Bookworm Buzz

Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the way Ellen Bryan Obed introduced each different kind of ice and how she was able to weave a story throughout an entire year.  There were many great messages about friendship, patience and using your imagination. A quick read that will lead to many great discussions.


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Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout by Megan McDonald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Stink fans will love this latest installment in the Stink series.  Frog lovers will really enjoy it as well.  I can see many readers looking for non fiction books on frogs as a follow up to this book.  I enjoyed the way McDonald and Reynolds  included short comics into the story.  Young writers may find some inspiration here!

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Juicy Nibble

Hi, gang!  Here is a picture of my Christmas tree and my Nutcracker display that I told you about.  We have over 50 nutcrackers.  The Elvis Nutcracker is the latest addition to our collection.  Can you find him?

Juicy Nibble

Each student created a family crest and motto as part of a final activity after reading The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson.  Here is a list of the family mottoes, they are very interesting :

Karlowicz-Try your best

Huang Chiu-Always try your best

Scafidi-Always believe in yourself

Palmer-Always do your best

Dickinson-Try your best

Tarantola-Families stick up for each other

Pipe-Always work together and stick together

Mackintosh-Love people besides yourself

Nicholoson-Try your best and Rather be early

Lewis-It's okay to be different

Chalk-Have fun

Katz-Families stick together

Brennan-Family First

Yadlapalli-Be prepared for the things that life throws at you

Brahimi-On the move

D'Amato-Always try your best'

Bryant-Always try your best'

Davis-Keep moving

McEvoy-Always on time

Stoddard-Families come in all shapes and sizes

A Big Bite

The week is over and vacation is here!  We wrapped up The Family Under the Bridge this week and had some very interesting discussions about the actions of the main character, Armand.  We discussed the themes in the book, cause/effect relationships and the main idea of each chapter.  We all agreed that we have so much to be thankful for because we are not homeless or hungry.  In writer's workshop we have been working on several poetry projects and on completing our fiction stories.  The holiday speeches were on Thursday and many people took advantage of the opportunity to see Mrs. Marano for suggestions on their speech.  Check out the videos of  Liv, Lindsey and Nathan

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In math we learned about fractions.  We added and subtracted fractions and played some fun math games.  The soloists were chosen in chorus for the concert and Manal was the student selected from our class.  It was very exciting!

Friday was fun because we watched Muppet Treasure Island, which is based on the book by Robert Louis Stevenson.  He is the poet/author we have been studying.  It was funny!

Mrs. Williams shared presents with us for the holiday. Everyone received a chocolate bar, a homework pass and a book.  Two weeks ago Mrs. Williams surveyed the class about books for the classroom library, and she asked each of us to pick a book that we would like to see in the classroom.  These were the books that we received!  It was exciting.

We hope everyone has a great vacation and we are looking forward to seeing everyone in 2014!

Bye Aidan and Mrs. Williams

A Big Bite

It was another action packed week in room 23!    We participated in several fun activities like the Haffenreffer Museum Archaeology Program (see post below), Black and White Day to celebrate the end of Mr. Popper's Penguins, and finished our grade level food drive.  We collected 337.5 pounds of food!  Everyone is enjoying our new interactive read aloud, The Family Under the Bridge.  We had some great discussions about the plight of the homeless, and we all agreed that we are very thankful that we have a warm house and enough food to eat! In math, we began a unit of study on fractions and will be studying fractions well into the new year.  We are finishing writing fiction stories and are writing rhyming poems in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson.  Everyone received their report cards this week and parent/teacher conferences were held on Thursday and Friday.  Next week is looking to be a very busy week, I can't wait!  Enjoy the weekend snow!

Juicy Nibble

Today we participated in the Culture Caravan from Brown University.  We learned about archeology, what archaeologists do, and even participated in an archaeological dig.  Check it out!  Video to follow. :)  Thanks to the PCC for funding this wonderful program!

A Big Bite

 

It was a great week back from the Thanksgiving holiday and boy did it fly by!  On Friday morning, the students commented on how quickly the week had passed. :)We finished reading Mr. Popper's Penguins and will be celebrating this book next Wednesday with "Black and White Day."  Everyone worked on writing in response to reading as a skill in reading, and on making connections with author's craft in writer's workshop.  We made great progress planning our fiction stories and will begin the rough draft next week. Ms. Lynch, from the Franklin Food Pantry, came to school on Wednesday and spoke to all of the 4th graders about the FFP and what we can do as a community to help others.  We were surprised to learn that there are about 500 children in Franklin who don't have enough to eat; that is almost the same number of children as attend JFK!  It was a great way to kick off our new interactive read aloud, The Family Under the Bridge, by Natalie Savage Carlson.  In poetry workshop, we are learning about Robert Louis Stevenson and will be writing rhyming poems in the next few weeks.  It was exciting to learn that he was an author and a poet. Some of us will be looking for adapted versions of some of his classic works, Kidnapped and Treasure Island.  Everyone agreed that though he was different than Walt Whitman, he still was a very "cool guy." :) The decimal unit is complete in math and we will be moving on to fractions next.  The fraction unit is large and will take us until the end of January to complete. In social studies, we began our journey to Canada and learned about the Canadian flag.  Weather is the new unit of study in science and everyone is excited to learn about so many different weather topics.  We created "KWL," charts and discovered that there are MANY things  we want to learn about weather.  The students have finished their MixCraft projects with Mrs. MacMurray in the technology lab, click here to see the projects.  They are incredible!
New speeches have been assigned and Mrs. Marano is available for support before 8:40.  She is looking forward to helping anyone who wants extra tips on improving their speech before the 12/19 deadline.
On Monday, we will have the first of four programs by the Haffenreffer Museum.  This program will focus on archaeology and will set the stage for the next three programs about Native Americans of north America.  It will be very exciting.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Williams