We were given the chance to lead the chapel service for the whole school in March. Our 4th grade class lead everyone in prayers, scripture readings, and songs. Some of us did a skit entitled"A Day at the Beach" which was based on the parable of the good Samaritan. We wanted to teach everyone that God loves us and we should go love one another too. We loved the chance to lead and teach about Jesus.
In class we dissected owl pellets. Owl pellets are balls of fur and bones that owls cough up because they don't have teeth. We dug through the pellet, took it carefully apart and found some mouse skulls a whole bunch of bones! One person found a pelvis! It was kind of disgusting at first, but we got used to it and we got to take the bones home!
We also learned the owl pellet song, which we all love, watched a few videos, and Mr. Nelson played a very sneaky (but funny) trick on the class.Thank you to Mrs. B and Mrs. M for helping during the dissection.
- From Molley and Evan
This week our class was busy learning about chocolate. On Monday, Mr. Nelson showed us a video about Lutheran World Relief’s program to help the chocolate growers in Africa. They have a company called Divine Chocolate. They grow, process, and sell their own chocolates. If we buy chocolates from them, the growers get more money. The money they make also goes into improving the community with water, education and medical help.
On Tuesday we studies rainforest species and how interdependent they are inside their ecosystem. We also made chocolate taffy - which was awesome! We each got 3 pieces.
Wednesday was our chance to taste-test dark chocolates, chart the results, and watched an “I Love Lucy” episode about a chocolate factory. It was really funny!
On Thursday we made the world’s easiest chocolate fudge and learned how cacao beans become chocolate candy bars.
Friday was the best as we had a blast going to the Morely Chocolate Factory and watching them make candy then going into the shop to buy some. We even got Bumpy-Cake as a treat for Mr. Nelson’s half-birthday. Yumm. We LOVED chocolate week.
This week we held the annual 4th grade 'Turkey in Disguise' contest. We were given blank turkey cartoons that had to be dressed up or decorated to hide them from hungry predators (like me and you.) This year we had a side variety of non-turkey turkeys including a snake, a Christmas wreath, a peacock and Elvis! The teachers, the fifth graders (last year's contestants) and our class voted for our favorites. Congratulations to Carter, Leah and Skylar for their winning entries of Santa, a bunny and a cruise ship. Each winner received a packet of origami paper as a prize. Happy Thanksgiving!
In October, our class went to Lansing to visit the Capitol, the JudicialLearningCenter,
and the MichiganHistoricalMuseum. Some of us have been waiting years for this
trip and weren’t disappointed. It was
amazing! We had fun at all three places and had learned lots of good stuff too!
At the HistoricalMuseum, we saw what life was like in Michigan from
prehistoric Indians through the 1960’s. We
saw many cool old artifacts, went into copper mine, sat in a one-room
schoolhouse, saw a huge picture of people making war planes for World War II,
and saw rooms with stuff in it when our grandparents were kids. We took lots of
pictures, had lunch, swarmed the gift shop to buy things then walked to the
Capitol.
In the Capitol building we laid down on the glass
floor and looked up to the very top of the dome, which was painted gold and
blue with shiny stars. It was very
beautiful. We saw the House of Representatives work, met our own representative,
Mr. McMillen, saw the Governor’s office.
Did you know it took two months to clean the ceiling with cotton balls
and Q-tips?! We saw paintings of many other governors and climbed lots of
stairs.
While at the Judicial Learning Center
we learned about the courts, the laws and even who does what during a
trial. We held up signs and read what
our job was. Then we got to push a lot of
buttons on computers and played games and answered a lot of questions about the
law. It was a great trip. But it sure made us tired!!
By Abby M, Natalie, Emily A, Anna W, Emma, Aidan, Paul,
Madelyn, Molley, and Anna M
