Picture Book 10 For 10

  

It has been a while since I have participated in Picture Book 10 For 10, hosted by Mandy Robek on the Enjoy and Embrace Learning blog, and Cathy Mere at the Reflect & Refine: Building a Learning Community blog, but I am back!!!  I have been cultivating a text set of  #Ownvoices picture books; books written and/or illustrated by Indigneous authors and illustrators from The United States and Canada.  Several contain Indigenous text, a glossary, and many have author's notes for more in depth learning and reading experiences. They are class FAVORITES and several have become the foundation for class mottos and mantras.  These books are KEY to establishing, fostering and maintaining classroom community and will be prominent selections in the early weeks of my remote teaching experience this fall.  Thank you to all of these authors and illustrators for their amazing works and dedication to making this world one place for ALL of us. Ahhh, it is good to be back. 

You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Danielle Daniel.  This WAS our class motto, every student knew it and lived by it.  We hold EACH OTHER UP!

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac.  We often discuss how we are grateful for so many things; people, places, things, large and small.

At the Mountain’s Base by Traci Sorell by illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre.  Empowering and thought provoking.  Traci Sorell is a fan favorite!

Birdsong written and illustrated by Julie Flett.  A touching story of relationships, art  and what it means to think of others first.

Bowwow Powow by Brenda J Child, translated by Gordon Jourdan and illustrated by Jonathan Thunder.  Celebrations, history and the relationships between people and animals.

The Elders Are Watching by David Bouchard illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers.  An important story told in poems about taking care of the earth. 

Thunder Boy Jr by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Yuyi Morales.  What is in a name?  A great mentor text for beginning of the year “get to know you,” in writer’s workshop.

Fishing with Grandma  by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula and illustrated by Charlene Chua.  A fun story about fishing, family and the importance of multigenerational  connections.

Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard and illustrated by Juana Martinez Neal.  Family, traditions and food told from an important perspective.  I love the Author’s Notes at the end, so very important!

A Day with Yayah by Nicola I. Campbell, pictures by Julie Flett.  A First Nations family and their intergenerational relationships are explored as the family goes on a picnic and learns about nature from their grandmother.  

A Big Bite

Happy New Year!! Despite the cold and the need to be indoors this week, our first week back from vacation has been productive and quick!  We are starting new units of study in math (fractions), word study (adjectives) and poetry (weather poems).  We finished learning about weather maps and took an open book/notes quiz on Friday.  In reader's workshop we started a new interactive read aloud called Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan. We are focusing on new reading skills and strategies in this historical fiction/adventure novel.  Next week, we will learn about regions in a country as we start our study of the United States and will begin to learn about water in the atmosphere.  As always, Dance Party Friday was a hit!  
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Williams

A Big Bite

Last day of 4th grade!

A card for me from Lindsey's 5 year old sister Carly.  Can you find the drawing of me? It is PERFECT!

Making silly faces!

Easy pose and Tree pose.  We are yogis!

Well, we finally made it!  The end of the school year, can you believe it?  The quote of the day was, "Wow, that went by so fast!"  It certainly did. :)

We thought that we would summarize our year in a list poem.  We hope that you enjoy it. :)

The Best thing about 4th grade

by the students in Room 23 & Mrs. W

Tie dying our shirts because it was fun-Tyler

Yoga because I have more balance-James

Mrs. Williams because she was always so positive-Livi

Our great teacher because she is always confident-Lindsey

Mrs. Williams because she gives me confidence-Shay

The line design project because I liked sewing-Aidan

Doing yoga with Mrs. Williams-Erin

Mrs. Williams because she always works hard for her students-Nick

Line design because it was very fun-Ryan DA

Our teacher and yoga because yoga calms me and Mrs. Williams gives me confidence-Manal

Math Olympics because it was fun trading other rooms-Madison

Mrs. Williams because she is really kind-Logan

Doing yoga with my teacher because Mrs. Williams taught me to breathe-Cailyn

Math Olympics because it was fun merging classes-Zach

Mrs. Williams because she always brightens my day-Abhiram

Puff Mobiles because you get to build something-Ryan DI

The 1st day of school because it was fun and "loose"-Nirupama

Mrs. Williams because she was really kind and helpful-Angie

Mrs. Williams yoga class because it makes me feel relaxed-Isabella

My teacher, Mrs. Williams, because she is really understanding-Nathan

My students because they are THE BEST STUDENTS a teacher could ask for-Mrs. Williams

Thanks everyone!  It was great to end on such a positive note.  Have a wonderful summer and come back and say hello next year!

Mrs. W

A Big Bite

Working in poetry teams

Our Shirts!

 

Mystery Skype

  

It was another fun week for the students in room 23!  We started our week by dying our shirts and they look FANTASTIC!!!  Thanks to Mrs. Pipe, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Mackintosh and Mrs. Katz for helping. :)  We will continue line designs and reviewing math concepts this week.  We have just a few pages to go in Charlotte's Web and everyone has loved this book.  We will finish the year setting goals for summer reading.  We have spent a great deal of time using the lap tops and in the computer lab this week working on non fiction writing and poetry.  The students have been accessing their Google Drive accounts from home with much success.  Our travels across the United States will continue next week as we head to the Southwest region.  In addition we will have our last visit from the Haffenreffer Museum on Tuesday as we learn about native Americans of the South west.  On Friday, we participated in a "Mystery Skype," social studies/technology lesson with Mrs. Merten's class.  We answered questions about our region and students in another classroom  prepared answers to the same questions.  We were able to Skype with them, ask them questions, and then figure out where they were located in the United States.   It was exciting to figure out that they were in Bellingham, WASHINGTON!!!! It was so much fun and we are hoping that we can do this again before the school year ends.  In science, we used magnets to complete a few experiments this week and will move on to current electricity next week.  Also, we will be getting ready for the poetry coffeehouse.  The chorus concert is on Thursday, see you then!

Mrs. Williams

A Big Bite

It was World Read Aloud Week in Franklin, to celebrate World Read Aloud Day on March 5th, AND it was World Language Week!  We learned how to say a few simple phrases like; hello, good bye, good morning and good night in Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Swahili,  Chinese and Japanese.  We also focused on many aspects of "reading aloud," and did a reading and and art activity with Mrs. Wilmarth's class.  We will write about our art project in the upcoming weeks.  It was a lot of fun! :)We continued to work on measurement in math and will have a quiz on Wednesday.  We are almost done with our travels in the northeast and will have a test this Friday.  Creative Arts Friday involved reading poems with a twist form Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlitch.  The title of the book is Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy- Tale voices with a Twist. Then we wrote some free verse poetry about snowflakes; there were even some "rap," poems.  Mrs. Merten is teaching us how to make presentations in technology workshop.  Everyone was excited to work on their projects over the weekend.

Click here to complete this week's survey.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. W

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

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