Geologists at work

Friday's task was to break the mock rocks apart and sort the minerals out from the rest of the rock. Sounds easy enough, right?

The students were given a tool (nail) that came from the kit and some directions from Mrs. Overman and off to work they went...look at this determination!

Once they were done, they needed to mix the leftover rock material with water in a vial with a lid. They shook it up and left it over the weekend. We will observe it again on Monday to see what happened.

Earth Materials...New Science

We have finally started our next science unit, Earth Materials. The kids have been anxiously waiting! They've had some experience with sand, pebbles and rocks in second grade so they are excited to see where we go with this one.

In order to set the mood, I dug out my rock collection. It has definitely stirred the interest in the classroom! If your kids have some they want to share, they certainly can...just make sure they have away of keeping track of their treasures.

We started by practicing some observation and recording skills, things all good scientists must do. We are using mock rocks, tape measures and hand lenses. We used some math skills, too, when we measured, diameter, circumference, and depth.

I was kind of chuckling to myself as I watched the kids. I was thinking about everything on their wishlists for Christmas and wondered.."Who knew they could be so excited by rocks...and these are 'mock rocks'?"

And Some More...

These just make me smile...

More Heartwarming Wishes....

Yes, I love my job!

Keep checking back for more wishes!

More Science!

We had a task to perform and a problem to solve. If Ms. Spilker gave us a baby food jar filled to very top with water, how many pennies could we add to the jar before the water would spill over? The results were surprising!
The answers varied. Some groups used only 9 or 10 pennies and some used as many as 27 before the water spilled over the top! It was so exciting to see how many each group could get in there. Next, came the most important question....what prevented the water from spilling over for so long with so many pennies? Hmmmm....puzzling! This time it was mine and Mrs. Overman's turn to get excited! The kids did a water kit in third grade and they had a lot of background knowledge to share with us...some great ideas and thinking!

As always, not only was the experiment exciting, but there was learning involved! We always find a way to sneak that in. The kids are now working their way through the scientific process. They recorded a question, hypothesis/prediction, and listed materials. We will continue through the rest of the process next week!

Wishes...

Every year I have the kids watch a wonder movie called Annabelle's Wish. It has a really sweet message and the kids love it. Christmas is a time of year when the kids start making their own wish lists and get very excited about all the possibilities they might find under the tree for Christmas. After the movie, we take a few minutes and talk about some "unselfish wishes" and what that means.

The kids talked about what it truly means to "need" at Christmas and they came up with some very heart-warming ideas. After they wrote their wish, we went to the computer lab and learned a little about Microsoft Word and all the different fonts, sizes, and colors. They typed their wishes up and we will display them in the hallway.

This year, I am recording some of the students reading them for the blog (if I have a permission slip). I can only do a couple of them at a time because it take a while to upload. I will try to get as many as I can through the next couple of weeks. You have really great kids!! (You might need to turn your volume up.)

Just think, they are only 4th graders!

Relaxin....

You know...we work awfully hard all day. Every once in a while, a kid's just gotta relax. It's amazing how much fun it is to get permission to put your feet on your desk!
I wish you could've been there. They were so excited!

2nd Steps

Every other Friday, Mrs. Earthman (our counselor) comes in and does a 2nd Steps lesson with us. It's a curriculum that helps develop problem solving skills. She has students role play different situations. Today's lesson was working on how to let someone know in a productive when your feelings were hurt or someone made you angry. The kids were practicing using "I feel" statements.This curriculum runs from Kindergarten through Sixth grade so the kids are very familiar and very comfortable with Mrs. Earthman. They participate really well!

Helping Others Project and Food Drive

Every year our Hallett Hawks participate in a "Helping Others" project. This year, the ASB selected the Humane Society. They came out and visited our school and brought their friend, Titan, with them. He was our special person's "special helper"!

They asked us to donate pet food and especially kitty litter....the non-clumping kind. If every student at Hallett could bring one can of cat or dog food, we would be able to donate almost 300 cans of food! We have a box in our room to collect our donations.

Another wonderful project we participate in is donating food to the food bank. This is a "high need" time of year. A lot of families are in need, especially during the holidays. They always appreciate whatever we can collect. Again, if you can send anything at all in with your student, it will be greatly appreciated!