Oh The Places You Will Go!

It is official, after four years I am a college graduate!!! It was a beautiful day surrounded by family and friends I could not have enjoyed it more.  Next on the list of big news is.... I AM GOING TO BE A FIRST GRADE TEACHER :) I have accepted a job in Lakeside, Montana and will be moving to Kalispell this summer.  So many exciting things to come!

Field Trip!

Today we had a Naturalist field trip that was great! We spent time hiking around looking at wildlife, insects and even got to see an owl and its baby! Here are some pictures from our great day!

Spring Has Sprung!

Hello again from 4th grade!! With beautiful weather and the end of the year coming in fast, students and teachers are both busy.  We spent the last week MAPS testing with all students in math and reading.  As well our math kiddos spent time reviewing all sorts of topics from 4th grade and even got to have math class outside on a beautiful Spring day!  In reading class we are reaching the end of The Wizard of Oz and the kids are working hard! A visit from the naturalist was a great experience, the kids learned lots about bird beaks and how this effects what birds eat.  This week we will go to the Missoula Children's Theatre and also out to Council Grove. Two field trips in two days!! The kids are excited, look forward to hopefully some pictures (if the student teacher can remember to take them!).

Testing, Charlotte's Web, and Money!

Another week down and the kiddos are working hard! In reading we took a break from our textbook due to our Smarter Balanced Testing and read from Charlotte's Web which was a welcome change of pace! In math we have been working with "real world" situations. Our math kiddos have perfected sales tax, checkbooks, sale prices, and on Monday they will be opening their own stores! Science this week brought us to the end of our rock unit, which included a rock and mineral lab where the kids discovered general physical properties of rocks and minerals and attempted to identify them! Look for pictures of the math kids and their stores next week and enjoy the three-day weekend :)

Spring Is Here...Maybe

The weeks are flying by and we are as busy as ever in fourth grade! In math class we finished up the last unit in the fourth grade English measurement. Students had the opportunity to work through some center activities as well as use some real world situations to put the English measurement system to work! In reading we took a break from our reading series to do some poetry, students did a great job of using their creativity to write various types of poetry such as Haiku, Cinquain, and Name Poems! In social studies we finished our study of the Southeast region by writing a journal entry as if we were children on the Trail of Tears, the students all did a nice job using various sources of information and their writing was outstanding! With the Smarter Balanced Testing we have been doing we used the left over time we had in math class to do some perspective drawings, check out these city scenes. Hope you are all having a great Spring Break see you soon :)

Where has the time gone!?

Hard to believe it but this week I reached the halfway point of my student teaching! We have been busy as ever in fourth grade as we battled massive amounts of snow (which equaled two snow days!) as well as preparing for the Smarter Balanced Test coming up in the next couple weeks.  In reading we started our new book and have been reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one of my favorites! In math we finished up with our decimals and are now making progress through the customary measurement system. Our social studies projects have been put on hold because we are getting new IPads! Hope you enjoyed my quick update, here are some pictures of our latest creation, a giant rainbow that the kids made out of tiny circles that they had cut out of painted paper. Look for more to come!

Week 4 and 5

Its been a crazy couple weeks, so I am a week behind in all that has happened it 4th grade. So here is a quick update of the past two weeks.  In reading class we started working with answering questions use the questions (and complete sentences of course!). The kids have worked super hard and have moved on to their new book! Math has been full of 3-D shapes and decimals. Last week the kids made a four foot tall castle using 3-D shapes, so cool!! In science and social studies we finished up our Sable Island ecosystem project and started the Southeast region, hopefully we will get to our mapping and state project soon! We watched  a presentation on lacrosse and had the naturalist visit! With the blizzard that hit we had a snow day on Friday (my first one in 22 years)! Look for more exciting things to do in the weeks to come :)

Our class medal tracker for the Sochi Olympics! Go USA!!!

Week 3

Week three was full of excitement. We began our Sable Island research project in science. The wrapping up of 3-D shapes in math brought us to the building of a replica of a castle, pictures to come! We also finished up our Olympic Games medal count bulletin board and the kids have enjoyed following their countries. In reading we began a book for our book report The Not-Just-Anybody-Family.  We ended our week with a Valentines party and lots of yummy ice cream.

Week 2

With frigid temperatures and snow, week two was a great learning experience in fourth grade! We had indoor recess all week except for the last recess on Friday. Lets just say I got really good at playing UNO and took the opportunity to get to know my students really well! Week two also included my first visit from my University Supervisor as well. I put together a short vowel spelling with play dough lesson and it was a hit! All my kiddos ended up getting 100's on their spelling test and I heard reports all week of them using their play dough at home to practice their spelling. We also started a medal tracker for the Sochi Olympics (pictures to come)! Next week a lesson on ecosystems!

Week 1

Week one was a great way to start off my student teaching experience! I had the opportunity to observe, and just simply do that. It was a great experience and I felt that it allowed me to really get to know my students, as I was able to observe their habits and interactions with other students and adults. Here is a little Power Point I put together so that the kids could get to know me. The week ended with an incentive recess that included "spud ball" and lots of snow!! Looking forward to my spelling lesson this week!

Kid President's Pep Talk to Teachers and Students!