Happy December!
We are getting closer and closer to our Winter Vacation. We have a lot to accomplish before vacation begins!
I hope all the students brought home their slips about our gift exchange. We will do a cute little story game where the students will pass around a gift. When the story is over, whatever gift they have is the one they get. Therefore, each student needs to bring a gift that is between $3-5 dollars that could be for a boy or a girl. It's a fun game and we want everyone to be a part of the fun!
In Reading this week, we will be taking a break from our reading book and learning about different holiday traditions around the world. We will be learning how other countries celebrate Christmas.
We continue to work on mulitiplication facts in Math. We have begun multiplying with bigger numbers. It is important that everyone continues working on their basic facts so that our math doesn't get harder!
In Social Studies, we will be working on our big maps doing the Northeast and Southeast states. This is a year long project that we will complete when we get near the end of learning about the regions.
In Science this week, we will be working on The Water Cycle as part of our Environmental Issues Instruction unit we are doing on Rain, Run-off, and Rivers.
I will have the students give their impressions of our work this week later on in the week or next week before vacation! Stay tuned...
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Interesting Events, People, and Books!
"Tree"Mendous Books
By Austin A.
In our class we are doing something called tree mendous books. First you read a chapter book. Then when you are done, you fill out a paper about your book. Finally, you get an ornament for your tree on the closet door. You can earn at four ornaments. If you earn at least three ornaments in December, we are going to decorate sugar cookies in the classroom.
Sequoyah
By Steven E.
Sequoyah created the syllabary for the Cherokee People. It was a written language so they would not lose their history. As he was working on his written language, his daughter helped him and was one of the first Cherokee people to read and write using the syllabary Sequoyah created.
Pajama Party
By Carson C.
In our 4th grade, we have been doing something called the marble jar. See, if we do good stuff in the classroom, we get a marble and if we fill it up we get a party. This Friday everybody wore their pajamas because we decided to have a P.J. Party We watched The Lorax. We ate our lunch in the classroom.
The Lorax
By Clayton D.
What our class is doing for Science is "The Lorax". First we listened to the story and then we choral read the story. Next week, we are going to act out the story for another classroom. We also watched the movie and compared it to the book. We are learning what an environmental issue is and this story helped us to understand it better.
January Excitement
By Mia E. and Maddie K.
In Mrs. Kurth's 4th grade, our reading incentive is, in the weeks leading up to vacation, each student has to read at least 120 minutes at home during the week. If you do this then in January, we get to pick our seats. So we all can sit by our BFFs! We will have fun with that. But, if you don't read 120 minutes or more, you don't get to pick your seat. That's what's happening in fourth grade!
By Austin A.
In our class we are doing something called tree mendous books. First you read a chapter book. Then when you are done, you fill out a paper about your book. Finally, you get an ornament for your tree on the closet door. You can earn at four ornaments. If you earn at least three ornaments in December, we are going to decorate sugar cookies in the classroom.
Sequoyah
By Steven E.
Sequoyah created the syllabary for the Cherokee People. It was a written language so they would not lose their history. As he was working on his written language, his daughter helped him and was one of the first Cherokee people to read and write using the syllabary Sequoyah created.
Pajama Party
By Carson C.
In our 4th grade, we have been doing something called the marble jar. See, if we do good stuff in the classroom, we get a marble and if we fill it up we get a party. This Friday everybody wore their pajamas because we decided to have a P.J. Party We watched The Lorax. We ate our lunch in the classroom.
The Lorax
By Clayton D.
What our class is doing for Science is "The Lorax". First we listened to the story and then we choral read the story. Next week, we are going to act out the story for another classroom. We also watched the movie and compared it to the book. We are learning what an environmental issue is and this story helped us to understand it better.
January Excitement
By Mia E. and Maddie K.
In Mrs. Kurth's 4th grade, our reading incentive is, in the weeks leading up to vacation, each student has to read at least 120 minutes at home during the week. If you do this then in January, we get to pick our seats. So we all can sit by our BFFs! We will have fun with that. But, if you don't read 120 minutes or more, you don't get to pick your seat. That's what's happening in fourth grade!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you have been enjoying posts from your kids. I know I have enjoyed seeing our classroom through their eyes. I thought I would write the post this week and they will be back next week with some exciting things about what's going on in fourth grade.
The next few weeks will go very quickly in fourth grade. We will be anticipating our winter vacation and all the fun that goes with that. However, we will still be in school and we need to remember to stay focused so we can get the most out of our day.
During the month of December, we will be doing several things and of course the students will be sharing more info on the blog in the coming weeks. We will be doing a Holiday Traditions Around the World Unit in Reading as well as working on our big maps in Social Studies. We will also be starting an environmental unit on Wetlands as well as Rain, Run-off, and Rivers. You will be receiving a letter home about purchasing mudboots that your child will need during our trips to the wetland in March, April, and May. If you want to purchase them now, I am sure they can be found at all the farm stores in town. April tends to be pretty muddy so it's important to have them. All the fourth graders in the district will be participating in this wetlands project with Therese.
We continue to do our Reading Logs! Please understand how important it is to read at home! The students who read at home always improve greatly over the school year. Right now we have an incentive going on in our classroom. For students who read at least 120 minutes every week until vacation, they will get to choose their seat for the whole month of January. I told them they will have to try extra hard this week since they are not in school and off their regular schedule. As Parents, please try to make reading a priority this week. 20 minutes a day will bring them to their goal.
Students who sing in the Ensemble with Mr. Grunwald will be a part of the K-2 Holiday Program at the high school this year. This program will be December 9th. Please look for a letter to come home soon about this performance.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I know that I am truly Thankful that you send your child to me everyday. It is truly a blessing to have each and every one of my students here each day!
The next few weeks will go very quickly in fourth grade. We will be anticipating our winter vacation and all the fun that goes with that. However, we will still be in school and we need to remember to stay focused so we can get the most out of our day.
During the month of December, we will be doing several things and of course the students will be sharing more info on the blog in the coming weeks. We will be doing a Holiday Traditions Around the World Unit in Reading as well as working on our big maps in Social Studies. We will also be starting an environmental unit on Wetlands as well as Rain, Run-off, and Rivers. You will be receiving a letter home about purchasing mudboots that your child will need during our trips to the wetland in March, April, and May. If you want to purchase them now, I am sure they can be found at all the farm stores in town. April tends to be pretty muddy so it's important to have them. All the fourth graders in the district will be participating in this wetlands project with Therese.
We continue to do our Reading Logs! Please understand how important it is to read at home! The students who read at home always improve greatly over the school year. Right now we have an incentive going on in our classroom. For students who read at least 120 minutes every week until vacation, they will get to choose their seat for the whole month of January. I told them they will have to try extra hard this week since they are not in school and off their regular schedule. As Parents, please try to make reading a priority this week. 20 minutes a day will bring them to their goal.
Students who sing in the Ensemble with Mr. Grunwald will be a part of the K-2 Holiday Program at the high school this year. This program will be December 9th. Please look for a letter to come home soon about this performance.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I know that I am truly Thankful that you send your child to me everyday. It is truly a blessing to have each and every one of my students here each day!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Great Things Happening In Fourth Grade
"Reading Saves The Day" incentive trip to Jefferson County Park.
By Alexis K.
Our school did a reading incentive. If you brought back 3 out of 4 reading logs then you got to go to Jefferson County Park to play games and eat smores'. They were delicious. I loved the smores'. They were my favorite part.
Northeast State Posters
By Mia E.
In Mrs. Kurth's 4th grade Social Studies class, we are studying the Northeast section of the United States. Mrs. Kurth allowed us to pick a Northeast state that we could research and find information about, such as the state seal, state bird, state flower. One person picked Connecticut, a few people picked Delaware, but most of the class was scattered everywhere. Our class project will be making a poster with all the states together and forming the Northeast region in the end.
The Interest Corner
By Carter S.
Our interest corner has books about what we want. A lot of students picked the types of books they like or are interested in. We picked Star Wars, The Vietnam War, World War I and II, Greek Mythology, animals, planets and more. I bet that we will have lots of fun. I can not wait until it gets here. I hope we have lots of time to be in it. Some of the books I want to read are Star Wars, The Vietnam War, and World War I and II. I bet our class will have lots of fun.
By Alexis K.
Our school did a reading incentive. If you brought back 3 out of 4 reading logs then you got to go to Jefferson County Park to play games and eat smores'. They were delicious. I loved the smores'. They were my favorite part.
Northeast State Posters
By Mia E.
In Mrs. Kurth's 4th grade Social Studies class, we are studying the Northeast section of the United States. Mrs. Kurth allowed us to pick a Northeast state that we could research and find information about, such as the state seal, state bird, state flower. One person picked Connecticut, a few people picked Delaware, but most of the class was scattered everywhere. Our class project will be making a poster with all the states together and forming the Northeast region in the end.
The Interest Corner
By Carter S.
Our interest corner has books about what we want. A lot of students picked the types of books they like or are interested in. We picked Star Wars, The Vietnam War, World War I and II, Greek Mythology, animals, planets and more. I bet that we will have lots of fun. I can not wait until it gets here. I hope we have lots of time to be in it. Some of the books I want to read are Star Wars, The Vietnam War, and World War I and II. I bet our class will have lots of fun.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Conferences, Ecosystems, and Parties, Oh My!
Student-Led Conferences
By Madison K.
This week we had student-led conferences. Student-led conferences are conferences where the student will be in charge of the whole conference. He or she will bring their parents to their conference. Conferences were on Tuesday and Thursday night last week.
Sidenote from Mrs. Kurth
I thought the students did a great job leading their conferences last week. I enjoyed listening to everyone share what they liked and what they needed to be better at in school. I want to thank all the parents for coming and supporting their child.
Our Assignment Journal Party
By Blair B.
Our class is having an assignment journal party. If our class and the other class got their assignment journal signed they would get to watch Underdog or The Fantastic Mr. Fox. We voted on Underdog. All the people who had their assignment journal signed got to watch a movie and have lunch in our classroom.
Our Ecosystem Projects
By Nickel I.
Our class worked on ecosystem and worked very hard on them. We made tundras, swamps, volcanos, rainforests, and more. We used materials that are easy to get, like paper and created ecosystems. We added animals, plants, and rocks to complete the living and nonliving parts of our ecosystems.
By Madison K.
This week we had student-led conferences. Student-led conferences are conferences where the student will be in charge of the whole conference. He or she will bring their parents to their conference. Conferences were on Tuesday and Thursday night last week.
Sidenote from Mrs. Kurth
I thought the students did a great job leading their conferences last week. I enjoyed listening to everyone share what they liked and what they needed to be better at in school. I want to thank all the parents for coming and supporting their child.
Our Assignment Journal Party
By Blair B.
Our class is having an assignment journal party. If our class and the other class got their assignment journal signed they would get to watch Underdog or The Fantastic Mr. Fox. We voted on Underdog. All the people who had their assignment journal signed got to watch a movie and have lunch in our classroom.
Our Ecosystem Projects
By Nickel I.
Our class worked on ecosystem and worked very hard on them. We made tundras, swamps, volcanos, rainforests, and more. We used materials that are easy to get, like paper and created ecosystems. We added animals, plants, and rocks to complete the living and nonliving parts of our ecosystems.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Ready or Not! Here We Come Second Quarter!
As we finish first quarter, all I can say is Whewwww!!!! We have been busy, busy, busy! We have completed our first quarter and report cards will be coming out this next week! Please remember our Book Order Deadline is this coming Thursday, Oct. 28th.
Conferences will be November 2nd and November 4th from 4:00-7:30. Please note the earlier starting time this year. Signing up for conferences can be done online this year. Please remember to sign up for your conference or call Connie Miller at school (472-2110) to sign up. Please go to Fairfield School's Website and click on the Parent/Teacher Conferences Link.
We will be doing Student-Led Conferences first quarter and you will be receiving a letter from me on Monday. The students will be preparing for their conference next week and I hope that each student will be present with their parent on one of these nights to share their school experience.
Now that second quarter has started, please start looking for student written blog posts. It is my hope that students can improve their writing skills by writing for a specific audience, their parents!
We have begun our Fall Reading Incentive, Reading Saves The Day. Students should continue to do their Reading Log and bring it back on Monday. They will receive a prize each week with a culminating prize of going to Jefferson County Park for Lunch and Games as well as getting to watch the movie, "The Incredibles". As always, it is important for your child to read at home each night. They hear me say it everyday so I thought I would add it to my blog post today!
For the most part, students are doing a great job of returning homework to school. I do have a few that I will continue to work on this responsibility trait with every week. As parents, let's help get them off on the right foot. They might need a little push from home to help them start doing it on their own!
Students that have 5 or less missing signatures in their Assignment Journal will be enjoying Dinner/Movie next week with Mrs. Hanshaw and Mrs. Kurth. Every quarter, the fourth graders will be rewarded for having their assignment journal signed everyday.
Ready or Not! Here We Come Second Quarter!
I took our pictures from our September field trip and put them into a web 2.0 tool called Photopeach. Try it out for a neat way to show your pictures and to share with others. These same pictures can be found off to the right in a Picasa photo album.
Fall Trip to Jefferson County Park on PhotoPeach
Conferences will be November 2nd and November 4th from 4:00-7:30. Please note the earlier starting time this year. Signing up for conferences can be done online this year. Please remember to sign up for your conference or call Connie Miller at school (472-2110) to sign up. Please go to Fairfield School's Website and click on the Parent/Teacher Conferences Link.
We will be doing Student-Led Conferences first quarter and you will be receiving a letter from me on Monday. The students will be preparing for their conference next week and I hope that each student will be present with their parent on one of these nights to share their school experience.
Now that second quarter has started, please start looking for student written blog posts. It is my hope that students can improve their writing skills by writing for a specific audience, their parents!
We have begun our Fall Reading Incentive, Reading Saves The Day. Students should continue to do their Reading Log and bring it back on Monday. They will receive a prize each week with a culminating prize of going to Jefferson County Park for Lunch and Games as well as getting to watch the movie, "The Incredibles". As always, it is important for your child to read at home each night. They hear me say it everyday so I thought I would add it to my blog post today!
For the most part, students are doing a great job of returning homework to school. I do have a few that I will continue to work on this responsibility trait with every week. As parents, let's help get them off on the right foot. They might need a little push from home to help them start doing it on their own!
Students that have 5 or less missing signatures in their Assignment Journal will be enjoying Dinner/Movie next week with Mrs. Hanshaw and Mrs. Kurth. Every quarter, the fourth graders will be rewarded for having their assignment journal signed everyday.
Ready or Not! Here We Come Second Quarter!
I took our pictures from our September field trip and put them into a web 2.0 tool called Photopeach. Try it out for a neat way to show your pictures and to share with others. These same pictures can be found off to the right in a Picasa photo album.
Fall Trip to Jefferson County Park on PhotoPeach
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Saying Goodbye
We have had a busy week in fourth grade! We continue to work on responsibility in fourth grade. Taking homework home and returning it to school the the next day may not seem like a big thing, but it is a major step in building responsibility for a fourth graders' future character. It is important for the fourth graders to do their spelling homework and their math homework on the night it will be turned in.
Another note on Reading at Home! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Encourage your child to read at least 5 nights a week for 15-25 minutes. It is so important to build a love of reading and getting to the point where you don't have to set a timer anymore.
This week we each planted a few seeds in our pop bottle. We will continue to observe and journal about our plants for ten school days! We planted Lady Lavendar, radishes, carrots, and chives. It has been interesting to see whose seeds germinated faster. (Radishes came up right away!)
In Social Studies we learned about Regions this week. This is a great introduction to the rest of our school year as we study all the regions of the United States. We will begin our study of The Northeast this week.
This week we focused on the genre, Mysteries. I am excited for students to share their mysteries with the rest of the class.
We will be finishing Unit 2 in math and moving on to Unit 3 where we will be doing more multiplication. Keep working on facts at home as this will help in the classroom as well. Please look for the Unit 3 Family Letter to come home this week and keep it as it has the answers for all the homework.
Sadly this week we lost a student! Cierra and her family are moving to a new town with a new school, new teacher, and new friends. We wish her the best but we will really miss her and hope she will be able to come back and visit sometime this year.
Although we had a sad end to our week, a new week is upon us with new challenges and great learning! Thank you again for giving me the privilege to teach your children everyday! I have the best job in the world!
Another note on Reading at Home! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Encourage your child to read at least 5 nights a week for 15-25 minutes. It is so important to build a love of reading and getting to the point where you don't have to set a timer anymore.
This week we each planted a few seeds in our pop bottle. We will continue to observe and journal about our plants for ten school days! We planted Lady Lavendar, radishes, carrots, and chives. It has been interesting to see whose seeds germinated faster. (Radishes came up right away!)
In Social Studies we learned about Regions this week. This is a great introduction to the rest of our school year as we study all the regions of the United States. We will begin our study of The Northeast this week.
This week we focused on the genre, Mysteries. I am excited for students to share their mysteries with the rest of the class.
We will be finishing Unit 2 in math and moving on to Unit 3 where we will be doing more multiplication. Keep working on facts at home as this will help in the classroom as well. Please look for the Unit 3 Family Letter to come home this week and keep it as it has the answers for all the homework.
Sadly this week we lost a student! Cierra and her family are moving to a new town with a new school, new teacher, and new friends. We wish her the best but we will really miss her and hope she will be able to come back and visit sometime this year.
Although we had a sad end to our week, a new week is upon us with new challenges and great learning! Thank you again for giving me the privilege to teach your children everyday! I have the best job in the world!
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