February Book It Participants

I cannot believe it is already the second to last month for our Book It Program!  It always seems to go so fast.  Many students are working hard to read a minimum of 100 minutes a week and earn their free personal pan pizza.

I just want to say a big thank you to all the students who are reading and turning in their calendars. Another thanks has to go out to those of you at home who continue to encourage your child to read! It really does make a difference and I appreciate all of the effort being put forth.

Don't forget March is the last month for Book It so be sure to Read Your Heart Out!

January Book It Participants

Winter is the perfect time to sit inside and read!  I hope you are all enjoying whatever you have chosen to read at home whether it is a chapter book, magazine, or comic book.  Reading is reading no matter what you happen to pick up from the library or bookstore.

I want to again thank the students who participated in Book It last month.  I appreciate the reading that you are doing at home.  Thank you to those of you who are encouraging them and taking them out to redeem their pizza coupons!  Only two more months left for this year's Book It Program!

Reading Centers

This last week in reading we worked on a variety of centers.  The big topics we discussed were biography, Latin and Greek root words, author's point of view, and opinion writing.  We began on Wednesday by going over our checklist and getting all the directions necessary for class.

Our leveled reader this week was a biography on Nellie Bly, a reporter from the 1800's.  It was a very interesting story and discussed what she did with her life that lead to change.

 

We also worked on Latin and Greek root words.  The students completed a 'folder center' that I have had for many years.  They had 48 words that they had to sort into categories based on the root of the word.  They did a nice job working together!

We have also been working on author's point of view.  This week I used some great resources that I purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thank you PTO for the mini grant!  The students worked on a nonfiction point of view piece where they worked together to answer questions about an author's point of view.  They then worked on their own to respond to a paragraph that gave an author's point of view and they had to decide if they agreed or disagreed.

Our last center this week was on opinion writing.  The students read a paragraph and had to respond by writing their own paragraph that gave their opinion on the topic of pop machines in schools.  This was put on google classroom so the students were even able to do a little research on the internet to help support their opinion.  They also had the opportunity to practice their typing skills!

December Book It Participants

We are now half way through our Book It year.  I can't believe it has been three months already! Many students are working hard to complete their calendars and read each day.  I appreciate all the effort that is being put forth by the students who are meeting their daily reading goals.

Students who completed Book It this month again received their free pizza coupon and a glow in the dark worm toe token from Mrs. Houchen.  She enjoys giving out these toe tokens and the students enjoy collecting them!

Some students have completed Book It all three months and they received a special treat!  To reward them for their hard work, I gave out a homework pass good for one reading assignment along with a bookmark.

Thank you again to last month's participants and thank you to those of you at home who have encouraged them to read!

Christmas Assembly

What a wonderful Friday we had!  The day before winter break is always very busy and this year was no different.

We started the day by opening up our Prize Box.  Students were able to use their soccer tokens which they earn for a variety of positive reasons throughout the school year to "buy" a wide assortment of items.  Thank you to our great PTO who allowed us to use a portion of our mini-grant money to buy items for our prize box!

The students then spent some time wrapping the gifts they made earlier in the week.  They worked hard to wrap their gifts and added yarn and bows to really make them look special!

The last thing we had time for before lunch was to watch the movie "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  We read the book together in class on Monday and Wednesday and the students enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities between the book and the movie.

In the afternoon we had our annual Christmas Assembly.  This year we did something a little different and students from each grade performed for the school.  Since fourth and fifth grade had just celebrated Grinch Day on Thursday, they recited "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" together.  They had been practicing all week and wore the Grinch masks that they made.

All of the students in every grade level did an excellent job performing!

We finished the day by celebrating at our Christmas party.  Thank you to the parents who helped put it together.  The students had a wonderful time and it was the perfect way to end the day!

November Book It Participants

This year the fourth grade is again participating in the Book It Program sponsored by Pizza Hut.  Each month from October through March the students are encouraged to read at home each day.  We set a goal for the number of minutes students are required to read.  At the end of the month they turn in their calendar showing how many days they met their reading goal.

When the goal is met the students receive a coupon for a free personal pan pizza!  We keep track on our bulletin board with the posters Book It sent us.

Congratulations to this month's participants.  Thank you for reading at home and thank you to the parents who have encouraged them.  I hope your enjoyed you pizza!

 

St. Nick Visits Fourth Grade

Yesterday morning when the students arrived at school they found a surprise on their desks.  Over the weekend St. Nick had stopped by all of the fourth grade classrooms!

Each student received a candy cane and a brand new book.  St. Nick must have wanted to get all of them in the holiday spirit because he left them The Dog Who Saved Christmas and Other True Animal Tales. 

Since the students had not left their shoes at school over the weekend, St. Nick even left them a little poem so they would know he was the one who had stopped by.  They were all very excited and enjoyed eating their candy canes right away.  We are looking forward to seeing them reading their new books over the next two weeks!

Reading Centers

Almost every week in Reading class, we have been completing centers.  The students really seem to enjoy the two days each week where they are working in small groups, with a partner, or independently on a variety of tasks.

We begin centers on Wednesday after having been instructed on each of the skills for the week on Monday and Tuesday.  The students have the majority of class Wednesday and Thursday to move through their four centers.  Each student receives a Centers Checklist that lists the directions for each center.  We go over this together and then they have it with them to refer to while they are working.

Over the last few weeks I've been able to collaborate with Mrs. Fedor and have one center that had the students working on both reading and science skills.  This last week we collaborated again and had the students completing a social studies skill.  With a partner, they were reading a map of Ohio and then created a poster listing some of the important features of their state.

Overall the students did a great job working on this center and learned a lot about their state and how to read a map.

Simile Writing

This past week in Reading, we learned about similes and metaphors.  We did some practice with them in class and for homework using our textbook and workbook.  When I was planning our centers for the week, I wanted to do something a little creative while having the students write their own similes.  After doing a little bit of searching on Pinterest and talking with Mrs. Rini, she helped me come up with two fun activities for the students to complete.  Not only did they write a few similes on their own, they also helped me to get a bulletin board ready for the Christmas season!

Some of the students completed an activity we called Color Similes.  They wrote three similes about the color green or the color red.  I started by giving them a few examples using other colors.

The students then wrote their three similes on paint sample chips that were shaped like Christmas trees and ornaments.

Other students completed an activity we called Grinch Similes.  They wrote a minimum of four similes about the Grinch.  I started by discussing adjectives that described the Grinch.  This helped the students come up with some great similes describing the Grinch.  They wrote their final copies on papers with a picture of the Grinch in the middle.

     

All of the work looks great and I cannot wait to get it hung up for the holidays!