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

Spotlight on...

This week's Spotlight is on Madison!  Thanks to Madison's mom for the picture and the post.  Way to go Maddie!

Congratulations to Madison and her Xcel Bronze gymnastics team for a great meet this weekend!  

Madison placed 2nd in floor, 3rd on bars, 9th on beam and 5th in the all around!  Her team Quiggs took 2nd place.  We are so proud of her!!

Spotlight

This week's spotlight is about "Friendship."  Lifetime friendships in fact.  When you find a true friend, hold onto them, they are more valuable than gold.  My best friend from kindergarten, Darcy Proper(we met on the first day, she was the tallest girl in the class and I was the smallest),  has been nominated for her 8th Grammy award for the surround sound on the album Sixteen Sunsets. Darcy is the Surround Mastering Engineer which means that she is a computer scientist who works in the music industry.  Her job is very cool because she gets to meet musicians from all around the world!  She will be in Los Angeles this weekend to attend the ceremony.  If successful, it will be her 4th Grammy!  Music and science were very important to us growing up, as was soccer and shopping!  We had many, many things in common and are still friends to this day.  I will be watching the ceremony on line tomorrow afternoon, and I will be keeping my fingers crossed for her.  When she won last year, she texted me fro the ceremony to say "I WON!"  It was so exciting.  Here is a picture of us just last year.  I am glad to have had such a good friend for such a long time.

Juicy Nibble

The spring session of Rise and Shine Yoga will begin on Monday February 3, 2014.  Click here to sign up!