Juicy Nibble

Here are some pictures and videos fro our "In house," field trip with Mrs. Silvia from the Haffenreffer Museum.

Story

  game

  game

  game

 dance

Bookworm Buzz

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane by Carole Boston Weatherford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

i really enjoyed this picture book of famous jazz musician, John Coltrane. The author's note and selected listening page will have you searching the internet for more information on this great musician.  The illustrator, Sean Qualls, does an excellent job bringing the author's words to life. This book will make a great addition to the other jazz books that we have in class!


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See More Readers: Danger! Earthquakes -Level 2 by Seymour Simon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved the photos that were in this book that is just right for 4th graders.  There are a variety of text features and some interesting trading cards at the back, just like other Seymour Simon books. Check it out!


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A Big Bite

We created this chart in math

We had a short but busy week in Room 23.  On Tuesday, Miss Decker, our student teacher, joined us.  She will be with us until May 10th.  She has been helping with small groups and even gave us our spelling test.  In math, we have been working hard on fractions and are preparing for a test this Thursday.  We have started to learn about the regions of the US in social studies and are reviewing the water cycle in science.  We did a lab called "Disappearing Water."  Language Arts has been busy!  We are working hard on "reading like writers," and are using the the skills we are learning in reader's workshop when we write essays in writer's workshop.  Our new interactive read aloud is Snow Treasure.  It is very exciting.  Kyle is going to share a picture of his grandfather who fought in World War II! Teachers from Parmenter School came to visit us on Thursday to watch us in Reader's Workshop.  They were very impressed with all of our hard work.  In poetry workshop we learned about Robert Frost and even got to listen to a recording of him reading "The Road Not Taken."  It was very cool.  Mrs. Merten had us working on Power Point presentations in Technology workshop.  After a week of indoor recess due to the frigid temperatures, National Yoga Recess day on Friday was fun.  Click here to learn more about the fun Friday that we had at JFK. Next week, we will have a presentation by the Haffenreffer Museum.This will be our second presentation this year.  Thanks to the PCC for making this in house field trip a possibility.
Keep reading and keeping practicing the recorder, we are all going for our Black Belts in Recorder Karate!
Mrs. Williams

Bookworm Buzz

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mrs. Merten told me that I needed to read this book and I finally did.  As usual, I am wondering what took me so long?  I loved the relationships between the characters and the portrayal of the humans.  This isn't a story just about animals, there are so many lessons to learn.  Mrs. Richards is going to have to get a class set of this awesome book!


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Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Way to go Sara Pennypacker! This is truly a story of friendship and unconditional love.  I found myself cheering for the characters despite some of the unfortunate choices that they made and really hoping for a happy ending.  There are so many talk worthy discussion points in this book and I know that readers will be talking about this book for a long time!  Mrs. Richards is going to have to get us several copies of this one too! 

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Extreme Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Babymouse is at it again, but she is growing up.  I think readers will connect with her need to fit in, but not at any cost.  She learns to be happy with herself and that makes me love this character even more than I did before!  Maybe she has taken up yoga?


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Bookworm Buzz

Hey gang, I sent  a question to the author of Sidekicks, Dan Santat, and he responded on his website.  Check it out by clicking here!  So cool!!! We will talk about this tomorrow :)

Bookworm Buzz

Sidekicks by Dan Santat
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just right for 4th graders!  I really enjoyed the characters, especially Fluffy the hamster, the plot and the illustrations.  It will be fun to talk about the themes in this story!I am hoping that there will be a sequel and possible series from Dan Santat as he left me wanting more of these characters and their adventures!


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Here is a link to Dan Santat's website-check it our, it's really cool!

A Big Bite

Welcome Board by Vagmi

The last two weeks have been action packed in Room 23.  We have had special programs, performed in two concerts and much more!  In math, we are continuing to work on fractions and have been playing some fun math games like, "Build a Hexagon."  We finished learning about weather maps and fronts in science and took a quiz.  The Canada test was a big deal, but everyone worked hard to do a good job.  We will begin our study of The United States of America next week.  In writer's workshop we have made good progress in the essay unit and have developed thesis statements for our topics.  Poetry workshop will be back next week and we can't wait.  We agree that it has been an emotional week in reader's workshop.  We finished Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner.  Several of us were very upset at the tragic ending which led to a great discussion about the book, death, pets, and love.  Mrs. Trockman joined us for an Open Circle because we had so much to talk about with this book.  We were able to watch the movie and many of us agreed that although we liked the ending of the movie, overall we liked the book so much better!  Our next interactive read aloud will start next week.  We are dying to know what it is but Mrs. Williams won't tell.  She is thrilled that we are so excited to read. :)  As a class we have read 492 books this year and we are only half way through the year.  Teachers from Parmenter school will be coming to our classroom next week to watch us in reader's workshop, this should be so much fun.

As part of the PE program, Jump Rope for Heart sponsored by the American Heart Association, the Skippers from Miscoe Hill School came to JFK.  It was awesome.  Check out the video below!

Miss Decker, our student teacher from Framingham State University starts on Tuesday and we can't very excited to meet her.
By,
Dylan, Lea and Mrs. Williams

Juicy Nibble

Here are photos and video from today's concert.  Great job everyone!  Enjoy.

What a great looking bunch of singers!  Watch out American Idol AND X Factor!

Juicy Nibble

This is a very juicy nibble!  Mr. Kane sent us a picture of a Yule Log from his bakery, Finale Desserts in  Park Plaza,  Boston. The Calcet children, and Armand, the characters from The Family Under the Bridge, were staring at a yule log in a bakery window.  It sure looks yummy! It even has the frosting mushrooms!

Bookworm Buzz

The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Greg Heffley is at it again in this latest installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.  I laughed out loud and really enjoyed this story.  It is just right for fourth graders and my older friends.  I can't wait to see what Greg will do next!


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Bookworm Buzz

LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World by Jon Richards
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great non fiction book for 4th graders who love LEGOS and Harry Potter.  This book has a clear introduction with a full explanation on how to read this book. Luke(my resident expert on LEGOS) and I read this book together and we were able to learn so much about the world of Harry Potter LEGOS and the minifigures!  It is an easy to read reference book with many different text features.  It is possible to set a purpose for reading by focusing on just one text feature and reading that information on each page.  For example, if you want to know they year the set was produced, you can read just for that information.  This book will become a new mentor text when we discuss non fiction reading.  Luke and I will be reading LEGO Star Wars next!


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A Big Bite

Happy New Year!  It was great to see everyone return to school happy and ready to learn.  It sounds like families had a fun and relaxing vacation.  After sharing about our holidays we got right back to work.  We worked on multiplication and division in math and next week we will begin a long unit on fractions.  I was so excited to hear all of the "Yessssss'," when I mentioned this unit to the class.  In language arts we are working on adjectives and how to incorporate them into our writing.  We will begin the essay unit next week, which is a new style of writing for us.  In reader's workshop we have been working on non fiction text structures and text features.  We have been using these skills in our study of Canada. Next week, we will begin a new interactive read aloud and will set goals for the rest of the year. In science we are studying weather instruments, weather maps and we even made our own barometers!  There will be a test on weather instruments and Canada in two weeks and the study guides went home this week. In poetry workshop we have finished our rhyming poems and in Tech, the students are learning how to use Power Point.
 We have some exciting activities planned for 2013 at JFK; more visits from the Haffenreffer museum, Ms. Liz, the poet in residence will be joining us and winter wonderland day to name a few.  In two weeks, we will be welcoming Miss Decker, a student at Framingham State University.  Miss Decker will be our full time student teacher from January 22nd, until the middle of May.  We are getting very excited to have her join us as she begins her teaching career!  Stay tuned for more updates and important dates.

Mrs. Williams

Bookworm Buzz

Little Dog, Lost by Marion Dane Bauer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and it is just right for 4th graders.  The story is told from the point of view of Mark, a boy who desperately wants a dog, but his mother keeps telling him that he cannot have one. I could relate to Mark because my son really wants a dog, but I also can relate to the mom, and her reasons for NOT wanting a dog.  The story is written in verse, so it reads like a poem, and is full of great imagery and descriptive language.  I liked the way the author brought other characters into the story, especially the neighbor, and had all of the characters connect in the end.  This book will make a great addition to our poetry collection.


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