4B learning extends beyond our classroom walls

Science doesn't get much better than when you get outside and put it into action.

Currently, 2R and 4B are working collaboratively on a science project called, Square of Life.  This is an internet-based project where students observe their local environment and then share that information with students from across the country.


At this time, our classrooms have gone out and staked out 1 square meter areas for observations.  Yesterday we were able to get outside and work together to document what we had found in each of our spots.  Future meetings will involve students organizing data, sharing, creating, and posting.  There has been a lot of great teamwork and learning going on!

In math, we are hard at work on our unit on place value.  The most challenging concept at this time is the relationship between each place value as 10 times the value of the place to the right.  An example of this would be to understand and demonstrate that the 3 in 300 is 10 times the 3 in 30.  Keep practicing those basic math facts at home.

Writing and Reading Workshops are in full swing.  The workshop model consists of a brief mini-lesson, followed by practice or work, and concludes with a share, a debrief, and reteaching time.  We are currently working on "Paragraph of the Week" during writing and using our social studies topic of New Hampshire to focus on guided reading activities.  These reading passages are building our background knowledge for two of our upcoming field trips; one to Mt. Major and the other to Strawbery Banke.  Both trips are scheduled for Oct. and as soon as plans are finalized, forms will come out.

We are continuing with our read aloud of Wonder, by RJ Palacio.  So many great conversations have come from this book.  I highly recommend this read.  It has so much to teach us all!

Again, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at lbrown@sau16.org

Enjoy the day!

~ Lisa

Welcome to 4B!

Hello and Welcome 4B Parents!

I wanted to blog this evening to welcome you to 4B and to remind you that our Open House evening is this Wednesday at 6pm.  We will be meeting in the gym where Mr. Kew will address the group and introduce all the teachers there that evening.  Following this meeting, we will all be heading down to the classrooms where you will get the opportunity to see our room and learn more about the upcoming year in fourth grade.

See you on Wednesday.

~ Lisa Brown

The Countdown to Summer has begun!

It is hard to believe that the end of the year is already here.  This year has gone by so quickly. 

 I wanted to just touch base one more time to let everyone know what exciting things will be going on in 4B (We keep working right to the bitter end!)

First, I would like to start with thanking everyone for making Tacky Tourist Day a great success!

The kids loved sharing their foods with one another.  Everything was so delicious.  Look for their cookbooks to come home tomorrow.

Now, we are off on our journey across the Oregon Trail.  Students are traveling the trail with fellow pioneers in wagon trains.  Journals are being kept and STEM activities include designing wagons and creating rafts for those wagons to cross the river.  Quilts will be created and lots of reading is being done.  Oregon Trail day will be next Friday, June 6th.  Students will dress up again and spend the entire day outside on the trail.  Westward Ho!

In math, we have just completed Unit 12.  We will continue to focus on angles with measurement beginning tomorrow.  Students will be learning how to use protractors to measure angles.  Then, we will end the year with word problems and review of long division and multi-digit multiplication.

Our last science unit returns us to plants.  We will be looking at seed dispersal and parts of the plant and leaves.

Social studies will end with NH Survivor.  We team up and play a friendly game of Survivor for the remaining days of school.  This game requires us to use all our knowledge of NH to compete against one another in games both mental and physical.

4th grade will head to Camp Lincoln on Thurs. June 12th, have Innovation Day on June 13th, travel to UNH on Monday, June 16th, and say goodbye for the summer on Tuesday, June 17th.

Wow!  How much can you pack into 14 days?  4th graders are master packers and we plan to "Do it all!"  

(Cross your fingers that the weather improves for our trip to Concord on Friday.)

Sleepless at Swasey,

~Lisa

Tacky Tourist Day and 4B's American Grub

Here in 4B we are in STATE Overdrive.  Students have just completed their US tests and are now working to complete their state reports and Microsoft Publisher pages for our class cookbook, 4B's American Grub.  

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP!  Students need to pick a recipe (one that they can make and share with the class next Tuesday) and one that has a main ingredient that grows in their state.  An example would be Apples for Rhode Island.  Apples are RI's number one food crop.  My recipe might be apple fritters. 

I believe that the students should have a good understanding of the agriculture of their state and should be able to share that information with you.  However, they need your help picking a recipe that you feel comfortable making with them and sharing.

I am asking that students check and confirm their ideas as soon as possible (Friday at the latest).  They each have an editable recipe card in their Google Drive that they need to use to write down the recipe and directions.  They will then share this back with me so that I can print them off for our cookbook.  Cookbooks will be organized and distributed to all families on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday is Tacky Tourist Day in 4B!  Your children are to dress like those crazy tourist we all see when we are on vacation.  Socks and sandals, mismatched clothes, hats, ...the works.  Then, at 2:30 that day, parents are invited to join us for a tasting of all the "4B American Grub."  However, parents will not be allowed through our doors unless they too are dressed as tacky tourists.  It is so much fun!

Parents may send their child's food to school on Tuesday morning or bring it with them when they come at 2:30.

 I thank you in advance for all your help with this project.

~Lisa

MFA lunch forms

Buying a lunch for the MFA!

If you would like to purchase a lunch from the school for our upcoming trip to the MFA, please visit my homework site and print out a lunch form.  Please return this form on Monday, April 28th so that we can make sure all lunches are ready for our early morning departure.

If you are packing a lunch from home, I suggest packing a little extra.  We will eat before going in the museum and then once again as we get back on the bus.

Thank you in advance,

Lisa

4B and Random Acts of Kindness

My Daily Positive!

Just yesterday I signed up to receive daily emails from a blog called The Daily Positive.  Today's email contained a video about random acts of kindness (here is the link if you are interested in watching LINK).  I was moved by the video, choked up a little, but by then my morning took off and quickly became my afternoon.  

It was during this afternoon that Mrs. Woodward and I had a chance to talk.  We discussed the lessons ahead, work that needed to be accomplished and then she said she had something to share.  

I listened closely as she told me of friends of her family that were struggling with a "parents worse nightmare," a desperately sick child.  Their son Mason, a one year old little boy, is suffering with leukemia.  He is currently in the hospital and the community he lives in, is rallying around his family.  She began to explain how they were looking for donations of orange paper to begin folding…

I stopped her right there.  I knew where this was going.  They wanted to fold cranes; 1,000 paper cranes, just like Sadako.  But WE already had folded.  Our room was just filled with HOPE.

Mrs. Woodward, shared a very simple story of Mason with 4B.  She explained what people were trying to do.  We asked them if they would be willing to share their cranes with Mason and his family so that they would know that there were others who were thinking of them.  Before we were even finished with our question, the class was answering, "YES!"

Mrs. Woodward let the family know what would be coming to them from the children of 4B.  A picture of our cranes was quickly posted on the MASON STRONG Facebook page with the annoucement of what we planned to do.  (You may want to check out his page if you can.)

So…tomorrow the cranes will be taken down carefully, compressed, stacked, clipped and packaged for travel.  They will arrive on Sunday to Mason and his family.  They will be hung up and serve a greater purpose.

On Monday, the children will return to school and enter a classroom that will seem less colorful and empty.  However, I told them that this will be a good thing.  Every time we enter our room, and recognize what we are missing, we will think of Mason.  I think that is pretty wonderful.

Through tear-filled eyes I think back to this morning and I am amazed at how that simple video message came true through the acts of my students.

Your children are amazing!  They are doing something for someone else and expecting nothing in return.

Sometimes the lessons we learn in school ARE greater than we can ever imagine!

~ Lisa

Pencil Shortage!

Please Help!

Believe it or not 4B is in desperate need of…pencils.

We have used up our supply for the year and I just can't seem to keep enough in class.  

If you could send in a pack with your child for their use for the remainder of the year, I would be very grateful.

Thank you in advance for your help with this strange shortage!

~Lisa