A Big Bite

Metric Olympics, Winter Wonderland, what a way to end our week!  

Mathletes! 

Speed Skating

Speed skating

Mrs. Merten was able to catch the Opening Ceremonies on video and I was able to catch a few of the heats from the Speed Skating Event.  

We had so much fun with math this week, and especially today.  Many students said that their favorite event was the luge, while others thought speed skating was the best.  Some students thought all of the events were equally enjoyable and could not pick a favorite. We worked on measurement, time and working in a cooperative group during this grade wide activity.The Olympic spirit was evident in all of the mathletes; there was the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.  It was wonderful to see the sportmanship and cooperation shown by all of the mathletes. :)

This is the link to Mrs. Merten's blog if you would like to see her pictures! Click here for Mrs. Adams, and here for Ms. Farrell.

 Thanks so much to Mrs. Perry, Mrs. Hess and Mrs. MacMurray for all of their help with this fun event.  Mrs. Perry helped us organize the stations and rearranged her schedule so that we could use the gym this morning.  She also was the judge of the luge event! Mrs. MacMurray helped everyone with the Olympic theme music, and during art class with Mrs. Hess, the students designed and created their own medals! We couldn't have done it without them!

In reader's and writer's workshop we are continuing to prepare for the ELA MCAS and we are reading Snow Treasure as an interactive read aloud.  We have been studying "author's craft," and are trying to use these techniques in our own writing.  We are studying wind and clouds in science and are still touring the northeast region in social studies.

In March, we will be presenting one more speech and will have another athletic math activity.  We are all in agreement that we are tired of snow and are ready for spring!
Leave a comment and let me know what you think about the first annual 4th grade JFK Measurement Olympics!
Mrs. W

Bookworm Buzz

Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was o.k. I need to talk to someone else who has read this book in order to understand the symbolism of the polar bear.  I was expecting Timmy to give a big "reveal," about Total, but it didn't happen.  I'm wondering what I'm missing....


View all my reviews

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Absolutely loved this book and can't wait for the next installment.  My high school friends who like science fiction/love story with an apocalyptic twist will enjoy this read as well.  

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Bookworm Buzz

Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the characters and LOVED that the squirrel is a poet.  I think I will need to read this one again to make sure I am getting everything out of it that I can.  This book will be just right for some spring 4th graders and a challenge for others.


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Spotlight On...

This week's Spotlight post is on Tyler!!! Thanks to Tyler's mom for sending in the picture and for the great post.  Way to go Tyler!

Tyler had tae Kwon do testing this weekend and he earned his blue belt.  He continues to progress quickly with the advanced belts and we are super proud of all his hard work and dedication!

A Big Bite

It was another 4 day week, but we packed a lot into our time together!  We finished our unit on Fractions and started a new unit on measurement.  We will be participating in five days of math fun next week with all of the other 4th graders.  On Friday, everyone will participate in the first annual Measurement Olympics.  Please keep sending in shoe boxes, each team will need a pair of "speed skates," for Friday's event.  Thanks to everyone who has sent in boxes so far.

We continued preparing for ELA MCAS and making progress in our interactive read aloud, Snow Treasure.  We are LOVING the use of the chapter end cliff hanger as a literary technique. We have almost finished the drafts of our essays and will begin putting them together next week.  Our word study has been all about how to use a dictionary, a real dictionary, not dictionary.com.  This has been an interesting experience for everyone.  

We began our travels around the Northeast region and will learn about  natural resources next week.  We even played USA Bingo which was a lot of fun.  On Tuesday of the upcoming week, there will be a quiz on humidity, the water cycle and precipitation.  Then we will learn about wind and clouds.

On Friday, after our Measurement Olympics, we will celebrate Valentine's Day with 'Party in a Bag."  The students are invited to create Valentine's for their classmates, but are not required to do so.

This Sunday is National Bagel Day.  Click here to learn more about this fun holiday.

The surveys have been going so well!  Click here to complete this week's survey.  Have fun!

Have a great weekend,

Mrs. Williams

Juicy Nibble

Hi gang!  I have been playing around with my Vine App all morning, trying to figure out a way to share videos with you that are short and fun and I think I may have finally figured it out.  I made many mistakes, but I didn't give up!  I hope it works this time.  If not, I will just keep trying.  Click here to view a video of the snow in my neighborhood this morning.  Leave a comment and let me know if you can view this video.  See you tomorrow!
Mrs. W

Spotlight on...

This week's Spotlight is on Isabella!  Thanks to Isabella's mom for the post write up and the picture.  Way to go, Isabella!

Isabella played in her first violin concert at Horace Mann Middle School. She did awesome! We are so proud of her.

A Big Bite

What an exciting week in room 23!  We learned all about Native Americans of the Arctic region with a fantastic presentation from the Haffenreffer Museum.  Thanks to the PCC for providing this enrichment program for 4th graders. :)  We also began studying about regions of the United States and everyone is looking forward to touring New England from the comfort of the classroom.  Speaking of tours, we visited the fjrods of Norway this week as we began our new interactive read aloud, Snow Treasure, by Marie Mcswigan.  Adventure is a new genre for many of us, and one of the many topics we will be studying is author's craft, which we will then use in our own writing.  We have started writing thesis statements for our essays and will begin drafting during the upcoming week.  On Wednesday, Mrs. Wong, JFK's Occupational Therapist, joined us for our science lesson in which we were following complicated directions to fold and cut paper  snowflakes.  She gave us some great tips on ho to hold the paper and how to use the scissors to cut some very small spaces.  We will use these snowflakes as a muse for free verse poems.  Click here to make a virtual snowflake, it is a lot of fun and a great way to practice your mouse skills!  Make sure you ask your parents if you can submit your flake first before you download.  Internet safety is very important.
Fractions continue to be the focus of study in math and we will have a quiz next week to finish the unit.  Click here for a link to some fun fraction games! The 4th grade teachers, along with Mrs. Perry, Mrs. Hess and Mrs. Murray(our math specialist) are planning some very exciting math lessons for the WHOLE GRADE starting next Friday and continuing the following week.  Stay tuned for more details, you won't want to miss it!
I am excited to tell you that everyone has earned the Yellow Belt in Recorder Karate!  Keep practicing. This is the link to Mrs. Mac's Recorder Karate Dojo. :)
Survey time!  Students, please click here for a link to this week's survey.  Remember to include JUST your first name so that I know who you are.  Your survey results are private and only I can see them.
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Williams