Mrs. Fine's Fourth Grade GATE

Adapted from http://www.mcpasd.k12.wi.us/kms/Bookmarks/cyberhunt/Shakespeare/Shakespeare.html

1. When was Shakespeare’s born?

2. Where did he live?

3. How many brothers and sisters did he have? List them.

4.  Who were his parents?

5.  What did his father do for a living?

6.  Was Shakespeare married? If so, to whom?

7.  Did Shakespeare have any children? How many?

8.  What type of plays did Shakespeare write?

9.   How many plays did he write?

10. List five plays Shakespeare wrote.

11. When was the famous Globe Theater built, and by whom?

12.  What happened to destroy the Globe Theater on June 29, 1613?

13. Beside plays, what other types of writing did he do?

14. What is a sonnet?

15. When did Shakespeare die?

Photo from http://phillipmartin.com

I just know you have been practicing your math facts and reading but just in case you want something new, I ran across this cool site – http://tryscience.com

Parents,

Your child will be entering a new grade this August and it is required and expected by their classroom teacher, that they know their math facts at a quick pace.  I have compiled a few math sites that will make their learning fun.

Problem Solving Games

Fact Dash

Addition Slide

Dartboard Game

Multiplication.com

Moles

The Table Trees

Clip art by http://phillipmartin.info

I am often asked by parents for a list of recommended books for their child to read during the summer.  Our Jefferson County Library Cooperative is a great source for these books.  I don’t know if you know it, but if you have a library card (and yes, it is FREE) you can go online and order books from all over the library cooperative and find most any books you could imagine.  Then, they will send it to your local library.  There are 40 libraries in this cooperative, so, I know one is near your home.

These are just some of my favorites:

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate Dicamillo and Timothy B. Ering

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Number the Stars (Yearling Newbery) by Lois Lowry

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Avon Camelot Books) by Beverly Cleary and Tracy Dockray

The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Holes (Newbery Medal Book) by Louis Sachar

A Year Down Yonder (Newbery Medal Book) by Richard Peck and Steve Cieslaw

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Aladdin Fantasy) by Robert C. O’Brien and Zena Bernstein

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron and Matt Phelan

Crispin: The Cross of Lead (2003 John Newbery Medal Winner) by Avi

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Kira-Kira (Newbery Medal Book) by Cynthia Kadohata

The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman and Peter Sis

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

Wringer  (Trophy Newbery) by Jerry Spinelli

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

Dear Mr. Henshaw (Avon Camelot Books)by Beverly Cleary and Paul O. Zelinsky

Sing Down The Moon by Scott O’Dell

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

Missing May (Yearling Newbery) by Cynthia Rylant

Frindle by Andrew Clements and Brian Selznick

The Report Card by Andrew Clements

The Landry News by Andrew Clements

The Janitor’s Boy by Andrew Clements and Brian Selnick

Chasing Vermeer (Edgar Allen Poe Award. Best Juvenile (Awards)) by Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist

The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist

The Calder Game by Blue Balliett and Brett Helquist

(A Series of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-13) by Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist

Reading list (This is a printable list)

1.  Which whale has one long tusk?

2.  What clings to the back of the gray whale?

3.  Which whale is called “wolf of the sea?”

4.  How did the right whale get its name?

5.  Which whale makes bubble nets to catch its food?

6.  What is a baleen whale?

7.  What is the real name of the killer whale?

8.  Why do whales use echolocation?

9.  Listen to whales here. What do they remind you of?

Play this game about keeping our oceans clean. AND

this game about whale migration.

1. Why is the bald eagle called the bald eagle?

http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/bald_eagle.html

2. What is the scientific name of the bald eagle?

http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/

3. Where can you find bald eagles?

http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/baldeagle.html

4. Describe the American bald eagle.

http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle8.html

5. When was the bald eagle declared the national emblem for the United States?

http://www.eagles.org/moreabout.html

6. Why was the bald eagle threatened with extinction?

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bald_Eagle.html

7. What do bald eagles eat?

http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=BD0103

8. What is the habitat for bald eagles?

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/birds/info/Eagle.shtml

9. Why were bald eagles reclassified from endangered to threatened?

http://www.nwf.org/baldeagle/

10. What can you do to help conserve rare, threatened, and endangered species and their habitats? Read the entire article and tell me your favorite.

http://www.endangeredspecie.com/Ways_To_Help.htm

Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection

Clip art from http://phillipmartin.com

Adapted from Scholastic
Directions: Put on your night-vision goggles and let’s go bat-watching! Expand your knowledge of these nocturnal flyers by visiting these fascinating bat sites. Write your answers in your notebook. Be sure to title the page.

1. Bats are mammals. What can they do that no other mammals can do?
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/bats.htm

2. Bats can barely see, so how do they find their way around?
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/eutheria/chiroptera.html

3. What is the smallest bat in the world? How light is it?
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bat/

4. Wrinkled-lipped bats often roost together in caves. How many bats might be in one cave together?
http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/caught/conservation/thailand.html

5. What are three things that different kinds of bats eat?   http://www.batdetective.com/batseat.htm

6. Megabats are large, fruit-eating bats that live in tropical rain forests. What are they sometimes called?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_bat

7. Where did the Spotted Bat get its name?
http://www.northwestwildlife.com/articles/Spotted_Bat.pdf

8. What are two ways that bats are helpful to humans?   http://www.bats4kids.org/help.htm

When you have completed this cyberhunt, go HERE to play a game about echolocation.

1.  Where is Ireland located?

2.  What is the capital of the Republic of Ireland?

3.  Who is the patron saint of Ireland?

4.  Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day of March 17?

5.  What is the nickname of Ireland?

6.   According to old beliefs, what would a leprechaun hide at the end of a rainbow?

7.  What is the Blarney Stone?

8.  What is the official symbol of Ireland?

9.  What is a shamrock?

When you have completed this cyberhunt, go to the following links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celts/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celts/activities/cartoonmaker.shtml

This website is one of my student’s all time favorites.

Click on this link to build your panda habitat.

Then, for fun, go to this link.

1. The Ancient Chinese created many important inventions that are now used around the world, such as paper money and gunpowder. They were also the first to harvest silk.
Name three uses for it.

http://www.crystalinks.com/chinascience.html

Another invention, the compass, had a religious use. What was it?

http://www.crystalinks.com/chinascience.html

2. What was an abacus used for?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abacus

3. Chinese writing developed more than 3,500 years ago. Each character, or symbol, stands for a word. Characters based on pictures of things are also known as pictographs. What are characters based on abstract ideas known as?

What word do you get when you combine the symbols for woman and child?

Rain and field?

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese_types.htm#types

4. A tradition began in ancient China in the celebration of Chinese New Year. On the first day of the new year, it is considered good luck to see what?

Why shouldn’t you use scissors or wash your hair on Chinese New Year?

http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/taboos.html

5. The Forbidden City of Beijiing, home to Ming and Quing emperors is a great example of Chinese architecture. What word for palace also meant house?

http://www.chinaetravel.com/china/architec.html

6. The Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built, thanks mostly to the Ming dynasty. Ming emperors fixed the original wall, then added many miles to it with building materials no one has ever used before. What is the wall constructed of?

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/greatwall/Allabout.html

Questions were taken from scholastic.com  Clip art from Phillip Martin

When you complete this cyberhunt, go to this link – Count Down to the Chinese New Year and try it out.

1.  What is the  way to achieve immortality  by preserving the body of a person once they had died, and wrap them up in linen bandages?

2.  What is  used to pull the brain out of the head through your nose?   

3.  What can be made out of onions?

4.  What is used to glue the bandages together?

5.  The nest of coffins that you will finally be placed in your tomb and inside a large stone coffin is called what?

6.  Where is the mummy buried?

7.  What are some things that the tomb raiders are after?

When you have completed this cyberhunt, click on this to go to an Ancient Egyptian Game.

Go to this link and explore these games -
http://egypt.mrdonn.org/games.html