Bookworm Buzz

Bookworm Buzz! These posts will be about the children's books that I am reading or have read, and my recommendations for parents and students. These posts will take the place of the Weekly Book Review from the Read and Roll Blogspot. Feel free to comment on any posts about the books or to make suggestions for other books to read. Occasionally I will review picture books, in addition to chapter books, and sometimes may even review young adult literature. All the books that are reviewed will appear in the Books Reviewed gadget at the right.

I have just finished reading In Too Deep, by Jude Watson. It is the 6th book in the 39 Clues series. This book takes Amy and Dan Cahill to Indonesia and follows them on their quest for the 39 clues. There were some interesting twists in this book, and overall it was a more fascinating read than Jude Watson's first attempt at this series. It is helpful to have read the first five books in this series in order to understand this book and the plot twists. Book 7, by Peter Lerangis, will be released on February 2, 2010.

For the remainder of vacation, I plan on reading a few adult novels and will try to squeeze in one or two more children's books. Luke is reading the first book in the On the Run series, by Gordon Korman, and Liv has just finished Models don't eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne. Liv has just started The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler. These books are for young adults. Let me know if you have been reading anything great!

A Big Bite

This is a picture of Sumit and his sister Shreya at Digha Beach in India. We are looking forward to seeing Sumit in January. Isn't the sunset beautiful!

This is a video of us partying with Mrs. Merten's class. The party in a bag was a big success!

Thank you for all of the wonderful holiday gifts and donations to "Answer the Call." I appreciate your overwhelming generosity. Have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year!

Fondly,

Mrs. Williams

Juicy Nibble

As many of you know, I have another blog called Read and Roll, which is devoted to children's literature and poetry. As a working mom, it has been difficult to maintain both of my blogs well, so I have decided to incorporate my favorite elements of Read and Roll into this blog, The Shiny Red Apple and no longer post to Read and Roll. There will be new gadgets and new posts on this blog, but hopefully this will make it easier for parents and students to access and use , and will enable me to keep blogging about one of my favorite subjects, reading! I am excited about the changes I will be making to this blog and welcome your comments and ideas for new gadgets and posts. Have a great Saturday, here comes the snow!
Mrs. W

A Big Bite

420 pounds! That is the total amount of food and other items collected by the fourth graders at JFK. The volunteer from the food pantry came to talk to us and she was very informational. We learned so much from her. We loved The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson. It was very meaningful to us and we were very proud to know that we helped people in our community. We did our vocabulary test, too. Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner is the newest book that we are reading. We know it has a tragic ending.Mrs. Williams says that "deep meaning" is really starting to click for all of us because we are making so many connections with all of the books that we are reading. Our new class total for books read independently so far this year is 522!
We were almost done with our rhyming poems. Robert Louis Stevenson has been our poet of the month. We took the chapter 5 math test and it wasn't too bad. The grades on the English test were great! In Science, we made new teams to go along with our weather unit. Air pressure is our first unit of study and so far it is fascinating.

It is the last weekend before our holiday break and December has gone by quickly! Everyone is excited for vacation. Who knows what surprises next week will bring!

By,

Nick with help from Andrew, Bryan, Jake, Ellie and Jack

A Big Bite

It has been a busy week here in room 23, even though we had tow half days. We've continued working on multiplication in math and did our first First Hands on Equations lesson with Mrs. Y. WE finished Canada and took the test on Friday. It wasn't too bad. Our poet of the month is Robert Louis Stevenson. We will be writing holiday rhyming poems in a style similar to Stevenson's. The Family Under the Bridge is almost done and we can't wait to find out what happens to the Calcets. Will they get a new home? The food drive officially kicks off on Monday, but our box is already full. Mrs. Williams will be getting us another box. Our new book count for the year is 479 books! Wow! That sure is a lot of reading! We got our report cards this week and Mrs. Williams said that the conferences went well. We made stained glass menorahs with aluminum foil, cling wrap and Sharpies. The year is flying by and we can't believe that holiday break is only one and a half weeks away.
Have a great weekend!
By Tyler (with help from Nick, Bryan, Matt, and Jack)

At the Core

December 4, 2009

Dear Parents,

I cannot believe that the holidays are only three weeks away! Many people told me that time would fly once I had children of my own, and truer words were never spoken! Don and I don’t even remember what we did with all of our time before Livi and Luke came along.
I believe, as many people do, that the holidays are about the “spirit of giving.” Don and I are working on teaching our children that it is better to give than to receive, which is easier said than done sometimes. I know too, that children like to give their teacher a gift at holiday time. I always appreciate everything that the children give to me, but please know that I don’t expect anything. My favorite gifts of all are donations that the children make to a food pantry or charity on my behalf, and then make a card to let me know what they have done. It is wonderful to see the look in their eyes and hear the joy in their voices when they explain how they felt about helping those that are less fortunate than they are. I cherish these moments with them!
One of my favorite charities is the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund. My father and grandfather are retired NYC firemen and my brother is currently a police officer in Brooklyn. Firemen and policemen hold a special place in my heart.
I hope that you will enjoy your holidays, and all of the preparations that go into making this a wonderful and exciting time of the year. Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,


Ann Williams
New York Police and Fire Widows'and Children's Benefit Fund
767 Fifth Avenue; 2614BNew York, New York 10153Office: 212.735.4505Fax: 212.310.8808
info@answerthecall.org

A Big Bite

The week after Thanksgiving went really fast! In reading, we began a new interactive read aloud called The Family Under the Bridge, by Natalie Savage Carlson. We are studying the theme, asking questions and cause and effect. AS a class we have read 430 books. We are participating in a grade level food drive to benefit for the Franklin Food Pantry. In writing, we have created acrostic poems about November. We have continued our study of Canada and it is a really cool place. We have begun two digit multiplication and are learning the partial products algorithm. We will start a new science unit on weather next week. In music, we learned Starburst on our recorders.

Sumit has gone to India and we were very sad to see him go, but are looking forward to when he returns to JFK in January. We hope you had a safe trip Sumit!

By Tyler (with help from Jack, Jake and Bryan)

At the Core

December, 2009
Dear Parents,
Fourth graders will be reading The Family Under the Bridge as a whole class read-aloud in December. This novel features many worthy themes, one of which is the plight of homelessness. As part of this unit, fourth graders will be invited to participate in a food / supplies drive to help those in need in our own community. The food / supplies drive will take place during the week of December 14th – 18th. While any donations of non-perishable food items are welcome, the Franklin Food Pantry has informed us that the following items are particularly in need at this time:
Cleaning supplies such as:
antibacterial hand gel
antibacterial wipes
cleaners
paper towel
tissues
laundry detergent
Boxes of cereal
We will also be in need of parent volunteers who would be available on the final day of the food drive (December 18th) in the late morning to box and deliver the items to the Franklin Food Pantry (as they close by 1:00 PM). If you are available to help on that day and time, please let your child’s teacher know.
We thank you for the opportunity to teach your child a valuable lesson about giving and generosity.
Many thanks,
The Fourth Grade Team