December 21, 2012

Merry Christmas everyone! The students have worked really hard this year, and I hope they all enjoy their well-deserved break. Above, you can see pictures from when visitors from the Nature Museum taught a lesson about air, and the students performing How To Eat Fried Worms. (They did a great job and read with a lot of emotion!)

I passed out the project sheets for our next book, The Whipping Boy, yesterday. We'll actually begin reading this book after break, but I wanted to share the projects with the students now so they could get started on them over break. If they are doing the castle project, here are some helpful websites:
Castles for Kids
Medieval Castles

December 14, 2012

I hope everyone had a great time at the Christmas concert! The students performed beautifully, and they had one of the toughest songs to sing, too.

We are finishing up our unit on weather. We have some special guests from the Nature Museum today, who are coming to teach a lesson about cold and warm fronts and high and low pressure areas. Next week, students will need to take their weather measurements on their own, and then create a weather report that they'll turn into a podcast to share with the school. The test will be on Friday. Yesterday, we discussed different ways to study for tests, and all of the students created a study plan.

Next week, students are going to begin taking their state quizzes. About two weeks of every month, they'll be given five-six states whose location they need to memorize. The study guide will be passed out on Monday, and the quiz will be on Friday. I've linked a game on the blog that can be a fun way to learn these. We're also going to begin reading The Whipping Boy next week, and I'll send home some information about the castle project that goes with it.  This won't be due until the middle/end of January (depending on how long it takes us to read the book), but it can be a good thing to work on over Christmas break.

December 6, 2012

Happy Advent! We are celebrating in the classroom by learning the stories of the Jesse Tree. So far, we've heard about the creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with many more still to come. We are also going to weekly prayer services with the whole school. We've been practicing for our Christmas concert as well, which will be this Sunday at 4:00. Please have your child there by 3:45 so we are all ready when it begins.



Last week in science, students conducted balloon races to learn about variables, data, and making predictions in science. This is one of the lesson ideas I learned from my classes with the Museum of Science and Industry. As you can tell from the pictures, they had a lot of fun!

In science, we are learning about the weather and taking measurements using instruments we made, such as a barometer, anemometer, and wind vane. We will have a test on this on December 20. We're finishing up reading How to Eat Fried Worms, and will be completing some projects for this book next week, such as creating new book covers and performing plays. Their sequence worms for the books will be due on Tuesday. I told the students that if they're really lucky, they'll get to eat some fried worms, too!

Before Thanksgiving, we were able to get together with our buddies to color some turkeys. Those pictures are below.

November 15, 2012

The students have been hard at work in science class lately! We've been learning about the forces that shape Earth's surface, such as plate movement, earthquakes, erosion, and weathering. This has led to lots of hands on activities, from trying to crack rocks through freezing water (weathering) to looking at how glaciers cause erosion. You can see pictures of the students completing experiments above. We are going to look at some fossils today and tomorrow, and their test on this unit will be next week on Tuesday.

We're also wrapping up our units in English on nouns and in social studies on maps. Both of these tests will be the second week after Thanksgiving, the week of December 3rd. We begin many of our English units by writing poems, and the students have been having fun imagining the creative things they would find in a messy locker!

Students received their Bibles on Tuesday during the Bible ceremony. These Bibles are their own to keep, but we will be using them in religion class in school starting after Thanksgiving. They will also need to use them in middle school. I encourage the students to take their Bibles home to read, but they will need to remember to bring them back to school. We complete one of my favorite projects of the year, making a Jesse Tree, during Advent, and the students will need to use their Bibles to complete this. They will receive more details about this project after the break, but each student's assignment will be due on a different day, so please watch their assignment notebooks for this.

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and healthy Thanksgiving break!

November 4, 2012

Thank you everyone who came to conferences! I really enjoy getting to sit down and speak with each family about their child's progress and goals for the rest of the year. If you think of anything you forgot to ask, or would like to speak more about something from their report cards, please don't hesitate to contact me.

The students did a beautiful job writing their paragraphs for the Day of the Dead, and they were really excited to share them, too! Below are pictures from sharing their projects, creating the ofrendas on Halloween, and learning CPR.



We have a social studies test on Wednesday. After the test, we're going to begin studying maps. In science, we've begun learning about Earth science and geology, and in writing, we're going to begin a unit on nouns.

I know I've been gone a few days this year, and I wanted to explain why. I am taking a class with Ms. Garber, who teaches science for the middle school, at the Museum of Science and Industry. These are wonderful classes that give me more background in science, as well as tons of ideas for experiments and the materials to complete them. I've already taken classes on Earth science and environmental science through the museum, and we've already done experiments and investigations from these classes, such as creating a food web about Lake Michigan animals, testing soil pollution, using seismographs to discover where earthquakes happened, and trying to figure out how many pennies were in a closed opaque container. The classes I'm taking now are on physical science and energy, and though it is unfortunate that I need to miss school, I know that the material I am able to bring back will be extremely beneficial to the students.

October 18, 2012

I'm sorry I have not been able to publish the students' Ecuador video yet. There's been some technical issues with uploading it to the internet, but Ms. Perkins and I are working on it and will have it up as soon as we are able. The students worked really hard on it, and I'm anxious to share it with everyone! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the artwork we've done:

The class is going on a field trip on Monday, October 29 to see The Magic Flute, which Lyric Opera of Chicago will be performing at a local high school. The Lyric Opera has been generous enough to donate books for all the students with information about operas, Mozart, and The Magic Flute. I encourage you to look at these with your students, since I think the students will get more out of the experience if they see the opera with some prior knowledge!

We've started drafting our Day of the Dead paragraphs, honoring loved ones who have passed away. These should be finished by October 31. We'll have time in class on the 26th and 31st to create our ofrendas for those we honor. Please make sure to send in a shoebox and any other pictures or mementos you and your child would like to include.

We have a few tests coming up: the religion test on the first three commandments is on Wednesday, October 24, and the science test on ecosystems and food chains is on Monday, October 29. We will also have an English test and social studies test in about 2-3 weeks. The end of the quarter is Friday, October 26, and conferences will be on Sunday, November 4.

October 1, 2012

We're in the midst of two exciting projects right now: Hispanic Heritage and Day of the Dead! Students have finished researching our country for Hispanic Heritage month, Ecuador, and are busy creating posters of famous people and writing their scripts. We'll begin filming our movie this week, and hopefully, I'll be able to post it soon.

I also passed out letters today about our Day of the Dead project. Students need to choose one relative who has passed away to honor, and they need to interview two people about the person they are honoring. The first interview is due next week on Tuesday, and the second interview the Monday after that. We'll then begin working on our paragraphs about these people. Students also need to bring in a shoebox so we can create an ofrenda, or altar, for that person, along with photographs and mementos to place in the box. We will have time in school to work on these, and I can provide the students with construction paper, feathers, and glitter, but anything else they'll need to bring from home. We'll create the altars on the 26th and 31st of October. If you'd like to see examples of projects from previous years, feel free to look at last year's blog entries!

We began to talk about the economy today in social studies. One aspect of this unit is to talk with the students about their own financial decisions. We discussed today the difference between needs and wants, and how some things we need to save to buy and some things we can buy now. We'll work in the next few weeks with tracking spending and creating savings plans. I encouraged the students to discuss with you at home something they wanted that they could save for, and it would be great if this could become something they do at home and actually save for and buy, instead of just something we discuss in class!

September 14, 2012

We had a great time today meeting our buddies and helping them with their Hispanic Heritage month project: making Mayan masks. We are going to be studying Ecuador for our country, and will begin working on our research projects and artwork next week. If you have any experiences that you'd like to share with the class, please let me know!

Our science test will be next week on Thursday, September 20. On Monday, September 24 we will have our social studies test. The students already received their science study guide, and should be filling it out and studying from it. They will get their social studies study guide on Monday.

Below, you can see pictures of the students working with their buddies and in their science centers. I was able to borrow materials from the Nature Museum so students could investigate reptile and amphibian skeletons, and look at real turtle shells and snake skin!

September 7, 2012

The students have been doing lots of fun, hands-on science activities! Last week, we looked at shark teeth and practiced our classifying skills by putting them into groups. This week, we began to talk about how to classify animals, and students were very excited to observe our earthworms yesterday to determine what makes them an animal and if they're a vertebrate or invertebrate.

Students also received their first project of the year, an ABC book in social studies. They will be working in groups with each student having several letters they are responsible for. This will be due the week we take our test, which should be around the week of the 24th. We will also be having a science test the week of the 17th. I'll post the exact dates as we get closer, and I know exactly when we'll have finished covering all the material.

In reading, we are almost done learning the routines we'll use throughout the year. Every day will consist of reading to yourself, reading to someone, writing, or working on words with the iPads. We've gone through all the procedures necessary for reading to yourself and reading to someone, and will work next week on the last two activities. After that, students will choose which two they'd like to work on each day as I meet with the students either one-on-one or in small groups.

We've begun to draft our first writing pieces of the year, and I'm hoping to complete them by the end of next week. Students will have time in writing class to work on these, but may need to work at home, too, if they are unable to finish in the time we have in class.

August 27, 2012

Welcome to a new school year! I'm very excited to be back and teaching fourth grade, and we have a lot of fun activities planned for the beginning of the year. Right now, I am working with the students on organization and setting up routines and procedures. This will help the rest of the year run smoothly, especially as students have more independence in reading and writing and the ability to make more choices. In the beginning of the year, we focus on learning about the writing process (exploring, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) in English and classification and animals in science. We'll begin discussing the Ten Commandments and learn comprehension strategies in reading.

We will begin spelling this week, which will mean weekly spelling tests. These will alternate between testing the definitions from the vocabulary in the book and testing on the spelling of words from their own lists. Starting today, students will also have regular reading and math homework.

Don't forget that our Back to School Night is this Thursday, from 6-8. We also have a three day weekend, with no school on September 3 for Labor Day.

Fantasy Book Summer Reading

Welcome to our new fourth graders! This year for our summer reading, instead of doing a written report, you have the option of participating in a discussion online. I hope this will let us all see and respond to each other's thoughts about the book.

As a reminder, you need to begin each comment with the book you read, and should write your first name only under "Comment As." You should then write down the number of the questions you are answering, followed by your answer. Later on, you should check back and respond to another student's comment.

For your fantasy book, you need to answer two of the following questions:

1. Who is the main character and how would you describe them? Are they like you at all-why or why not?

2. What do you think are the three most important things that happen in this book? Why are these the most important?

3. What in this book happens that makes it a fantasy? List at least two things, and be specific.

4. Is the "world" that the author created one that you would like to live in? Why or why not?

June 6, 2012

We made it to the end of the year! It has truly been a joy to teach this class, and there were many moments throughout the year I felt blessed to witness the intelligence, generosity, and compassion of the students.

The students are meeting their reading teachers in middle school today and will receive their summer reading and math packets. These need to be completed over the summer and turned in on the first day of school. The students should continue to bring pencils, art supplies, and paper to write on to school these last few days, as we have assignments left to complete.

Thank you for all of your support throughout the year, and I hope you have a fantastic summer!

Realistic Fiction Summer Reading

Welcome to our new fourth graders! This year for our summer reading, instead of doing a written report, you have the option of participating in a discussion online. I hope this will let us all see and respond to each other's thoughts about the book.

As a reminder, you need to begin each comment with the book you read, and should write your first name only under "Comment As." You should then write down the number of the questions you are answering, followed by your answer. Later on, you should check back and respond to another student's comment.

For your realistic fiction book by Beverly Cleary or Judy Blume, you need to answer two of the following questions:

1. Who is the main character and how would you describe them? Are they like you at all-why or why not?

2. What do you think are the three most important things that happen in this book? Why are these the most important?

3. Do you think that this book could really happen in your school, family, or neighborhood? Why or why not?

4. If you could change something about the book, what would you change? (Do not write down "nothing" as your answer!)

May 25, 2012

The year is winding down, and we saw the eighth grade graduate today! Don't forget that students will receive their summer reading and math packets the last week of school and will get a chance to meet their reading teacher for next year then. Please also keep a lookout for any books that belong to the school and start sending them back.

The science fair was a great success! We had many excellent projects, and I was very impressed with their quality. Congratulations to Isaiah and Joshua for winning first place, Destiny and Elysa for second, and David and Max for third.

I also recently received information from the Museum of Science and Industry. They are doing a free program this summer where you can sign up to receive weekly emails of fun science experiments to do at home. If you register soon, you'll also receive a free ticket to visit MSI. The link and more information can be found here.

Our last field trip will be to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Tuesday, June 5 with our preschool buddies. Students also should be finishing up their research projects next week. The rough draft is due Tuesday, and the final published copy is due Friday.

May 16, 2012

It's getting closer to the end of the year, and the fourth graders are doing excellent work! We're doing an ABC countdown with the first-third grade, with a different letter for each day, ending in "Z" for our last day of school. Yesterday was hat for H, Monday was grapes for G, and today we're getting ice cream!

The students did a fantastic job on their science fair projects. We'll be showing them to the school tomorrow during the day, and families are welcome to come that evening from 5:30-7:30 to view our projects and the rest of the school's. We've also been learning about heat, sound, and light in science class. Students made their own instruments and demonstrated how pitch changes, created insulated "ice keepers" to keep ice cubes from melting, and looked at how prisms separate the colors of light. They'll get a study guide at the end of the week, and the test will be on Thursday, May 24.

We've just finished reading The Bad Beginning, and many of the students have been reading the next books in the series. It's great to see them so enthusiastic about reading! Their scrapbook projects will be due on Monday. In English, we're writing research papers. I have lots of books on animals, and the students were told if they'd like to research another subject, they need to find three books about that topic. So far, we have students doing research on things from the Aztecs to Michael Jordan. They'll research and take notes this week and next, and we'll also begin drafting our papers next week. Their recent four paragraph papers were great, and I was very impressed with students' word choice.

We had tons of fun at the White Sox game yesterday! Thank you to Mr. Jim for donating those tickets. We also have a field trip coming up on Tuesday, June 5 to go to Lincoln Park Zoo with our buddies.

Finally, congratulations to Anayah! She won a state wide competition to design a rain barrel, which we'll be able to see at our school next year.

April 17, 2012

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a relaxing break. April is Poetry Month, and we are holding a poetry contest as a school. The students received a list and examples of the four poem categories, and they need to write at least one to enter into the contest by Friday, April 27. They're welcome to enter all four contests, though! The science fair is just around the corner, and hopefully everyone saw the letter I sent home before break with important dates in it. The first part of the project is due this Monday, April 23, when the students need to hand in the question they are choosing to research, as well as decide if they're working on their own or with a partner. We went onto a great site today that has lots of ideas for science fair projects. If you would like to see it, click on the link below.

Science Fair Buddies

Next Monday, we are having a test on electricity and magnetism. The study guide was sent home yesterday. We're also going to have a vocabulary test this Friday.

Below are pictures from our trip to the Shedd Aquarium.

April 2, 2012

Thank you to everyone who came to our play on Thursday! The students did an excellent job, and I am very proud of what they have accomplished.

The students also showed themselves to be excellent engineers with the design and construction of their circuit rooms.



It is almost time for spring break! While we are all very excited to get this time to relax, please remember that Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are some of the holiest days in our Church year and should be kept respectfully.

We have a social studies test on Wednesday, and will be having a science test on April 23 on electricity. It is also time to start thinking about the science fair! A letter will be sent home this week with important dates and information, and the science fair will be held on May 17.

March 12, 2012

We only have two more days of TerraNova testing left (today and Wednesday). Please continue to make sure that your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast before arriving at school.



We just finished our many activities for How to Eat Fried Worms. Students performed a reader's theater version of the play for the class and Mr. Bennett, created a new cover for the book, watched the movie to compare it to the book, and, as a grand finale, got to eat fried worms! The brave students who tried the worms decided they liked them, and several even brought them home for their lucky parents to try.

Currently in reading, students are participating in literature circles. Each student chose their top three book choices, and then I placed them in groups based on the books they wanted to read. Students are in charge of setting their own schedule for the book, assigning jobs to complete, and leading their own discussion about the book. Every student has a schedule for his or her book on a piece of yellow paper, and please be diligent about following this, since every group will have different pages due each day. We had our first literature circle meetings last Thursday, and students did a great job of participating, asking thought provoking questions, and staying on topic!

In social studies, we are studying the Midwest. We will take the second part of our states test next week, which means that test will be on Friday, March 23. Each student will also complete a state project. I have state books in my classroom, but if the student wanted to research a state I did not have a book for, they will need to find a book at the library and show it to me by Friday. The students received a menu with activities to choose from, and they need to choose three. These will be due the week of April 2nd (the last week before Easter).

Practices for our play are going great! Remember that the play is on Thursday, March 29. We will be sending information home soon asking for volunteers to help on March 21 with making costumes and creating the set.

Lent and TerraNovas

We are about to enter into two very important times in our school year: Lent and TerraNovas!

For Lent, we made a calendar as a class with daily goals relating to prayer, fasting, and acts of kindness that also relate to the Ten Commandments. For example, right now we are looking at the second commandment, "Do not take the Lord's name in vain," which emphasizes the importance of the words we use, so today students need to pay a compliment and tomorrow pray for the people they love. Other activities include going to Mass, reading the Bible, giving up TV and video games, and donating items to the drive we are currently having to collect items for the women's center, for women who are pregnant.

TerraNovas are also about to begin. Our first day of testing will be Tuesday, March 6, and we will test through Wednesday of the following week. Please make sure your child arrives on time for school, having eaten a good breakfast and gotten plenty of sleep, with two sharpened #2 pencils. During this time, we will take a snack break in the morning, so students may bring a healthy snack such as fruit, carrots, or granola bars.

We also have begun practicing for our school play! I am very excited, that for the first time ever, the third and fourth grade will be performing in a musical about the history of the United States. The play will be the evening of Thursday, March 29. Feel free to invite friends and family! We will be practicing in school, but it is important for students, especially those with speaking parts, to practice at home, too.

Finally, congratulations to Abby and Destiny! They were received first and third place, respectively, in a city-wide contest for fourth graders held by the Chicago History Museum to write about DuSable, the founder of Chicago. Great work!

February 10, 2012

Our weather forecast podcasts are here! Students have finished recording them, and they are being posted on-line.


Students have several tests coming up. Their religion test on the Old Testament will be Wednesday, February 15. The social studies test on the Southeast is Tuesday, February 21, and this will also be the day that their poster is due. The English test will be on Thursday, February 23.

Catholic Schools Week

We've had a great Catholic schools week so far! I was amazed by the quality of posters that the students turned in, and touched by all the great things they had to say about the school. Thank you also to everybody who sent in the delicious food for the teacher luncheon! The students enjoyed reading with their blankets and pillows on Monday, and we made heart shaped Valentine card holders with our buddies yesterday. Don't forget that tomorrow students are wearing red to match with our buddy class, and all families are invited to visit school between 8:30-11:45. We will be going to an all-school Mass, attending the awards ceremony, then completing a fun social studies activity. Afterwards, the students have lunch from 11-11:45. Friday is spirit day, and we will have the whole school Olympics. Students should be in their gym uniforms.

While we learn about the Northeast in social studies, students are making a scrapbook poster to show different features of the region. This will be due the week of the test (probably in about 2 and a half weeks). One of the things they need to include is a picture from the Library of Congress. We went to the computer lab last week to print them, but some students were not able to finish in time. Here is the link in case they'd like to print them from home: Library of Congress: Explore the States.

January 17, 2012

Free photo collage made with Smilebox

Free photo collage created with Smilebox

We've had a very creative year so far! Students brought in their Whipping Boy projects, and they look fabulous. We've gotten many compliments on how hard the students worked on them. Currently, we're displaying them in the hallway by the stairs so that everyone can admire them.


Last week, we worked with our buddies on creating cards to celebrate Three Kings Day. The students did a great job of teaching the four year olds how to create prints!


We've also been doing a lot of writing lately. Students finished their "Cures for a Rainy Afternoon" poems, that used exciting and interesting verbs. Right now, we're working on persuasive paragraphs, while continuing to learn about how to use verbs correctly in grammar.




Looking ahead, we have tests next week in science and English. The science test on Wednesday will be on the properties of matter, and the English test on Thursday will be on verbs. We are also taking a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry next Friday, and Scholastic book orders are due on Monday, Jan. 23. If you'd like to order online, our class code is GWZT3.

Scholastic Book Clubs

The following week is Catholic Schools Week. The plan is as follows:

Sunday 1/29: Community of Faith
11:30 Mass at St. Sylvester Church

Monday 1/30: Learning is Fun
Prayer Service at 9:00
Dress down - Students can dress down in their pajamas
Students can bring in pillows and blankets for this DEAR time

Tuesday 1/31: Teamwork
Dress down – Students can wear articles of clothing from their favorite sports team
Classroom buddy activities
Posters for school-wide contest due (This will be gone over in class next week.)

Wednesday 2/1: Staff Appreciation
Dress – Students wear their regular school uniforms
Luncheon for teachers and aides – provided by families’ donated food

Thursday 2/2: Family Appreciation
8:30 all-school Mass
Dress down – Students wear matching colors with their buddy classes. We are wearing red.
Family Visitation – all family members are welcome to visit their children’s classrooms between from 8:20-11:45
Midway Point Awards Ceremony – in school’s basement gym after returning from Mass
Family trivia night at 6:00 in Schwinn Hall

Friday 2/3: Student Appreciation
Dress down – all students wear their gym uniforms
School Olympics at 9:00 – all students are placed on different, multi-grade level teams and compete in fun games throughout the entire morning

Picture Extravaganza!

Here are some pictures from December:

Performing at the Christmas concert:


Students using the tools we made to take their weather measurements.


Our completed art projects with Mr. E:

January 4, 2012

Welcome back to a brand new year! I hope everybody and a joyful and relaxing Christmas. We've been off to a great start in fourth grade. Students are learning about verbs in English and writing poems called "Cures for a Rainy Afternoon." In religion, we're practicing looking up verses in the Bible and summarizing while learning the story of Joseph. We're continuing to read The Whipping Boy while discussing similes and cause and effect. (Don't forget the projects are due this Monday! Some have already been brought in and look wonderful.) In science, we began our study of the physical sciences, which will take us to almost the end of the year. Currently, we're learning about matter, the properties of matter, and how to measure it.

In social studies, we are continuing to learn about the Northeast while students work on their ABC books. They will have a quiz on Friday and will need to know the locations of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland.