Not a lot to report today. Just a reminder that we have testing tomorrow. We are going to be doing the Reading MAP test so make sure you get a good night's rest, healthy, nutritious breakfast & snack. Congratulations to Payton as he shared his student of the week things with us today. He sure has lots of trophies from football & baseball. We also loved all the shirts you brought to share from places you have visited. Secret Santas were chose today. Ask your child who they chose. We had a few students gone today so they will do it tomorrow and then I will also send home the papers with their S.Santas favorite things to help in making the simple treats you bring easy on you and remember this is to be a very low cost fun thing. Have a great night.

Testing This Week

I hope your weekend is going well. This is going to be a busy week with our Winter NWEA (MAP) testing. Yes, we are doing them 3 times this year. We will be doing the Reading & Language on Tuesday & Wednesday during our Reading block time. The Math will be done on Thursday during our Math block time. Please make every effort to have your child here to school on these days. They do have to make them up and if they aren't here when we do them, they have to use other learning time to make them up with Mr. English so they miss out on important learning. Also, make sure your child has a good night's rest, nutritional breakfast, and a nutritional (lots of protein) snack. Also, they may bring gum to chew during the tests as this is a good relaxing mechanism. In Science, we continue with our "Going Green" unit. We are starting the animal component so there will be lots of good information about how we hurt our animals when we neglect to take care of the environment. At the end of the week, we are also going to break into small groups and students will read more environmental/ informational articles at their level There is a comprehension piece to go with this so they will be responsible for using lots of reading skills to complete these. I will be using it for a Science grade. In Math, we will spend time until Christmas with some graphing & coordinate grids and then after the break we will hit our Geometry unit hard along with long division. Great job in Social Studies on those states and capitals tests. They will come home tomorrow. Almost everyone "rocked" it. From now until break, we will be using Lead 21 in Social Studies as there is a section that covers the history, geography, culture/heritage of the SE so we will read and discuss that whole group. My reading kids will continue with their book club books while not doing the MAP testing. Read 180 students will take the test in our classroom. Secret Santas: Students will draw names this week and it will run the week of December 17-21. More on that later and no worries if you didn't want your child to participate. I will take care of it. Santa's Workshop: PTA is once again doing Santa's Workshop that last week before break. I am not sure of our scheduled time yet as there has not been a sign up sheet, but I will let you know when I do. Buddies on Friday was fun. Have your child tell you what we did and if they can, write the color of Rudolph's Nose they used in the planner. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Great Day Today!

This class is so fun and we are just loving learning and having fun with each other. The fun thing about them is we can have fun, laugh, learn, and then know when it is time to get back to business. They are able to bring it right back which makes it easier and more fun for me to do fun things with them. Speaking of learning, today in math we made line plots. Have your child tell you what they are and what kind of data we plotted on our line plots and then we found the range, median, mean, and mode of our data. See if they can tell you what at least one of them are. We are going to be spending more time with those 4 terms, but today was just an introduction. In Social Studies, we finished our Penelope Peabody-lost in the U.S. If they didn't in class they have it for homework. Remember states and capitals test is tomorrow. In Science, we learned about how algae may become an alternative source of energy. Ask your child about it, and if they can tell you what % of oil is in the plant, write that number in the planner. Also, they had a review paper on solar energy which some of them may have for homework if they didn't finish it in class with their partners. The weather tomorrow looks to be a bit colder so please dress for it. Have a great night.

Jeff Was Here

Wow-what an amazing guest speaker we had today. Yes, Jeff Ewalt, from the zoo was here to share all his expertise about wolves and to show paw prints, skull, and hide. He makes learning so fun and exciting with all his energy. Ask your child their favorite thing about the presentation today and what they wrote him about in the thank you letters that we wrote to him and write Jeff in the planner. Today in Morning Meeting it was about getting rid of feelings and things of the past and focusing on the present so students wrote on a piece of paper something they want to forget about or get rid of from their past. Then they crumbled them up and slam dunked them into the garbage to be gone forever. Hope this helps them deal with those negative issues. Had our first practice with both 4th grades today for the Music Program. I think it went quite well. Just a reminder once again that it is on Wednesday, December 19th at 9:30 and 1:15. The program is the same both times so you only need to make plans to come once. Today in Social Studies, students worked in pairs doing some research about the NE & SE states finding out fun facts with an activity called Penelope Peabody Lost in the U.S. Ask them what state the Liberty Bell is in. If they tell you, write the state in the planner. Homework Tonight: It is on Science and the Endangered Environment. We have been talking lots about this in our "going green" unit. They are to color the pictures of the things that are endangering the animals and plants in the picture and then at the bottom, write down some statements to describe the problems. Have a great night. Ok-so for some reason, my pics of Jeff won't download onto here tonight so I will try again tomorrow. Sorry

Happy Tuesday!!

We finished our SE tour today so definitely ready to get on with the states and capitals test on Friday. Remember you need to know the location also. In Science today, we read about another alternative energy source called Biodiesel. Ask your child what it is made from and why it is a renewable energy source. If they can tell you, write biodiesel in the planner. We also finished up our timeline & cause/effect activity to go with the wolves power point that we watched yesterday. So we are ready for Jeff Ewalt from the zoo to come tomorrow and share all his knowledge and expertise. Remember tomorrow we are practicing the music program with both classes from 1:15-2:00 so if you have a speaking part, make sure you have practiced your lines. Continue to practice those multiplication/division facts with the XtraMath. Oh my gosh-I just went into the gym to watch fitness club. I am truly amazed at how engaged all the kids were and they were really moving and working out at about 12 different stations. The best part of it is the fact they don't even know they are working out as he is making it fun. Mr. Pertuit is AWESOME!!!! Have a great night.

Mid Terms Went Home Today

Mid-terms went home today and I am happy to announce that there have been some good improvements made from Quarter 1-keep it up and work towards that BUG Club. If you have seen your child's mid-terms, write mid-terms in the planner. Today, we had a great Science lesson with Ms. Erickson's class about Wolves and their role in Yellowstone National Park all the way from before Civil War time up until 2009. We made a timeline for that time period and learned lots about how there were many of them in that area before the Civil War and how after the war and during the Western Expansion that there wasn't as much area for the wolves to roam and farmers were paid to kill them so of course they became endangered. Then the Endangered Species Act was passed and wolves were introduced back into the park after years of back and forth arguing. New packs started in 1995-1997 and then in 2009 wolves were taken off the endangered list. So have a good discussion with your child tonight about this controversy and have them tell you an effect for the cause "wolves are re-introduced into the park". Also in Science, we learned about Solar Energy as an alternative source of energy. If they can tell you one drawback of it, solar energy in the planner. Thank you to those of you that picked up the surprise. Hope to see the rest of you sometime this week. Our wonderful Christmas Music Program directed by Mr. Goodheart is going to be on December 19th. There will be 2 performances. One at 9:15 and the other at 1:30. There are some students with solos and lots with speaking parts so ask your child if they have one and if they have a speaking part, ask if it is in the a.m. or p.m. and make sure they practice their lines. Remember to return those November reading calendars. December ones are coming home tomorrow. Have a great night.

Busy Week Ahead

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. What a beautiful one it was weather wise and also the fact that the CATS won their playoff game. They are set to play once again on Friday night!!! YAY!!!! This week is going to be another busy week. Here is a run-down of what we are going to be studying in each academic area. In Science, we are going to revisit wolves as Jeff Ewalt from the zoo is going to come and talk to us on Wednesday about the pros & cons of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. He is so awesome and the kids will walk away from his presentation with tons of new facts and knowledge. Then the rest of science for the week is going to be continuing with our renewable/nonrenewable resources unit. On Friday, we learned about wind energy and started reading a story about "saving the family farm". If your child can tell you what Ruby did to help, write Ruby in the planner. In Social Studies, we are going to finish our tour of the SE and then have our test on the states and capitals on Friday. We are also going to do some computer research of the NE & SE states with an activity called Penelope Peabody. Simple, easy, and fun way to refresh their memories with some cool state facts. In Math, we are continuing with elapsed time and then moving in line plots, and some graphing. Along with this we are working on multi-step story problems. In Reading, my kids are still working on their book club books and really getting into our discussions. I just love listening to them question each other and not just literally, but inferentially. They are also enjoying our read-a-loud book about Pathki. She has had quite the adventures. Have them tell you about it. Remember I told you that the surprises were in if you ordered one. I also said I was going to send home a letter last week about picking them up. Well I didn't do that as I knew I could talk about it on here. So please arrange for a time to pick it up at school this week if possible. I am at school by 7:30 daily and there until at least 4:00 so just come down to the room and get it if you placed an order. Thank you. As you can see by the pictures, we had fun in buddies Friday helping them with time. We just love getting together with our buddies and they appreciate our help too and it is a good review for us-so a win-win situation. Purple Hand recipient went to Payton. Congratulations! Payton was nominated for his kind, caring mannerisms, and also his encouragement during recess and PE activities. Ryker was our student of the week and we enjoyed hearing about him and seeing the pics he shared. Technology day was a success. I think those that bought in enjoyed and were able to spend some of their money. Happy Birthday to Brayden. I hope you enjoyed your party at the Reef!! Cya tomorrow.