Southeast Region

Today we presented our group projects about the Southeast Region of the U.S. Each group learned about a specific topic and taught the rest of us about that topic.

Natural Resources

Native Americans

Important Places

Important People

Geography and Climate

Our Week In Review

ALGEBRA/Math

This week we learned more algebra in math. Mrs. Y came to our class and we got to work with number cubes, pawns and balances. We did such a great job, that Mrs. Y. gave us algebra homework. Our parents were impressed!

Mrs. Y came again and worked on Open Responses. We were hoping to earn the "4 on the door". Although we haven't earned it, Mrs. Y. said we are working harder and harder and it is just a matter of time.

In math we also started unit 8 this week. We learned about perimeter and started learning about area today.

Art

In Art, we've been learning about African masks. This week we got to paint masks that we made ourselves. The masks were symmetrical.

Music

This week a LOT of kids got their purple belts in Recorder Karate. Some kids got their blue belts and some even got their BLACK belts. Keep practicing your recorder to earn a new belt!

Science

In science we learned about humidity, dew and the water cycle. Some of this information was review. Next Thursday, we have a quiz on humidity. We also will have a special guest visiting fourth grade to help us learn more about weather. Look for information about this next week!

Welcome Back ~ Our Week in Review

It was tough getting back into "the swing of things" (what figurative language is this?), but we DID IT! It was a great week.

We started learning about Mythology this week. Our spelling words were Mythology words, and we read a little bit about myths. We learned about the Titan Cronos, and his children, the Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus. We also started listening to The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

On Thursday we had a substitute (Mrs. Cameron). Everything went really great! There was a Magic Show about bullying on Thursday, too. We all enjoyed this show.

We have been working in groups during Social Studies. We are learning about the Southeast region.

We also FINALLY opened our class store. We did a lot of shopping today!

From the Teacher's Desk

It was a tough adjustment getting back to the routine, but we have all done a nice job getting back to business. I'm so proud of the children for getting themselves right back on track. In reading we have started to focus on test preparation. This is so that the students know what to expect when they are taking the MCAS test in March. Remember to check Mrs. Toye's newsletter for the MCAS dates.

Have a great weekend!

Valentine's Day and the Cupid Shuffle

What a week we've had! In math, we continued to learn about fractions. We are taking this unit kind of slowly, so that we can really understand everything we're learning about. Fractions can be difficult.

We had an English test this week, and we all did really well! We finally finished reading The Cricket In Times Square. We LOVED this book, and learned a lot about character traits and figurative language. We also learned the importance of finding evidence in our texts. When we return from vacation, we'll be learning about mythology, and listening to the first book in the Percy Jackson series, The Lightning Thief.

Today we finished our writing about a time we were helpful. Mrs. Merten is impressed with the amount of figurative language we are already putting into our writing. EVERYONE remembered to turn in their Washington, D.C. booklets. Mrs. Merten wants to remind everyone that if you have your orange grading sheet at home, please return it to school so she can send your grade home for this project. Some of us are already starting our Southeast project!

We got to share our Valentines today, and then we got to have our Party in a Bag with our friends. We had a great time!

In honor of Valentine's Day the teachers and the students danced the Cupid Shuffle this morning. Mrs. Merten videotaped it for you to see!

From the Teacher's Desk

Thank you to everyone who sent in Valentines for the students and the teachers! We had a terrific day, and the children enjoyed sharing their treats. I hope that you have a restful vacation, and enjoy some quality family time!

After vacation, we'll be on the home stretch! I have noticed that some of the students have had some difficulty with responsibility (remembering homework, assignments, etc.) and with taking responsibility for this if something is forgotten. I know (as a parent myself) how difficult it is to know that your child isn't doing something that he/she should. Our class is a safe place for the students to experience these consequences. Of course, if you and/or your child are struggling with anything to do with our class, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Again, have a wonderful week off. When we return it will be almost March. Spring is on the way!

Book Talk Video

Attached is the video from the book talk that was given about the book Ruby Holler. It took some time to figure out how to post it because of the video's size. I hope you enjoy it!

It's February Already?

This was a very busy week in our classroom! Mrs. Merten was out for training on Monday and Thursday, and Mrs. Shepherd was out on Monday. It was nice when everyone was back!

This week our class had a treat when a whole group got to do a book talk together. Some of the kids read Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech, and they gave a book talk and shared a poster together. They did a great job, and a lot of us want to read this book now. Mrs. Merten had trouble uploading the video- but she'll try again on Monday.

Today we had PJ Day. Most of the class remembered about it, but A few kids didn't remember, so Mrs. Merten says we may do something special next Friday.

This week we got to go to the computer lab and learn about Washington, D.C. We enjoyed looking at the sites, even though some of the websites froze up. If you want to see the sites we used, click here, and there are 3 websites to use. The site with the picture of the Lincoln Memorial has some great facts for our projects.

We also learned about weather maps this week. We will have a quiz on weather maps next week. Don't forget our Party in a Bag next Friday. Our Washington, DC booklets are due that day as well. We'll be shopping at Mrs. Merten's store that day, too!

Our Week In Review

This week, we started writing a 5 paragraph essay about a time when we helped someone. So far, we've brainstormed, organized our brainstorming, and written our openers. We got to share our openers with a buddy and we got feedback to make the openers even better! Mrs. Merten can't wait to read our stories.

In Art, we finished our adinkra prints. These are West African prints printed with ink. In West Africa they print on cloth, lay it out and put them together to make a big printing on cloth. The prints are usually a tribal symbol.

In PE, we worked on dribbling to start learning about basketball. We also played a fun basketball game.

On Monday in Library we started learning about the Dewey Decimal System. We will work on this again on Monday.

In reading we have been talking about figurative language. We are learning about similes, metaphors, hyperboles, and idioms. We are already starting to find these in our own reading. Mrs. Merten and Mrs. Richards were impressed.

We have been learning about fractions in math.

We voted to use our points for PJ Day. We will have PJ Day next Friday. The students are welcome to wear PJs or just slippers. If your child doesn't want to wear PJs, he/she can wear comfy clothes.

There was limited interest from the students to update our blog this week. Thanks to Kiera, Emily, Cam, Ally, Travis, Kevin and Grace for helping this week!

Our Week In Review

This week we had our Unit 6 math test. It was on measuring and drawing angles and division. We thought it was a fair test.

We got to use the clickers in our class this week to take a math quiz. We thought using them was really cool. (except for the part that it was a pop quiz!)

We finished learning about the Northeast region of the US, and we presented our posters in our groups today. We thought it went really well.

Those who made hands on projects got to present them to our class today. We learned alot about the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the WTC and the WTC Memorial, and the Hudson River.

From the Teacher's Desk:

This week was hard, it seemed, for the children to get back into the routine (after such a long weekend). This is a difficult time of year for the students to stay focused on their school responsibilities. As I told many of you at conferences, this is the time when the children are pushed to do their very best work, independently. Many of your children have worked hard and are feeling little adjustment to this, while others are still working on this. I understand that this is difficult for the children, but it is a necessary part of growing and preparing for 5th grade.

I am happy to report that ALL of our Northeast projects came in today, and it looks like everyone did their job! I will be grading these next week and will send home the grades.

*NOTE: With the cold season in full swing, we are out of tissues for our classroom. I am fully aware of how much you already do for your children and for Kennedy School; however if you are able and willing, a donation of one box would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Brendan wrote his biography booklet about Mike Eruzione, who is a famous hockey player from the 1980 GOLD MEDAL Olympic team. Brendan wrote a letter to him, and he got a letter and an autographed picture back! It was very cool.

It was a great week!

Our Week In Review

In reading this week we started reading a new book called The Cricket In Times Square. It won the Newberry Honor runner up in 1961. So far, we think it is a really good book. We are learning about genre (it's a fantasy), finding evidence to support the setting, and character traits while reading this book. We also got to share the posters we made after reading non-fiction. We found the important information and created a poster about an article that we chose from Time For Kids.

In Social Studies we started working in groups while learning about the Northeast Region. We will be experts on one area in the Northeast, and we'll share the information with our class.

We GOT TO SHOP!!!!!!! Mrs. Merten opened our class store today. We spent a lot of our chips. Next Wednesday the school store is opening for the first time this year. The Student Council will run it.

In music, we got to test for our white belt in Recorder Karate. Three kids actually tested out of their yellow belt too! They must have practiced a lot!

From the teacher's desk:

By now I hope your child has started his/her first project for the US Portfolio. The first project is about the Northeast Region, and is due on Friday 1/22/10. A big part of this portfolio project is learning to manage time for long term assignments. If you haven't already, it may be helpful to print out a monthly calendar and help your child map out the project. I find it helpful to be specific on a calendar. For example, writing "work on project" may be a big vague, but "find the who, what and where for the Statue of Liberty" is more specific. This would give your child a measurable goal to complete, and it can be done independently. If your child is confused about anything to do with this project, please encourage him/her to talk to me about it! Have a wonderful long weekend.

Our Week in Review

Wow! For many of us it was tough to get back into our routine this week. We started off our week reading a letter from the US Army thanking us for sending postcards. It was exciting to learn that our postcards were received by injured soldiers!

On Tuesday we had our information session about the United States Portfolio project. Although it was a bit overwhelming, it will be worth it when we have our U.S. Expo in May. Many of us have already started to gather information about the Northeast Project.

In reading we have been working on reading non-fiction this week. We discussed what to look for in a non-fiction passage, and we have discussed determining importance. We will be finishing this topic with a non-fiction poster of important information from a Time For Kids article. We had many articles to choose from!

This morning started off pretty chilly. To warm up, Mrs. Perry taught all of the fourth graders a new line dance. We learned to do the Cupid Shuffle! You can see us trying it out on the video below.

From the teacher's desk

The organizer for the United States Porfolio project was due at school today. Your child's responsibility was to choose one of each of 5 projects for each region. A person needed to be identified for the Biography Booklet, and an important place for the Hands-On project. If your child didn't complete this, or if one of these wasn't chosen, they must complete it over the weekend. Time management is such a big part of this project, that I want to be sure all students have adequate time for each region project. As always, please contact me if you have questions about this project. Thank you!