As faith-filled learners, the fourth graders participate in prayer daily, and help and respect God's creations. During class discussions and activities across the curriculum, the fourth graders remind each other of important lessons Jesus Christ teaches us.  The fourth graders discuss the importance of having trust, respect, open communication, and honesty in our friendships.  

The fourth graders are also learning about discipleship and how they will grow as  faith-filled learners.  They are learning about empathy.  They took an empathy pledge, and are learning how to use empathetic language when solving problems, and when managing their emotions.  Having empathy for others will help the fourth graders better understand how to spread happiness.  
 

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We enter the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday, March 6.  Lent consists of the forty days (excluding Sundays) that come before Easter. We begin our forty-day walk with Jesus on Ash Wednesday, which happens to be Valentine's Day this year.  We know we will face difficulties and challenges in our lives. 

We remember to see these times as they really are and with our hearts.   We pray and fast to show sorrow for our sins and to try to be like Jesus who prepared for his public life with forty days of prayer and fasting.

As a class, we are striving to... 
   

GIVE UP	TAKE UP	LIFT UP
Materialism Disrespect Arguing Bragging Gossiping Anger Distractions Selfishness	Compromise Respect Humility Optimism Peace Attentiveness Forgiveness Self-control Love Responsibility	Our school Our classmates Our family members The poor and homeless Adults Our parish community Strangers Jesus and God!

 
 
During Lent, we walk the Stations of the Cross.    What are Stations of the Cross?Stations are places where people take time to think about Jesus as he went to die on a cross. They show us how much Jesus loved us.   How can we think of and use the teachings of the Stations of the Cross in our own lives?   We do not have to think of all of the Stations of the Cross on one day. We may want to stay at one Station with Jesus for a few days before we move to another Station. Whatever we decide, Jesus is with us and he loves us.  

The fourth graders will be illustrating the Stations of the Cross to be meaningful for all students at Holy Family Catholic School.  They will be displayed on our bulletin board in the hallway so when you're in the school, please take the time to do your own walk of the Stations of the Cross. 

In fourth grade, we learn about the Catholic Social Teaching, Rights and Responsibilities of the Human Person.  The Catholic Spirit defines it as:

 

A great way to live out this teaching is by volunteering at the Oregon Food Bank and participating in schoolwide service learning projects such as Backpack for Kid, Pennies for those in Need, and making lunches for the Willamette Shelter with our eighth grade buddies.   
 

A former fourth grader reflected, "I was a faith-filled learner by helping some of the of the people who are food insecure.  Food insecure is not knowing when your next meal will be.  I made a difference by helping lots of people.  It really feels good to help others!"  

Her classmate excitedly reported, "...just a little bit can make a huge difference in someone's life. I am glad we went to the Food Bank.  Helping people is fun!"  

"We lived out the Catholic Social Teaching, Rights and Responsibilities.  We were all faith-filled learners because we did our duty to help. 
It is always important to do your part in the world."

 

The fourth graders are learning about ways to exercise and train their brains to have a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset.  

One word wall in our classroom is our homophone word wall.  Homophones are words that sound the same, are spelled differently, and have different meanings.
 

Our second word wall is The Word Wall Woods.  This wall will consist of words more than five students have misspelled in a given task.  These words may be words from our curriculum or words we use in our writing projects and journals.

Integrated Across the Curriculum--

NEWSELA is an online resource implemented in grades four and above at HFCS. Articles the fourth graders read connect to topics being learned across the curriculum. Newsela engages students with primary sources and articles from world-class news publications, enables classes to read together as Newsela adapts to each student's reading level, and sparks thoughtful classroom discussions and empower students to find their voice.  
 

    

Reading, Writing, Social Studies & Technology 


The fourth graders recently finished studying the two year journey that took Meriwether Lewis and William Clark west from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean. They learned about the Louisiana Purchase and its effect on Westward Expansion. The fourth grade historians gained a deeper understanding of how the Lewis & Clark Expedition impacted the United States and Oregon as it exists today.  The fourth graders discussed how life was different for Lewis and Clark as they traveled 8,000 miles without our current world consisting of iPhones, iPads, GPS technology.    

To culminate the unit, the fourth graders were assigned the task of creating digital storyboards recording this epic journey of Lewis and Clark.  To begin, our historians took a virtual tour of the Expedition on Chromebooks and iPads in partnerships--reading, discussing, and recording important details. The tours allowed the fourth graders to better understand the experiences of the Corps of Discovery. Our engaged historians then summarized each stop to retell twelve stops on this two year expedition.  These summaries became the foundations for the digital storyboards they created on Storyboardthat.com. This project integrated Social Studies, Writing, Reading, Technology, & Math. All of the fourth graders worked hard on their creations. They used higher level thinking skills and creativity in their teams to publish their very first digital storyboard.  Check these wonderfully designed digital storyboards on our bulletin board outside our classroom.   
 

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Because the fourth graders gained a better understanding of how the United States changed due to the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark's expedition, the fourth graders will connect the impact pioneers additionally had on the settlement of our state of Oregon.   This takes us to our next unit of study--Pioneers Traveling West on the Oregon Trail.

The fourth graders are reading the nonfiction book If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon.  They are gaining knowledge about pioneer life and why setters traveled The Oregon Trail. While reading this informational text, the students are participating in hands-on geography and extension activities that complement their reading and connect to historical documentaries and news stories presented to them.  The fourth graders are discussing the growth of our nation, and how Westward Expansion impacted the lives of Native Americans.   We are comparing and contrasting the pioneers' lifestyles to our lifestyles today, specifically with technology, medicine, and modes of transportation. The fourth graders will more deeply understand how pioneers and Natives were faith-filled learners, responsible decision makers, and self-aware, engaged learners during this historic time period.   

At the end of the unit, the fourth graders will be able to retell the top ten important things of traveling The Oregon Trail.  They will also be able to write their very own historical fiction pioneer journals. The fourth grade engaged authors will be given the following scenario: 
 

It is 1846. Your family has decided to be adventurous and move out west. What trail will you take? Your cousin, who is your best friend, has to stay behind. You promised to keep a journal about your experience to share with him/her some day.

 
The faith-filled, responsible, and engaged learners will work in partnerships or cooperative small groups to discuss and assist each other with ideas and content for their journal entries.  They will experience the writing process and meet with Mrs. Masini throughout the project to brainstorm ideas, to calculate the dates of entries, and to edit and revise their narrative writing.   These conferences will give the fourth grader authors the opportunity to receive feedback in the following areas:

• Ideas and Content—Is the information accurately written from our research?
• Word Choice—Are the words colorful and not repetitive?
• Sentence Fluency—Are the sentences well-written and do they flow smoothly?
• Conventions—Is proper grammar, punctuation, capitalization used?

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In March, the fourth graders will read the historical fiction novel Bound for Oregon. Using the knowledge gained from our If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon unit, the fourth graders will connect real life situations and facts to the fictional story of the Todd family traveling to Oregon territory. The fourth graders will follow the Todd family's journey using our classroom map.  We will compare the Todd family's journey to other pioneers' experiences. The fourth graders will use previously taught Best Practice strategies and will learn new comprehension strategies to assist them in understanding this in-depth, detailed novel. 

 

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Building a Covered Wagon

As we all know, pioneers traveled the Oregon Trail in covered wagons, or prairie schooners. Our fourth grade responsible engineers will design and build a covered wagon that will be able to ford the river (i.e. a kiddie pool) on a raft on Pioneer Day.  Creativity is highly recommended.

The fourth graders will be given the project's packet with directions and some suggested materials and steps to successfully build a covered wagon. We will discuss the size requirements as well as making our wagons be as realistic to the time period of the Oregon Trail as possible. The fourth graders will follow the scientific method and record their experience on the provided sheets.  As self-aware and engaged learners, the fourth graders will be resourceful, inventive, and imaginative!  The HFCS community can’t wait to see your covered wagon creations on  Friday, May 10, 2019. 

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To celebrate and conclude our unit on Westward Expansion and the Oregon Trail, the fourth graders will participate in Pioneer Day. It is that time to begin planning and making preparations. Pioneer Day is scheduled for Friday, May 24, 2019.  The fourth graders are getting more excited each day!  

The fourth grade is looking for a co-chair to work with our wonderful room parent Richelle to help make Pioneer Day 2019 a huge success.  If you are interested in helping us gather materials, lead stations, and set up for this fun event full of STEM activities, churning butter, and snacks, let us know. You can earn your Fair Share hours so email me if you are interested.  I will then organize a meeting to discuss our plan.  Thank you in advance for volunteering!

The fourth graders are invited to dress as the pioneers did and complete engineering challenges. These STEM experiments will challenge the fourth graders to use their critical thinking skills, scientific minds, and creativity.  They may include building covered wagons and rafts to ford a river, letter punching to design their very own leather bands, making Button Spinners, and playing Rolling Hoops & Marbles. Using craft materials and household recyclables, the students will build and test, and play like the pioneers did in the mid-1800s. To conclude Pioneer Day, the fourth graders will make and enjoy johnnycakes and churned butter with our dedicated parent volunteers. They will try “Pioneer (Vinegar) Lemonade. When they aren’t cooking, the fourth grade historians will film their historic pioneer journals. Look out for their written historical fiction pioneer journals on the hallway bulletin board in late April 2019. 

The fourth graders will study the Federally Recognized Tribes of Oregon at the end of April to better understand how Westward Expansion impacted Native Americans in the state of Oregon. The nine federally recognized tribes of Oregon are:

1.  Burns Paiute Tribe

2.  Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw

3.  Coquille Indian Tribe

4.  Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians

5.  Confederated Tribes of The Grand Ronde Community

6.  Klamath Tribes

7.  Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians

8.  Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

9.  Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation

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The fourth graders will be able to locate all nine tribes on our state's map.  They will discuss why these nine tribes are federally recognized.  Federally recognized means the United States government has an existing government-to-government relationship with the tribes.  It allows the above tribes to apply for funding from federal programs for services such as health, education, and housing.  In most cases, these services are guaranteed in the tribes’ treaties inexchange for tribal land.  

 

The fourth graders will be divided into nine cooperative learning groups, each group will be designated one of the tribes.  We will write letters to each tribe, asking kindly for guides, pamphlets, and/or pictures that will assist us in understanding their history and culture.  As we await packages, we will learn about Oregon's federally recognized tribes in a variety of classroom activities.  The groups will also research their tribe’s history and culture online and in resources Mrs. Masini has collected over the years to determine their tribe’s:

• Location
• Mission
• Timeline of important events to determine
  • Founding date
  • Date of being federally recognized;
• Natural resources 
• Population (Number of members)
• Land area

The cooperative learning groups will take notes and plan out how they will present their findings.  A special guest speakers from one of the tribes will visit the classroom.  When the fourth grade historians have gathered research, they will create a Google Slide presentation to inform their peers about their designated tribe. Presentations will be determined as we get closer to the completion of the project.  Parents, you will be invited to view your child's presentation.   

Students will be encouraged to think about the energy that things need to move. Students will explore how energy makes things go from powering vehicles to moving one’s body. Students will experiment with rubber band racers to discover the relationship between how much energy is stored in a material and how much is released. They will investigate the role that hills play in making roller coasters move and the energy transfer that happens when two objects collide. Students will realize that thinking about the world in terms of energy helps them make sense of how and why things speed up and slow down. Hands-on activities focus on engineering, testing hypotheses and using results to develop their ideas.  

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