The Award Winning Book Reports were absolutely fabulous! The students presented in front of several different classes, and they were not shy. The two different options for this book report were to create a scrap book about the characters, or to create a cereal box having to do with the book they chose to read. We had about half chose one of the options, and half choose the other. The books ranged from titles like "Dear Mr. Henshaw", "Mr. Poppers Penguins", "The Whipping Boy", "Kira, Kira", and "The Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler". Great Job, fourth graders!!!
On Thursday, we had a visitor (Alyssa Miner) come into the class to talk to the students about the Hanukkah traditions. It was such a wonderful treat to get to learn about their traditions, and how they celebrate the holiday. Alyssa brought in traditional hot potato latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, and donuts, as well. The kids loved the food! She also read a story to the kids. This book told about the story of Hanukkah, and did so through the true story of how General George Washington came to learn about the holiday during the Revolutionary War. The students got to learn about how he gained his inspiration he needed to keep his troops going when he learns of how the Jews defeated the much larger, stronger forces of the Greek Army. The kids really enjoyed it! Afterwards, she introduced the dreidel game to them, and they each got to pick their "lucky" dreidel as they played. It was a wonderful time for all, and informative as well! Thank you, Alyssa, for coming in and teaching us all about the traditional holiday!
The Art and Literature Faire was once again, a HUGE success! Each year the students focus on a school wide broad theme, and each class picks something under the umbrella theme. This year the school's theme was Africa and fourth graders focused on South Africa. This faire celebrates a six week, school-wide, cross curricula exploration. The student's focus on art, music, literature, customs, and cultures, and create masterpieces after studying, learning, and doing many hands on, engaging activities related to their theme. They work on many collaborated projects, and some individual ones as well. Our students got to enjoy learning about Nelson Mandela, apartheid, Kruger National Animal Reserve, fables and folk tales, the Nbele Tribe and their villages, painted houses, the Zulu Tribe and their customs, and many other interesting facts about the country in general. Below are some great pictures of their final products, and also some pictures of them working diligently along the way. Thank you all for being such huge supporters of this amazing night! The students absolutely love it, and are so proud of all of their hard work!
Thank you to Gina Goodwin, for inviting us to the Nutcracker on Wednesday. It was such a great show, and the kids absolutely loved it!
Good Morning Parents,
I hope you are all doing well! I cannot believe that we only have two more weeks left until December break, the time is flying by! Below is a quick reminder of things coming up, I know this time of year can get very busy. Wednesday, December 10, 2014- Nutcracker at CCCC. We will be leaving school at 8:45, and returning at 12:30. Please make sure that your child is dressed nicely for the show. Sunday, December 14-Tuesday, December 16- Ski Trip. For those of you who are going on the ski trip, I will be sending some work with your children to complete (either in the car, downtime up north, or the weekend before they leave). This time of year the curriculum is ramping up, and I would hate for them to fall behind. Wednesday, December 17, 2014- Award Winning Book Report DUE. The students should be prepared to present these book reports to the class Wednesday morning. Thursday, December 18, 2014- Art and Literature Fair 5-6:30. The students must stay in the 4th grade classroom from 5-5:45 to escort visitors around, and talk about their work. After that, they are free to wander and check out the rest of the classrooms. Friday, December 19, 2014- Alyssa Miner will be coming it to talk about Hanukkah traditions. Later in the morning/afternoon we will be doing our annual Gingerbread House decorating. I will be sending another email with details about the gingerbread house activity. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your help in making sure that your child has their book report ready and set to go. We will be starting our Biography/Autobiography Book Reports when we return to school in January. Best Regards,Mrs. Z Student's are currently learning about liquid measurement in math. In order for the student's to truly understand the relationship between each measurement, we made "Mr. Gallon Man" today. This was a great hands on learning experience, and they were able to visually see the relationships of capacities. Some questions you can ask your child...how many quarts equal a gallon? How many pints equal a quart? How many cups equal a pint?
Let the Reindeer Games Begin! To help get us through December with ease and fun, we are starting "Reindeer Games" in our class. This is a fun tool to make sure that excitement about the holidays, and Art and Literature Fair don't get in the way of our learning the next three weeks. Here's how it goes, when the students are on task, their group (desk group) earns a Reindeer. The first group to have a full line up of reindeer (8 of them), earns a dip in the treasure basket, AND a Reindeer Game. The Reindeer games consist of Christmas Sedarahc, Don't Let the Snowman Melt, Freezing Dance, Head Down/Antlers Up, Hot and Cold, Luckety Split, March of the Penguins, Not a Creature Was Stirring, Picture Perfect Holiday, Secret Elf, Snowman, Snowman, Where's your Nose, Student's Secretly Serving, and You Can't Catch Me. Best of Luck to all of my fourth graders!
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Ryann Zabielski
Elementary Director Archives
May 2015
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