Buddy Readers

Our class is so fortunate this year that we get to be buddy readers with a fabulous group of Kindergartners!  There are so few of us that some of us even get to have two buddies some weeks!  We get to buddy read every Friday for about 30 minutes and the 4th graders are having a blast so far!  Here are some photos of our buddy reading so far.

We don't have a fancy carpet area in our classroom so it is a popular place to be!  :)

I love that the 4th graders are getting so excited and demonstrating such amazing reading abilities.  This week all of the students have a book that they are practicing to take down to the buddies to read to them.  It's great seeing the kids get so excited about reading illustrated books, since those aren't ones chosen very often.   I can't wait to see what they choose to read!  Write READ on your planner for Thursday for bonus points!  :)

Fill to Feed Campaign

Today we kicked off our Fill to Feed Campaign at North Beach!  Our safety patrol will be collecting coins and dollar donations to benefit Northwest Harvest, which is a fantastic organization that helps make sure families have the food they need.  The buying power that Northwest Harvest is amazing and a family of 3 can be fed for an incredible 67 cents!!  Every little bit counts so please bring in your donations through Friday.

On Monday we had our kickoff assembly that featured a special guest..... do you recognize this famous friend?

Blitz from the Seahawks was here to get us amped up and ready to donate!

Every donation really benefits Northwest Harvest and the families in our local community.  Write Seahawks on your planner for Wednesday for bonus points! :)

Monday Madness!

Well today was such a whirlwind of a day!  P4 was busy ALL DAY long and it felt like a blink of an eye and the day ended!  Pictures will be coming soon from our awesome assembly with special guest!  :)

I have been getting a few emails lately about a holiday wishlist for winter holiday gifts.  First of all, you guys are just too sweet!  There really isn't any major need in our classroom right now, which is a wonderful position to be in.  However, on my "wishlist" of "wants" would be some colorful stamp pads, fun stamps for checking off student work, and colorful pens.  Again, don't feel a need to get me a gift, but if you're interested, there are some ideas for you all.

One last reminder is that tomorrow the winter books orders are due by 4:00 pm.  We have to order tomorrow to get the materials before we go to winter break so this deadline is important.  If you're interested in ordering and want the books to be a holiday gift for your student, please place your order online and send me an email that you want it to be a surprise so that we can set up a discrete meeting time to pick up the books.  :)  Books make a great holiday gift and keep reading stamina strong over the long winter break.

Write a star on your planner for bonus points for tonight.  Thanks for checking the blog regularly to keep up with events in P4.  :)

Anchor Charts

Anchor chart catch up!

Earlier this year we started talking about using commas (a topic that is one of the hardest for students to truly master in 4th grade).  To introduce commas I handed our index cards with different sentences on them that NEEDED commas.  Students worked in their teams to decide where the comma was needed AND what the "rule" was for that comma. Together we found pretty much every "rule" about commas.  I was impressed!

Students added their commas with crayon so they would stand out!

Here is another anchor chart when we started REALLY digging into paragraphing with the 4th graders.  Since writing is our MAJOR focus this year, paragraphing is a key piece to master.  This anchor chart helped students decide when they needed to change paragraphs and one is the most frequently referenced chart in our class.

Flash Back Friday: October Book Project

During the month of October (WAAAAY back when!) we read the book The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman.  It's a fantastic Newbery award winner about a prince, better known as Prince Brat, and Jemmy, his whipping boy.  The book is set in medieval times when royalty wasn't allowed to be punished, so their whipping boys took the punishment for the royal children. The students really became thankful that they didn't live during those times!  

Each of the students chose a book project to do to show their understanding from the book.  MOST of the students chose to create a test (ironically!) and 3 ladies chose to create a diorama.  All of them turned out really well and showed so much learning!

For December we are doing a biography book project.  Students are being asked to choose a book and project to complete.  Then they will complete their project by December 20th when we will have our biography celebration.  I can't wait to see who every chooses!  :)

Field Trip Flashback: Carkeek Park Salmon Search

I FINALLY got these pictures off of my camera and read to post!  Earlier this year all of the 4th graders went to Carkeek Park for our first trip there to have the salmon search - basically we went and learned more about the parts of a salmon, learned what salmon need to be healthy, and saw some salmon at the end of their life cycle in the stream through Carkeek. This was such a fun field trip and the kids were really interested in the salmon dissection, which was a new feature this year!  Students had two feelings about the dissection: either excitement or disgust, which made for a very interesting time at the dissection station!  :)

First we identified and labeled parts of a salmon together...

Then, it was time for the salmon to come out!  The salmon is from the Issaquah hatchery where we visited earlier this year!

First we saw the salmon gills...

And then we opened the salmon up to see the insides!

The boys in the group were REALLY into the dissection.... the girls on the other hand.... not so much.  

Then we all got to use popsicle sticks and gently poke at the parts of a salmon to learn more.

These were some salmon in the stream near the end of their life cycle.

Lastly, we played a game where we simulated being salmon and running through our life cycle.  As a salmon, only about 2% survive through adulthood in order to spawn - it's a tough life for a salmon!  

Write SALMON on your planner for Thursday to get bonus points for your group.  Bonus points started over so let's get those table points up!  

Also, as a reminder, students came home with book orders today!  Book order books make great holiday gifts.  If you're interested in ordering books for holiday gifts, please let me know and I can arrange a discrete pick up for you to get the books home and still have those surprise faces over the winter break.  Book orders are due Tuesday, December 10th by 4 pm.  PLUS, this month when you spend $10 you get a free book of up to $5 value!  The coupon code is attached to the book order forms that came home Wednesday.  Happy ordering!