December 16, 2013

I can't believe it's only one more week until Christmas break! This month has definitely been flying by. We've been learning about what makes somebody a scientist with Ms. Lynn and Ms. Sophie, who brought in chocolate chip cookies today to help students make scientific claims about the number of chocolate chips. We've been discussing different text features in non-fiction, and in math we've been making different types of graphs. One of my favorite activities this month has been the Jesse tree. The students have been doing a great job of sharing the stories of people from Noah to Abraham, Ruth to Solomon, and now we're hearing about Jesus' immediate family!

We do have two tests this week: social studies on Thursday and English on Friday. If you are helping your child to study at home, please make sure they are reviewing the difference between plural and possessive nouns, as many students get these confused. We also have our normal vocabulary test this week on Friday. We will not be doing a times tables test this week.

Students will be receiving a Christmas break packet on Friday, which has some pages to practice their multiplication and division facts and a reading log. I expect this to be turned in the Monday after break. They are also going to be bringing home a survey from me today for you to fill out. It's a chance for me to get feedback on how you feel the year is going so far. Feel free to fill this out anonymously, or if there's something specific you'd like me to know regarding your child, to put your name on it. The more specific you can be, especially in areas that you believe could be improved, the more it helps me to form goals for my own teaching in this new year. Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Christmas Concert 2013 St. Sylvester School

Christmas Concert

The students did a wonderful job performing at yesterday's Christmas concert! Here are some photos and videos I took of them.

Adding Fractions

Here is a video that some of our fourth graders made about adding fractions. Enjoy!

December 2, 2013

Our school is very lucky to be working again this year with the Notebaert Nature Museum. This month, our class will be completing a Science on the Go unit, where I will collaborate with the Nature Museum staff to teach on what it means to be a scientist. We had our first lesson with Ms. Sophie today, on making observations and inferences. Students practiced by observing live beetles she brought in! She'll be back the next two Mondays as well.

Yesterday marked the beginning of Advent. To celebrate this time, we'll be going to weekly school-wide prayer services and creating a Jesse Tree in the classroom. Each student has a story to share with the class. They need to summarize the Bible verses I gave them and create a symbol for their story. Everybody's is due on a different day, since we'll be sharing 1-2 stories each day. Gabriel and Jeremiah shared the stories of creation and Adam and Eve today, and they did a great job!

We are winding down our unit on fractions, and our test will be next week on Monday. I am passing out a study guide today, which has examples of all the types of problems that will be on the test. It also has an answer key, so students can check their work. Please have your child work on this early so if he or she has any questions, he or she will have plenty of time to ask! Students will be allowed to use their fraction strips during the test.

We're also almost done reading How to Eat Fried Worms! There will be a test on Friday. The best preparation for this is to make sure your child has read the book and understands it. The sequence worm that I assigned at the beginning of the unit is also due on Friday. This needs to have six circles, the first which has the title, author, and their name. The next five circles should have five events from the book and include pictures and transition words. This week, students will work on creating new book covers for their books and practice plays from the book, which they'll perform next week on Monday.

Don't forget about our school Christmas concert on Sunday! It starts at 4:00, and students should be there at 3:45. Due to the concert practices, we will not have a spelling test this week.

Progress reports are being sent home on Friday. If you'd like to meet with me, please just indicate that on the form!

November 12, 2013

All the students in the class became bloggers today! Using kidblog, each student has his or her own username and password. They can go onto this site as part of the class I set up and write their own blog posts or comment on other people's posts. We practiced commenting today, with students listing the book they are reading right now. To keep this blog safe and private, only the students can log on and see the posts. They all know their user names and passwords, though, so if they'd  like to log in at home to either write or share with you, they're welcome to! Our website is here. In the future, I hope to have students type out some of the writing they've done.

We've been learning about how the Earth is shaped in science class. We've learned about how plate movement created mountains, and how weathering and erosion created the Grand Canyon. We'll learn about glaciers, fossils, and renewable/nonrenewable resources, and then students will have their test next week on Friday, November 22.

Students all received their own Bibles last week! This is their Bible, but it should be kept at school since we will be using it regularly for the next few months. One way we'll do this is through creating a Jesse Tree together. Each student will have a story to look up and create a symbol for. The students will choose their stories next week.

November 7, 2013

I was very impressed with all the ofrendas students shared last week! I could tell they'd learned a lot about their families and were eager to share that information. The church bulletin article this Sunday will be about our class, so be sure to look for us if you go to mass.

In reading, we've begun to read How to Eat Fried Worms. The students are very excited about this book, and so am I! We read a Scholastic article earlier this week about people in different parts of the world who eat bugs, and we'll learn about sequencing and characterization as we read, as well as identifying different types of writing like poetry, prose, and drama.

Social studies is going to be a quick unit this time, since there are only two chapters on government. I expect the test to be on November 20, and I'll pass out the study guide next week.

In math, we're learning all about fractions. Today we discussed equivalent fractions and made fraction strips to help us visualize what that meant. If you have an iPad or other tablet, McGraw-Hill is offering a few of their math apps for free through tomorrow (November 8). They have a great one on equivalent fractions. You can find them here.

Happy Halloween!

We had a lot of fun at school today, and it was great to see all the different costumes. In the morning, students pretended to be realtors trying to persuade witches, ghosts, or vampires to buy their haunted house. There were some spooky descriptions in their paragraphs! They then made a picture of their house out of construction paper. After the Halloween Fair, we came back to the classroom to work on our ofrendas. Some of the students still need to finish decorating theirs, so they will bring them home today. They can be brought back to school any day next week before Thursday because on Thursday we'll present them to the class!

Don't forget to return the purple conference form if you haven't already! With this big a class, I'll need to strictly stick to the time schedule created from those forms. Unfortunately, that means that if someone is late, I may not be able to meet with that person until later that day. Thank you for your understanding and for being on time! I'll leave our awesome Puerto Rican and Day of the Dead displays up in the hallway, so if you arrive early, there'll be plenty to look at.

October 17, 2013

The students did a wonderful job researching and presenting their Hispanic Heritage Month projects on Puerto Rico! I've uploaded the video to youtube, and you can see it in the post below.

I'm sure everyone is very excited that it's almost Halloween! We'll celebrate in school next Friday, October 25, with the Halloween Fun Fair. Students are welcome to wear costumes to school that day. We will also be decorating our ofrendas then. Please make sure that everyone brings in a shoebox (if they haven't already) and pictures or objects to place onto their altars. We will have a normal uniform day on October 31.

In math class, we have begun to take a weekly timed test on the multiplication tables. Every student started with the two's. If they passed, they'll take the test on the three's this week. If they don't pass, they'll need to write down the times tables for homework, then retake the test the following Friday. This will be almost every week, unless it is a week with lots of tests. For example, the next two weeks have quite a few end of the unit tests, so students will not need to take the times tables test.

Several units are winding down, so we have several tests in the next few weeks. On Tuesday, October 22, will be a religion test on the first three commandments and the covenant. On Friday, October 25, will be the science test on ecosystems and food chains. The following week, Wednesday, October 30 will be social studies, and Thursday, October 31, will be math.

Hispanic Heritage Month: Puerto Rico

October 4, 2013

We just started working on geometry in math, and the students are very excited! We explored polygons using geoboards on Wednesday (you can see some pictures above), then used the iPads to create a collage of places we see the different shapes in our lives and in our classroom. Yesterday, we talked about different kinds of angles and made an interactive notebook entry with moveable rays for the angles, and today we learned about different types of lines and how to name them. I warned the students they need to start studying flashcards if they haven't been already, since we're going to begin taking timed tests next week on Friday! Students will need to correctly answer problems from the 2's time tables. If they don't pass, they will have extra homework over the weekend. If they do pass, they will move on the 3's time tables the following week.

I also passed out a letter today about Day of the Dead and the project we are completing for it. Each student chooses one person to honor for this holiday. They will interview two people about their honoree, write a paragraph, and create an ofrenda for them. All the work (except for the interviews) will be done in class. I am sending home a letter about this and both interview sheets today. If you have any questions, or would like me to email you a copy, please contact me.

In the pictures above, you can also see students creating "seeds." We discussed how seeds are carried by wind, water, or clinging to animals' fur, and we talked about how engineers design, test, and then change their design to make it better! We designed the seeds on Monday and tested them, then discussed on Wednesday how to make them better. I'm happy to say that all the seeds did much better in the "being blown by the wind," "floating in water," and "clinging to an animal (felt)" tests on Wednesday.

Brush Creek Ranch

To anyone who went to Brush Creek Ranch with me this summer, here are my pictures!

September 20, 2013

We had a great time meeting our preschool-4 buddies today! The students each read a picture book to them, and then the preschooler and fourth grader drew a picture together of what the book was about.

Hispanic Heritage Month is starting. Our country is Puerto Rico. We'll begin researching facts about Puerto Rico's culture the week after next and will create a video to share our research with everyone. We'll also make a pinata to celebrate!

We began meeting in guided reading groups yesterday. The students are divided into four groups, reading Fudge-a-Mania, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, Henry and Ribsy, or Frindle. The students will need to read these books outside of our small group meetings, so we can use that time to work on comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary skills. They may read these books during our reading class or as part of their reading logs.

September 5, 2013

The students had a lot of fun in science today, investigating our worms and observing what makes them an animal and an organism. We talked today about how the animal kingdom is divided into vertebrates and invertebrates, or animals with a backbone and without a backbone. The students were shocked to realize there are way more invertebrates than vertebrates in the world! We also began working on our reading letters today, which are letters the students write to me about the books they read (and I write back!). In writing, we've been reading lots of picture books, such as Too Many Tamales, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and Snow, and letting them inspire our own writing. We're going to begin tomorrow selecting one story idea and taking it all the way through the writing process. In social studies, we're comparing and contrasting the different regions of the United States, and in religion, we read about the covenant God made with his people and the Ten Commandments.

We are almost done with our first math unit, and the test on it will be next Wednesday, September 11. I am passing out a study guide for the students that talks specifically about what will be on the test. There are many chapter reviews at the end of the first unit that students can do for practice. It's also a good idea to read through their notes, look at old problems and worksheets we've done, and pay close attention to any problems they've gotten wrong in the past.

Our science test and social studies test will be the week after next. Right now, I'm planning on having the science test on September 19 and the social studies on September 20. Also, don't forget that tomorrow is our spelling test! The students will be tested on the spelling of the words they wrote down in their assignment notebooks.

August 27, 2013

Welcome to a new school year! I am very excited to be back and am impressed with this class's energy and enthusiasm. We're off to a great start this year. The students have been learning our reading routines, practicing read to self, and working on comprehension strategies. They're creating interactive math notebooks with lots of foldables (and learning about place value through the hundred millions), experimenting with marbles and ramps, and creating writer's notebooks. We also are completing our first spelling/vocabulary unit this week, which means our first test will be on Friday. This week will focus on the definitions of the words, while next week's test will be about the spelling.

I hope to see everybody at Back to School night this Thursday! I'll be going over our curriculum and classroom policies in more detail then.

If you'd like to order books from Scholastic, you can do so on-line. Here is the link. Orders are due by September 9.

As a reminder, we are having gym twice a week this year! Our gym days are Mondays and Thursdays, and students should be in gym uniform on these days.

Realistic Fiction Book-Summer 2013

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!)

Fantasy Book-Summer 2013

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 5, 2013

I can't believe it's already the end of the year! I have genuinely enjoyed teaching this class and will have many fond memories, especially about this class's kindness, responsibility, and intelligence. They are a very special group of kids.

All the students received their summer work yesterday from their future math and reading teachers. Please make sure these get put in a safe spot and are worked on weekly throughout the summer. Students should continue to bring their backpacks, pencils, and art supplies these last few days of school as we still have assignments to complete and many papers to pass back.

I have everyone has a fantastic summer, and that they'll stop by to see me still next year!

May 21, 2013

Here's our final reader's theater video!



Don't forget that our science test is this week on Thursday. Wednesday, May 29 is our awards ceremony, Monday, June 3 is a field trip to the Nature Museum, and Friday, June 7 is the last day of school!

May 15, 2013

We had a very successful Walk-a-Thon today! The students really enjoyed being outside and having the chance to exercise.

We just finished our guided reading novels. One of the activities the students completed was writing a script about a scene in their book and then acting them out. You can see the videos below.











We're now reading The Bad Beginning, one of my favorite books and the first book in the series. I told the students they can read ahead since I have the whole series, and they can borrow the next book from me. In science, we're studying changes in matter and had a great time making pancakes last week! This week, we're talking about mixtures, solutions, acids, and bases. Their science test will be next week on Thursday, May 23.

May 6, 2013

The students did a fantastic job on their science fair projects! They were all able to explain their experiments well, and I know the judges had a difficult time deciding on the winners. I also enjoyed reading the poems they submitted for the school-wide poetry contest.

We're already getting towards the end of the year and have started one of the students' favorite activites: the ABC countdown. Today was C for carrots, and Thursday was by B for bubble gum. We'll go all the way to Z on the last day of school. Students are also working on research projects right now in writing. Each student chose a topic and is busy taking notes. Later this week, we'll combine the notes into an outline, and then next week work on drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. We discussed how to write a bibliography and find information like the copyright date and publisher.

In science, we're talking about physical and chemical changes, which means we're going to have a chemical change cafe on Thursday and make pancakes! The afternoon will go a lot smoother if there are two adults in the classroom, so if somebody is able to come in and help cook on Thursday around 1 o'clock, that would be a huge help!

April 15, 2013

I hope everyone had a restful spring break! Thank you to all the parents who came in today to discuss report cards. I value the time we have to discuss your child's progress and set goals for the next quarter.



Above, you can see pictures from two projects that the students recently completed: making instruments to learn more about sound in science, and the Midwestern state projects in social studies. We will have a test on both these subjects this week. Social studies will be on Thursday, and science on Friday. We're also going to have the opportunity to visit the Museum of Science and Industry next week on Friday, April 26.

In English, we're learning about adverbs. Students wrote poems that began with adverbs, then illustrated them in a "squash book." In reading, we're doing guided reading groups with books that share a theme of justice: Shiloh, The Jacket, and The Liberation of Gabriel King. We'll be discussing point of view, themes, protagonist and antagonists, and making inferences with these books. In religion, we're continuing to learn about the Ten Commandments, finishing up talking about the sixth commandment, "You shall not commit adultery," this week. We're focusing on how we show we care about our friends and families and what makes everyone special and different.

Don't forget about the science fair! I have checked everyone's procedures and students should be conducting the experiments at home. While we will have a few class days next week to work on putting together the poster or trifold, the majority of this will need to be done at home. Projects will need to be brought into school on April 29. The students do not need to bring the experiment to school, only their poster or trifold. If they'd like to bring in something small to set in front of the poster or trifold, they may do so.

March 21, 2013

The students did a wonderful job performing Mr. Bell's Magnificent Ringing Machine, both on Monday for the school and on Tuesday for their families! Many teachers and Mr. Bennett told me how much they enjoyed it.

Students are finishing up their literature circle books. I was pleased with how many students told me they finished their book early because they couldn't put it down! We'll be making posters to try to convince other people to read the books next week, and then we'll be doing guided reading in April with books that share a theme of justice. In writing, students are working on four paragraph essays about why they like Chicago. I'm emphasizing with them the importance of indenting new paragraphs and organizing the essays well using clear topic sentences.

In science, we're learning about heat, sound, and light. This will be a unit we'll continue after break. So far, we've made "ice insulators" to keep an ice cube from melting, sound sandwiches, and investigated tuning forks. Today, we'll talk about instruments and how they are built to produce different pitches. Students will need to build their own instruments to share with the class next Wednesday. These can be as realistic or as simple as the students wish. The requirements are that they are able to explain how it produces sound, and show and explain how it makes a high and low pitch.

I hope everyone is ready to enjoy a relaxing and holy Easter break! Over break, I expect the students to continue reading, and they will have some boxes on their reading log to fill out. Their social studies state projects will also be due the week we come back, so they should be working on those.

March 6, 2013

The students did a fantastic job on their circuit rooms in science! I really enjoyed watching them solve problems and apply their knowledge of circuits. You can see pictures of them above.

I'm also enjoying listening to them practice for our musical! They're doing a great job with the songs and lines, and even helped me to think of motions for many of the songs. As a reminder, we will be performing on Tuesday, March 19, and students should be continuing to practice their songs and lines. Tickets are on sale now at the office.

We are continuing to take the TerraNova tests through Tuesday of next week (March 12). Thank you for your help in making sure that your child gets enough sleep, eats a good breakfast, and brings a healthy snack to school.

In reading right now, students are participating in literature circles. They each are reading a book of their choice (either My Life as a Book, Secrets of Cicada Summer, Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?, or Pleasing the Ghost), and are meeting to share their thoughts on their books, just like in a book club! In writing, we're working on adjectives, and students will have a test on this next week on Friday, March 15.

February 20, 2013

March is going to be a very busy month for us, and I can't believe how quickly many important events are approaching! In a week and a half, the week of March 4, we begin TerraNova testing. Please make sure that students arrive at school well-rested and have eaten a healthy breakfast. They should also bring with them two #2 pencils (if they don't already have plenty at school) and a small healthy snack (such as fruit or a granola bar).

Perhaps more excitingly, our 3rd and 4th grade musical is only a month away! We will be performing Mr. Bell's Magnificent Ringing Machine for friends and family the evening of March 19. We had our first rehearsal today. Please help your child to practice their lines and songs. As I'm sure you can imagine, putting on the play takes a lot of work with the costumes and scenery, and we'll be asking for your help with this soon.

We have started the season of Lent and created a calendar full of ways to fast, pray, and give. Each day has something special on it, and I encourage the students to try to follow the calendar to help prepare themselves for Jesus' death and Resurrection.

There are several tests coming up. On Thursday, the students have a test in social studies on the Southeast. Next week, on Wednesday they will be tested in religion on the Old Testament figures we have learned about (Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David), and on Friday they have a test in science on electricity and magnetism.

February 5, 2013

We had a great time at Catholic Schools Week last week! Above, you can see pictures of different activities we did, from DEAR time on pajama day to buddy projects about Martin Luther King, Jr. There are also pictures of students making a density column and their Whipping Boy projects.

The students have an English test this Friday on verbs. Below, you can see the videos they created to teach the different lessons they need to know on this subject.

Action and Helping Verbs

Verb Tenses

Verbs in the past tense

Verbs in the present tense

Helping verbs and main verbs

Subject-Verb Agreement Video

January 23, 2013

The students had lots of fun at the Field Museum last week! They also did a great job on their social studies tests. We'd recently talked about different ways to study, and I hope that some of these methods are working for the students.

In science, the students had a blast today participating in the "Metric Olympics." They needed to predict the volume of water in a cup, the mass of a marble, and how far Gabriel could jump, among other things! It was a great way to practice different types of measurements and using the metric system. We will have a test next week on Thursday, January 31, about the properties of matter. Next week on Friday, February 1, the Whipping Boy projects are also due. I'm looking forward to seeing all of them! Please let me know if you have any questions about them.

Catholic Schools Week begins next week as well, which is a time to celebrate all the things that make our school great! I'm sure you've seen the schedule in the Tuesday folder, but here are just a few reminders:

Monday is pajama day, and students can wear pajamas to school. They should have a book with them that they'd like to read, and they can bring a pillow or blanket, but the students cannot share anything that their head will rest against.

The Catholic Schools Week posters are due on Tuesday. Everyone needs to complete one, and the theme is "How have Catholic schools changed me?" Students can wear a shirt from their favorite team.

Thursday is the awards ceremony, which will take place in the downstairs gym right after Mass (probably around 9:30). Everyone is invited to this, then welcome to come back up to the classroom to observe a lesson. We are wearing the same color as our buddies that day, which is red.

Finally, on Friday, we'll be having our school Olympics.

January 14, 2013

Happy New Year! Above, you can see pictures our of our completed Jesse Tree and Mr. Lindo, who came in to teach a lesson on weather.

The students did a fantastic job of setting New Year's resolutions and wrote well-organized paragraphs describing their goals, with resolutions ranging from eating more fruits and vegetables to not jumping on the couch. We're working right now on verbs, and then we will be writing persuasive paragraphs.

We have a field trip coming up to the Field Museum this Friday, and a social studies test on Thursday. We are still reading The Whipping Boy, and discussing plot maps, character changes, and setting. Right now, it looks like we'll be done reading the book the week of January 28, which means the castle, rat, or simile project will be due then.

Our weather forecasts are online! Ms. Perkins is uploading them as the students complete them. To hear, go to this link, and click on the tab that says "minicasts." This month, the students are learning about matter. We did some activities last week looking at the different states of matter and how they are defined, including investigating oobleck, which sometimes acts as a liquid and sometimes like a solid! This week, we'll measure length, mass, and volume, using tools like a balance and graduated cylinder.

Please remember that if you would like to subscribe to this blog and receive emails about when it is updated, you can do so by entering your email address to the right where it says "Follow by Email."