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.  :)

Shrinking Bigfoot Assembly and Reminders!

The wonderful people from Seattle City Light came to North Beach to help us learn about conservation of resources and how we can choose renewable resources on a daily basis.  The assembly was FANTASTIC and pretty funny!  Here are some pictures from the show:

Our own Lily P. got to help the squirrel friends explain what more carbon does to our environment!

Lily B. got to demonstrate what hydropower is - do you know?

And Harrison was wind power, a fantastic renewable resource!

He's grooving with the presenters!

Check out this video of our squirrel friend during the assembly!

Write SBF on your planner for tonight to get bonus points!

Reminder: book orders are due next Thursday by the end of the day so hopefully they will be here by the time we get back from conference week.  Also, tomorrow is our field trip to Carkeek Park - remember to dress for the weather, it will be cold and maybe rainy but we will be outside either way!  :)

Curriculum Night Tonight!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - things have been SO busy around P4! 

Tonight is curriculum night and I hope to see everyone here.  We are meeting in the cafeteria at 6:30 at North Beach.

Just a quick reminder that book orders are due tomorrow - either online or on paper. 

Sorry again for the short post - there will be more soon!  :)  Write a star on your planner for tonight for bonus points!  :)

Last Book Order of the Year!

The last book order of the year is coming home today - yes, we are ALREADY there in the year.  With Memorial Day weekend just right around the corner, the end of the year really snuck up on me this year!  :)  This last book order is a great chance to order some books to keep your student motivated to read, read, READ, all summer long and avoid the dredded "summer slump" where all the progress made during the school year fades away on the long summer months.  The book orders will be due Tuesday, May 28th!

We had MAP testing today (the last of the school year unless you have to do make up testing) and the kids did a great job!  Way to end the testing year strong!

Also, this Thursday is our field trip to Golden Gardens for our ecosystems walk during low tide and to interact with the tide pools.  Right now we only have 2 chaperones signed up and we need AT LEAST 5 in order to go.  Unless we get some more by Thursday, the chaperones who have signed up will take their groups with the other 4th grade class and the rest of us will have to stay behind since there isn't enough supervision, especially in nice weather on the beach.  Please consider volunteering for this field trip since we really need your support.  I would hate for all of our planning to go to waste with a lack of adults signing up!  Please send a note with your student or an email to me ASAP if you're interested and available for chaperoning.  Thanks!

Book Orders and MSP Prep

Book orders came home yesterday with students and are due May 1st by 5 pm.  Online is a great way to order so that both our classroom and your student gets a free book! It's hard to beat that deal!  :) 

The MSP prep continues in our classroom (I can't believe we have MSP already next Tuesday!).  This week we have been working really hard to prepare for our writing tests next week by doing a mock writing MSP - we are sitting down and pretending that it is the real thing!  The kids are doing great, especially considering the weather is GORGEOUS out and we all just really want to be outside playing.  :)  I am actually really impressed with how well students are doing on their writing and I hope that continues next week for "the real thing"! 

In terms of MSP, just a reminder that for our testing days, please make sure your student is well rested and has a hearty breakfast.  On those days it is a great idea to also send them with a water bottle and a hearty snack (not junk food) to have during our long testing days to keep our stamina high.

Thanks for your support!  Write MSP on your student's planner today for bonus points!

Welcome Back!

Wow, that long weekend was nice!  Four full days off, PLUS the half day... couldn't have asked for a more relaxing weekend!  I hope you all had a wonderful time off as well!

Today there is a LOT coming home for parent eyes!  We have several field trips coming up in March and early April so as opposed to sending one form after another home, we decided to send home packets of permissions slips (3) so that one check or set of cash can be sent in with all three permission slips signed.  ALL of the slips will be due March 12th back to me so that we can make sure we have enough chaperones and everyone is ready to go. 

Speaking of chaperones, we have a field trip this Friday and we are in need of AT LEAST one more chaperone to make sure we can go on the trip.  We are going to Meany Hall at UW to see Black Grace, an aboriginal dance production.  It is sure to be a great show and if you're interested in chaperoning and haven't already signed up please shoot me an email so that I can get everything set up.

Book orders are also coming home today and will be due February 26th (next Tuesday).  Ordering online this month gets our class and you a free book so that is a great way to order.  Checks and paper book orders are absolutely fine as well.  Thanks for supporting our classroom!

We are winding down our food chemistry science unit and getting ready for our ecosystems science unit in the spring!  Food chemistry has been a lot of fun and I think that it has opened student's eyes to what they are eating!  The Valentine's candy load may not have really shown that, but they are definitely more aware!  :)

Shrinking Bigfoot

Today we had a wonderful assembly about Shrinking Bigfoot - not the mythical creature but our carbon footprint on the earth left by our fossil fuel and daily electricity usage and the impact that has on our environment.  This week we will be taking a closer look at the impact we have on our environments and learning more about how we can shrink our bigfoot!  :)  Ask your student ways that he/she can shrink their bigfoot around the house.  If your student can answer that question, write bigfoot in their planner for Monday for bonus points!

Speaking of planners, I have been getting a lot of emails about students "not knowing" about homework so I just wanted to make it clear that we dedicate time daily to filling out our planners so that should never be the case unless your student wasn't following the expectations and directions in class.  I do check the planners daily to make sure that they are filling them out but some do slip through the cracks so it's a great idea to check your student's planner at home as well to make sure that homework is done.  Several students have a really hard time actually completing any homework so that follow through is great from you at home.

This Thursday book orders are due, and if you are ordering books as gifts please let me know so I can get them home discreetly before the holidays.

Thursday is also the day our permission slips are due for our next field trip on December 11th (yes it is already next Tuesday!) so please get those in ASAP.  Several students already lost theirs (sheesh!) so I will get those replacements tomorrow.  We need at least 6 chaperones (and I have 1 already) so if you can make it with us, we would love to have you!  If we don't get at least 6 chaperones we cannot go to Carkeek park so please help us go by coming with us!  :) 

New Month of Personality

Well Halloween has come and gone but the personality in P4 is stronger than ever.... OY!  Today was a rough day and we struggled slightly to manage behavior with expectations.  Talking is absolutely out of control in the class, especially with the gentlemen in the room.

At this point, students are clear about the expectations that I have for them and they are now choosing not to follow those instructions.  As fourth graders, we talk almost daily about learning to control our body - which includes choices we make, touching things and one another, following expectations, listening, and controlling our voices.  Having a chat with your student about what positive choices they can make would be very helpful to make sure that the positive messages are being reinforced at home. 

Also, because it is unfair for students to continually have their time wasted on management issues from students who are choosing not to cooperate, I am going to be introducing class "think papers" to the group tomorrow.  When students are not following expectations set in our class or in our school, they will need to fill out a think paper and bring it home to you to have it signed.  Until it is returned, they will be losing their recess privileges.  I want to make sure that you're all aware of immaturity of our group and how that is seriously impacting their learning time, so your signature is there to show that you are aware of the behavior and have had conversations about the incorrect behaviors and how they can be fixed with your student.  My hope is that students are able to better regulate their emotions, behaviors, and body spaces as a result. 

Thank you for your continued support at home.

Just a reminder that book orders are due tomorrow by 4 pm.  Happy November!

Book Orders Coming Home Today

It's the end of the month and book orders are on their way home today.  Students are really excited about this month's books so I can't wait to see what they decide!

I encourage you to order online because our class and your student BOTH get a free book when you order online which is a great deal!  Remember to enter code J2J6H to enter into our class orders.  Orders are due back November 2, which is next Friday already!  :)

Happy book hunting!

Have your student write down a title they are interested in getting in their planner for a table bonus!  :)

Wednesday.... already?!?

Well I swear, I have been blinking and the day is over! It's going to be Thanksgiving before we know it!

Today was a very quick day to say the least! Roots of Empathy in the morning, all the way to our student council assembly in the afternoon so we could vote for our 5th grade class president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Whew! Great speeches today!

This week we are working on long I words and are trying a new way to practice those spelling activities. We are using word sorts for students to really notice and learn spelling patterns in the week and gain more exposure to words that follow the same pattern. Each day during our word work time we are doing a different activity that relates to our word sorts. Monday we get our new words and explore with them, Tuesday we draw pictures that go with the sorted words (only 10 pictures are required), Wednesday is sorting with a partner, Thursday is finding words in books, and Friday is a partner practice quiz and our official spelling quiz. The students so far have really been doing well at noticing those word patterns and the activities have REALLY helped their reading with words that have the patterns we are focusing on.

This week we also started grammar during our writing time. This week we are discussing nouns and how to make nouns plural. This Friday we will be having a quiz on plural nouns to see how much we remember from the week. We will be working through parts of speech (at least the major ones like nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) and then we will work on improving our writing grammar which is a big area of improvement for the students.

Here is a great idea I'm thinking of for next week when we do adjectives to tie in Halloween since it's on the mind of EVERYONE! :) Thank you Pinterest for the great idea and Mrs. Lemons for your constant inspiration!

Adorable... right!? I can't wait to see what we come up with!

This week we are going to start finishing our first personal narrative which is really exciting as well. Most of the stories are so wonderful it's going to be great to publish and finally celebrate such a great accomplishment for everyone!

Book orders came home yesterday. Does anyone else LOVE book orders like I do? It's like a party whenever those white and red boxes arrive full of brand new books and I LOVE seeing the joy on every kid's face when the book orders are handed out. It's an instant love of reading which makes my teacher heart happy! Remember there is the option of ordering online to help our class earn more free books and points. Thanks for your support for our classroom and for your student's reading!