Monday, September 29, 2014

Books for Backpack Buddies

Just for October, students may bring donations of new or gently-used children's books to be given to our "Backpack Buddies" at Rosa Taylor Elementary. **This is in addition to our regular weekly food outreach through our Backpack Ministry.**  (Don't forget to send in your food items as well.)
Thanks so much for all your help in reaching out to these children in our community.

Football Friday Night !

Tickets for this week's FPD vs. Stratford football game are on sale in The Viking Store through the end of lunch time on Friday. $5.00 pre-sale or $7.00 at the gate. Go Vikings!

Tablet Time in Science!

On Friday, 4th grade students used the tablets to write final drafts of their Science stories!  These tech savvy students did a wonderful job!  Enjoy the pics below...





Thursday, September 25, 2014

Book Reports Due October 2nd

Just a friendly reminder that the Flip Book Report is due Thursday, Oct. 2. Please see the link on the right under 'Important Documents'  for instructions and information.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Cloud Making in 4th Grade!

Our next Science unit will be Weather and Climate.  Today in the Science Lab students participated in several demonstrations. They made models of cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus clouds.  See below for examples of our learning fun!






Thursday, September 18, 2014

Tablet Time!

Students are working hard today using tablets to locate vocabulary terms relating to our novel study. Here are some pictures of students at work. 




Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Today's Science Lab and a Reminder about School Pictures

Below are a few pictures from our time today in the Science Lab.  Today we began our investigation of the water cycle using our Scientific Method expertise.   






We also have our test on the Scientific Method test coming up on Tuesday, 9/23/14.  These are the things students should be know for the test:  

*List the 6 steps of the Scientific Method in order.
*List some examples of ways to practice lab safety.
*Identify the 4 types of graphs scientists use to analyze and share their data:  bar graphs, line graphs, circle graphs, and picture graphs.
*Define Scientific Method vocab terms.


One last thing, tomorrow is school picture day!  We can't wait to see lots of 4th grade smiling faces on Thursday, 9/18/14! 


Friday, September 12, 2014

Scientific Method in Action...

Happy Friday!  In Science class and in the lab, we have been busy studying the 6 steps of the Scientific Method.  We thought you might enjoy seeing a few pictures of your young scientists at work.  Also, remember that we will have a Science Vocab Quiz on Tuesday, September 16th.  The terms for the quiz are listed below these pics.  Another copy was sent home this week in your child's blue homework folder.  Enjoy the photos! :-) 








Scientific Method Vocabulary:

Data—the information that is gathered in an experiment
Experiment—what scientists carry out in order to test a hypothesis; it is sometimes called a test or a trial
Variables—things that can be changed within an experiment
Analyze—to think about your results and try to understand what they mean
Hypothesis—a prediction, or an educated guess
Hypothesize—to make a prediction, or  an educated guess, about what you expect to happen in an experiment  
Question—scientists begin with this step in the scientific method (why or how does something happen?)
Share—to tell your findings to others in order to help everyone learn and to develop new ideas
Results—the findings from a scientific experiment
Observe—to watch or look carefully
Record—to write, chart, or graph data from an experiment
Lab Safety—rules and procedures to keep scientists safe when working in a science lab
Data Table—a way to organize data into rows and columns
Scientific Method—a series of 6 steps used by scientists/people to help find solutions to problems and/or answer questions
Science—a system of gaining knowledge using observation and experiments 
Scientist—a scientific investigator
Lab—a place where science experiments and research are done