First Full Week!

We had a terrific first full week of school!  Our regular routines are beginning to get established and students are settling in.  In reading we are working on building stamina during silent reading.  This class loves to read and students are doing a great job reading for extended time.  In social studies we are studying land forms and continents and oceans.  During writing time, we have been doing lots of prewriting activities.  I enjoy hearing what the students interests are when writing small moment ideas! In math we are working on place value and next week we will work on rounding. We also began our math stations this week.  Students played addition war and logged on to Xtra math to practice their facts. Great way to start the year! Check out our pictures below! 

Other information:

• Students will have a Chapter 1 Math test on Friday, August 29. 
• We have a Strings schedule! Students participating in the Strings program will meet on Mondays and Thursdays from 12:45- 1:15 with Mr. Livesay.  They will eat lunch from 1:15-1:30.  
• The first "Friday Homework" assignment was sent home today.  This week it is a reading passage.  It is due next Friday.

First Week

We had a terrific first two days of school! I enjoy getting to know the students interests and personalities. Our days were busy learning new routines and organizing materials. Check out our team building activity pictures below. Students had to work together to build a cup structure. Have your fourth grader tell you about it!

Next week:

• Curriculum night is Wednesday at 6:30 in room 35 (our classroom). Hope to see you there!
• We will have a spelling quiz next Friday. All students will have the same list for the first quiz. The lists will be sent home on Monday.
• If you have not sent in the forms given out at Ice Cream Social, please return them as soon as possible. Thank you!

Have a great weekend!

Ice Cream Social

Thank you to all the parents who came to our Ice Cream social! We even had a special visitor! Looking forward to a great year!

Welcome to Mrs. Donze's Class!

Welcome to fourth grade! I hope you have had a great summer and are ready to get back to school and LEARN! I look forward to meeting you. I am confident we will have a fantastic year!  I have been busy getting our classroom set up and planning lessons and activities that will be fun and challenging. Remember, Ice Cream Social  is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 12 from 6-7:00 p.m. Please stop in to meet me, visit our classroom, drop off your school supplies, and get acquainted with your classmates!  I look forward to meeting you!

Egg Drop

Today students had to work in teams to create a device that would protect an egg when dropped off a ladder. Students were given a set amount of materials to use. They had a blast! There were terrific ideas, but only one team emerged victorious :) 

The materials and instructions...

Planning and creating devices...

Time to test their creations!

The drop...

One egg remained in tact! Way to go, girls!

Book Trailers 2014

After finishing book clubs, students had to create a book trailer for their book!  Students used the iMovie app and their creativity to come up with the trailers.  They had a great time making their trailers and worked very hard to come up with the descriptions, backgrounds, and characters.  Check them out!

  

Science Day Fun and Other Details

Today we had a school wide science day! We had the Missouri Department of Conservation come a teach the students about bees. Then we moved to a Mad Science presentation. Students were able to see fun science experiments! Next we learned about wolves from a speaker from the Wolf Sanctuary. Continuing with our science theme, in art students drew ideas of slogans to promote recycling. We watched a Bill Nye video about recycling, had a snack and wrote about what we learned, and finally explored different organisms with microscopes! It was a great day of learning!

Here are some important days to remember as the year winds down:

• Wednesday, May 14- students will have a fraction quiz.
• Friday, May 16- No school for students!
• Monday, May 19- Field Trip to the Lewis and Clark Museum and First Capital Building.  If you child has not brought in their permission slip, please send it in as soon as possible!
• Friday, May 23- Field Day.  Please have your child where comfortable, old clothing. They will be getting wet!  We are still in need of volunteers for field day.  If you would like to sign up to help, click on the link below.  Thank you!

        http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4FA4A923AA8-science

• Monday, May 26- No school Memorial Day.  
• Friday, May 30- Last day of school. This is half day and no lunch will be served!  Happy summer!