Food Pantry Visit

Today "Mrs. B." from the Franklin Food Pantry came to talk to our fourth graders about the food pantry. The students watched the video below, and then Mrs. B. spent about 30 minutes answering some thoughtful questions by our fourth graders.

We learned some important things today:

• There are about 35,000 people who live in Franklin, and about 3,500 people use the food pantry here every month.
• Families can pick up the food once every 30 days.
• If we like to eat it, it is a good choice to donate to the food pantry.
• Some BIG needs are toilet paper, shampoo, soap and laundry detergent ~ these are items that cannot be purchased with food stamps.

Our food drive runs from today through 12/14. Volunteers from the food pantry will come on the 14th at 8:45 to pick up the food donations. Our students will help to load the van.

Thank you to everyone donating food. We know it will be delivered to those who are in need.

Food Drive ~ Franklin Food Pantry

December, 2011

Dear Parents,

Fourth graders will be reading The Family Under the Bridge as a whole class read-aloud in December. This novel features many worthy themes, one of which is the plight of homelessness. As part of this unit, fourth graders will be invited to participate in a food / supplies drive to help those in need in our own community. The food / supplies drive will take from November 30^th through December 14th. While any donations of non-perishable food items are welcome, the Franklin Food Pantry has put out a list of items that are especially in need during the holidays. Please see the list of items needed now, on the back of the letter sent home with your child.

Volunteers from the Franklin Food Pantry will come to explain to students the daily work of the food pantry as well as collect the food on December 14^th.

We thank you for the opportunity to teach your child a valuable lesson about giving and generosity.

Many thanks,

The Fourth Grade Team

Thanksgiving

Today our class gave some wonderful Thanksgiving speeches. Some students opted to have a photo taken while others agreed to having their speech video taped. I apologize for some of the taping, we had some technical difficulties, and some speeches were cut short. I hope you enjoy! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Black and White Day!!!!!

Black and White Day was a huge success! We had a lot to do today, so we got right to work! This morning we took our spelling test and a test about Mr. Popper's Penguins. Then we learned about Mexico's history. Mrs. Merten shared a lot about Mexican Independence Day and how it is similar to the Fourth of July. We learned what we need to know for our Mexico test, too (Remember it's TUESDAY). We also worked on our Thanksgiving writing project. You will see the finished result on Monday or Tuesday. If you haven't sent in a wire clothes hanger with your child, we would appreciate one. Finally it was time for our Black and White fun!

We made "Antarctic Art" pictures using black paper and chalk.

Then we did some penguin math. It was challenging, especially the logic puzzle! Then we went over to Mrs. Williams' classroom and played Win, Lose or Draw! We had so much fun drawing words from Mr. Popper's Penguins!


Here we are playing.

OVER 200 BOOKS!

We did it! Some of you noticed last night that our class book count was at 199..... Well today we passed the 200 book mark. As of today, our class has read 209 books this year. Mrs. Merten is so proud!

Here are some pictures of students in our class giving book talks today! We all got some new book ideas.

Happy Birthday! Below is a picture of our only student with a November Birthday. Happy Birthday, Hayden!

From the Teacher's Desk

It was great to meet so many of you last night at Open House. I know that the children were excited to share our classroom with you. If you didn't have a chance to schedule a parent conference for December, please email me (mertenk@franklin.k12.ma.us) , so that we can schedule something that is convenient for both of us.

Today our Student Council candidates gave inspiring speeches to our class! We heard many good ideas for representing our class. We will vote for Student Council on Wednesday when we return to school. Good luck to all of the candidates!!

Our Week In Review

This week was short, though it was filled with a lot of things! We continued reading Mr. Popper's Penguins, and have scheduled Black and White Day for November 18th. Mrs. Merten will give more details about this when the date gets closer.

Our third math test was today. We all worked hard on this, and Mrs. Merten will send them home next week. We also saw Mrs. Y this week, and worked on an Open Response question. Mrs. Merten is hoping to get the 4 on our door!

Today was really busy. First we learned about the Day of the Dead, a holiday celebrated on November 1st in Mexico. We started to design our own Day of the Dead masks. Then we went next door to Mrs. Williams' room for our Party in a Bag. While we snacked, we watched Scooby Doo and The Great Pumpkin.

Finally, we had our PUFF MOBILE RACE!!! You will find pictures of our teams, and winners below!! You can also see some videos of the races. Mrs. Merten had some trouble with the camera so the videos are in Black and White.