Drop Everything And Read

This past April 12th would have been author Beverly Cleary's 105th birthday.  Beverly Cleary is the beloved author of many children's books including The Mouse and the Motorcycle and the Ramona series.  Beverly Cleary was a huge supporter of D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything And Read).  To honor Beverly Cleary's memory we enjoyed D.E.A.R. time outside on Tuesday, April 13th.  Students brought in beach towels and read and relaxed outside.

Famous Figures

Wax Museum

By: Student Bloggers Gavin, Max, and Whit

Have you ever wished you could meet Wayne Gretzky or Anne Frank? Well at the Wax Museum on April 13, 2018  it was possible to meet them and lots of others famous people. The fourth grade at Proctor School performed an awesome wax museum to learn about lots of famous people. You could meet Stan Lee, Muhammad Ali, Joan of Arc, Steve Irwin, Marie Curie, Steven Spielberg, Wayne Gretzky, Sonia Sotomayor, Paul McCartney, Alexander the Great, Babe Ruth, Lucille Ball, Princess Diana, Jane Goodall, Jackie Robinson, Anne Frank, Amelia Earhart, Maria Tallchief, Walt Disney, and Julia Child. It took the wax figures a lot of time to do this. First they had to research and write their script.  Next they had to memorize their script. After that they had to find the right costume and had to be able to be comfortable saying their script in front of an audience. The fourth graders also had to perform their scripts for the fifth and sixth graders. After a tough day of repeating their scripts several times, they were relieved that the wax museum was finally over. Everybody was tired but we got to take a class picture.

At the end of the wax museum everybody was happy.

Author Skype

Team Gibbas students and students for Mrs. Kelleher's class joined together on February 28th to Skype with authors Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver the writing team behind the beloved Hank Zipzer series of books.  The Hank Zipzer series of books is based on Henry Winkler's life growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia.  The co-authors shared many writing tips for their young readers.

One viewer asked, "How can you be a great writer?"

Henry Winkler responded, "Don't edit until you are done.  Get all of your ideas out first."

Another viewer asked, "How will I know if what I want to write about is a good idea?"

Henry Winkler told all viewers, "What you have and are good at is what the world needs.  Have the courage to try your ideas.  You are smart and you are powerful whether you have learning challenges or not."

Another question asked was, "How do you begin a story?"

Lin Oliver gave this advice, "Try beginning a story on the day something changes for the character."

Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver have written and published 31 books and their 32nd is coming out in September.  Their books are printed in a special font called dyslexic font to make it easier for people with dyslexia to read their books.  This special font was created by a father in Holland whose child has dyslexia.

Thank you Mrs. Klipfel and Mrs. Kelleher for sharing this meaningful learning experience with us!

Fourth Grade Wax Museum

Essential Question:   How do good readers determine the main idea and details when reading non-fiction? During the month of February, Team Gibbas students read biographies. Students practiced their skills of determining the main ideas, or most important ideas in biographies by reading about a famous person depicted in the "Who is" "Who was" series of chapter books.  Students then wrote first-person speeches describing the most important events in the life of the famous person that they read about.  Finally, students brought these famous people to life on March 3rd at the fourth grade Wax Museum!  Students did a fabulous job becoming these famous people and describing the important events of their lives.
To see some of these famous people come to life, click the arrow on the images below. Julia Childs Elvis Muhammad Ali Amelia Earhart Steve Jobs Pablo Picasso Anne Frank J.K. Rowling Jackie Robinson Milton Hershey Fourth Grade Common Core Standard: RI.2:  Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Literature Circles

Essential Question:  How does engaging in conversations enhance our understanding of a text?

Last week students began reading self selected realistic fiction books from several choices offered to the class. Students were assigned a certain of number of pages to read and be ready to discuss by Friday. Students were also asked to choose a passage that was meaningful to them and to describe the main characters with character traits and evidence from the text. On Friday students met with their Literature Circles for the first time and had meaningful and insightful conversations!

Students, comment below, describe how participating in a literature circle discussion deepened your understanding of the text.

Massachusetts Common Core Standards ELA Literacy Speaking and Listening

*SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

*SL.4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points

Wax Museum

Click on the names below to see your favorite wax characters come to life!

Paul Revere

Wayne Gretsky

Helen Keller

Sacagawea

Theodore Roosevelt

Babe Ruth

Anne Frank

Jackie Robinson

Cereal Box Book Report Commercials

After reading the book The War with Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith students created Cereal Box Book Reports.  To add a bit more fun to our projects, students then created short commercials to advertise their cereals using Chatterpix.  Check out these great commercials by clicking on the link below!

Mrs. Gibbas's Cereal Aisle

Cereal Box Book Reports

     Students in the Socks reading group shared their "Cereal Box Book Reports" today in class! 

After reading the book The War with Grandpa students created a cereal based on the story.  Students did a great job coming up with creative cereal names, prizes, and games for their cereals!  Wouldn't you want to try a cereal called Frosted Grandpas, War Puffs, Mini War Waffles, Frosted War Flakes, Honey War Bits, or Prank Puffs?