2013 school year

The school year is officially underway. Today was back to school night & I finally put the finishing touches on my room. Finally. Check it out!

Beautiful Earth Day

I am working on celebrating holidays with my class. Since we are 4th graders I explain the historical significance of an upcoming holiday and then we do an activity. This month there is Earth Day.

I found this idea on one of the many pinterest boards that I follow. They are recycled water bottle "chandeliers." The students color the outside of plastic bottles with sharpie and cut a spiral around it. Then, I tied them together and hung them up. I have to say they are quite stunning.

Murder and Literature

Have you read this book? The Westing Game is such a fun class read (as long as nobody spoils the ending). In this unit we learned all about the elements of a mystery. We wrote our own mystery stories. We worked on inquiry and predicting based on textual cues. Best of all, the students get WAY into it and soon everyone is reading Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys!

Math Facts

Something missing last year was a math bulletin board. This year the problem was solved. I love this little board and it shows that math is important too.  Next year I hope to integrate math stations from an idea I saw online (yes, on pinterest). SO excited.

Poetry for the Soul

Quite possibly my favorite literature unit... who am I kidding? They are ALL my favorite :P 

Last year I pieced together some lessons and it turned out great. This year, I made each student a poetry book and we are learning a more comprehensive unit. 

-famous poets

-famous poems

-elements of poetry

-bio poems

-haiku

-acrostic

-concrete poems

-cinquains

-two-voice poems

-limerick

-free verse poems

However, my FAVORITE part of the unit is the "unit exam." In place of a written exam we will have a Poerty Slam. Students get up in front of the class and their parents and recite an original poem. We all have snacks, listen to poetry, and give "snaps" to each other. It's one of my favorite days of the year.

(You can't tell, but this is our poetry board. Students can create free-verse poems with magnetic words.)

Rules, Rules, Rules

Last year, as I said before, my class rules were a giant fail. This year these are my rules. 

Work hard.

Be nice.

Not too hard to remember, right? I reference them nearly everyday and find that the students understand what I expect. By 4th grade students know when they're not supposed to talk,  not to stand on chairs, not to scream in class, etc. So, this is my way of creating a class motto that they can take with them.

Everyday Heroes

So I am searching the news headlines for an everyday hero (we are going to write our own folk tale about them). Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any heroes in the news today :/

Impossible right? Well, hereare some of the headlines:
Loaded Gun Makes Flight
Wild End to Football Game
Deadly Attack in Afganistan
Chinese Hack Attack?
CutCar Insurance Costs
Longoria outdone in Dress
My Week in Flirting

Need I go on?? This is ridiculous. Either the world is ending or there's fluffy fluff. C'mon people. Give me a good one about a firefighter.

xx00xx