Trouble Don't Last

Here's an awesome book review on an awesome book...

Number the Stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a favorite among fourth graders.
Here's our book review (including who we thought the bravest character was in the story):

Our opinions on the author's purpose for writing this book:

LEGO Builders

photos from last week's event ...

LIGHT

We are studying LIGHT in science.
Check out some of these fun websites!

http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/mturner/light.htm

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/eyes.html

http://www.plainvilleschools.org/Curriculum%20Units/integration_resources/trimester2/5-science.html

Happy Valentine's Day!

Compliment someone today!
Tell them how terrific they are to you!

Check out these Valentine websites:
http://www.storyit.com/wgames/valworddrop.htm

http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/valntine/valgms.htm

Dolphin Song

We finished the second book in the series!
Here's our book review:

Curious about the first book in the series?  Check out our book review on The White Giraffe:

http://missliefer.blogspot.com/2010/12/white-giraffe.html

Still Used Today

During Literacy, we had a story about about Native American inventions still being used today.

We read the story using the "Jigsaw" technique.  This is where each group read a different part of the story, and then they prepared a presenation about it for the rest of the class.

Check it out... 

Student Council February Report

States!

Here are four of my favorite state websites!
How well do you know our states!?!?!

http://jimspages.com/States.htm

http://www.weeklyreader.com/kids/games/geography.asp

http://www.eduplace.com/geonet/

http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf

Prefixes and Suffixes

When you click on the link below, you will get to play a game! This game will give you practice with prefixes and suffixes.
Remember in this theme,we are practicing prefixes...especially
non-
in-
di-
re-
pre-

http://www.e-gfl.org/e-gfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/teacher/other/spark/spinwin/spinwin.html#

Math-a-Thon

Math-a-Thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is starting!
Consider participating...get your permission slips in!


Here's the website that the video talked about:
http://www.mathathon.org/games/index.shtml


This is the "game" tab on the site.
There's also information about St. Jude, information for parents, and more!
Check it out!

Young Author Stories

During the month of January, we worked really hard putting all our creative writing skills to good use.

We brainstormed, drafted, edited, revised, typed, edited and revised some more, and PUBLISHED!

I am SO proud of this class.  They really devoted a lot of time and effort into creating awesome stories.

They are ALL winners in my book! :)

Some of the titles included...

Hamster with a Monkey Tail

The World I Never Knew

Tily the Dog

Dino Gets Tricked

Engen the Kitten

The Magical Cake

Paparazzi

Fish Bully

The Magic Legos

Barnyard

Haily and Her Puppies

Agent, You’ve Got a Problem

Lucky Me

The Adventure

Case of the Stolen Files

The Final Battle

The Giving Easel

The Mystical Lollipop Package

Crime Scene Investigation

How Bob Saved His Friends

Justice

Boys sharing their stories

Girls sharing their stories

The stories then competed against all the other stories written by fourth graders at Gardner Elementary.

Only six stories could be selected to move on to the Young Authors Conference.

Talk about TOUGH competition!

TWO winners came from our classroom!  Incredible!

Congratulations to the authors of these two stories. 

Have fun at the conference!

Shampow Shampoo

Advertisement:  Buy this new shampoo today!

CNN Student News

Want to know current events?
What's going on the world today?
Check out this video!
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/

Lattice Multiplication

There are many ways to solve BIG multiplication problems.
The Lattice Method is a popular one among students.
Here we are showing a few examples as we are learning this method.

Remember you can go to http://www.everydaymathonline.com/ to view more animations explaining how this method works!
Click to launch the free family resources.
Then "algorithms in Everyday math"

BIOGRAPHIES

Biography= A story about a person's life.

In literacy, we have all picked a biography to read from our library. 
As we are reading, we are noting facts about that person's life so we can write a biography about that person.

February is Black History Month...we have plans to learn more about some famous African Americans and write about them too!



In social studies we researched a few famous historical figures. 

We used our teamwork skills and created a group biography poster. 
Then we presented in front of the class about that person.





Father Jacques Marquette

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable

Robert de LaSalle

Louis Jolliet



Ferdinand Magellan