Eco Week

Your students are so lucky to have Eco Week to look forward to! It was such an amazing experience to spend 3 days out in beautiful Pingree Park learning with the 5th grade class! I witnessed students fall in love with nature, overcome their fears, find new passions, work as a team, learn more about themselves, make new friends, inquire into the world around them, and so much more! Pictures cannot capture the experience, but I can say I am so happy that every 5th grader has the opportunity to go to Eco Week!

Tech Trainings!

The tech trainings have been absolutely fabulous & I can't wait to get the net books into our classroom! We have spent the past two days learning the many different ways we can utilize the net books in our classroom! In addition we have spent some time as a team collaborating on our 4th grade Blackboard page! Looking forward to having all students, parents, and teachers in one spot to enhance your child's 4th grade experience! If you already know how to use Blackboard please feel free to log on and see what we have done so far. If you don't know how we will be teaching your students as soon as we can and they can show you how to access all of the content!

Scholastic Book Orders

The Scholastic book order for September has been submitted!  The books should arrive at school by October 5th.  I was able to order 3 books for the classroom with the rewards and one I will use as our next read aloud after we finish up Hatchet.  :)

If you would like to order any books from the October catalog you can start placing orders using the link below.  I don't have the flyers yet, but I will send them home once I receive them.  However, the online catalog includes a larger selection than the flyer.  In addition if you order online you can order from any of the grade level catalogs and I can submit the orders all at once.  This gives your children more variety especially if they are above or below grade level.  Orders are due October 10th.

https://orders.scholastic.com/LBDLB

Arrow: Grades 4-5-6

CLASS CODE:
LBDLB

For every online order you place, the class gets a coupon for $3 to spend on the next order and you earns a $5 FREE Book Pick Coupon for your next order.

Another week full of learning! I'll miss this fantastic group next week!

Better Answers

Over the next few weeks I will be teaching your students how to use the Better Answers sandwich. I'll keep you posted so you can continue these conversations at home! Here is what we worked on today.

Accelerated Reader

Today we had a conversation around Accelerated Reader and meeting reading goals. If your child has been reading 30 minutes every night then they should be right on track! You can log into Renaissance Place at home to check and discuss reading goals with your student. I'm excited about the progress the students have had so far and look forward to how much they will grow with more practice! Please be sure your child has the time and quiet space to read each and every night! They don't have to read all 30 minutes at once, but their total time needs to be 30 minutes. Thanks!

Column Addition

Today's math lesson was on column addition. Students can choose to use this method if it is efficient to them. We also made a connection to our learner profile trait of the week (knowledgeable) and discussed how knowledgeable IB learners know more than one way to solve a problem. If you are curious about column addition ask your student to show you it!

Online Resources!

As you know there are many great free educational websites available.  I am going to begin to compile a list of awesome sites your children can use to support learning in the classroom or to inquire into topics we might not currently be studying in the classroom.  If you have any suggestions to add to the list please let me know and we can share them with the rest of the class!

Math:

http://www.coolmath.com/

http://www.mrsgoldsclass.com/MathWebsites.htm (Gathered by a 3rd grade teacher, an excellent review tool for last year's Everyday Math units.  Everyday Math spirals so many of the same skills are retaught this year with a greater level of difficulty.)

http://www.math.com/

Science:

http://www.billnye.com/

http://www.scholastic.com/magicschoolbus/

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/?source=NavKidsHome

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/

Language Arts:

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/stories/storylist/41.html

http://www.highlightskids.com/articles

Combination of Subjects:

http://www.factmonster.com/  (This website has a Homework Center under the Reference Desk.  The students can use this to find additional information and help with topics that they need extra practice with.  I am entering very descriptive titles in Pinnacle Gradebook so students can see in particular which topics they should further practice.)

http://www.brainpop.com/  (Some items cost, but many items can be explored for free)

http://www.abcya.com/fourth_grade_computers.htm

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://www.kidsknowit.com/

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/students/index.html

http://www.timeforkids.com/

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scholasticnews/index.html 

http://htekidsnews.com/

http://news.discovery.com/kids/

http://www.dogonews.com/

http://www.khanacademy.org/ (such a cool project, keep this one in mind especially as your student grows older!)

http://quizlet.com/ (another cool project, tons of flashcards to study from! Parts of Speech, Vocabulary, Math, and more!)

2nd Language:

http://www.freetranslation.com/

Wellness:

www.bam.gov/

www.kidnetic.com

www.bestbonesforever.gov

www.sleepforkids.org

www.healthyteeth.org

Silly Scholars

Another Packed Week!

We used every possible minute this week! Use the mind map as a conversation starter around this eventful week!

Spring Kite Farm

Today the students harvested beets, held baby chickens, learned about irrigation, made seed bombs, tasted cucumbers, and spent time learning many more things about the farm!

The Week of 9/10-9/14

Parents/Guardians,                                                                                                  

Thank you all for another great week!  We have been very busy here in the classroom! 

In reading we read the story The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein and learned that your name isn’t important, but it is what you do with it that matters.  Through this story we developed comprehension skills.  Students practiced identifying characters, setting, and plot of the story.  We really focused in on character’s reactions to events and what clues this gives us about the character. 

In writing we have been working on personal narratives.  Our mini lessons and conferences have been focused on what makes a personal narrative different from other pieces of writing.  In addition we have had mini lessons reviewing the writing cycle and expectations for learning during our writing workshop time.  The students are working on being able to independently work through the stages of the writing cycle.  This allows me to spend my time having individual conferences with the students focused around their individual writing needs.

Our wellness unit of inquiry is quickly coming to an end.  However, wellness will continue to carry through the rest of the year and we will revisit the topics as appropriate in the classroom.  Today we had the privilege of visiting Spring Kite Farm.  The students thoroughly enjoyed making their own seed bombs, learning about irrigation, feeding the chickens, learning how chickens till the ground, picking beets, and tasting fresh cucumbers!  It was a great opportunity to take a field trip that tied in so closely with the topics we have covered in class! Special thanks to Kristina Cash for coordinating the field trip for 4^th grade and also to Sarah Baietti for joining us on the trip!

          Thanks again for your support at home! If you have any questions at all feel free to contact me through email hsternau@psdschools.org, phone 970-488-4764, or stop by!

Personalized Bookmarks

Today the students started making their own bookmarks during read-aloud time. We are currently reading Hatchet and today was the perfect day to spend a little more time getting wrapped up in such an excellent story! Here are just a few of the awesome bookmarks! So excited to see all of the finished products!

Writing - Personal Narrative

Our writing workshop is improving each day! The students are learning to independently work through the stages of writing and utilize their peers for meaningful conferences. This then provides time for me to meet with students individually to provide them more specific feedback to their writing needs. Currently we are working on personal narratives and your writers are hard at work sharing their experiences!

Wellness

Today we had the pleasure of having Mr. McAllister in as part of our wellness unit. He did an outstanding job working with the students on stretching, yoga, body awareness, and creativity! We had both serious and silly moments learning more about our bodies and how to be physically and emotionally well! Here are some pictures to use as conversation starters with your student!