Colburn

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful three day weekend and has been enjoying this fabulous weather. What a change from that dreary – if necessary – rain!

Today being Mardi Gras, I asked the students to journal about what they would do if they could to be wild and crazy, without, of course, violating any laws. Some of the responses were quite amusing! We then went on to correct and discuss our homework.

We had a musical day. First, we went to Mr. Lawton. He had the students working on a really nifty version of the ballad “Streets of Laredo” as a way to introduce the concept of ostinato, a repeated rhythmic pattern. He then went on to have discuss the idea of writing pentatonic melodies. The students will be doing this with the lines they used on the music staff paper and in their art last week.

We had only a short recess, alas. But after recess we went to the auditorium where we had the pleasure of listening to the students from the Colburn School of Music. Probably the highlight of this concert was the performance of Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy by this amazingly talented 13 year old violinist.

 

The orchestra also performed excerpts from Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Mozart’s overture to La Nozze di Figaro. We also had a fun little piece for tuba and orchestra, though the students had trouble with the low notes of the tuba because they sounded like, well, you know what. Fourth grade has always been thus….

We finished the day doing “recess buddies” with our kindergarten friends. That sort of made up, I hope, for the minimal recess.

Homework:  (1) Spelling this week features common medical terms. Students need to know both how to spell the word and what it means. Find and copy the definition of the word from a dictionary. Please include the name of the dictionary used. Write an original sentence for each word. For tonight, do spelling words 1-10 only.  (2) Do the “Author's Purpose” and “Drawing Conclusions” worksheets. These are quite easy.  (3) Do “Problem Solving, “ envision Math pages 243-244, and “Test Prep,” pages 246-247.  Review fractions generally. There will be a test on chapter 9 tomorrow. (4) Do the “Equivalent Fractions” and “Fractions in Lowest Form” worksheets.