Trick or Treat

I spy Team Gibbas learning at home on a snowy Halloween Eve.

Welcome!

Hello Fourth Graders!

I hope that you all have had a fun summer and are ready to start a new learning adventure together!  This summer I've been enjoying spending time with my family and doing lots of outdoor activities.  One activity that I always enjoy is feeding wild birds and watching to see who visits my bird feeder.

Here are some of the "birds" that visited my feeder this summer...

Okay, maybe not all of my backyard visitors were birds!  But it was really fun getting to see lots of wildlife up close.  Did you have any interesting backyard visitors this summer?  What did you do this summer for fun?

I am really looking forward to meeting you all on our first day of school, Wednesday, September 16th!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

~Mrs. Gibbas

Aspen’s Awesome Acting Activities

By Student Blogger Connor

We all got ready to jump, we all squatted, made eye contact and silently jumped in unison. Mrs. Gibbas’s daughter, Aspen came to our school on March 11th to teach us that theater is not just acting and performance. We went down to the cafeteria to do some team building activities. The first activity was having the whole class jump silently in unison. We could not show signals, talk or have a leader. To make it easier, Aspen split us into groups and told us to make eye contact and to crouch. When we all crouched that would tell the group we were ready to jump.

Then our next activity was to make a “machine” with all different gestures. We had to do a gesture based on the emotion Aspen gave to us.

Aspen then had us work together to become a tree, a plane, and a piano.

Nature Exploration

By Guest Blogger - James Bond

It has been 10 school days since we've been at Proctor School.  Since Friday, March 13th we have been staying with Mrs. Gibbas at her house.  We have been having fun playing games....

and getting to know Mrs. Gibbas's cat Cody.

But we really wanted to get out of the house.  Back when we were at Proctor, our Team Gibbas friends would take us on different adventures nearly every weekend!  So, Washington, Professor Snuggles and I decided to ask Mrs. Gibbas to take us some place new.

"Please Mrs. Gibbas," Washington begged.

"It might be educational for us to explore nature," added Professor Snuggles.

"Okay," agreed Mrs. Gibbas, "let's go on a hike."

"Yay!" we all cheered.

So, this afternoon Mrs. Gibbas took us all on a nature exploration!  She secured us into her backpack then set off on a path right outside her house.  We climbed down a steep hill then took a wooded path across a small brook.  There were giant trees everywhere!

"Just like home!" Washington exclaimed.

"Oh look! There's a fallen tree that we can explore," I said excitedly. 

And before Mrs. Gibbas could stop us, we scrambled out of her backpack, jumped onto the path, and shimmied our way up inside a magnificent hollow tree.  

 "Hel-l-o-o-o-o," Professor Snuggles called, "this is so big there's an echo!"

"Hello?" said Washington tentatively.  "Hey guys this is really cool and all, but I think Cody might be missing us.  Maybe we should, um, head home."

I think Washington was a little bit afraid of what else was hiding in the hollow tree.  Even though I wanted to stay and explore, I didn't want Washington to feel uncomfortable so I agreed that it was time to head home.

I hope that Mrs. Gibbas takes us on another adventure really soon!  Exploring nature is fun.

A few extra visitors at the Gibbas homestead

James Bond, Professor Snuggles, and Washington decided to stay with Mrs. Gibbas while the school is closed.  For the time being they have been keeping Cody company.  Doesn't Cody look happy?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fabulously-fun Friday!  Valentine's Day - PJ Day - and Global Play Day all in one day!  

What an amazing way to end a week of learning before February vacation.

Check out these creative crafty Valentine Box creations!

Twin-tastic

By Student Blogger Hadia

On Twin Day we got to dressed up like each other and wore the same clothes and hairstyles.

It was so fun!

 Some people were quadruplets and some wore opposite shirts too!

They also matched their dolls!

We had Twin Day because it is Valentine Spirit Week.

Excellent Energy Proposals

By Student Blogger Adelyn 

It all started with a book about renewable energy and talking with our groups. Then we kept researching and then we finally had our proposals on January 24th, 2020. We made a model and a slideshow. The geothermal group went one step further and made a tri-fold. You might be wondering what are the different types of renewable energy the students studied. Well the answer is water energy, wind energy, solar energy, and geothermal energy.

Every class in the fourth grade did the energy PBL. Some groups had different ideas for different classes. Like in our class the wind group thought that wind energy was a good idea but in Mrs. Kelleher’s class they had a different idea about wind energy. Also we made models in CLIC to represent our plan.

We had been working on this project or about a month, and we had gotten enough information to make great presentations.

So over all we had a really good energy presentations.

Let them explore!

On Thursday, January 9th 4th grade students participated in an amazing enrichment opportunity provided by the generosity of TESPTO called Playful Engineers Traveling Maker Space. In this two hour workshop led by Jay Mankita students first watched demonstrations of how common materials (e.g. blocks, legos, balls, wooden rods, K-nex) could be transformed into simple machines and chain reaction machines in a Rube Goldberg style.  Next, students were able to explore the materials to create their own chain reaction machines.  Students imagined, created, problem solved, and collaborated.  And they failed many times.  But in this workshop students experienced the joys of practice leading to progress and failure leading to success.  

Thank you TESPTO for this wonderful exploration opportunity!