Science - Classify Animals By What They Eat!

Food Chains, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers, Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Predators, Prey...
these are some of the vocabulary terms you hear in our science classroom this week!

Login and check out this BrainPop video:
http://www.brainpop.com/science/ecologyandbehavior/foodchains/


This website is one that practices these topics:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm

Can you identify herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores?
What about producers and consumers?
How skilled are you at building food chains?

To learn more and review what we've learned, check out these sites:

http://www.macmillanmh.com/science/2011/student/na/grade4/g4_ch3.html (this is from our textbook!)

http://www.gamequarium.org/cgi-bin/search/linfo.cgi?id=8451 (Bill Nye video clip about Food Webs)

You can find many other animal websites at the "science" tab at the top of the blog.

Suffixes

The skill this week in word study is suffixes.

Check out this BrainPop video about them!

http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/rootsprefixesandsuffixes/


Also in writing (grammar) class let's watch these video clips...

http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/sentencefragments/

http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/subjectandpredicate/

http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/subjectverbagreement/

Student Council September Meeting

At last night's meeting we learned that red ribbon week is October 27-29 and the food drive is October 14-29 and October 29 is were we might have to wear are Halloween costumes the shoe drive is still going on we have a few  of suggestions we should  have recycling bins by the trashcan. Cookie fundraiser  and go go gardener is like rocking roger. Our next meeting is October 9 that is all we have thank you for your time

Student News September 26, 2014

Click to watch the latest news report from room 215!

Essay Contest!

The VFW Post and Auxiliary #6504 of Waterloo, IL is having an essay contest for 4th and 5th graders!

The theme this year is "What Veterans Do for Me and My Community."

The essays should be no longer than 200 words.

Essays should be neatly typewritten or handwritten in ink.

A cover sheet should be attached that includes the student's name, school, grade and home telephone number.  The back of the cover sheet should include VFW/Auxiliary #6504 and District 14.

The latest date for entries is December 15, 2014

WCUSD #5 App

WCUSD #5 now has an app for iPhone and Android users!  The app is called WCUSD#5 and can be found in your App or Google Play Store for FREE.

Features of the app:
Calendar: dates, times & location for all district events 
Athletic Events: dates, times, & location of all WJHS and WHS athletic events 
Schools: address, phone numbers, & link to websites for each school
Cafeteria: links to each school’s site with cafeteria menus
Facebook: feed of the WCUSD#5 Facebook page
Twitter: feed of @WCUSD5Athletics 
Skyward: mobile login to check grades, cafeteria balance, etc. for your child

Reviewing Social Studies

Student News 9-19-14

"Ruff Around the Edges"

Just a reminder.....we will be holding a "Ruff Around the Edges" bulldog rummage sale on Saturday, September 20th from 8:00 am to noon at Gardner Elementary.

Great Grades

In the grade report envelope, there is a chart where the students are calculating GPA.

Since this is the first year they are receiving letter grades, the concept is new to many of them.

Monday we will be setting personal goals for our academic learning.

Please discuss with your child about what they want to work on and strive to improve.

Midterm Grades

Remember....

It’s important to value grades, but see them as merely an index of current performance and not a sign of worth.  All children are valuable and have great talents!

Student Council 2014

Book Fair!

It's book fair time at Gardner!

Our fair will be held October 3-9.

We are in need of volunteers to help make this years book fair a success.  

To sign up for a shift, please visit our online sign up calendar at

http://bit.ly/gardnerbookfair

Thank you!

Library

Today we went to the library to check out books for the first time.

Our scheduled library visits are every Monday afternoon.

Ask your child what book they chose today!

Sarah Plain and Tall Test Review

Things to review from our study of the book Sarah, Plain, and Tall.

*characters (look over the "flip book" in your folder)
*similes (compares two things using like or as
*setting (time and place)
*point of view (Anna is the person telling the story)
*problem in the story:  Caleb and Anna want Sarah to marry Papa and become their new mother, but Sarah misses the sea.  They think Sarah is going to leave.  
*Compare/Contrast (ways Maine and the prairie are similar and different
*Compare/Contrast  (ways life back then is different from life today)
*examples when Sarah was not a mild-mannered person (she says the cat will be in the house (page 19); she's not scared (page 30); cow pond (page 36)
*examples when Anna and Caleb are afraid that Sarah will leave (she missed the sea, her brother, and aunts. She also drove off in the wagon by herself).
*examples when Anna and Caleb think Sarah might stay (she said "winter" (page 23); she said "later" (page 25); she said "our dune" (page 32).

Student News September 12, 2014

Here's our student news video! Click play to check it out!

Patriot Day

Wearing our Red, White, and Blue

Papa Johns

Wondering what to eat tomorrow?
Make it a pizza night!  woo hoo! Everybody loves pizza!

Gardner Elementary will have Papa John's day/night tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept.10th!

You can order anytime all day and Gardner will receive up to 25% of the total order.
Call 939-9600

Please remember to mention that your order is for Gardner Elementary, and if ordering online ( www.papajohns.com )  

**Remember to turn in the orange paper to the cashier or delivery driver in order for our school to get credit**

Extra incentive...the teacher with the highest class total will receive a pizza party!

Continents of the World

Check out our Educreations Reports About the Continents

Australia: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/australia/23865237/

North America: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/north-amarica/23865304/

Europe:  https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/europe/23865377/

Asia: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/asia/23865335/

Africa: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/africa/23865287/

South America: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/south-america/23865092/

Student Council

Next week (Sept 15-19) is Student Council Election Week!

The student council is a group of students who are elected by their classmates to represent them (like a student government).  Members attend monthly business meetings where they discuss and plan activities, which improve our school and community.  It is a great way to meet other students while doing something worthwhile for your school.

We will have speeches and vote on Thursday, September 18. 

There is a stapled informational packet available to all students interested in running.  Please read over all the pages carefully.  Only decide to run if you are ready to work hard, attend all the meetings, and participate in all the activities.

We will elect 2 representatives from each fourth and fifth grade classroom.  

For ideas for your poster, look at some of these:
http://missliefer.blogspot.com/2010/11/student-council-elections.html 

After the monthly meetings you must report back to the class what happened. 
Here is a sample video of how you can report back to the class:
http://missliefer.blogspot.com/2010/12/student-council-december-meeting.html 

For more about student council search the "student council" label on our blog.  (There you can view more posts from previous years' representatives).

Verbs

Watch this School House Rock on Verbs:

Student News September 5, 2014

Here's our student news video! Click play to check it out!

Nouns

Boxtops

I am so proud of this class.

They are working hard collecting BOX TOPS!

So far we've collected...

500 boxtops and earned popsicles

AND  we've collected...

1000 boxtops and earned ice cream

Thanks for supporting our school and clipping the BoxTops!

Our next class goal is to collect 1500 = Popcorn Party

Interested in learning about other ways to help Gardner raise money by doing things you may already be doing?

Do you shop at Target or eat at Campbell's Soup?  

Check out this link: http://gardnerelementary.weebly.com/fundraising.html