-Animal Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. The students got a huge kick out of it and yelled for an encore.

And finally, what discussion of animal sounds can now be had without wondering ... What Does The Fox Say?

Video: Evolution of Music

As part of our music research kickoff, 6th graders watched this Pentatonix video and noted which songs they recognized. I am happy to report that students were familiar with Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, and more from before they were born. How many can you identify?

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo

I remember being introduced to a ton of great books via the Reading Rainbow TV show. One such title is Abiyoyo, a South African lullaby adapted by none other than Pete Seeger. I shared it with the kindergartners, who enjoyed singing along. ZOOP!

Opposites! Opposites!

After we read Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman, Grade 1 students worked together to develop lists of opposites. They got some inspiration from this Sesame Street video, and had a stack of books to help with ideas as well.

Try this at home

Can your family fill in the table below with the missing words? Can you come up with more examples?

up
	cold
fast
	quiet
underneath
	sad