Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
December Break
Dear Families,
I hope you are finding yourselves having a fun and relaxing vacation. We have been studying electricity in science. We will be finishing up this unit in January. We are going to begin our new social studies unit on Native Americans. The students will be learning about four different Native American tribes which lived in various part of the United States.
For the past two weeks, we have been participating with the fifth grade classrooms in Friday Rotations. This is a time when students switch to other classrooms with a combination of fourth and fifth grade students. The students will be rotating to six different classrooms by the end of the experience. Each classroom is learning about a different aspect / art from Native American life. The six topics include rainsticks, beading, dream catchers, Native American music, games, and making fry bread.
The students will be completing their animal reports when we return to school in January. Each student selected a different animal to research. Their final objective is to have at least a four paragraph report completed. It should include the animal's physical appearance, habitat, eating/sleeping habits, and baby information. They may also include an additional paragraph as extra credit.
Our class has decided to participate in the upcoming Talent Show (Variety Show). We have taken a vote to see what type of an act we would like to perform at the show. The topic which was selected was COMEDY. Some of the ideas include: being clowns, America NEEDS Talent, and something related to the Muppets. We will be planning and practicing our act during the first week of January. The Variety Show will be held on February 2, 2012. We hope all of you can make it to the show!
I hope you have a wonderful break!
Sincerely,
Mrs.Peterson
I hope you are finding yourselves having a fun and relaxing vacation. We have been studying electricity in science. We will be finishing up this unit in January. We are going to begin our new social studies unit on Native Americans. The students will be learning about four different Native American tribes which lived in various part of the United States.
For the past two weeks, we have been participating with the fifth grade classrooms in Friday Rotations. This is a time when students switch to other classrooms with a combination of fourth and fifth grade students. The students will be rotating to six different classrooms by the end of the experience. Each classroom is learning about a different aspect / art from Native American life. The six topics include rainsticks, beading, dream catchers, Native American music, games, and making fry bread.
The students will be completing their animal reports when we return to school in January. Each student selected a different animal to research. Their final objective is to have at least a four paragraph report completed. It should include the animal's physical appearance, habitat, eating/sleeping habits, and baby information. They may also include an additional paragraph as extra credit.
Our class has decided to participate in the upcoming Talent Show (Variety Show). We have taken a vote to see what type of an act we would like to perform at the show. The topic which was selected was COMEDY. Some of the ideas include: being clowns, America NEEDS Talent, and something related to the Muppets. We will be planning and practicing our act during the first week of January. The Variety Show will be held on February 2, 2012. We hope all of you can make it to the show!
I hope you have a wonderful break!
Sincerely,
Mrs.Peterson
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
End of Quarter One
I can hardly believe we are going to be having our last day of first quarter tomorrow. This quarter flew by for me. It was filled with learning about the United States and writing narrative stories.
We are going to be finishing presenting our State Reports tomorrow. Each student selected one state to create a display board, write a report, and present their information to the classroom. The students have done an excellent job on creating their display boards. Each display board had the following requirements: state bird, state tree, state flower, flag, timeline, current event, historical information, and two types of maps. This was challenging work for some students to find the information and to present it in an organized, colorful way on their boards.
We are still working on finishing our stories on Student Publishing's website. I am going to be editing the final stories over the weekend to send in to get published over the November break. It takes about four weeks for the students to get their books printed and returned to the school. My hope/goal is for all students to have their books by the first week in December.
Bridges classes will begin on November 12. The students received information about their Bridges classes in their mailboxes.
The students assignment over the break is to read as many fairytale books as they can. They should write one book report on a fairytale to share with the class during our first week of second quarter. They should also write a one page story creating their own fairytale. They can check out this website for help: www.readwritethink.org and then type in "FRACTURED FAIRYTALES".
We are going to be finishing presenting our State Reports tomorrow. Each student selected one state to create a display board, write a report, and present their information to the classroom. The students have done an excellent job on creating their display boards. Each display board had the following requirements: state bird, state tree, state flower, flag, timeline, current event, historical information, and two types of maps. This was challenging work for some students to find the information and to present it in an organized, colorful way on their boards.
We are still working on finishing our stories on Student Publishing's website. I am going to be editing the final stories over the weekend to send in to get published over the November break. It takes about four weeks for the students to get their books printed and returned to the school. My hope/goal is for all students to have their books by the first week in December.
Bridges classes will begin on November 12. The students received information about their Bridges classes in their mailboxes.
The students assignment over the break is to read as many fairytale books as they can. They should write one book report on a fairytale to share with the class during our first week of second quarter. They should also write a one page story creating their own fairytale. They can check out this website for help: www.readwritethink.org and then type in "FRACTURED FAIRYTALES".
Thursday, October 13, 2011
October 13, 2011
Dear Families,
Our two projects are coming into play as the week comes to a close. The students' two projects are: BECOMING AN AUTHOR and CREATING A STATE PROJECT.
The students have been working on the editing piece of their narrative story writing. We are learning that it takes many revisions to make a great story. We have looked at the beginning of other books for great opening lines of stories. We have listened to Mike Thaler and Mark Teague talk about being an author on a video on the Activboard. We have had the opportunity to learn our password and begin to work on the creation of our books on the www.studentpublishing.com website. Students may work on this at home also.
Our next project is just beginning. This week we have been watching videos which show various regions of the United States. We have also been working on map skills. We are going to combine these two topics in creating a STATE PROJECT. I will be sending home with your students the information about their state project on Friday. If you have any questions about the project, please let me know.
Next week, the students have the week off from school. We will be having goal setting conferences on Monday and Tuesday. I am looking forward to talking with all of the families during this time to discuss ways to make sure your child has a successful year. If you are not able to make it to your child's scheduled conference, please let me know and I will be glad to set up a different one or complete a phone conference with you.
I hope you have a wonderful week off with your family! I am looking forward to heading down to Iowa to visit with my family over the break. I will also be going to the October 19th school board meeting to hear the vote from the school board on the fate of Harambee. Thank you to the families who are actively participating in this situation to help keep our two schools (Harambee and Crosswinds) alive and thriving in our community!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
Our two projects are coming into play as the week comes to a close. The students' two projects are: BECOMING AN AUTHOR and CREATING A STATE PROJECT.
The students have been working on the editing piece of their narrative story writing. We are learning that it takes many revisions to make a great story. We have looked at the beginning of other books for great opening lines of stories. We have listened to Mike Thaler and Mark Teague talk about being an author on a video on the Activboard. We have had the opportunity to learn our password and begin to work on the creation of our books on the www.studentpublishing.com website. Students may work on this at home also.
Our next project is just beginning. This week we have been watching videos which show various regions of the United States. We have also been working on map skills. We are going to combine these two topics in creating a STATE PROJECT. I will be sending home with your students the information about their state project on Friday. If you have any questions about the project, please let me know.
Next week, the students have the week off from school. We will be having goal setting conferences on Monday and Tuesday. I am looking forward to talking with all of the families during this time to discuss ways to make sure your child has a successful year. If you are not able to make it to your child's scheduled conference, please let me know and I will be glad to set up a different one or complete a phone conference with you.
I hope you have a wonderful week off with your family! I am looking forward to heading down to Iowa to visit with my family over the break. I will also be going to the October 19th school board meeting to hear the vote from the school board on the fate of Harambee. Thank you to the families who are actively participating in this situation to help keep our two schools (Harambee and Crosswinds) alive and thriving in our community!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
September 27, 2011
Today's post is coming from the entire classroom. They will be sharing some of the things which we are learning about together each day.
1.) We are learning the location of all 50 states. We also learned about the annual temperature of each states on a temperature map.
2.) We are learning about birthday traditions from around the world. For example: in Australia they play a game called Wacko during birthday parties. We also learned about birthdays in Vietnam. Everyone celebrates their birthday on Tet. In Mexico, they celebrate quinceanaras. This is a special celebration for when you turn 15 years old.
3.) We are learning about function tables in math class. We are also talking about arrays, square numbers, Associative property of multiplication, rocket math, Commutative Property of Multiplication, and inverse operations.
4.) We are also practicing our cursive handwriting in our handwriting booklets.
5.) We are writing narrative stories. Our three topics have been:
magic fish story, alien's at your door, and drinking a shrinking potion. We are going to pick the one we like the most to use to publish on the Internet into a real book.
6.) We have been creating a family tree. We are going to finish it today.
We think that fourth grade is a little bit harder than third grade. We agree that school is enjoyable. Thanks for reading our post!
Fourth Grade Class
1.) We are learning the location of all 50 states. We also learned about the annual temperature of each states on a temperature map.
2.) We are learning about birthday traditions from around the world. For example: in Australia they play a game called Wacko during birthday parties. We also learned about birthdays in Vietnam. Everyone celebrates their birthday on Tet. In Mexico, they celebrate quinceanaras. This is a special celebration for when you turn 15 years old.
3.) We are learning about function tables in math class. We are also talking about arrays, square numbers, Associative property of multiplication, rocket math, Commutative Property of Multiplication, and inverse operations.
4.) We are also practicing our cursive handwriting in our handwriting booklets.
5.) We are writing narrative stories. Our three topics have been:
magic fish story, alien's at your door, and drinking a shrinking potion. We are going to pick the one we like the most to use to publish on the Internet into a real book.
6.) We have been creating a family tree. We are going to finish it today.
We think that fourth grade is a little bit harder than third grade. We agree that school is enjoyable. Thanks for reading our post!
Fourth Grade Class
Friday, September 9, 2011
First Week of School- Reflection
I am very impressed with the students in my classroom this year. I have seen hard-working, intelligent students who strive to do their best. What a great way to start off the fourth grade year!
We spent time this week getting to know one another in a few different ways. We began each morning with a morning meeting. We shared short stories with one another while other listeners asked questions about the stories.
We also had "lunch buddies" this week. Each day the students were either given or selected a buddy to sit next to in lunch. The purpose was to give students the chance to talk with new students. It also was a way to make sure all of our new students would be included during the lunch time conversations. After lunch, we shared with one another things we learned about our lunch buddy.
We have started a few of the subjects which we are going to be covering this quarter. The students have started to write their first narrative story. I will keep this story until the end of the quarter to use as a comparison with their other writings. We also created our HOPES AND DREAMS this week. The students will be bringing home a purple letter for families to read about their hopes and dreams for fourth grade. Families will have the opportunity to write back to their child on this letter.
We also started Rocket Math, cursive, and read-to-self time. The students have a rocket math partner to practice their basic facts with each day. We take a timed test each day also. The students are working on building their stamina for read-to-self time. The goal is to REALLY be reading and focusing on a good-fit book. We are at 20 minutes without anyone talking, walking around the room, or leaving to take a bathroom break.
Next week, we will begin math, spelling, and social studies. I hope your student had a wonderful first week of school!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
We spent time this week getting to know one another in a few different ways. We began each morning with a morning meeting. We shared short stories with one another while other listeners asked questions about the stories.
We also had "lunch buddies" this week. Each day the students were either given or selected a buddy to sit next to in lunch. The purpose was to give students the chance to talk with new students. It also was a way to make sure all of our new students would be included during the lunch time conversations. After lunch, we shared with one another things we learned about our lunch buddy.
We have started a few of the subjects which we are going to be covering this quarter. The students have started to write their first narrative story. I will keep this story until the end of the quarter to use as a comparison with their other writings. We also created our HOPES AND DREAMS this week. The students will be bringing home a purple letter for families to read about their hopes and dreams for fourth grade. Families will have the opportunity to write back to their child on this letter.
We also started Rocket Math, cursive, and read-to-self time. The students have a rocket math partner to practice their basic facts with each day. We take a timed test each day also. The students are working on building their stamina for read-to-self time. The goal is to REALLY be reading and focusing on a good-fit book. We are at 20 minutes without anyone talking, walking around the room, or leaving to take a bathroom break.
Next week, we will begin math, spelling, and social studies. I hope your student had a wonderful first week of school!!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
Friday, August 5, 2011
Welcome to Our Class Blog
Dear Fourth Grade Families,
It is my pleasure to introduce myself to you. My name is Mrs. Peterson. I will be working with your child this year at Harambee Elementary School. I will be posting information about our classroom on this blog site. It will be one of the ways which I will communicate with each family on a daily or weekly basis. I will put information on here about various websites to use with your child at home.
I will also be sharing information with you by weekly newsletters which will be sent home with your child. Please feel free to contact me with any questions which occur during the year. I look forward to having a fun and productive year with your child.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
It is my pleasure to introduce myself to you. My name is Mrs. Peterson. I will be working with your child this year at Harambee Elementary School. I will be posting information about our classroom on this blog site. It will be one of the ways which I will communicate with each family on a daily or weekly basis. I will put information on here about various websites to use with your child at home.
I will also be sharing information with you by weekly newsletters which will be sent home with your child. Please feel free to contact me with any questions which occur during the year. I look forward to having a fun and productive year with your child.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Peterson
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