By Leigh Mikulka and Christine Marth

Our fourth grade entrepreneurs had a very important meeting with their attorney on Thursday afternoon.  As part of the Fourth Grade Shark Tank project, students learned about different types of businesses with the help of Chris Fattey.  Mr. Fattey, a finance partner at Hodgson Russ, LLP (and doting husband of Ms. Mikulka), gave a dynamic presentation explaining the pros and cons of corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and sole proprietor businesses. The students will use what they learned in this session as they complete a business plan for their company next week.  Stay tuned...and don't be surprised if you receive a lot of questions about taxes and liability!

By Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

​After much anticipation, fourth grade launched Shark Tank this week! Mr. Garra and Mrs. Charles joined the fourth graders and got their creative minds moving. They talked about the definition of creativity and how to develop ideas through divergent and convergent thinking. The students had a blast with a practice situation to solve, “What may be all the ways to get a hippo out of a bathtub?” Stay tuned for more Shark Tank updates!

The next math test will be on Thursday May 4th.

Mark your calendars for the Author Celebration:
Mikulka homeroom - Tuesday May 9th @ 8:30am
Marth homeroom - Wednesday May 10th @ 8:30 am

By Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

EFS eighth grade student, Emma N., engaged the fourth graders in a lesson about creativity in education.  This lesson, delivered as part of Emma's IDEA Project, was a window into the work that lies ahead of the students in Upper School.  It also was a fantastic springboard for the Fourth Grade Shark Tank project that will be announced next week. Get ready to listen to some big ideas at home! 

By Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

Fourth grade students advanced their coding skills this week by working with Probots.  These programmable cars allowed students to test their knowledge of basic coding skills and procedures.  The hands-on learning (disguised as fun) culminated with glow-in-the-dark bumper cars! 

by Alyssa Charles

Fourth graders have had fun learning, practicing, and diving deeper into long division.  In small groups, students rotate three centers to engage in division related practice: solving word problems, dancing the steps to a long division problem, and working on one of the most challenging enrichment pieces where they must decode letters used in a long division problem to the correct digits.

​Fourth Grade is currently learning about angles and how to use a protractor. They put their skills to the test on Friday during Angle Bingo. Each student received a board and had to measure each of their given angles. After everyone was all set the competition was on! Students had to answer a multiplication problem correctly before being able to pick a bingo card to call out. They had a lot of fun playing the review game.

We're wrapping up our poetry unit. Completed Poetry Anthologies are due TUESDAY, MARCH 14th. This means, each student needs to bring in a binder for their project by MONDAY, MARCH 13th.

​by Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

​Each week, during Leadership, the fourth graders pair with Prep II to work on a variety of projects and skills.  This week, the students helped their buddies practice sight words and letter sounds. By using white boards and dry erase markers, the fourth graders encouraged the Prep II students to write their words and sound them out.  It was fun for everyone!

Dr. Bob LaCarrubba came into fourth grade today to talk about dental hygiene, as February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Dr. Bob talked to the students about the anatomy of the mouth as well as how to properly brush and floss. Students were very eager to ask Dr. Bob questions and deepened their learning with each question they asked. We want to thank Dr. Bob for visiting and welcome him back any time.

As we continue working on our poetry anthology students must retype two of their approved poems. They must also illustrate a picture to go with each poem on a separate piece of white paper. These poems and illustrations are due Tuesday February, 28th.

Tests coming up...
-Wednesday March 1 - Long Division test 
​-Friday March 3 - Erie Canal Test

by Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

​Students have been working really hard to master long division. They have been working with double and triple digit dividends with single digit divisors. Practice of multiplication facts in many different ways, including racing games with their classmates, have been a great way to make the transition to division so much smoother.

​The fourth grade continues to work with their Prep II partners in a leadership role. They have been working with them on reading readiness as well as story structure. Students from both grades truly enjoy their weekly time together.

​Students are working on a guided research project. The subject is the Erie Canal. This is their first experience with a research project. This time around they are being provided with sources in which they have learned to highlight key information and then paraphrase the information onto NoodleTools (an online note card system.) These notecards will be used later on to propel their research paper. This is a guided process that they will later use on a research paper of their own. Students have truly enjoyed working collaboratively on this project both in small groups and as a class.

​Fourth graders are in full swing with poetry. Just a little reminder, each student must have their five photo copies of poems (title page and poem must be included) submitted by Friday.

by, Christine Marth and Leigh Mikulka

​Earth Spirit came into the fourth grade on Tuesday. The fourth graders have been learning about the skeletal system in science. Mr. Jon brought in the skeleton of a moose. Each class had an opportunity to challenge their teamwork skills and put the moose skeleton back together. As they added each bone in the appropriate place Mr. Jon explained the reason for the shape of each bone. The students also loved to learn the history of this particular moose. They had a wonderful time with Mr. Jon and look forward to see what he has in store for his next visit.

​This week the fourth graders are starting to dive into their poetry unit. As they learn about different types of poetry and the components, they are preparing to create their own poetry anthology. This project with take them on an exploration of poetry through spring break.