Posts

December 18, 2023

 December 18, 2023 Hello everyone! We are in the home stretch right before break! I am excited for this week and the cheer that students are going to bring. I also understand this can be a hard time of the year for many reasons. If there is anything I can do for anyone please feel free to reach out! This year, as some families from last year may remember, we are going to have a minute to Win(ter) it Winter Solstice party. Students can bring in treats, supplies, pajamas, etc. The time and place is to be decided but once I know I will let everyone know! Literacy: For the past month we have been studying squids and sharks and will soon turn it into a research paper. Each fourth grade student is required to have 3 writing pieces that will be graded and put into a portfolio. These portfolios are not meant to be scary, but to see the progress as students move along in their academic journeys. Wit and Wisdom has us writing a final paper that would have been two paragraphs. I have updated this

November 27th 2023

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 Happy Snow Day! I hope everyone's week-long break and the unexpected snow day today was everything everyone needed to spend time with family and relax.  A few of my family members are missing but here is my wonderful extended family!  This upcoming week I will be starting an idea one of our own students suggested. In the spirit of GivingTuesday, each day a student will be picked and every student will have the opportunity to write a card all about how wonderful the chosen student is. This will be our morning work until our next vacation! I cannot wait for students to be flooded with kindness and for our small but large community to bond and grow. There is also an extra assignment I created on our google classroom page found here if anyone would like to partake:  https://classroom.google.com/c/NjM5OTUzNDYxNTUw/a/NjQyODE1MzA2MTM2/details Literacy: This week we will be starting learning about a Giant Squid! I cannot wait for students to learn something new as well as for our advanced

November 6th

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November 6th We have had a busy month over in Room 5! I have watched students grow not only academically but emotionally and socially as well! We introduced a new friend to our classroom and students welcomed them with open arms! It is so wonderful to have a new friendly face in our classroom to continue growing our community.  This month we have been fine tuning our routines and students have been doing so well. Watching the kiddos know what comes next, ready to learn the material is so beautiful to see. The last two months we have learned so much there is to learn about the ocean - the way a scientist would explore it. We read and explored The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau. Students looked deep into the text to understand different ways scientists explore the sea. Students were then able to take the knowledge of why and how scientists explore the sea and turn it into a two paragraph essay. Students used both Ocean Sunlight: How Tiny Plants Feed The Seas and The Fantasti

October 1, 2023

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 Happy October 1st!       I am so excited that fall is now in full swing, with chilly weather, warm soups, beautiful leaves, and football! As we go into this chilly season, please ensure your kiddos are coming with an extra sweater just in case. I have been sending many papers home; mostly morning work, math work, and some Wit and Wisdom work, if you have questions or concerns regarding work sent home please let me know! I hope everyone has a very exciting and relaxing 4 day weekend.       We have a full-packed 4-day week ahead of us. Last week we participated in a Socratic seminar and each student spoke. Many showed how empathetic they were by including those who did not feel included. In this exercise, I stepped back and only interrupted when truly needed. I cannot wait to do more Socratic seminars with the students in the future. It was so much fun!       We will be ending our "How do artists explore the sea" lessons and go into our "How do scientists explore the sea&

September 24th 2023

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 Happy Sunday and Go Pats! We have had a wonderful time over in Olson's class! What a fun PJ and Stuffy day we had on Friday. Due to meetings, our movie during lunch and recess has been moved to this Monday during lunch and recess! A great way to decompress and start our week on a fun note! Daily Schedule: 7:25-8 Welcome in     Morning work, reading, settling in, and time to eat breakfast     *If your student eats school breakfast please make sure they are at school on time so that they have time to eat their breakfast* 8-8:40 Special     Mondays- Art      Tuesdays- Music     Wednesdays- Tech     Thursdays- Wellness     Friday- Library 8:45 - 9:05 Morning Meeting     This will shorten throughout the year but for now, it is a great time for us to share stories, say good morning to one another, and share a riddle! 8:45 - 10 Literacy Block     Wit and Wisdom  9:45 - 10 Working snack     If students have a snack to eat, they may eat it while finishing an exit ticket or quick write. Thi

September 13, 2023

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 Hello All!       What an amazing start to the year we have had so far. We have spent lots of time building our stamina in order to sit for lessons, playing games in order to build trust and healthy competition with each other, and sharing stories about our days outside of school to learn more about each other.       I truly love the community we have built in the last few weeks and I am excited to continue to learn more about each other. Literacy:      Today we have started our Wit and Wisdom curriculum and it went great. We started with an interesting poem called "The Sea Wind".       For each module, there is a larger essential question that we will answer many times throughout the module in many different ways. Our Essential Question for module 1 is "Why do people explore the sea?". Students will be able to gain knowledge and curiosity about the sea, and the world around them. At the end of this module, students will write an essay explaining why artists or scie

Welcome Back!

 Welcome Back Everyone! Going home yesterday I felt an overwhelming amount of joy. We had such a wonderful first day that I think this is going to be a fantastic year! In this blog, I will discuss topics we will talk about or have talked about this year. I may also discuss topics that will be handy to discuss at home.  I will make sure to make a large blog post every month with sporadic blog posts throughout the month for smaller updates.  I do love to put pictures of the kiddos so if your family does not want to be on the blog whether or not you have signed the picture form please let me know!  I am so excited about the year we have ahead! More updates to come soon.