by Olivia Bagan and Piper Jassem

Over the last few weeks our 4th grade classes have been learning about the middle school and how it works. We got tours and the student reps and teachers came in to tell us about middle school and what we are going to learn about. Also the parents had a meeting about what to expect in 5th grade and middle school. In our class (DJ4) there are 16 people who are excited for middle school and 2 people are scared for middle school.

So many things are changing for us from the transition from lower school to middle school. For example, you get to do a lot more by yourself and you get to go from class to class by walking. You need to buy your own supplies. You have assignments for during summer break. You have a homeroom with a core teacher who teaches you social studies and reading. You have an advisor who helps you all throughout the school year but helps you out the most during the beginning of the year. You can join different clubs and teams. Some of them are, The Middle School Newspaper, the soccer team, the basketball team, the robotics team, etc.

3 people from DJ4 are leaving. Lila, Kate M., and Polly. We want to say a special goodbye to them because we are going to miss them so much! We all hope they have a great time in Middle School and we wish them good luck!

by Kate and Cooper

In September 2013 Deborah and Jake’s fourth grade class took a field trip to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. They saw this bird  and then had lunch. After lunch they all went under a big weeping willow and the weeping willow’s

branches were down to the ground. When Deborah’s class was leaving they stood next to a tree and took a photo of themselves.

Alot of kids were more familiar with Central Park because they live near there so it was nice to learn about Prospect Park and to just get out and see nature and get out and play. At the end there was extra time to go to the playground and have some run around time to get the silliness out of our bodies.

Over all most of the class liked the field trip! Some people in the class who hated bugs and nature but loved video games ended up enjoying themselves and wanting more field trips like that one!

by Colette Leong and Dora Bremond

This is for 2nd Graders to read!

During Double Jake Day, Jake and Jacob play Double Jake day tag and wear the same t-shirt. On the shirt it says: “WASH IT WEAR IT WASH IT”. Dora, Colette and Olivia P. made up Double Jake Day. They give out candy at the end of Double Jake Day. Deborah and Jake’s class love the candy that we give out. Jake and Jacob play Double Jake Day tag but they get lots, and lots of rests.

Jake and Jacob prefer Kickball and Red Light Green Light. They have excuses for not playing tag, like “I am so full, it was taco day” or “My shoes are not right for this” but we do not care. They gotta do what they gotta do on Double Jake day. The world isn’t always a happy family. We would do this for other teachers but Jake and Jacob are the only ones who have the same name and go to recess on the same day. This Double Jake Day only happens once a week but it is not fun until the candy part, well that’s what we think. Sometimes it is fun, for example, the first Double Jake Day was really fun! Double Jake Day is on Friday. Once on a Double Jake Day we made a presentation for Double Jake Day. We Included a baby saying “it’s friday!” In our presentation. You should make up games like Double Jake Day – Dora and Colette

P. S

2nd graders, Since Jake and Jacob are both teaching 3rd grade you should do Double Jake Day or make up a different thing, but we suggest you do something like Double Jake Day. One of you has to volunteer to bring candy, or maybe 3 of you!

Over the year, the blog just has been a thought in the back of our heads. We had no idea that we would be posting on the blog. Now we use it almost every day. We post book reviews and our thoughts about what we are learning. In fact, Cooper did not know what it was before the teacher told us that we can post on it. Everything that we post on the blog is the latest and most interesting topics (most of the time). What Zach likes to write about the most is the field trips we take and what we are thinking about the things we learn. The blog has always been a helpful tool for the 4th graders to inform the teachers and parents about what we have learned and have been doing. I hope it has been as helpful for you as it has for us.

By Zach and Gus

One day, Debra the math teacher came into Deborah and Jake’s fourth grade and told the fourth graders about a project they were going to work on. Debra called it “the bottle project”. Debra said that you could come up with your own question and solve it with a partner. The brand of the bottles was called NuPure. There was a video and all of the fourth graders watched it, that is how they came up with their questions.

First the fourth graders looked at the video about three times. Some fourth graders would pause the video to count how many bottles are in a case. After they solved the answers to what they need to know they had to figure out how much you need to multiply to get another answer you need. Most of the fourth graders asked how many bottles are in a pallet. The answer was 1,872 because there was 24 bottles in a case and there are 13 packs in a flat and 24×13=312 and then there are 6 flats in a pallet so 312×6=1,872. Some fourth graders had really big questions like two partners named Olivia and Olivia did a question how many bottles are in a wall? They still haven’t got their exact answer yet. They had to solve 1,872×36 they got a different answer than the calculator, the calculator got 67,392 and they got 63,792 or I think 63,972. A lot of fourth graders liked this project.

After the fourth graders finished their projects they showed their posters to the whole class. Another woman came in to the class and videotaped all of us showing our posters. It was fun showing our posters to the whole class. Olivia P hopes we get projects like this one in fifth grade too!

By Olivia Propp

By Freddie and Benjamin

Being in fourth grade is a full time responsibility, you are a role model for the Lower School. All of the other kids look up to you. Some fourth graders are excited for middle school because you get dessert sometimes and chocolate milk during lunch. Some are worried because there’s more homework.

10 people in Deborah and Jake’s class are excited for middle school, 2 are worried, and 2 feel differently. Jake, one of the teachers is excited for the fourth graders to go to middle school because he’s excited for the next step in the fourth graders lives.

To some people middle school is a whole different life.  People are literally doing everything different.  You do not have to walk with your class, you have to do homework over the weekend and things like that.

Middle school can be a big scary place, but if you like homework you’ve got no problem! So you should start to like homework and try your hardest.

In middle school it is like you are not the oldest and not the youngest so that means you have to work really hard but not to hard.  You also have to be ready to be only a big buddy and to get ready for the second stage in your life.