Ecosystems in the classroom

     4th grade is such a great time for students to learn about the Earth and how nature provides for all living organisms.  In science, each student creates an ecosystem out of soda bottles.  Right now, we have the bottom half of our ecosystems complete.

      The bottom of the ecosystem is the aquarium, which means that students observe mosquito fish, snails, and aquatic plants as they learn about the food chain/food web, animal adaptations, the water cycle and more!   Check out the Kid Blogs link on the right to find out what the kids have to say about their ecosystems. 

Class List 2013 Can you find your name?

If you click on it to make it bigger, let it load and choose "run" then it will appear full-size for you!

New classes

Hi kids! Right now I am on an airplane flying home from a great trip to Jamaica! I am super excited to hear who you got for 5th grade, what you did over the summer, or if you are just coming to 4th grade... We can see who else is in the class or answer any questions here! Hope to hear from you soon. Mrs. DiBattista

Getting ready for a new school year...

August already! Wow, we will be back in school before you know it! I've been pretty busy this summer, how about you? What have you been up to? I'm excited that we are heading to Jamaica this Monday. We are going to climb Dunn's River Falls, go 4 wheeling around the island, snorkel and enjoy family time. I'm interested in hearing about your vacations. Post your comments, ideas or questions here. Mrs. DiBattista

Best blog platform for elementary students

I can't believe the school year is winding down already! It was just September and most of the class didn't even know what a blog was, now each student has their own individual blog and some have started independent blogs. As a 4th grade teacher, I was worried about exposing students to the comments of the general public, so I decided to use the kidblog platform for student blogs and use blogspot for my teacher/classroom blog posts. Good thing! Kidblog is definitely the winner in my book for which blog to introduce students to. With kidblog, I monitor all of the comments and posts- it sounds like a pain, but it really isn't. I have a master "administrative" account in which I create student sub-accounts. Everything can be found on one page and no sneaky comments can slide through unless I don't monitor carefully enough. I have found that the blogspot platform is geared more for older students. I do love the widgets and gadgets that you can add on blogspot, but the security of it is lacking for young students. I have to delete a lot of "iffy" comments from people that include links to strange sites, so that is my main reason for promoting the kidblog site over the blogspot. Check out the link on the right to all of the kidblogs and you will see that the writing/commenting works just fine. No fancy gadgets or widgets, but maybe that will come with time. Let me know your thoughts!

Science PSSA sites

https://delicious.com/#kdibattista/4th%20grade%20Science follow this link to the Delicious bookmarking page where I've saved tons of great science sites for you!

Find your e-pals here

Our class is starting a functional letter writing activity- the modern version of pen pals- we have E-pals follow this link to find E-pal buddy's blog http://room12sawesomelearningjourney.blogspot.co.nz/

Explorer Mania

What do you know about Early Explorers? Students are just beginning a research project on an early explorer. Check the individual student blogs in the right sidebar to see what they have to say! "French Creek Individual Student Blogs" tab

Poetry, book reviews and Native American projects

Our class has been very busy finishing up our units on poetry and Native Americans. Please check out the individual student blogs "Sassy Student Blogs" in the right sidebar. You will find the students' blog entries for these projects as well as a book review of their latest novel read for class. We are excited to hear from our new QuadBlogging Buddies! We hope you enjoy our blogs. Sincerely, your friends in the USA, Mrs. DiBattista's 4th grade class