Poem of the Week

We have been writing list poems in Poetry Workshop.  Here is a class poem that we write together.

Things to do in Room 23

Be happy!

Don’t panic and remember to breathe

Never say “I Can’t”

Love to read

Be friends with gingerbread men

Beware of bees and the bee killer!

Work hard

Be a yogi!

Be on the lookout for the duck army

Have cool moves for dance party Friday

Hope Skippy Jon Jones sits on your desk

Laugh a lot, out loud!

Be a terrific teammate

Be the new kid

Be creative

Believe in yourself

Love 4th grade

T-shirt of the day

More positive thinking!

Bookworm Buzz

For week two of the #GNCelebration, I have chosen another sci-fi series, Zita the Spacegirl, by Ben Hatke, as my “pick of the week.”  This trilogy has been just right for those readers who love Amulet, and it is a great series to start with for those readers who are a little challenged by the Amulet series. Book 2, The Return of Zita and book 3, The Legends of Zita, are as enjoyable as the first book, and they allow readers to start and finish a series within a reasonable amount of time. I have trouble keeping this book on my shelves!

As with Amulet, Zita the Spacegirl features strong female characters who can think for themselves, act with courage and conviction, and be role models for girls AND boys. Ben Hatke is an author to be followed.  Hatke’s work should be shared with middle grade students. It is never too early to hook readers into an author, especially one who writes in a genre that is popular with readers at all levels.

T-shirt of the day

I love the power of the positive messages here, even the wordless shirt. They all say "I believe in me, I'm happy to be me." Spread the word. :)

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!