California song

Welcome to the lab

For this unit we're going to try different experiments. Are you ready? Watch the videos and pick the one you like the most!

Number 1. Density

Number 2. Air has weight

In this one, instead of a ruler you can use a hanger.

Number 3. Floating eggs

Number 4. Solid or liquid?

Number 5. Fill up a balloon without blow up

Number 6. How to make an orange sink in the water

Number 7. Lava lamp

Number 8. Bouncy egg

Number 9. Drops on a penny

Number 10. Floating paper clips

Number 11. Dancing rasins

Number 12. Newtons disc

Number 13. Clay boats

Do you want to see more? This one is voluntary.

You can pick a different experiment as long as it's related to matter and energy. Be creative!

Physican and chemical changes

Mind minutes 4:32 and 4:51 to see the differences between physical and chemical changes.

Solar oven

Our teacher Melanie is going to teach us how to make a solar oven. That is going to be one of our experiments in this unit.

For that we need the following objects:

• Pizza box
• Foil 
• Black paper
• Plastic wrap

Don't forget to bring them by thursday.

Finally, we will cook some traditional american treat:

We hope you will enjoy!! It must be delicious!

European Anthen

Catching up...

I've been behind the past few weeks! I've been traveling and trying to keep my creativity alive in the classroom, so blogging has taken a back seat unfortunately but here's what we've been doing in fourth grade:

Sadly enough I haven't been able to do much in class the past few weeks. We have been working on our oral exams and with this being my first time completing it with them I've had to work through some nerves and anxiety. I assured them that I don't bite but it still seemed to be a little nerve wrecking for them. They are doing well and we are taking our time but I'm ready to get back into the classroom this week and have some fun! They are completing an economy project and will be presenting soon so I'll be helping them with presentation skills this week. Time to do some more acting!

Weeks of February 25 - March 1 and March 4 - 8

These past two weeks were slightly off schedule as we celebrated Andalucia Day on February 28 and International Women's Day on March 8. We've also had some teacher's out with various things going on so these past two weeks were definitely a lesson in going with the flow which is very important! All that said, they were very good weeks and the students had a lot of fun with the activities that were related to these two very important holidays.

In fourth grade we covered a bit about grass, bushes and trees, as well as flowering and non-flowering plants. This activity was very straightforward, the students wrote the characteristics in their notebooks and used a flow chart to break down the differences of the flowering and non-flowering plants...not my most fun activity but sometimes things must be done the old fashioned way.
The following week, I taught about ecosystems and introduced the various types of ecosystems we have in Texas. Spain and Texas share some very similar ecosystems with the exception of the wetlands we have in Texas. I went more into depth with this type and used it to add in the food chain and talk about alligators! Another thing we have (few of) in Texas but not in Spain. We covered the definition of an ecosystem with a breakdown of everything we would find in a wetland. This was a pretty fun activity and I did a lot of drawing, which proved to be comical for the kids!

Week of February 18 - 22

This week in fourth grade I took the opportunity to teach them what a Pop Quiz is! They had to complete the names of the life processes using MRS GREN. After this I used another trick to teach them how to memorize the five kingdoms. And finally we spent time using the tricks to name everything we covered.

This class was fun, it was amazing to see how fast they learned a new tool! For the Pop Quiz, they were nervous but they did so well and in reality it was added to their notebooks as a study tool. During the five kingdoms trick they were excited and had a lot of fun with the tricks. For the review at the end they gave me their full energy and I appreciated that as always!

Ecosystems

Plants

Use these videos to learn about plants.

Our first six weeks with Teacher Melanie!

Our first six weeks with Teacher Melanie!

Now that I’m adjusted to my new life here in Spain, let me tell you about these amazing first six weeks…

I am the Auxiliar or Culture and Language Assistant here at CEIP Antonio Rodríguez Almodóvar and my role is to encourage conversation and introduce relevant American culture into the classroom. Let me say…this is THE BEST job I’ve ever had! I am showered with love and appreciation and I get to use fun activities to get students involved in their curriculum. I think the one thing that I have been shocked by is how much I am truly able to teach the students. When I have their full attention I am able to introduce new subject matter and they walk away with knowledge and new confidence in their English. There is no better feeling!

Ooh fourth grade, how dear you are to me! I absolutely do not have favorites but I feel like my fourth graders have pulled out the best in me. Each class is impactful and unique and they met me with an unmatched energy level the minute I stepped into class. They truly gave me my confidence to teach…and for that I’m thankful because it impacts my ability to teach in all of classes. On my first day in our getting to know me conversation, they asked me to sing my favorite song and I haven’t sang in public since I was a 4^th grader myself. That was the moment that changed me! Here are the rest of our highlights:

In the first three weeks we got to know each other and I learned the classroom structure and lots of names! I also taught the Rock Cycle using a diagram and question/answer session and we had a day where they played a Guess Who style game using types of rocks. Thinking back I’m not even sure how we’ve covered so much in such a short amount of time! Our time together is always productive and progressive.

In week four I introduced the activity I was most excited for! I created a Fear Box similar to this one:

This is a tool I intend to use more throughout the year when I can. The idea is to insert an object that they must describe. The item may be unrelated but the words they should use will relate to the subject material. The rest of the class must then guess what’s inside. Unlike the video, the item inside is hidden from the audience. The first time we used it, it went flawlessly and was quite the entertainment. The students loved it and look forward to using it again. It gets them out of the comfort zone of using the same phrases and forces them to try to find words that they know or want to know!

In week five we did a review of landforms using a guessing game. Each student was assigned a landform that they’ve learned and given the opportunity to present it to the class. They used categories (landscape/body of water), direction (NSEWC), and relational clues (near, next to, etc.) to describe their assigned landform. The class was then allowed to guess the correct landform.

This activity was fun, interactive and competitive. I challenged the students to try to be the student who guessed the most landforms. This activity integrated their review, their public speaking, their directions and relational words, which they are learning in other subjects. They enjoyed it and I will use more activities like this to encourage their public speaking!

Last week I transformed into “MRS GREN” in order to teach the life processes of living things. Each letter of the name stands for a different life process and helps them to memorize each type. I lowered my glasses to the tip of my nose and spoke with an odd drag to make the day memorable. They giggled and participated willingly as I asked them to help me spell my name. Before the activity I asked the class if they could name all of the processes and they doubted themselves. By the end of the activity they knew each process and we reviewed an example for each process.

Needless to say, we have FUN in fourth grade!

5 kingdoms

You can use this song to learn some facts about the 5 kigdoms of living things. 🎶🎤🎶

How plants perform excretion

Plants are living things, like animals. Therefore, they perform the life processes we already know. Some of them are tricky to see though. In this video you can see how some plants perform such an important life process as excretion... an nutrition too! 

Have you ever seen a plant like this? Be careful if you run into one of this!

Living things

Landforms in Spain

Igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks... All of them can create differenet landforms. Do you remember landforms? I'm sure you do.

Just in case, here you have a presentation to remember the most important landforms. And, you know what? We can find in Spain all of those landforms. That's amazing, isn't it?

Check this physical map of Spain as well, it's going to be very useful.

Spain main landforms:

RIVERS

1. Río Miño

2. Río Duero

3. Río Tajo

4. Río Guadiana

5. Río Guadalquivir

6. Río Segura

7. Río Júcar

8. Río Ebro

MOUNTAIN RANGES

9. Pirineos

10. Cordillera Cantábrica

11. Sistema Ibérico

12. Sistema Central

13. Sierra Morena

14. Sistemas Béticos

VOLCANO

15. Teide

PLATEAU

16. Meseta Central

HEADLANDS

17. Cabo Finisterre

18. Cabo de San Vicente

19. Cabo de Gata

20. Cabo de Creus

GULFS

21. Golfo de Cádiz

22. Golfo de Vizcaya

ARCHIPELAGOS

23. Archipiélago Canario

24. Archipiélago Balear

OCEANS AND SEAS

25. Océano Atlántico

26. Mar Mediterráneo

Uses of rocks and minerals

USES OF ROCKS

USES OF MINERALS

Types of rocks and rock cycle

Rocks and their properties

I'm preparing such a great game to learn about rocks, but first you need to know some information:

Comunidades Autónomas

Let's practise using computer games! Here you have two different games to improve your knowledge about Spain.

Comunidades Autónomas:
https://mapasinteractivos.didactalia.net/comunidad/mapasflashinteractivos/recurso/comunidades-autonomas-de-espaa/9f69dbbf-8dda-4403-b8e1-47d77887b7a6

Capitales:
https://mapasinteractivos.didactalia.net/comunidad/mapasflashinteractivos/recurso/capitales-de-ccaa-de-espaa/370e846f-9320-42b3-a18f-56f06e57b182