Category: Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade Personal Narratives

Fourth graders have connected reading to writing in their personal narrative unit. After learning that stories follow a plot diagram, they were ready to tackle their first fictional personal narrative. They aren’t silly enough to start their stories in a boring, predictable way, but have learned four interesting hooks to engage their audience.

At Friday Flag, they read their “Great Beginnings” by sharing the first sentence of their haunted mansion story. They could begin with an action, dialogue, thought, question, or sound beginning. Wow! What a difference!

4th at Flag

Fourth graders were proud to present their “Spooky Forest” stories to parents. They showed off their new skills of great beginnings, building suspense, word choice, similes and metaphors, all while following their plot diagram format. They sure were spooky!

4th Presentation

They loved presenting a second time to their second grade buddies. They got to catch the vision to read quality books to help them become amazing authors. Fourth graders learned how powerful it is to paint a picture in the minds of those who read or hear their stories! They look forward to carrying these skills on to their next expository unit!

#SaklanCreative

Fourth Grade News

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Toss N’ Talk

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Fourth grade starts every day on the right foot with a Morning Meeting! On this day, we played “Toss N’ Talk” where we toss a ball and answer a question. Having this time to connect on a social/emotional level is a wonderful way to transition from home to our academic day.

Fourth graders learned how to take the information they learned about California’s four regions and turn that information into a Google Slide presentation. Integrating History with technology is something students really enjoy! Presenting to their peers helps them to practice their public speaking skills.

#SaklanConfident

Fourth Grade Bookworms

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Fourth graders are off to a fantastic start as Bookworms! They have gotten to share their perspectives on our class summer reading book, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” in our morning meetings.
They are sharpening their place value and multiplication skills through a variety of card games.
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Did you know that California is located in the Northern and Western hemispheres?  Fourth Graders do!!!
#SaklanHandsOn

Responsive Classroom

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This summer, seven Saklan teachers (Mrs. C, Ms. Puno, Ms. Prizeman, Ms. Rokas, Ms. Burton, Ms. Ivonne and Mr. Crabtree) attended a four-day intensive Responsive Classroom training seminar. For those of you who may not be familiar with Responsive Classroom, it is an evidence-based approach to teaching that merges engaging and challenging academics with the social emotional needs of each student. Much of what Responsive Classroom recommends are practices we already do and believe in at Saklan, but the training has enhanced our toolbox and solidified our approach to working with students. To discover more about Responsive Classroom please click here.

#SaklanCompassionate

Surprise from Ms. Kennedy!

The 4th graders wrote to one of their favorite author’s, Kim Kennedy. They tried to use their best persuasive writing skills to convince her to write a sequel to a book they read in class, Misty Gordon and the Ghost Pirates. They even gave her fantastic ideas, in case she had writer’s block.

Last week, the 4th graders received a box from Ms. Kennedy!!! She not only wrote each student back individually, but included Madame Zaster glasses (a very important feature in the mystery). Our class could not have been more thrilled!!! We hope, we persuaded her to continue writing!

#SaklanCreative

Gold Rush Field Experience

Our Saklan 4th grade 49ers spent two days at the Coloma Outdoor Discovery School in Coloma last week. The students tried to strike it rich as they stepped back in time to 1849!

This outdoor adventure was full of hands-on learning, understanding our place in protecting nature and history, all while trying to “leave no trace.” Bringing history to life through exploration is exactly what Saklan is all about!

#SaklanExperiential

Gold Rush Board Game

The 4th graders have taken the content they learned about the California Gold Rush and created their very own board games! Students played the games in class to review and prepare for their trip to Coloma on April 11-12.

#SaklanHandsOn

Lower School Students See the Play “Brooklyn Bridge”

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On Thursday, March 7th, the 4th and 5th grade embarked on a journey down the hill into Lafayette to visit our local community theater, Town Hall Theater. We experienced a beautiful play called “Brooklyn Bridge,” which on the surface seems to be about a 5th grade girl trying to find a pen so she can write a report, but is really about human connectedness and the small things that bring us all together. The students were able to ask the actors questions after, and for our Saklan students, they were able to tie the experience of actors they saw to their own memory of what it feels like to be on stage.

Different students were able to understand the play on different levels. There were moments of stillness and silence when the meaning of the play reached their hearts, and all of them laughed at the “plant moving people.” Experiencing such beautiful theater so close by is thrilling, and helps our students to understand that they are a part of the larger artistic community in Lamorinda and the East Bay. They walked away joyful, inspired, and empowered. Many thanks to Town Hall Theater for hosting us! #SaklanExperiental

4th Grade Measures Grams of Sugar in Cereal

The 4th graders each brought in cereal boxes and made predictions on how many grams of sugar per serving each box contained. They got to measure on a scale the amount of grams per serving and put that amount of sugar in a Ziploc.

Students were surprised to know that there are 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon(!) and many of their cereals had several teaspoons of sugar per serving. Students realized that they actually ate more than one serving size recommended by the manufacturer, and so were eating many grams of sugar. They also used their cereal boxes to identify persuasive techniques advertisers used to get people to purchase their cereal. #Saklanhandson