Winter Candy Scenes

Check out our slideshow of our winter candy scenes. We had a blast making them! Thank-you to Tyler, Brenden, Michael, and Molly's moms for helping out, as well as Griffin's dad, and Lauren's aunt and sister. Thanks also to everyone for sending in the supplies. The kids made some amazingly creative scenes!

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Math Calendar Part 2

This recording shows another part of our math calendar routine. Here, we take whatever day of school it is...in this instance, it was the 57th day, and figure out whether that number is prime, composite, and/or square. We do that by finding all the factors of that number, and along the way, learn the divisibility rules for various numbers. (The video may take awhile to load.)

Math Calendar

I am a huge believer in math calendar! Through this daily routine, I can reinforce so many math concepts and vocabulary. I used to do calendar on a big white board, until last spring when I got my wonderful SmartBoard! Over the summer, I created calendar pages using the Smart Notebook software. Here is a peek at one of them that we recorded using Smart Recorder. The class helper does all of the writing with input from the rest of the class, (although when you watch the video, it seems like the writing appears by magic!)


This page is called "Big Number". We always read and write the calendar date as a big number to practice place value. Students are getting really good at reading and identifying the place value of numbers into the ten millions! Look for more recordings about other parts of calendar in the coming days.

Turkey Persuasive Paragraphs

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The Water Cycle Jump

Who says science can't be cool? To accompany our upcoming readers' theater play about the water cycle that we are practicing to perform for our second grade book buddies, we're also rapping along to this video.

The Turkeys are Coming!

I am anxiously awaiting the first project of the year...the "Disguise a Turkey Project." Students were given a bare turkey, with the instructions to somehow disguise it so it would not be recognized and eaten. They must also write a persuasive paragraph convincing others that they are NOT a turkey. Projects are due on Tuesday, Nov. 8th.

Adventure-Based Learning

Last Wednesday, we had our first session of Adventure-Based Learning, or ABL for short. All three 4th grades met in the gym from 9:15-11:15. We were led by Donna Murray from Sweetser. One of the main goals of ABL is to improve teamwork through using the "High 5 of Respect" shown above. Students did a lot of partner activities and were encouraged to work with partners from other classrooms. Below is a picture of "Birthday Cake Partners."

A World of Water

We have begun our year-long study of water. So far, we have learned about the forms that water can take, (solid, liquid, and gas). We also learned about the water cycle. Last week Katrina, from Portland Water District, came for the first of what will be monthly visits to teach hands-on science lessons.

Here is a peek at our first lesson!






My Daughter's Wedding

Here are just a few pictures from my daughter Courtney's wedding on August 20, 2011. My other daughter Kim was the maid of honor.

The First 10 Days...

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Welcome to 4th Grade!

We are settling into the routines of 4th grade and getting to know each other in these early days. Activities such as the M & M Game, "Just Like Me!" and the classroom scavenger hunt are designed to help students learn about the classroom and each other. Look for more photos and posts as we continue to build our classroom community in the weeks to come.