Garden Harvest

Just wanted to share a few shots of our work in the garden today.  We weeded the raised beds, and harvested some of the fruits and vegetables that were ripe, including carrots, cilantro, celery, tomatoes, limes and radicchio!

Decomposers!

We began our fourth grade Life Science unit by studying decomposers: organisms such as fungi, worms and bacteria that break down dead or decaying material to use for food.

We created a classroom earthworm bin, and took turns filling it with soil, newspaper and vegetable scraps, and a hundred or so earthworms from my compost bin at home.

Students will continue to add fruit and vegetable leftovers, keep it moist and stir the contents regularly.  We'll observe the bin, and take note of the soil level and how quickly the food items disappear.  We'll cover the bin to keep it dark, and look for earthworm tunnels through the glass at feeding time.


Here are some time-lapse videos of decomposers at work. 

First up, mushrooms and other fungi:



And here are two more:

Mold decomposing a watermelon:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S12zZhdOckc

Ants decomposing a gekko:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Mt2E1M6dU

Enjoy!

Computer Technology

 Students at Walgrove use laptops from the mobile computer lab to support their research and writing skills, as well as to foster creativity and reinforce academic skills.

Digital literacy and citizenship are essential skills that students are learning in order to use technology in a safe and responsible way.

 Dance Mat Typing is one program we use to learn typing skills that will be useful in our academic and personal careers.  Here is a link to use at home:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

In the coming months, we'll be exploring and utilizing a number of free, student-appropriate, online resources which I'll post here for your convenience.

Healthy Respectful Relationships

 Fourth graders worked in small groups today to collaborate on ways to support healthy, respectful relationships at work, school and the community.

Each student brainstormed and contributed to a group poster addressing one of the questions below:

• What might happen in a relationship when one person is disrespectful to another?
• How do you show others that you deserve respect?
• How can someone earn your respect?
• How would the world be different if everyone was respectful all the time?
• How do you show people that you respect yourself?
• Why is it important that people respect each other?

Finally, each group presented its poster and ideas to the class, and responded to the questions, comments and ideas that were raised.

We're looking forward to a year of respectful and collaborative investigation!