Catching UP!

 WOWSERS.  It has been awhile since I wrote anything here....

I could give you a million excuses.  That's all they would be.  Excuses.  

Instead I'd like to do a little brain dump of some of my recent events.

Yesterday was Will's baccalaureate.  I am not sure why, but I am not feeling sad at all....  I am proud. I am proud that the kid who cried daily in kindergarten and near daily in 1st grade is going to be walking across the stage at graduation with a National Honor Society stoll and gold chords.  He has done the work.  I often say that Will is my "me." He has the good and the not so good.

At the service last night, there were two excellent speakers.  The big message from both of them was, "Be a light."  

Here's what I will leave you with today:

"Remember, even the smallest light can brighten the darkest places. Your kindness, compassion, and positive energy have the power to inspire and uplift those around you. When you shine your light, you not only illuminate your own path but also help others find their way. Be the reason someone believes in the goodness of people. In a world that can often seem dim, your light makes all the difference. Keep shining brightly and let your light touch as many lives as possible."

Set Your Mind to Something....and DO IT!

 

Lancaster in the mornings is a quiet town.  It's my favorite time to roam the streets of town.  In the hours just as the sun rises, it's extremely quiet.  As we run from our house at the southern edge of town to the opposite side where City Limits Road marks a northern border, Kate and I can often count less than 6 cars that go by us during the mile and a half trek.  The sound of a tiny squirrel running up a tree can startle us. I love this quiet time.

  I think my love for this quiet running time is also connected to my love of reading and writing.  These things are done perfectly in quiet.  That isn't to say that I don't love conversation and a little noise too.  I do.  I love the time in my classroom when students are sharing ideas out loud or discussing what they've read.  I love sharing my writing and what I'm reading too - that's why I have this blog 😉😉  But it's about the balance of doing the things that you need to do to be successful.

  This year has been different but it cannot be a year with no goals or hard work.  Even with no races I am continuting to work hard with my running (Thank you, Kaiti, for keepingn me going :-)) 

When my students enter my classroom next week I want to be able to inspire them.  If I am not working toward goals and doing something to better myself, how can I expect them to set a goal and work toward it?  

I hope that the kids who come into my classroom (and those who have already passed through it) know that I care about them and want them to set their mind to something BIG and DO IT!

Go do great things today!

Spelling Word Work Stories

Today I changed up the word work rotation.  We are working with short u and long u vowel sounds this week.   We've done similar word work activities for about 5 weeks so today I challenged the class to use ALL their words in a story.  The story could be a little silly but had to make sense.  Check out some of their writing pieces and feel free to leave a comment or 2!

    One day I was stuck in the brush.  Then a bunch of monkeys started chasing me!  Who would rescue me?  I got a clue about why they were chasing me when I realized that I had bananas and some other fruit.  I even had a crumb of bread.  The crew of monkeys was amused.  Why?  They seemed to be arguing in between their laughs.  Suddenly I heard a tune.  It was coming from a juice stand.  I refused to stop moving because the monkeys were still behind me.  I tried to call 911 but they thought I wasn't telling the truth.  I saw a car trunk open at the junk yard as I ran past.  I also passed a store that sold suits.  Finally I got away but I slipped on the morning dew and I also said something rude to the monkeys.  Trust me, it happened!
                                                                                 Story by Brady

    I have a bunch of toys in my room but in the kitchen all you will find is fruit or juice.  I argue with my brother sometimes when I have been eating cookies or donuts because I normally leave a crumb or two.  I refuse to clean up the mess my brother leaves from eating.  My class at school is often called a crew.  During our time in music we have been known to make a beautiful tune.  I must tell you the truth.  I need a clue to solved the riddle of the car trunk.  It may not seem too difficult but it seems to amuse my brother.  I've told you quite a bit about my brother and you need to know that once he wore a suit to school.  It's important that you know about my family.  I trust my mom with all of my secrets.  My  dad drinks Mountain Dew.  I am stuck in the middle between my older brother and my younger brother.  It is common for me to rescue my little brother especially after I brush my teeth at night.
                                                                                  Story by Brooklyn

     There were a bunch of people at the football game including quite a crew of fans.  I heard a familiar tune so I turned around.  The man behind me offered me some juice.  I refused to move from that seat in the stands because it was the best seat.  Along with the man who offered me juice there was a bunch of fruit.  The referees called a holding flag but the truth was an offsides so the other team was upset.  I brushed the crumbs from the chips I'd eaten from my lap.  I drank some Mountain Dew.  As I watched I thought that the referee had no clue who won.  There was a man who began to argue with the ref about the game.  A young kid was amused as he watched but I thought it was rude.  I trust the referees and I knew he would be okay when I watched him put his gear into the trunk of his car and drive away.
                                                                                Story by Aidan

We are working toward our 5 "wins" in a row on our Arrow scoreboard and today we got win #1.  Here's to all the great work that keeps happening as we are Running Through 4th Grade!

Writing with Different Purposes

This week I shared a couple of lessons on Author's Purpose with the class.  I'm really happy with the end results even though our time was cut short due to a snow day on Wednesday.   Below you will find examples of what students wrote to show persuade, inform, or entertain.   Enjoy!   Feel free to leave us a comment here or on our facebook page!

Persuade
     Everyone should have a cat.  If you had a cat you would be healthier and happier.  Cats provide an instant feeling of calm that you would enjoy.  Take it from someone like me, everyone should have a cat.

     When was the last time that you went for a walk with a dog?   If you were outside in the cool air holding on to the leather leash of a fine, divine dog, you would know just how wonderful taking a walk with a dog can be.


Inform
    Dairy cows are very interesting animals.  They are raised for producing milk.  Cows have 4 stomachs to digest many things that we can't. The four stomachs are the Rumen, Reticulum, Abomasom, and Omasom.  You may think the only way to milk a cow is by hand but there are many ways to milk cows.  You can milk by hand, by machine, or with a robot.  Calves are young cows.  Calves drink milk.

     I'd like to tell you all about dogs.  Let's get started.  Sometimes dogs can get a fever and to tell that a dog has a fever your dog might be vomiting, have a dry nose, not eat, and so on.  The way to get rid of a dog's fever is to put wet towels over their ears and paws.  Rest is also important.  After awhile try to give them some food and water but don't push them to eat it.  Give them time and space.  After a little while they should be feeling better.  If the dogs ears are hot, they might have a fever.  These are excellent ways to tell if your dog has a fever.

Entertain
   I have a husky named Lexie.  Would you believe that she cleans my room and does my homework?  She is very happy.   She even looks like a leopard.   She is so cute to watch especially when we are having Nerf Gun wars.  We have so much fun together.  While I am at school Lexie usually sleeps in a tin can.  She's a tiny husky.  One time she got stuck in the tin can.  We got her out with a silver spoon.  This little husky named Lexie weighs just one pound.

   Have you met Zoey the Zebra?  You haven't?  Well I will tell you her story.  Get comfy.  This might take a while.  Zoey is one of a kind.  She was a rap star like no other:  funny, nice, and rich.  She had one problem.  Her problem was that she was the sassy kind.  One day she was bragging on and on telling everyone that she had so much money.  A witch came along with some words to warn her.  The witch let Zoey know that if she didn't stop bragging, Scarlet the pup would disappear.  The witch was very specific with her expectations. She said that at noon the next day Zoey would lose Scarlet.  Everyone knows to trust a warning from a witch but Zoey didn't think it could be real.  She really thought the witch had been part of a dream.  Well sure enough when 12:00 came, Scarlet the pup shrunk away.  Some people say that she still runs around Zoey's house late at night or early in the morning.  There are even reports that the witch and Scarlet check out Zoey's house every day at noon.      

4 Square in 4th Grade

Today we started our first big writing unit.  It's great to see how easily the students are catching on!  The 4-Square Method is a great way to learn to write because it gives you specific steps just like when we learned to read we started with decoding skills.    This method can be used for all the areas of writing that we are going to do:  narrative, persuasive, descriptive and expository.

Today we focused on how writing is organized from the big idea (main idea) to the subtopics.  

The students worked in small groups to come up with lists of things like people, healthy foods, board games and sports.  Each of the 3 subtopics went into it's own square.  The 4th square on the graphic organizer is for the wrap-up sentence.  There were so many great examples of wrap-ups:

"Apples, bananas, and pineapples are three healthy foods."

"Board games that are enjoyable are Monopoly, Life, and Guess Who."

"Hockey, Soccer, and Basketball are sports."

It's going to be exciting to watch our writing improve as we work through the steps in the 4-square method!

We will be back later this week to share more about what we are working on!  It sure has been busy as we continue to go Running Through 4th Grade!