A Big Bite

The 4th grade TEAM! Mrs. Williams, Miss Farrell, Mrs. Adams and Mrs. Merten!

It was another busy week in Room 23!  Open House was a big success and it was great to see so many families.  As promised, you are all on "the blog."  You were able to see the terrariums on Thursday night and we were lucky enough to have Mrs. K take pictures of us assembling them with Mrs. Merten's class.  It was a fun learning experience.

We have been finishing up the launching unit of reader's workshop and are really getting into the narrative writing unit.  In math, we are adding and subtracting problems with and without regrouping.  Knowing addition and subtraction facts will make solving problems easier, especially when tackling multi step word problems.  Using latitude and longitude to find exact locations on a map is a new skill for 4th graders and can be challenging at first.  With more practice, I am certain that we will master this skill and become better at finding locations than the GPS systems on our electronic devices.  

If you did not yet sign up for a conference, there are still plenty of slots left.  Click here to go to the Signup Genius webpage.

We celebrated World Smile Day and Dance Party Friday by dancing to Happy by Pharrell Williams and everyone wore a smiley face sticker on their shirt, hand or face.  We also laughed a lot today, which made the smiles easy to come by.  Or maybe it is because we have fun together when we are learning. :)

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Williams

T-shirt of the Day

How about that?  Someone is photo bombing in this photo, but she's almost invisible. The perfect photo bomb!

Bookworm Buzz

Here it is, my first installment in the #GNCelebration.  I am so excited to be participating in this literacy event.  Thanks go out to Mrs. Landrigan for the "heads up!"

Graphic novels are one of my favorite structures for fiction.  There has been so much done in children’s literature and young adult literature with graphic novels that it is easy to see why students love this structure.  From fantasy, to science fiction, to recreating the classics, graphic novels are here to stay and I couldn’t be happier.  

The first series that hooked me as a lover of graphic novels was the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi.  This series has captivated 4th graders since the first novel, The Stonekeeper, was published in 2008.  I use this series to introduce the genre of science fiction and the structure of graphic novels at the beginning of the school year.  Every year there is a waiting list for each book and I often find that this is the one series that generally gets borrowed “permanently,” at the end of the year.  Our literacy specialist frequently orders replacement copies each year.Many students are hooked in the first few pages.As they the story continues, they naturally slow down in order read the pictures,which enables them to understand the plot in depth and to follow the sequence of events.  The learning opportunities are endless with this series!

When the second book was due to be released,The Stonekeeper’s Curse, I entered a contest to win a copy from Scholastic.  You can’t imagine the excitement the students and I felt when we learned that we had won!!! We were hoping for Kazu Kibuishi’s signature on the title page, but alas, this was not the case.  We are in luck however, because Kazu Kibuishi will be appearing at, An Unlikely Story, a local bookstore on October 17th at 12:00 p.m!  The 4th grade teachers are planning on being there to meet him and to tell him about the impact that his books have had on scores of children that we have known and that he is still gaining new fans.  It is going to be an exciting day for sure!

In the 7 years since the first book, The Stonekeeper, was published, I have had students come back to tell me that this is one of the books/series that they remember the most from elementary school because it got them to read and to love reading!  Parents tell me that this has been the “hook book,” for their child and the power behind those words and sentiments is humbling.  The power of the Amulet Series is as remarkable as the gifts of the Stonekeeper herself.  Try it and you too will be hooked!

Bookworm Buzz

I have been continuing to read as many of the latest and greatest books that have been published in children's literature and want to share my Goodreads reviews with all of you.

 In addition, I have exciting news to share from the world of Graphic Novels, one of my favorite genres; I am going to be participating in a special internet reading program for teachers this October called the #GNCelebration.  It is similar to the #Picturebook10for10 program that I participate in during August, but this one will be all about Graphic Novels!  My friends, Mrs. Landrigan and Mrs. Mulligan will be co-hosting the event and I am so excited to join them.  Be looking for my posts on Thursdays in October.  But until then, enjoy these latest reviews!


Hilo Book 1: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fans of Amulet will love this new series. Can't wait for the next one. Loved the Art.


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Digby O'Day and the Great Diamond Robbery by Shirley Hughes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved book one and I love book two. Students are lining up to get their hands on this book. Excited for the thir book. 

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Felix Stands Tall by Rosemary Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great for character education in all grades.

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Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fall 4th graders will enjoy this story of Piper Green and will look forward to the second book in the series.

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Eva's Treetop Festival by Rebecca Elliott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you like Owls, this is just the book for you! Written in diary entries by a young owl, this story introduces the reader to a great character, Eva. Students will be lining up to read this one. Loved the illustrations!

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Some Things I've Lost by Cybèle Young

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely beautiful! Very creative and will readers to explore everyday objects with curiosity and imagination. I loved the surprise at the end! Masterful art. 

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My Cousin Momo by Zachariah OHora

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I laughed out loud! Who doesn't look forward to visits with cousins, even the difficult ones? Readers will be able to make some great connections with this picture book. I loved the illustrations.

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Ally-saurus & the First Day of School by Richard Torrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice story about the first day of school, fitting in and imagination.

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Punk Farm on Tour by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just for fun! Great characters!

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The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun twist on a princess story that is empowering! I love the full color illustrations. A great way to introduce Shannon Hale to 3rd and 4th graders.

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Poppy the Pirate Dog's New Shipmate by Liz Kessler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A great way to introduce readers to the work of Liz Kessler. Dog lovers will enjoy this book, cat lovers too!

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A Big Bite

What a week!  We have been working on so much and learning a great deal.  We are working on addition and subtraction in math and have continued our STEM project, Puffmobiles!  Understanding roles in cooperative groups continues to be a focus not just on the Puffmobile project, but across all areas.  It is great to see everyone working hard and contributing equally.  We have continued our study of the water cycle in Science and are looking forward to creating terrariums next week as part of non fiction writing (how to write a science lab) and by studying the life cycle more closely by creating a mini ecosystem in a jar.  In social studies we are continuing to work on map and globe skills and will be focusing on latitude, longitude and how to find exact locations on a map by using coordinate grid points AND degree coordinates.  We will become our own GPS systems! :)

We are still working on launching Reader's workshop and focusing on the skills that make us feel strong as readers.  We are examining questions readers have in order to improve comprehension and to begin talk worthy discussions about books.  Choosing just right books is still a focus for many of us, and reading for meaning as opposed to reading for speed is a goal too. As part of word study, we are learning about prefixes, suffixes and using context clues to understand the meaning of unknown words.  This is a great reading strategy and one that we will start to use across the curriculum.  In writer's workshop, we have been focusing on writing complete sentences with varying sentence structure to convey hopes, dreams and goals for fourth grade.  We even used the Chrome books to take "Selfies," and then insert them into our document.  A shout out to Peter for helping us with this skill.  We can't wait to show them to you at Open House on Thursday!  In poetry workshop, we finished writing bio poems which are now hanging in the Poet's Corner and will be the first poem in our poetry journals.  We will learn about Walt Whitman next week and begin writing list poems.  We are very busy in 4th grade! We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House on Thursday night at 6:30!

T-shirt of the Day

So true!

T-shirt of the day

Interesting, very interesting. :)