We have had a very busy month so far. In the beginning of March, all of the 4th grade went on their first field trip of the year. They went to Springfield Symphony Hall to watch a play version of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Not only did this play bring a popular character to life, but also introduced the kids to Greek mythology, which many of them seemed interested in. This also opened their minds to a world of drama and theater.

It was mentioned in last week's Messenger that 4th grade had started the Iditarod Race. All 4th graders were tasked with picking a musher to research, learning what they packed inside their sled, following their progress each and every day until the last musher crossed that finish line, and then finally presenting their musher to the class. I can tell that you that excitement definitely filled the classes each day as the leaderboard was put up on their Smartboard. Lead mushers changed so often that it might have been one person in the lead in the morning but a different leader by the time they went to recess or lunch. In the end though, a winner was announced this week, Dallas Seavey. The student who picked him was Vyan Patel in Mr. Malmborg's class. Congratulations to you and your musher Vyan!  

In Social Studies this year, the 4th grade has been hard at work learning all 50 states and capitals. To help them learn the states even further, all three fourth grade classes were taught "The Fifty Nifty" song which actually puts all 50 states in alphabetical order. It's pretty impressive that all three classes have this song memorized and when all 73 kids sing together it sounds amazing. They are currently working on another song which showcases all 50 states and their capitals. This is a harder song to learn, but the 4th grade rose to the challenge and have been practicing this song for weeks. They are hoping to perfect it so they can sing it during the 4th grade grandparent event and possibly even for the whole school. We have provided the "Fifty Nifty" lyrics below.

The 4th grade also recently started a project writing pen pal letters to all 50 states. We are hoping to get a response back from all 50! We aren't just randomly selecting a schools, we have specifically selected other Catholic Schools for our kids to write to. They are really interested in finding out about things like, "what color is their uniform?" or "what time does your school day start and end?" We began this activity by having all of the 4th graders select a state and then we answered questions as a class about SMA, Massachusetts and even a little bit about themselves. Once that was done, they were asked to write their rough draft. Once rough drafts are given back and the students have rewritten them, they will be mailed out. Our goal is to get back as many letters as we can by the end of the year. Every response we receive, we will locate where they are on a map with a place marker so we know which ones are left. If you visit Mr. Malmborg's teacher homepage, we will definitely keep you posted of our progress.

 

                                 FIFTY NIFTY LYRICS