Waiting for Winter Break!!!!

How about this weather!!! It has been really beautiful. I know the kids are looking forward to a great snowfall, but not me! This month we have been studying weather in science. We have done many experiments and hands on activities that promote the concepts and big ideas of this unit. In reading we are in whole group doing a novel, The Fighting Ground, this is the story of a young boy's journey  during  a 24 hour time frame during the Revolutionary War. This is a nice lead-in to the Northeast region in Social Studies. We will be doing some researching of our families through an interview paper for Social Studies. Keep a watch out for that. I want to wish each of you and your families a happy, healthy, and wonderful holiday season. See you all in 2012!!!

November Notions

What a fantastic fall we have had. The weather has been great to get outside and play after school and on the weekends.  We have been just as busy in the classroom. In Science, we have been observing and measuring our two classroom triops, Bubbles and Lucky. Unfortunately, Lucky met an untimely death during a tank transfer. Bubbles was really growing and shedding his exoskeleton bi-weekly. He grew to two and one-half inches in length, one of the biggest triops we have ever had.  He lived his life for 36 days. Not bad, when the life expectancy is 20-90 days. We are now in our weather unit, comparing temperatures in different cities of the U.S. regions to Storm Lake. Katie, the BV County Naturalist came in and gave a presentation on weather that was very interesting.  In PWIM we are discussing the Midwest region writing paragraphs from our data set. Toward the end of the month, our class participated in a service project as we made holiday cards for  the servicemen and women in Afghanistan. I showed the class a slideshow that my son, Mitch, had prepared when he was deployed last year. The students gained a lot of respect for what our soldiers are doing for us.  Thanksgiving break was wonderful, and we all came back fat and happy from our Thanksgiving dinners. We truly have a lot to be thankful for .

Where did October go???

Family Fun Night was October 4th.. I hope everyone that attended learned something new that night to share with others. On the 7th of October, the 4th grade participated in the governors start somewhere walk. We walked to Frank Star Park and back. It was a sunny, windy, blustery day, but we all enjoyed the walk. Parent Teacher's Conferences were held the last week of the month. Thank you to everyone who met with me and discussed your child's learning. The book fair that week was a huge success, and our class won 4th grade book fair bingo which entitled us to a free book for our classroom. We were super excited! To top the week off, we celebrated our fall festival party.
Classroom happenings:  Ask your child about our triops!!! We have begun the life cycle of the darkling beetle and are observing and classifying the stages of  that species. Our unit in social studies is concentrating on the Midwest Region. We are learning the history, climate, industry, culture, etc. of the region. Another exciting thing is that our class is now taking keyboarding for the next 6 weeks. It can get frustrating learning the keys on the keyboard,especially when we aren't allowed to look!!! We look forward to another super month in November .Remember to read with our Tornado Reading Counts incentive program.

Last week in September

Where has the month gone? We have really settled into our daily routines.  In Pwim we just finished up with our mini-pwims and are reviewing all 12 of them before our test next week.  We went to the BV County Park on Wednesday of this week to top of a science unit on habitats and environment. Unfortunately I could not attend due to illness. My sister from Albert City was my sub and  she and the kids had a great day. On Friday we had our character counts kick-off . The pillar of respect is being practiced  during the month of October. Students will be working to gain 10 stickers for a respect bracelet throughout the month.

September 19th-23rd

Wow! We have had a busy week with Homecoming and Ag-citing. Dress-up days have been really fun to see the outfits that the students and teachers were wearing. On Tuesday of this week we went to the Allee Research Farm to different sessions to learn about different fields and products related to agriculture. Check out my kid-blocks to read students' reactions to the experience. In PWIM, we are studying the word culture, we have had many foods, dances, and artifacts that students have brought in and shared with the class. It is so interesting to learn each others traditions.We look forward to the Homecoming parade and game tonight. Go Tornadoes!!!!!

Homecoming happenings

Homecoming week is right around the corner. SLES students MAY be involved in dress-up days if they wish. Here are the following days:
Monday- Hat day
Tuesday- Team day (we will be gone to Newell for Ag-Citing)
Wednesday- Funny feet day
Thursday Class color day...4th grade is black
Friday- Green and white day....
School will be dismissed on the 23rd at 12:25.  The homecoming parade will be downtown  at 2:30. Let's Go Tornadoes!!!!

Happy Labor Day

Wow! What a beautiful week-end, and end to the summer. I hope you all had a great 3 day week-end. If  the fall weather stays like this, then bring it on!  We have been busy getting into our routine. Orchestra started Friday, and the students are so excited.  In social studies we have been studying the attributes of the United States, also reviewing our map skills. We have done some kid blogging and will continue to do more as the year progresses. Check it out on my website. Have a fantastic week everyone.