Dumbledore Visits Fourth Grade!

This is a guest post by our enrichment teacher, Darcie Rankin and our library media specialist, Beth Redford.

These Capstone Presentations were created in Enrichment Library class by RES fourth graders in Ms. Senning's class. The scholars developed their own research questions, which are shown above the presentations that answer them. We are very proud of all our fourth grade scholars!

How do magicians do their illusions?


How do you choreograph a song? (still photo from a video)

Why did the Civil War start?

What do we know about the universe?


How do artists make different clay creations?

How did Harry Houdini do his tricks?


How do video games work?


Why do volcanoes erupt?

How do you make an animated cartoon?


How do you build a treehouse?

How are stop motion videos made?


What are some dangerous magic tricks?

How do you code a video game?


How do you build a treehouse?

How did women's clothing in the 1920s develop?


How do computer parts work together?

Creating Capstone Presentations in Enrichment Library Class

This is a guest post by our library media specialist, Beth Redford and our enrichment teacher, Darcie Rankin.

Fourth graders are creating presentations to share what they have learned over the course of their Capstone Projects in enrichment library class. Below are a few examples of the presentations-in-progress and the research questions they answer. We are incredibly proud of all of our fourth grade scholars for their thoughtfulness and hard work on these projects! - Darcie Rankin, enrichment teacher and Beth Redford, library media specialist.

Video of computer components

How do computers work?

Model of treehouse with labels

How do you build a treehouse?

video game, programmed with Bloxels

How do you code a video game?

Trifold poster and iMovie

How do volcanoes erupt?

How did Harry Houdini do his magic tricks?

Time-lapse video of LEGO model being constructed

How and why was the Taj Mahal built?

Celebrating Reading and Writing with Our Kinder-Buddies!

As you probably know, we recently completed the last of our SBAC and NECAP testing for the year!  As if this wasn't reason enough to celebrate, our kindergarten friends just wrapped up a reading and writing unit and wanted to share their learning with us.  Fourth graders were impressed by the young readers and writers, and happy to reminisce about favorite books from their younger years !  As always, the kindergarteners loved sharing work with their role models.

Learning About Vermont History

Last Friday our fourth graders visited Fort Ticonderoga in New York.  They learned about life at the fort and experienced some marching drills that volunteers living in the New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) would have done in training for battle.  Students left with a better understanding of the sacrifices early American armed forces have made for our country's freedom, as well as Fort Ti's importance in the Revolutionary War.
Thank you to our chaperones for helping to make this a memorable and educational day for our scholars!

Working with Jon Gailmor on Our New School Song!

      Fourth graders had the honor of working with Jon Gailmor this Monday.  Jon Gailmor is a talented songwriter, singer and educator.  We invited Jon to RES to help us write a new school song!  Fourth graders focused on our school-wide beliefs: Respect Yourself, Respect Others, and Respect Your Environment. They thought about how these words that we live by make Richmond Elementary School such an incredible community and place to be.  Fourth graders did an amazing job!

Studying Vermont Through Field Trips

We have had an incredible week filled with learning and fun!  Our trip to Montpelier brought us to the State House and the Vermont Historical Society Museum.  We also visited the Audubon Center in Huntington to learn about Vermont's maple sugaring industry.  Of course, no Vermont study would be complete without a stop at the Ben & Jerry's Factory!

Maker Day for Ms. Senning's 4th Graders

We've had a hugely successful day of inventing, creating, and collaborating during our all day makerspace celebration!  I would tell you all about it, but instead I'll let some of our rockstar movie makers show you what our day was all about!




A special thanks goes out to Mrs. Rankin for finding us extra materials for our inventions and to Mrs. Lefrancois for sharing iPads so that everyone could pursue their creative passions!

Reading Party!

Fourth graders at RES ended their second trimester with a huge reading party!  Kids got cozy with blankets, books, and buddies and immersed themselves into their reading.  Please enjoy this slideshow, courtesy of Mrs. Lefrancois!

Book Trailers and Media Literacy in Enrichment Library Classes

This is a guest post from our enrichment teacher, Darcie Rankin and our library media specialist, Beth Redford.

Fourth graders at RES are wrapping up a unit on media literacy. They learned about several strategies that advertisers use to get people's attention and convince them to buy products. Then they practiced finding those strategies in different kinds of advertisements. Finally, the scholars created video advertisements for books, also known as book trailers, to try to convince other scholars to read their favorite stories.

We hope you enjoy the book trailers! Can you identify some of the strategies used by our scholars? They may include Association, Bandwagon, Beautiful People, Bribery, Celebrity Endorsements, Experts, Explicit Claims, Fear, Humor, Intensity, Maybe/Weasel Words, Plain Folks, Testimonials, Repetition, and Warm and Fuzzy.

We share all our scholars' book trailers on YouTube and Twitter. Sometimes we hear back from authors that they liked the trailers! We have added those mentions below the videos.










S.S. Taylor, the Author of The Expeditioners, liked this book trailer on Twitter!

New Featured Book Review! @SSTaylorBooks's The Expeditioners & the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon review by Gr 4 https://t.co/WcZVa7PRFQ

— RES Library (@RESVTlibrary) January 16, 2017

The author of Life of Ty, Lauren Myracle liked this book trailer on Twitter!

RT @RESVTlibrary: https://t.co/uBdWhAzPNs LOVE!!!

— Lauren Myracle (@LaurenMyracle) December 16, 2016

Dan Gutman, the author of Never Say Genius, complimented this book trailer on Twitter!

@RESVTlibrary @YouTube wow! That is fantastic! Is it OK if I post it on Facebook for all the world to see?

— Dan Gutman (@DanGutmanBooks) January 31, 2017

Writing Celebration

 Fourth grade authors published their first informational writing pieces of the year today!  These nonfiction books are on display in our classroom now.  To help celebrate all of our hard work, we invited the students from Mrs. LeFrancois' class to come read our books and share their own nonfiction writing.  Students filled out compliment sheets for one another, highlighting wonderful aspects of each other's writing.

It was wonderful to see the pride students took in sharing their work, as well as the respect they had for all of the other authors in the room!  Soon we will celebrate with a special authors' luncheon in our classroom.

App Smashing, Media Literacy, and Book Trailers in Fourth Grade Enrichment Library Classes #vted #vsla

This is a guest post from our enrichment teacher, Darcie Rankin and our library media specialist, Beth Redford.

Fourth graders at RES are continuing to wrap up a unit on media literacy. They learned about several strategies that advertisers use to get people's attention and convince them to buy products. Then they practiced finding those strategies in different kinds of advertisements. Finally, the scholars created video advertisements for books, also known as book trailers, to try to convince other scholars to read their favorite stories. Here are two more great examples, from a fourth graders who used the advertising strategies of Intensity, Plain Folks, Fear (to get the viewer's attention), and Repetition in their book trailers for Smile by Raina Telgemeier and The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little.

And a behind the scenes note: these scholars used the "app smashing" technique of using more than one application on a digital device to create a single final product. The fourth graders used the iMovie, Green Screen, Camera, and Notes apps together make these amazing videos!