So, Time to have a Happy Holiday!

     Murray, our family dog, begged and pleaded to wish you all a happy holidays.  Well, as you might have expected, I gave in to his constant whining and barking, but told him he would have to type the message himself and smile for the camera.  He did well, don't you think? 
        So on the eve of our holiday break, Ms. Deb and I wanted to wish you all a happy holidays.  When we return after the break, we have many things to do and lots more to learn.  Ms. Deb will be doing a two week "solo" performance in the classroom sometime in the near future.  She is very excited for that and for being able to work with our classroom this year.  I'm sure you are hearing great things about her teaching and lessons so far.  She truly has a way with the kids!  In fact, maybe you would like to hear about a few of the things we all have been doing lately.  Well, read on!

    We have started a new 4th grade unit on geometry which will continue after the break.  The students were able to solve a Christmas lights problem about perimeter and symmetry, and actually used the lights for real.  They have been measuring perimeters, looking at symmetry, and reviewing measurement in general.

    Our class has also been doing a unit on the Taino.  Part of that unit involves writing a report on these people and their culture.  The class has also been working on weaving using grass strips. 

   Conor was the "expert" in twisting and creating string out of the grass strips so he showed us the way he had learned.   Some students also created their own way connecting two or three grass strips together.  

   We have also started a writing blog on kidblog.org.  Each student has a blog in their own name that they can access from home as well as the classroom.  We started off by getting used to working in the blog by signing in and then writing about a picture I had posted.  They had to listen to a video of directions
I made as well before they started.  I plan on bringing more technology into their learning after the break.  Speaking of which, they love working with the Starboard!  We do many math activities and some language arts, especially Wacky Web Tales.
      We completed our work on Ecosystems with an assessment last week.  The students had to create an information poster or written paper about what they had learned during the unit about 3-5 of the biomes.  They did a nice job on this!
      And of course we just completed our Reading for Information study groups.  The students created posters in their small groups.  We then went around today and read the poster information to answer questions for a "scavenger hunt" of sorts.  Nice work on the posters and in the groups by all!

    Well, this seems like a good place to stop for this year....see you next year after the holiday break!  

                 Mr. B and Ms. Deb!

My Thoughts

      There are not too many ways to say how sorry we are for the tragedy in Newtown, CT.  I can't imagine the feelings of loss of the families whose children were at the school that day as we approach the holiday season.  Or the families of the staff members who went to school that day and........    While we will move on with our lives here in Putney and PCS, where do these families move on to?  How can I as a teacher ever try to explain to our class about an incident like this?  How shall we process this Monday morning.......How can we say we are "safe" at school?   We will do what we can.  I hope each of our families has tried to dicuss this to their children in some way already, and that as our class returns to our routines this week we remember how lucky we are, but also how fragile life is and that every day should be treated as special.  Everything we think is a "big" problem......is it really?  Does it even compare at all to that day? 
    So I can only say that we will try to move on as best we can, but hope we can help out in some way as well.  And that is what we shall talk about.  How can we help?

Thai Festival, and more...

Bailey and her kratong

4/5 students with kratongs and Thai apparel

Greetings, and how about some of these pictures!  We celebrated Loy Kratong, a Thai Festival the other week.  The students were able to wear traditional Thai clothing and demonstrated a Thai game during the assembly here at PCS.  They created models of kratongs to place on the "river" in the large room we met in.   Our Thai intern Kru Beau performed a dance as well.  It was a lot of fun!  In other news, the Holiday Bazaar was held this past Friday, and the Winter Concerts are this Wednesday and Thursday.  Also, this coming Friday is the Holiday Lunch.  Our 4/5B class and Ms. Saunder's G5 class will be eating at 11:15 or so......which is the earlier lunch.  This helps Kari in the kitchen get all the food put together for all the lunches.  She thanks us profusely!

Ms. Deb and the gang

The lovely Kru Beau in Traditional dress

Our own Maggie with her kratong

    Meanwhile, back in the classroom,  the 4/5 B students have been working on their new Study Groups during Lit Circle time.  We have divided up into 7 mixed groups of students from the 3-4-5 team classrooms.  For the next few weeks we are delving into the world of non-fiction text.  Each group is reading a book about the ecosystem/animal habitats theme.  We are using various strategies to collect important information.  The theme will close with an information poster scavenger hunt activity. 
      Technology and writing work have finally been connected as the 4/5B students now have Google Doc accounts to do their writing in.  We have just finished setting these up, and they should be available from home as well.   Their work is password protected and allows the students to access their writing from any computer.  
      Our Science unit on Biomes and Ecosystems is winding down now and the class is finishing up their final assessment project as I speak...oh, write....ok, type.  Theye were asked to create a poster of as much info as they could about plants and animals, climate and weather, adaptations, and overall description of 3 different biomes.  They are coming out very well. 
      Ms. Deb continues her unit on the Taino culture.  The students are learning more about the Taino lifestyle of the past and present, their language, and what life was like all these years after Columbus made his voyages to our end of the world.
      We are finishing up our third unit in 4th grade math, and will begin the next unit on 2Dimensional Geometry concepts.  Students will still need to practice their multiplication and division computation strategies and combinations as we continue through the year.
  
      Ok, I suspect that is a fair assessment of what we have been doing in the classroom.  Hope the weekend went well and see you all on Monday!
   
                                                       Mr. B and Ms. Deb