News
and Notes
From Fourth Grade
Showcasing
This
week the students of Simonds School participated in the annual Simonds Talent
Show. What a great opportunity for our
students to showcase their diverse and exciting talents! With everything from tricks on trampolines to
song and dance performances, the students wowed the audience with their great
abilities. This annual event is a fun
way to celebrate some of the gifts that we don't always get to focus on during
the normal school day. It was also a
great time of school community as the students congratulated and celebrated
each other. The students at Simonds
School certainly do have talent!
Electricity
The
supplies were distributed, the groups assigned, and the challenge was given:
make the light bulb light up. This week
the fourth grade scientists explored simple circuits. As a first introduction to electricity and
how circuits work, the fourth graders were given some opportunity to explore
with this hands-on challenge. Some
groups were able to apply some prior knowledge and complete the task fairly
easily, while other groups approached the challenge with a "trial and
error" mentality. In the end, all
the groups were able to make their bulb light up. What an exciting moment when the students
first complete their simple circuit. We
will continue to build on these concepts as we explore electricity in depth in
the coming weeks.
Searching
The
fourth grade writers are continuing in the search for information. This week we added to our growing notes on
our research topics. The students are
becoming increasingly more independent and proficient at searching for
resources, both physical and digital.
They are learning how to record the bibliographic information to give
their source credit. And, they are
learning all kinds of interest facts about
their topics. Once we have finished our
research and have begun compiling it, we will certainly have some very
interesting and detailed research projects to share!
Respect and
Kindness
This
week the leadership team from the Kearsarge Regional Middle School stopped by
Simonds School to lead our students in a discovery of respect and
kindness. The experience was a mixture
of fun activities and serious discussions.
In the end, the third, fourth, and fifth graders at Simonds School had
learned more about respect and kindness.
These lessons have a great impact on our students because they are
coming from older students who are excellent models of kids who can both have
fun and be respectful and kind members of a school community.
Revolutionary
As a
way of introducing our upcoming social studies unit on the American Revolution,
the fourth graders welcomed a special guest to our classroom this week. Ms. Sue Fonte, a former teacher from Simonds
School came back to share some of her impressive knowledge about the American
Revolution and the history of Colonial America.
Using her story-telling abilities mixed with amazing historical details,
Ms. Fonte helped history come to life for our fourth graders.
