Kid Blog Stars

1. Fabulous Fours Ms. Duffenais’ Classroom Newsletter << May2014 >> Knights in the Classroom On April 9th, the grade fours at Burnt Elm enjoyed a historical journey through ancient civilizations right through to the middle ages with presenters from “Knights in the Classroom.” With a focus on the current grade 4 social studies curriculum, the presenters provided a brief overview of each society, with a short oral quiz at the end of each lesson for the students to test their knowledge. The presenters rated Burnt Elm’s grade 4s number one overall, after comparing scores from each school they have visited. The 5 period presentation was broken up by demonstrations that ranged from practicing yoga originating from ancient India, to labeling a knight’s armor, to students being put in the stocks, to target practice with a crossbow, to watching the presenters suit up in their chainmail, to a live sword fight! The focus on medieval times has given many of the grade fours a thirst to learn more. This month we will be moving from our studies of Ancient Egypt and fast forwarding to Medieval Europe. Students will have the opportunity to compare and contrast the lives of people from both societies. Kid Blog Stars I’d like to congratulate the following students who took initiative and were most active during the month of April: Our most active readers on Raz-Kids during the month of April: Continued Learning Math–Geometry: 2-D and 3-D figures, Numeracy: Fractions/decimals Reading: compare & contrast Ancient Egypt civilization to Middle Ages, novel study “The Whipping Boy” Writing: Venn diagrams, reader’s responses, questioning, blogs Oral & Visual Communication: Inquiry presentations Science: Light & Sound, Simple Machines Social Studies: Ancient Egypt inquiry presentations, Middle Ages Visual Arts: Geometric Collographs, positive and negative space Abbinash gets first hand experience of what it felt like to be put in the stocks as a form of punishment during medieval times.