Tomorrow is the Last Day!

Today was our last full day of Fourth Grade. Tomorrow at 11:30, we are 5th graders! I took a few pictures today to "commemorate" the moment. We were having Otter Pops (Thanks Mrs. Redell!) and I tried to catch everyone but realized Alex was no where to be found in my outside pics. I suspect she was busy swinging! She is always swinging or hanging upside down!

I did manage to get a group photo (unfortunately, Robert and Annika had already left)...just not great timing today! Alex was in this one, tho!

It's hard to believe the year is over. I have enjoyed watching your children grow and mature. I was looking at them the other day and can't believe how tall they are! They've not only grown in size, they've grown academically and in confidence, too. They are truly ready to move on to 5th grade. I have no hesitations! Thank you so much for sharing your children with me and for all of your support. Enjoy your summers and I hope to see you all in the fall!

Field Day....or was it Court Day?

Today was Field Day and the weather did not cooperate so we were inside. Shay thought it should be called "Court Day"...I agreed! It was a little crowded in the gym with four 4th grade classes but I thought it went well and the kids had fun anyway.

Field Day consists of four classes divided into four teams. Here are our teams (with most of their members):

The kids spend the next hour running different relays. Mr. Houn does a great job of coming up with creative and fun relays.

Let's play "Twins"...remember....NO HANDS!

Great job! Now, can you pass the Hoola-Hoop down the human chain without letting go of hands?

I think I would have gotten stuck in the hoop! The next task was to carry a marble on a plastic spoon down and around a cone and back. The catch was that the spoon had to be carried by the very end of the handle. This is one event that was a little easier outside. If the marble drops outside, it doesn't go bouncing across a hard gym floor!
Speedway was my favorite and of course my camera was acting up so I didn't get great pictures. The kids were on scooters.....
They had to go down and around the cone. Sounds easy, right? Well, if they fell off, their "pit crew" (the rest of their team) had to run out and pick them up and put them back on their scooter. Just to make it more fun, if Mr. Houn blew his whistle, they had to fall off the scooter and the pit crews went to work!

There is a "teacher participation" relay. I put Miss Landeene to work on this one. Why not take advantage one last time? :) The kids had to run down to her, chew up a soda cracker and then try to whistle. Remember, most 4th graders can't whistle to begin with....now try to do it while eating a cracker. It is a guaranteed cracker shower! This is something every student teacher should experience, don't you think? Miss Landeene is a great sport and loved every minute of it!

The final relay was the kids favorite one. They "relayed" to the big yellow cooler for a popsicle! The kids handled the inside field day wonderfully. Thanks, Mr. Houn! We had a great time!

6 and a half days of school left....what to do?

As you can imagine, everyone is getting anxious for summer break and it's getting harder to stay "interested" in sitting in class. I decided it was time for some math! Did you ever wonder how long the hallways were at Hallett? I thought it might be time to find out.....we through ourselves into our task....literally! We had a rather unique measuring tool!

Yep! That's right....our bodies. We measured the hallways from head to toe. We started in 4th grade hall and went down 5th grade, then 6th, across the multipurpose room and back to our room.

Our trip measured 9 and 1/2 Spilker class lengths.

Of course, Ms. Spilker being who she is, we had to turn this into a learning experience. We talked about variables. If every 4th grade class measured the hallways in the same way, would they come up with the same answer? Why or why not? These soon-to-be fifth graders had great answers. They said the other classes might have more students, taller or shorter students, they might measure closer to a wall and not down the middle, and their classrooms are not as far down the hall as ours so their measurement would stop sooner. I was so impressed! In fact, so impressed, I had to extend this into homework. :) Describe the activity as if you were the teacher leaving directions for someone else and include the variables. I can't wait to read their papers!

I also took the opportunity to get some "close ups". Too much fun!

Danielle and Dylan were the beginning and the end of our line.

I can't believe this year is almost over and it's time to turn them over to the fifth grade teachers. I will truly miss them!! They are a fun group!