Poll Updated

The answer to last week's poll was "The Lost Boys". They were the group of boys in Peter Pan. Thanks to everyone who participated. Be sure to check out this week's question!

Pictograph Partners.....

As a teacher, there is no better sound than when your students say "When are we going to graph again?" We are finishing up with our pictographs and will be moving on to other graphs. On Friday, we worked in partners or groups of three to create the graphs making sure we had our data, key and title. It took some serous thinking to organize that information. This is just a little video of the work in progress. I will add the finished graphs after they are presented on Monday. (Sorry there is no sound on this video. Hopefully, it will still be fun to watch.)

All Work and No Play?

In case anyone was wondering if we ever give our brains a little break......

Since we can't "dribble" a basketball on the snow, we are now playing basketball with a football...genious!

We did venture out for a little fresh air this afternoon. It was a little slippery but the kids were not slowed down one bit....Robert also shared his birthday with us. Thanks Robert's mom! We loved the cupcakes, cookies, and juice!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBERT!

Day Three....

Today was our third day of learning about graphing. On the first day we learned about writing survey questions to gather data and then we actually gathered the data. The second day was spent compiling the data.We finally started talking about graphs today...pictographs in fact. We spent a little while looking at a pictograph and had some great discussion about the purpose and usefulness of the graph. I was impressed with how much they knew.

Next, the students figured out that we needed to total up all of our data in each category and then we needed to make sure everything was in the same units of measurement.....minutes. Sounds easy, right? Just add a few numbers together, right? Well, I have to say, you could feel the brain work in that room. It was so exciting to see them work and work and work until everyone in their group came up with the same answer. They talked about the best way to solve the problem and tried several different strategies. Oh yea, did I mention that there were 17 numbers in each column and (here's the best part).....no calculators!!

They are so excited about learning. Gotta love that teamwork! Isn't it great!

Learning, Learning, Learning...

I love this time of year! The kids are settled into routines and we can really take off with new and fun activities. We have been reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Even though most of us saw the movie, the kids are loving the book. It's so much fun to read it with them. Today we started a project to show that we are "comprehending" what we read. They are making a "post card accordian folder". They jumped right into work and I put the CD of their music program songs on. They were singing while they worked! I was so proud of them!After that, it was time for math. We are starting to work with different kinds of graphs. Graphing requires having some data to graph. One way to gather data is to take a survey. Yesterday, the students brainstormed things a fourth grader might do in a typical 24 hour time period. Next, they came up with five questions for the survey.

• How much time did you spend reading?
• How much time did you spend sleeping?
• How much time did you spend coming to school and going home?
• How much time did you spend playing video games or on the computer?
• How much time did you watch T.V.?

Oh, look! There is the need to figured out some elapsed time in these questions. Hmmm....I wonder how that happened! :) Answering these questions was their homework assignment. Today, we spent time compiling the data.

Next week, we will graph this information in a variety of ways. It should be fun!

New Poll...

I will be running a series of Disney questions on our poll so brush up on your Disney knowledge! By the way, the answer to the last poll was "helium" helped those balloons float!

ASB Meeting.

We had an ASB meeting today. We talked about "Not Bullying" so don't call names or tease other people. We talked about getting new reps. We will have a class picture on March 4th. The Wow Now run starts May 22nd. The Science Fair is May 26th and 27th. The Spelling Bee will be June 2nd. Talent Show will be the last day of school. We don't know when Spirit Week will be. BBQ lunch is May 15th.

Being an ASB rep has been fun but kind of awkard because you have to talk in front of a lot of people. We liked it, tho!

From,
Dylan and Brooke

Cause and Effect

Every week, we work on a different comprehension skill or strategy. This week we are working on "Cause and Effect". We have been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. while we practice this skill. I also gave a homework assignment for the kids to notice three examples of "cause and effect" and write them down. I am excited to read them. I also found this website that has some practice for cause and effect. It's actually the website I listed for math but it has language arts activities also. Have fun! http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skills_4th_original.htm#lang

Read At Home Month

The kiddos brought home a permission slip for the Read At Home Month activity. If they complete their calendars, they will earn a free Silverwood ticket! Just fill out the permission slip and send it back. I will send home a purple calendar. If your child is going to do this, you can stop filling out the green Reading Log, just use the calendar and keep it in his/her folder so I can still check it on Mondays. Let me know if you have any questions.

Very Unusual Day!

Well, I thought today was going to be a typical Friday. It's usually busy but seems a little more relaxed...maybe because teachers wear jeans on that day?? Hmm... I knew we had the long awaited Geography Bee and we were very excited to watch Alex and Mikal compete. We are able to watch the Bee from our rooms on our TVs while the kids compete in the library. Everything was going great. We were into the fourth round and our Geo Bee Stars were still in it....and then everything went dark! We had a power outage. Now, you haven't really experienced a power outage until you have done it with 23 nine and ten year olds!! We were without power for a little over an hour and I have to say the kids handled it great!! They stayed calm and did everything I asked of them. The problem was that we had no idea how Alex and Mikal were doing.....we busied ourselves by taking a spelling test and reading The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. (The kids love this book.)

As we were reading, in walked Alex and Mikal.....smiling from ear to ear. Alex made it to the fifth round and Mikal was in the top ten! Way to go you two! We are sooo proud of you! You are our Geo Bee stars!
We also had a visitor stop by in the morning. Annika brought her best friend, Lizzy. She dressed her all nice and warm. You can't see it in the picture but she even had her pearl necklace on. Very sweet!

Back to work...no minutes to spare!

We are definitely back to work! Today felt like a "whirlwind" of a day! We went to computers and worked hard on perimeter and area. Some of us even passed the "Super Brain" level! We are starting to write a new story and still working with our reading groups on a great story called "The Stranger" by Chris Van Alsburg. (You might know him from "Polar Express" and "Jumangi".) We also worked on correcting sentences and some brave students even went to the presenter to share their work. Way to go! The biggest event of the day was starting our first "Problem of the Week" in math. We get to explain our thinking in words. It's challenging but we can do it! We also had two treats today. The kids love it when I hand out a TFK (Time For Kids) magazine. Annika brought a huge chocolate filled candy cane for everyone in the class! Candy Canes and TFKs. It was indeed a great day!

Answer to our poll...

This week's poll has closed. The correct answer is there are two kinds of blood cells: red and white. Be sure to check out the new question for this week!

Up Over Zero Hero Over Up

We finally made it back to school for two days in a row! Although we still had two hour late starts, it felt good to have some routine back. The kids even had PE today. That may have been the first time most of us had an hour of running around and playing hard in almost a month. There were some pretty red faces and sweaty heads when I picked them up!

We even did some "Tae Bo Math" today! We also know this as "multiple digit multiplication". (This is kind of challenging at first but with lots of practice, I know we will all get it.)

Up Over Zero Hero Over Up....Up Over Zero Hero Over Up....Up Over Zero Hero Over Up....you will soon be hearing this at the homework table! When you see your student waving their arms around at the table and you ask what they are doing...don't be too surprised to hear them say "Homework!"

...and we are back to practicing our math facts with timings! Just look at that determination!

I can't wait until we are back in school full time!

Some fun...

Snow Snow Go Away
We Want To Go To School Again Some Day!

Rain Rain Stop Today
Sloppy Icy Roads Are In Our Way!

Our Pencils And Books Just Lay
We Need To Stretch Our Brains Right Away!

School Closures Will Stop Soon We Say
Our Teacher Misses Us More Each day!

Again...

Well, we are out of school AGAIN today. It's hard to get into any kind of routine going but our first concern is your safety. The roads are pretty icky. Read a book today and hopefully I will see you tomorrow!

We did it!

We actually made it back to school...hooray! It was a two hour late start but at least we were there and it was not a snow day that we have to make up. The rest of the week is scheduled for two hour late starts but please keep watchng the news for changes. Just a reminder, since school starts at 10:35 on our late start days, we will not offer breakfast. Be sure to eat before you come to school! :)

Tuesday, January 6th

Well, looks like we will be starting two hours late tomorrow. PLEASE be very careful walking to school. Drivers can't see around the berms very well. Watch for cars!:)

Good News!

All four of the fourth grade teachers were scheduled to attend a science training tomorrow, January 6th. The good news is that the training has been rescheduled so I will be there if we have school! I hope to see you all tomorrow!!

Oh My Goodness!

I was really looking forward to getting back to school tomorrow. I can't believe this weather. This is definitely "history" in the making. You will be able to tell everyone about the winter when you were in 4th grade and they closed all of the schools in Spokane County!

Poll Answers

Thanks to everyone who took part in the two polls that were posted for the last week. And the answers are....

It takes 8 minutes for heat and light to reach the earth from the sun.
There are 7 continents on our lovely planet.

There is a new question. Give it a try! I have also added this week's spelling words.

Happy 2009!

It's a new year and I'm so happy to start it with you! I'm excited to see you all again on Monday. January is probably my favorite teaching month! With all the cold weather and snow...and boy do we have a lot....it's nice to cozy up in our classroom and learn as much as we can. Enjoy this last weekend of your break and rest up....we have a lot of learning and fun ahead of us!

Oh yea...if you didn't notice, I added a new slide show to our blog...so "hop" on over and take a look at it! :)

See you soon!