Friends, pjs, and a classroom campsite...

Tuesday, October 30th was a day to stay in pjs and hang out with Team Gibbas teammates under self-constructed blanket tents.  Blanket tents were built using classroom materials, collaboration, and lots of creativity.  Who knew that a meter stick and a binder clip could become the perfect tent pole? 

Great job Team Gibbas for earning your first, well-deserved, classroom reward.

PJ Twins!

Are egg drops all that they are cracked up to be?

Egg Drop

By Student Blogger Sam

We are doing the egg drop, will your egg survive? The egg drop is actually supposed to be a science experiment of what happens to a egg when it hits the ground from up “high.” We are supposed to be  dropping it from six feet that's not very high so the teachers decided we should actually drop it from a crane sixty feet up in the air.

Everybody in the classroom, including teachers, participated and had fun in this experiment, which turned out to be sort of a STEM challenge. On Tuesday, October 23rd we built our egg holders. We used many, many feet of bubble wrap, we also used cardboard boxes, trash bags and much, much more. Not every group used the same materials. I can say one thing, EVERYBODY used some bubble wrap because one group had over 50’ of it.

Then on Thursday, October 25th we were ready to test our egg holders to see which eggs would survive.

Here are some interviews that we conducted before the big drop.

 
And then it was time for the eggs to be dropped from the crane.

We had two teams that their egg survived! One group that survived had  a lot of bubble wrap and a big parachute.

The other group had paper packing material, bubble wrap, socks, a gum container, and three parachutes.

The other eggs weren't so lucky.

Everybody had fun and we all hoped we would do it again in fourth grade or we could do it again in fifth grade!

Because he could write...

Today fourth grade students were fortunate to be able to learn writing tips from a professional author, Steven Krasner.  Steve, or Papa Stevie as the students came to call him, is the author of several children's books and a retired sports writer that covered the Boston Red Sox on a daily basis for twenty two years.

Papa Stevie worked with each fourth grade classroom to collaboratively write the beginning to an original mystery.  As ideas were flowing Papa Stevie offered numerous writing tips to the students on how to sound authentic, hook your audience, and paint a visual picture for your reader.  One memorable tip he offered was to provide the reader with details, details, details...

Papa Stevie also told students that many of his memorable experiences were offered to him "because he could write."  Because he could write, he got paid for watching the Red Sox.  

Papa Stevie left students with a bit advice, "Whatever your passion is, writing is a way for you to stay connected to it."

Thank you TESPTO for funding this wonderful learning opportunity!

The newest members of Team Gibbas

The Team Gibbas lineup for 2018 - 2019 is complete.  This year we have 23 students and 3 bears!  You might be wondering what three bears are doing in a fourth grade classroom.  These furry friends named Ginger, James Bond, and Buttercup enjoy traveling to new places with students and learning about the places that they visit.  While traveling, each bear writes in a travel journal about what they experienced.  So far this year our bears have visited California, Cape Cod, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Lake Placid.  They also experienced the Topsfield Fair and the wonders of a giant candy store.  We believe their next adventures will be to cheer on some friends at a cheering competition and to visit The Great Wolf Lodge.