Friday, September 26, 2014


Fourth Grade Field Trip to Make a Splash! Topeka Water Festival on Sept. 18
    On September 18, fourth graders at JHES attended the Make a Splash! Topeka Water Festival.  They left the school at 9:40 that morning, and spent the day at Garfield Park where they took part in many activities, and observed several presentations about water, weather, erosion, sewage, wildlife, and a few other topics.
    Students started the day with the H2O Olympics, several activities sponsored and presented by Kansas State University students.  Here, they were amazed at their abilities including stacking water on a penny, and making paperclips float on top of water.
    Next, both classes observed Wetland in a Pan, presented by City of Topeka Public Works.  Here, students were shown how erosion is caused by and can be harmful because of too much water flow.  They were also shown several ways to prevent erosion, or at least slow it down.
    After that, it was off on an Incredible Journey, presented by the Topeka Rotary Club.  Here, students followed the path of water through the water cycle, as they collected beads from each stop to put on a bracelet.
    They then went into the shelter house for exhibits presented by various groups.  Some that they got to see included Bees and pollination, the National Weather Service showing some severe weather, a group with a baby alligator, a conservation group promoting composting, and several other exhibits.
    Then it was Migration Headache presented by the Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism.  It was a game or race that demonstrated what can happen to migratory birds with the fluctuations in the availability of wetlands in various parts of the county from drought, flooding, etc.
    After lunch, fourth graders got to learn a little about sewer systems from the City of Topeka Public Works activity called the Superbowl Surge.  It demonstrated how sewer systems work, and what can happen if they fail.
    Then came The Water Challenge presented by the Douglas County Conservation District.  Here, teams of students had to work together to move water through an obstacle course representing various dangers to our water supply.  It was truly challenging.
    They moved on to Shawnee County Extention’s  activity called Just Passing Through.  Here, teams of “pollutants” tried to stop teams of “water” from moving downstream.   Students were able to learn how water can be detained and/or slowed down to be used more efficiently.
    After that was the Little Acre from Shawnee County Farm Bureau.  Here, students learned what an acre was, how much water an inch of rain on an acre would be, and how much of various crops an acre can produce.  It really showed the value of each acre of land, and gallon of water.
    Lastly, they visited the Topeka/Shawnee County Public Library’s exhibit called “Wet ‘n’ Wild Life”.  Here. students were allowed to handle crawdads, after learning about them, and also got to meet a few critters including a snake, a salamander, a toad, and a turtle.  It was a great “hands on” activity.
    This trip was truly a great time for all the fourth graders.  They had a lot of fun, and also learned a lot about water, and various other conservations subjects.  As we are currently learning about the water cycle in Science, we are very thankful for the opportunity for the students to see and participate in these activities close up, and better than we could have in the classroom.  It should make the water cycle, and several other Science topics much more understandable and easier for students to learn.  A big thank you to the parents who attended, and to all the groups and presenters who helped make it such a success.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

JH fourth graders have been learning about the 6 Traits of Writing in order to become better writers. We have already learned about the Ideas trait. To practice the Ideas Trait students drew a character card and problem card from a baggie. Students worked as a group to make connections between the two cards. They were assigned to write a story similar to A Bad Case of Stripes, which was read aloud to them to introduce the Ideas trait. Group stories to follow........