Fourth Grade Inventors

We have been busy with our inventions and also trying to learn about our state government. The end of the year is approaching and I am happy to see the progress the students have made. The government test will be on Wednesday so don't forget to review over the weekend.

The students did a tremendous job on the six-step process of design. They created some very creative inventions to solve a variety of problems. Emma Z. and Megan P. designed two inventions to help horses. Emma created rubber horseshoes to prevent ruts in the road. Megan decided to make a type of blanket to cool the horses down when it's warm. She used a science experiment and mixed baking powder, cream of tartar, and water to cause a chemical reaction. This made the temperature of the water drop and cooled the horses backs. Everyone did a great job!

Immigrant Projects and more

The students have finished and presented their immigrant projects. They did a nice job researching their topics and presenting their information.

We are working on famous Ohio inventors and creating inventions now. The students nominated one of five Ohio inventors for the Ohio Inventor Wall of Fame. I will post pictures of those after they present.

To go along with the inventor unit, we have learned a great deal about toys and their history. We learned about different Frisbee designs and tested some of those out. We looked at the history of jumping rope and watched a video of the King's Firecrackers in celebration. Today we tested several toys after reading Leo Cockroach, Toy Tester. The students graphed the results of a safety and fun rating after playing with the toys. We will now begin our own design process. The students will brainstorm several problems and try to develop solutions for these problems. We will become inventors!

Immigrant Projects

The students have been busy exploring specific immigrant groups that have settled in Ohio. We have researched why these groups left their homeland, why they came to Ohio, where they settled in Ohio, and the culture and customs they have contributed to our state. We are working in groups to create projects about these groups: Irish, Amish, Germans, Shakers, and African-Americans. The students have been working hard to create flip books, maps, posters, and plays about our diverse state. I will post pictures when we finish our projects and present them to the class.

Business Projects

The students have just completed an economics unit. We learned how businesses are created, how resources are used to create businesses, and how profits can be made. The students then created their own business plan and made advertisements for their business. It was a lot of fun and they proved to be quite creative.

In science, we just finished a unit on the changes that Earth's surface can undergo. We talked about slow changes and rapid changes. Of course, the students were very interested in the volcano, landslide, and earthquake information. We even watched a video clip of an actual landslide as it followed a young man down a street. Scary stuff!