Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays, and the vacation, and is excited about starting 2012 with a bang! I wanted to take a few minutes and review some of the things we've done this year, and to let you know about some of the fun still to come!

First, I'd like to say thank you so much for all of the gifts and kind words that you sent before the break. You really know how to make a teacher feel supported! Teaching is sometimes challenging, and your children are the reason that I love this job, and the reason I believe it is the most rewarding job in the world. So thank you!

Math

Where have we been?

So far this year, we have worked hard to review and learn new concepts. We have reviewed geometry and big numbers, and learned new ways to multiply. The children have really built on what they learned in 3rd grade, and are ready for our next challenge ~ division!

Where are we going?

We are beginning the division unit this week. As I mentioned at many parent conferences, automaticity of math facts will be essential for this unit. Practicing these facts will really help the children. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to practice, your children can use this link to practice their facts. After we finish the unit on division, we will move onto fractions and then area and perimeter. During this time, we also will begin to focus on preparing for the Math MCAS test, which will take place in May.

Reading

Where have we been?

We have had a great start to Reading this year! The children enjoyed our interactive read alouds ~ Mr. Popper's Penguins and The Family Under the Bridge. We focused on many reading strategies including character traits, asking 'talkworthy' questions, and narrative elements. The children have been focusing on choosing JUST RIGHT books, and are continuing to focus on reading the same book at school and at home. This is really an important part of our Reader's Worshop.

Where are we going?

This week we will begin our next interactive read aloud, Stone Fox. We will discuss using details from a story to answer questions, and focus on finding the important details to support an answer. After we finish this book, we will watch the movie Stone Fox and complete a compare/contrast activity between the book and the movie. We will also begin to prepare for the reading MCAS test soon. This test will take place in March.

Writing

Where have we been?

We have worked together to learn the new Writer's Workshop method of teaching and learning writing. I can say that our students have embraced this and are enjoying writing! During the first part of the year, we really focused a lot on generating good ideas and writing about those. The children are currently working on their next published piece.

Where are we going?

Once this piece is published, we will shift our focus slightly to writing to a specific topic. Rather than allowing the children to choose the topic, I will provide the topic, and help the children use what they've learned to write about it. This will help to prepare the children for the writing portion of the MCAS, which will take place in March. We also will focus on the mechanics of writing, and some strategies for editing work.

Science

Where have we been?

This fall we focused on our study of Heredity and learning about Hurricanes as the preview to our weather unit.

Where are we going?

We will begin the full-fledged Weather unit this week. This unit will cover many topics, including weather forecasting, weather maps and fronts and currents. This will take a while to get through, but the children really enjoy learning all about weather. Later this spring we will learn all about Electricity and Magnetism as well.

Social Studies

Where have we been?

Wow! We did a lot of SS this year so far! We learned about Maps and Globes, Mexico and Canada!

Where are we going?

We will continue to focus on map skills through our Daily Geography. This will continue throughout the school year. In addition, in the next few weeks we will begin our journey through the Regions of the United States. This is a fun and exciting unit for the children. I hope to take them on different "virtual field trips" so that they can experience some of the exciting things that are out there in our country. This unit will span most of the spring.

There are so many fun things planned this year! I know it will be a fun rest of the year!

Goodbye Miss Johnson

Miss Johnson's last day was today. We had a nice time visiting with her during our pizza party and sharing our special letters to her. We will really miss her, but wish her good luck in her teaching career.

Miss Johnson plays basketball at Framingham State University. She will be playing this winter. We told the class we would post her basketball schedule, in case anyone wants to catch a game. You can find her schedule here.

I wish all of you a wonderful vacation, filled with family time! I look forward to a fresh start in 2012!!!

Our Week in Review

This week we made a holiday craft with Mrs. Williams' class. We had a great time! It was fun to work with our fourth grade friends.

Today we gave our Holiday Speeches. We all enjoyed hearing the creative ideas from the children! Some of the kids elected to have their speech video taped for our class blog. I've posted the videos below. Look for another post tomorrow, with photos from Miss Johnson's last day. We will miss her!

Chorus Concert

Our concert was a success! Everyone did a beautiful job singing! Congratulations!

Here is a slide show of pictures from both concerts. You can also view this on the Kennedy School homepage.

Our Food Drive was a SUCCESS!!!!!!

Wow! The fourth graders and their generous families collected a whopping 480 pounds of food plus $20, which equals 100 extra meals. Mrs. B. from the Franklin Food Pantry wanted me to pass along this message to all of our families, "Please send our hugs and warmest holiday wishes to all staff, students and their families. Thank you for making a difference! In gratitude."

Some students were able to help us to load the Food Pantry van, which was FULL (see the picture below). We really did make a difference for people in our community. Thank you.

Our Week In Review

It was a busy week in Room 24! We worked really hard to get everything finished, with the two half days. We finished unit 4 in math, about decimals, and Mrs. Y. came into our class to talk about our unit. We completed an Open Response Question, and are hoping that we can earn the 4 on our door! Yesterday, in math, we had some guest teachers ~ some of our students taught us some strategies. Pictures will be posted next week.

In reading,wehave continued to learn about the Calcets and Armand in The Family Under the Bridge. We are seeing some big changes in some of these characters. We hope to finish this read aloud next week.

We have also been receiving so much food for our food drive! Our Kennedy families have done it again! Mrs. Merten is quite impressed and touched by all of the donations. Volunteers from the Franklin Food Pantry will be here on Wednesday morning at 8:45 to pick up the donations.

Our class agreed to wait for our shopping until Monday morning. Many of the students in our class were absent or dismissed on Friday, so we will all shop right away on Monday morning.

From the Teacher's Desk

It was nice to meet with so many of you this week. I enjoyed sitting down and discussing your children, and look forward to another great term! Remember to contact me if you have any questions about things that take place in the classroom, or concerns of any kind.

December Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to our classmates with December birthdays! Happy Birthday Alessia and Raegan!