I know that the kids posted earlier this afternoon about our activities in class today. I took photos during our Thanksgiving-themed centers today, and I thought you might like to see what sorts of activities the kids spent the day working on!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thanksgiving Center Photos
Hello all,
I know that the kids posted earlier this afternoon about our activities in class today. I took photos during our Thanksgiving-themed centers today, and I thought you might like to see what sorts of activities the kids spent the day working on!
I know that the kids posted earlier this afternoon about our activities in class today. I took photos during our Thanksgiving-themed centers today, and I thought you might like to see what sorts of activities the kids spent the day working on!
Thanksgiving Centers
Today we made Pilgrim comics - there were pictures with speech bubbles and we had to make up what words might go in the bubbles. We made multiplication turkeys to practice our math facts. We sorted out Thanksgiving foods into the food groups. We watched a Keynote about Sarah Hale, who saved Thanksgiving. We used the Promethean board to do a coordinate grid. We made a quilt on the computer. Here's the website that we used: http://buhlerquilts.wikispaces.com/
We finished reading our novel from last week. We also finished reading the book "We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes".
Tomorrow we are going to have a fun day. We are going to watch a movie, we can wear our pajamas to school, and we can bring electronics for Fun Friday (even though it is Tuesday)!
blogged by the whole class together!
We finished reading our novel from last week. We also finished reading the book "We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes".
Tomorrow we are going to have a fun day. We are going to watch a movie, we can wear our pajamas to school, and we can bring electronics for Fun Friday (even though it is Tuesday)!
blogged by the whole class together!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Halloween at BGS
We had such a fun day for our Halloween celebration at school! We started the day with our school-wide Halloween parade in the gym - each class has a turn at parading around the gym, so we all get to see everyone else's costumes! Then our school PTO provided a donut and juice for every student for a snack after the parade. We had pumpkins that had been donated by our amazing parents, so we divided up into groups of 2-4 students and did a "Pumpkin Investigation". We estimated and measured different parts of our pumpkins, then Mrs. G cut them open, and we got to explore their "guts"! After lunch we had Halloween centers - we made Halloween-style avatars on the laptops (cartoon versions of ourselves), decorated the pumpkins from the morning, created Frankenstein-style monsters by cutting apart people in magazines, wrote stories about our Frankensteins, wrote "corny" Halloween jokes on candy corn shapes, made Halloween graphs, and practiced measuring by making snack mix. It was a fun day and it went so fast - at the very end of the day we enjoyed the cutest Halloween cupcakes and listened to a customized Halloween story that one of our students had written (it featured every student in our class!). And the class walked out the door with a Halloween treat bag to take home! Halloween celebrations at school don't get much better than days like this!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Lima Beans
Today we did a lot of fun things! We started the day with art, where we started making a spider that we are sewing buttons onto to be its feet and head. Then we had our YouthFriends from BHS come to visit during math class. We worked on a really hard math puzzle all together. Then we had chili for lunch. After lunch, we had the classroom store, where we got to spend the pretend money that we have earned in our pretend checkbooks. After that, we checked out our lima beans that we planted one week ago. Some of them were growing (the ones that had been dried) and some of them were not growing (the ones from in a can). We had also put lima beans in wet paper towels inside of baggies on the window sill and we looked at those today. All of them had roots. Some of them had leaves and some of them were moldy! Almost everyone's lima beans in the baggies had started to grow, in just 7 days! Then after recess, we had library class, and we got to go to the AR store today and spend our AR points that we earn by reading books and passing tests!
These are pictures of our lima beans, and of the new seeds that we planted today (sunflowers, daisies, cornflowers, and columbines).
These are pictures of our lima beans, and of the new seeds that we planted today (sunflowers, daisies, cornflowers, and columbines).
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Trip to the Corn Maze
Today we went to the corn maze as a 4th grade field trip. It was a blast! We used our GPS units to navigate our way through the maze in small groups, listened to the Gaedderts talk about crops and soils in Kansas, and played in the "aMAZEing Playland" - especially the jumping pillow and the big slides!
Enjoy checking out the photos of our fun day!
Enjoy checking out the photos of our fun day!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Today we used a new Gizmo in science. It lets us grow different kinds of seeds with different VARIABLES (our newest science word!). It's pretty amazing to see an entire 50-day experiment happen in just a couple of minutes! This is a screenshot of what one of our experiments looked like at the end.
Yesterday in science class we planted real lima beans. Half of us planted dried lima beans and half of us planted lima beans from out of a can, to see if they can grow. We planted them in plastic cups and put them on the windowsill in the sun. We can't wait until they sprout!
Everyone also "planted" a lima bean in a plastic baggie, wrapped in a wet paper towel. We are going to see how long it takes for the beans to sprout without soil.
We are practicing making graphs in math - so far we have been using pictographs, bar graphs, and double bar graphs. We have been making graphs after we survey the class, and graphs that show our class eye colors and hair color.
In Social Studies, we just started learning about the NorthEast region of the U.S. Yesterday and today we watched a Discovery Channel video clip about the crops and land in the NE area. We also made a map of the states and their capitols.
In writing, we are writing stories that explain how to do a specific activity. In class yesterday, we worked together to describe how to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Everyone chose their own idea to write their story about.
Today we finished the book we've been reading out loud in class, "Extra Credit" by Andrew Clements. It was about a boy in Afghanistan and a girl in America who become pen pals.
Yesterday in science class we planted real lima beans. Half of us planted dried lima beans and half of us planted lima beans from out of a can, to see if they can grow. We planted them in plastic cups and put them on the windowsill in the sun. We can't wait until they sprout!
Everyone also "planted" a lima bean in a plastic baggie, wrapped in a wet paper towel. We are going to see how long it takes for the beans to sprout without soil.
We are practicing making graphs in math - so far we have been using pictographs, bar graphs, and double bar graphs. We have been making graphs after we survey the class, and graphs that show our class eye colors and hair color.
In Social Studies, we just started learning about the NorthEast region of the U.S. Yesterday and today we watched a Discovery Channel video clip about the crops and land in the NE area. We also made a map of the states and their capitols.
In writing, we are writing stories that explain how to do a specific activity. In class yesterday, we worked together to describe how to make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Everyone chose their own idea to write their story about.
Today we finished the book we've been reading out loud in class, "Extra Credit" by Andrew Clements. It was about a boy in Afghanistan and a girl in America who become pen pals.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday 9/14/10
Today we are learning about our insect's adaptations. Adaptations are something unusual a bug or animal has that lets it survive.
We learned about the Civil War in social studies. The South wanted slavery and the North didn't want slavery.
For lunch we had hamburgers, fries, and sherbet, which was really good. And we had vanilla shake flavored milk!
We got onto the PortaPortal and got to play games. We also got our Education City passwords and we get to start using it on Thursday!
Blogged by Danielle and Timothie
We learned about the Civil War in social studies. The South wanted slavery and the North didn't want slavery.
For lunch we had hamburgers, fries, and sherbet, which was really good. And we had vanilla shake flavored milk!
We got onto the PortaPortal and got to play games. We also got our Education City passwords and we get to start using it on Thursday!
Blogged by Danielle and Timothie
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, Sept. 10, 2011
Today we took a spelling test on Spelling City (online) and it was really easy (Ashley says!). We did Cannonball Clowns on Gizmos - it was place value game where we had to shoot the clown out of a cannon on the computer. We are learning about Cherokee Indians and the Trail of Tears. For lunch we had pigs in a blankets and cake, and it was really good.
blogged by Hana and Ashley!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Math Books and Food Chains
We started a couple of fun projects today. We are making a math book for the kids in 1st and 2nd grade to use when they start learning about place value. We each chose a number, and we are showing how to write it in word form, expanded form, using place value blocks, and using money. We are going to laminate our colorful pages and bind them into a book to share with other classes!
In science, we read the book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Then we used the animals in it to talk about food chains. We started researching the predators and prey of our insects for our insect reports.
These photos show us working on our math book pages on the laptops, and also show us working with partners to make food chains:
In science, we read the book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. Then we used the animals in it to talk about food chains. We started researching the predators and prey of our insects for our insect reports.
These photos show us working on our math book pages on the laptops, and also show us working with partners to make food chains:
Friday, September 3, 2010
A Typical Day in 4th Grade
We'd like to show you what a typical day in 4th grade is like! We are attaching a slideshow of pictures of us on a normal sort of day. If you visit our class wiki at www.goertzensguidebook.wikispaces.com, there is a more detailed description about the things that we are doing in the photos!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 1st!
Today we made math mansions! We used place value blocks and build little houses with them in groups. Then counted how much they were worth and then we got to estimate how much the other groups' mansions were. We earned beads if we were the closest guessers for the other mansions!
We went to the gym to watch the Buhler High cheerleaders this morning. They talked to us about Character Counts.
We watched a Social Studies video about the SouthEast part of the U.S.
We used laptops to find out what our insect's habitat is. Half of the class did writing in their writing journals and half of the class used the computers to research.
We also used the laptops to get on Spelling City.
In reading, we read insect magazines with a partner.
We had music today and we had a substitute.
Everyone turned in the maps of the SouthEast region.
They served something new for lunch today - enchilada casserole - yummy!
Blogged by Trey and Daphne!
We went to the gym to watch the Buhler High cheerleaders this morning. They talked to us about Character Counts.
We watched a Social Studies video about the SouthEast part of the U.S.
We used laptops to find out what our insect's habitat is. Half of the class did writing in their writing journals and half of the class used the computers to research.
We also used the laptops to get on Spelling City.
In reading, we read insect magazines with a partner.
We had music today and we had a substitute.
Everyone turned in the maps of the SouthEast region.
They served something new for lunch today - enchilada casserole - yummy!
Blogged by Trey and Daphne!
Math Art
Our class is proudly displaying our latest Math Art in the hallway - colorful designs created with 2-D geometric shapes!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Today we wrote in our journals and we searched on Google for the habitats that our insects live in.
Lunch was awesome! (Deli sandwiches, tater tots, and sherbet!)
This morning we did coordinate grids with letters on them to spell words - it was totally fun, and also hard.
We did vigorous activities in gym class, and it about made us sweat to death. We are glad that we made it through!
We did our spelling games on Spelling City.
We did maps - we colored in the 12 states in the SouthEast region.
Mrs. Goertzen showed us a picture of a melting cow (it was a sculpture).
We are going to be writing postcards about an amazing place on Earth tomorrow, so today we planned where we'd like to write about.
Blogged by Danielle and Justin!
Lunch was awesome! (Deli sandwiches, tater tots, and sherbet!)
This morning we did coordinate grids with letters on them to spell words - it was totally fun, and also hard.
We did vigorous activities in gym class, and it about made us sweat to death. We are glad that we made it through!
We did our spelling games on Spelling City.
We did maps - we colored in the 12 states in the SouthEast region.
Mrs. Goertzen showed us a picture of a melting cow (it was a sculpture).
We are going to be writing postcards about an amazing place on Earth tomorrow, so today we planned where we'd like to write about.
Blogged by Danielle and Justin!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, 8/30/10
We had an assembly today. It was about the American flag and the national anthem. We had some guests that came - one was Timothie's dad. They were soldiers. We watched a video.
Today we had Readers Friends for the first time. We read to the kindergarteners.
In science, we did some work about insects.
In math, we played a game (coordinate grids) and we earned prizes if we could give the right numbers.
We also did some punctuation sentences on the board.
We all had fun today.
Blogged by Sydney and Rand!
Today we had Readers Friends for the first time. We read to the kindergarteners.
In science, we did some work about insects.
In math, we played a game (coordinate grids) and we earned prizes if we could give the right numbers.
We also did some punctuation sentences on the board.
We all had fun today.
Blogged by Sydney and Rand!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Geometry Art
Check out our amazing geometry art! We used 2-D shapes to create designs, then colored them in to make creative art!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What a day - squishy apples, shape art, a wasp, and reading tests, oh my!
Today we made pictures using shape blocks. Some examples are a horse, a human, a fish, a dog, and Ms. Pac-Man.
We finished our apple experiment. We cut open one of the apples to see what it was like inside. It was moldy all the way through!
We took the World's Shortest Field Trip into the hallway to see Mrs. Jameson's class's shape art.
We started learning about how to use a GPS - about longitude and latitude. We are learning about this so that we can use our GPS and go geocaching.
Blogged by Paige and Lauren (with lots of help from the whole class!)
Today we made pictures using shape blocks. Some examples are a horse, a human, a fish, a dog, and Ms. Pac-Man.
We finished our apple experiment. We cut open one of the apples to see what it was like inside. It was moldy all the way through!
We took the World's Shortest Field Trip into the hallway to see Mrs. Jameson's class's shape art.
We started learning about how to use a GPS - about longitude and latitude. We are learning about this so that we can use our GPS and go geocaching.
Blogged by Paige and Lauren (with lots of help from the whole class!)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
First FULL day of school - August 19, 2010
Hello parents!
Today we made unusual fish drawings! We had fish with tattoos, fish with x-ray vision, fish with unicorn horns, fish with arms, and fish with beards! These amazing drawings will be coming home with your student today!
Also, today we played a new game called "Poison Frogs" - this is a strategy game. Ask your child about how to play it!
Today we got 2 new class pets - two tiny water frogs! Adrians A-Z in Buhler donated them to our classroom! This is perfect for us because we learn about frogs in 4th grade and Mrs. Goertzen says that we get to dissect frogs next week (fake frogs!).
We took our first timed test today - it was addition!
We also worked on our apple experiment - we took the peel off of the apples and we are seeing what will happen to them when they sit out. Right now they look brown, squishy and like dirty, bumpy baseballs.
Also, so far we have earned 4 minutes of extra recess by getting quiet quickly! We get to use it tomorrow!
We are having a great day!
Today we made unusual fish drawings! We had fish with tattoos, fish with x-ray vision, fish with unicorn horns, fish with arms, and fish with beards! These amazing drawings will be coming home with your student today!
Also, today we played a new game called "Poison Frogs" - this is a strategy game. Ask your child about how to play it!
Today we got 2 new class pets - two tiny water frogs! Adrians A-Z in Buhler donated them to our classroom! This is perfect for us because we learn about frogs in 4th grade and Mrs. Goertzen says that we get to dissect frogs next week (fake frogs!).
We took our first timed test today - it was addition!
We also worked on our apple experiment - we took the peel off of the apples and we are seeing what will happen to them when they sit out. Right now they look brown, squishy and like dirty, bumpy baseballs.
Also, so far we have earned 4 minutes of extra recess by getting quiet quickly! We get to use it tomorrow!
We are having a great day!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Tlingit Masks Slideshow
This is a slideshow with pictures of all of the Tlingit mask projects that have been turned in! I'm so impressed with our class's work!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Tlingit Masks - May 2010
The 4th graders have been studying regions of the U.S. this year. For each of the 5 regions that we study, we also focus on Native Americans that have lived/currently live in that region. Right now we are just finishing the West, and we have been studying the Tlingit tribe. This tribe is famous for carving totem poles, having potlatches (the beginning of our "potlucks") and making animal masks. Our classes made "masks" the other day on the computer. Each student chose an animal that he/she felt they were similar to. Each student took a photo of himself/herself on the computer's camera, found an image of his/her animal online, and layered the animal's face over his/her own face. They then wrote poems describing their animal and comparing themselves to their animals. It was so fun - their masks and poems are amazing!
Mrs. Goertzen
Mrs. Goertzen
Friday, May 7, 2010
Upcoming Field Trips - SACK LUNCH ALERT!
Parents,
We have several exciting things happening in 4th grade!
First and foremost, your child is bringing home a sheet of paper today that has his/her scores from all 3 of the state assessments. This paper shows you your child’s score as well as the category into which each of those scores fall.
Also, we have a couple of field trips coming up. On Tuesday, May 18th, we will be going to the Cosmosphere first thing in the morning. We’ll be watching an IMAX show that the Cosmosphere has specially ordered to support our Social Studies curriculum, a planetarium show, and a Dr. Goddard’s Lab show! Each student will need to bring a sack lunch and we will be eating at a park or at the Cosmosphere before we come back to school.
On Wednesday, May 19th, we will be needing sack lunches again. We will be walking to the Buhler Park in the late morning and spending some time playing - soccer, softball, possibly even fishing. We will be eating our sack lunches and then having some fun activities… a hula-hoop contest, a limbo contest, and a talent show! We will need a few parent volunteers that day to help supervise games at the park, handle any worms/fish/hooks for fishing, and help carry supplies there and back. Please let me know if you’d be able to help that day - I think we’ll be at the park from 10:30 to around 1:00.
Have a great weekend!
Carla Goertzen
cgoertzen@buhlerschools.org
We have several exciting things happening in 4th grade!
First and foremost, your child is bringing home a sheet of paper today that has his/her scores from all 3 of the state assessments. This paper shows you your child’s score as well as the category into which each of those scores fall.
Also, we have a couple of field trips coming up. On Tuesday, May 18th, we will be going to the Cosmosphere first thing in the morning. We’ll be watching an IMAX show that the Cosmosphere has specially ordered to support our Social Studies curriculum, a planetarium show, and a Dr. Goddard’s Lab show! Each student will need to bring a sack lunch and we will be eating at a park or at the Cosmosphere before we come back to school.
On Wednesday, May 19th, we will be needing sack lunches again. We will be walking to the Buhler Park in the late morning and spending some time playing - soccer, softball, possibly even fishing. We will be eating our sack lunches and then having some fun activities… a hula-hoop contest, a limbo contest, and a talent show! We will need a few parent volunteers that day to help supervise games at the park, handle any worms/fish/hooks for fishing, and help carry supplies there and back. Please let me know if you’d be able to help that day - I think we’ll be at the park from 10:30 to around 1:00.
Have a great weekend!
Carla Goertzen
cgoertzen@buhlerschools.org
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Music Program
Hello everyone,
Just a reminder that we have our 3rd and 4th grade musical program tomorrow (Thursday) night. The program begins at 7:00, and the kids need to be here by 6:45. The kids will come to the classroom where they have been assigned to line up (not necessarily their own classroom). The kids have special t-shirts to wear for the program. They have brought those shirts home tonight. Mrs. Walker is asking that you iron them and then send them to school with your child tomorrow. He/she will change into that shirt before the Grandparents' Matinee program in the morning, and then change back into his/her regular shirt afterward for the rest of the school day. Your child will then bring their shirt home and needs to wear it to school in the evening for the performance.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me!
Just a reminder that we have our 3rd and 4th grade musical program tomorrow (Thursday) night. The program begins at 7:00, and the kids need to be here by 6:45. The kids will come to the classroom where they have been assigned to line up (not necessarily their own classroom). The kids have special t-shirts to wear for the program. They have brought those shirts home tonight. Mrs. Walker is asking that you iron them and then send them to school with your child tomorrow. He/she will change into that shirt before the Grandparents' Matinee program in the morning, and then change back into his/her regular shirt afterward for the rest of the school day. Your child will then bring their shirt home and needs to wear it to school in the evening for the performance.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Bead Graphing
Monday, April 5, 2010
State Math Testing Tomorrow!
Hello everyone,
Just a reminder that we begin the KS State Math Assessment tomorrow. We are pumped full of information, we've reviewed until our brains are full, and we are ready to go! Our class has chosen to wear "team" colors to keep us pumped up during testing again this week. They voted to wear red on Tuesday, black or grey on Wednesday, and blue on Thursday.
Please make sure that your kiddo is getting plenty of sleep this week, eating a healthy breakfast, and starting the day on a positive note- so much of our testing is affected by how positively we think about it!
Have a great week!
Carla Goertzen
Just a reminder that we begin the KS State Math Assessment tomorrow. We are pumped full of information, we've reviewed until our brains are full, and we are ready to go! Our class has chosen to wear "team" colors to keep us pumped up during testing again this week. They voted to wear red on Tuesday, black or grey on Wednesday, and blue on Thursday.
Please make sure that your kiddo is getting plenty of sleep this week, eating a healthy breakfast, and starting the day on a positive note- so much of our testing is affected by how positively we think about it!
Have a great week!
Carla Goertzen
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Trees and testing!
Hello everyone,
Just a few notes about the upcoming 4th grade events:
*Your child is bringing home a small tree today. We had a speaker from the Dillon Nature Center come visit us today and teach about Arbor Day. As part of that presentation, each student received a small tree to plant. If by any chance you do not have room in your yard for the tree, please send it back to school. We donate them to the city to plant in the parks. There were several different kinds of trees, and they were of varying sizes - I know that some of the oak trees given out today can grow up to 60' tall and 60' wide!
*Next week is our State Math Assessment week. We will begin our assessment on Tuesday morning. It is a 3-session test, just like our reading was, but each session tends to take a little longer than the reading sessions did. Please continue to practice a 2x2 digit division problem and a long division problem each day, to keep those math skills fresh in your child's mind for the test!
*Next week we are going to begin studying Forces and Motion in science. On Monday and Tuesday, we will be creating marble ramps, and the students will each need a marble. If your child has a marble that he/she can bring for science for those 2 days, that would be great!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Carla Goertzen
Just a few notes about the upcoming 4th grade events:
*Your child is bringing home a small tree today. We had a speaker from the Dillon Nature Center come visit us today and teach about Arbor Day. As part of that presentation, each student received a small tree to plant. If by any chance you do not have room in your yard for the tree, please send it back to school. We donate them to the city to plant in the parks. There were several different kinds of trees, and they were of varying sizes - I know that some of the oak trees given out today can grow up to 60' tall and 60' wide!
*Next week is our State Math Assessment week. We will begin our assessment on Tuesday morning. It is a 3-session test, just like our reading was, but each session tends to take a little longer than the reading sessions did. Please continue to practice a 2x2 digit division problem and a long division problem each day, to keep those math skills fresh in your child's mind for the test!
*Next week we are going to begin studying Forces and Motion in science. On Monday and Tuesday, we will be creating marble ramps, and the students will each need a marble. If your child has a marble that he/she can bring for science for those 2 days, that would be great!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Carla Goertzen
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, 3/31/10
It's hard to believe it's the last day of March! It is such a gorgeous day outside, and the kids are hoping that we will be able to do some of our afternoon work outside (I think we'll do our writing outside - who can resist that sunshine?)
Tomorrow is the beginning of the "shorts-are-allowed-at-school" season at BGS. The kids have been talking about it quite a bit, so I wanted to make sure that everyone knew!
Also, Mrs. French stopped by the classroom today to ask if anyone could bring their "Buhler Book" to school tomorrow. She is wanting a couple of examples to show her class, so they know what their project should be like. I think she only wants them for one day.
We have been doing math review centers for the past several days. In the afternoons, our class has been creating small groups along with the students from Mrs. Smith's class. We have been reviewing math topics that we studied earlier in the year. We are "dusting off" older ideas, so that they will be fresh in our brains when we take the state math assessments next week!
Tomorrow is the beginning of the "shorts-are-allowed-at-school" season at BGS. The kids have been talking about it quite a bit, so I wanted to make sure that everyone knew!
Also, Mrs. French stopped by the classroom today to ask if anyone could bring their "Buhler Book" to school tomorrow. She is wanting a couple of examples to show her class, so they know what their project should be like. I think she only wants them for one day.
We have been doing math review centers for the past several days. In the afternoons, our class has been creating small groups along with the students from Mrs. Smith's class. We have been reviewing math topics that we studied earlier in the year. We are "dusting off" older ideas, so that they will be fresh in our brains when we take the state math assessments next week!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday 3/15/10
Today was an AWESOME day! We finished the first day of our state reading test, and I feel like everything went perfectly! We started a fun art project AND we had a surprise assembly. This afternoon, a NJCAA team from Howard, TX - the Howard Hawks - came and talked to the kids about responsibility, family, character, staying in school, and (of course!) basketball. They demonstrated slam dunking, and they even took some student volunteers out of the audience and lifted them up so that the kids could dunk, too! They told us that their tallest player who came to visit was 6'10"! I'm going to try to link some of the photos from the assembly here on the blog!
Just a reminder that the kids voted to wear green shirts tomorrow (for St. Patrick's Day) and blue shirts on Thursday - our class is dressing like a team on our testing days! (I love our class spirit!)
Just a reminder that the kids voted to wear green shirts tomorrow (for St. Patrick's Day) and blue shirts on Thursday - our class is dressing like a team on our testing days! (I love our class spirit!)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday 3/15/10
Hi Parents,
Just a reminder that we are beginning the Kansas State Reading Assessment tomorrow! Our class talked about it today, and we decided to all wear red shirts tomorrow, so that we'd really feel like a team when we start our testing! We have studied and practiced and talked all about it, and I feel like our class is ready to go - I think that it's going to be a snap after all of our hard work!
Thank you to all of the parents who have sent in treats for our class to have during the tests - we can't wait to nibble on them!
Also, a reminder that we have class and individual spring pictures on Thursday - your child should have brought a packet home last week.
Today we had math centers to start practicing math skills that we haven't used in a while - starting to get our "math muscles" ready for the math test in a few weeks!
Just a reminder that we are beginning the Kansas State Reading Assessment tomorrow! Our class talked about it today, and we decided to all wear red shirts tomorrow, so that we'd really feel like a team when we start our testing! We have studied and practiced and talked all about it, and I feel like our class is ready to go - I think that it's going to be a snap after all of our hard work!
Thank you to all of the parents who have sent in treats for our class to have during the tests - we can't wait to nibble on them!
Also, a reminder that we have class and individual spring pictures on Thursday - your child should have brought a packet home last week.
Today we had math centers to start practicing math skills that we haven't used in a while - starting to get our "math muscles" ready for the math test in a few weeks!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Testing Snacks Needed
Dear Parents of 4th graders,
We will be taking the state reading test next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I think the kids are ready and should do very well, but I imagine they might be a little nervous on Monday evening. Just treat it like any other night - make sure they are well rested and don’t forget a good breakfast each morning of testing.
I am asking for 6 parent volunteers to provide healthy drinks & snacks for our two testing sessions (reading testing next week, and then the math testing in April). We test mid-morning, and a snack will keep bellies from grumbling and keep our brains ready to go during testing.
If you could help out with drinks and/or snacks for a day, would you either email me or give me a call?
Thanks so much for your support!
Carla Goertzen
cgoertzen@buhlerschools.org
543-2240
We will be taking the state reading test next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I think the kids are ready and should do very well, but I imagine they might be a little nervous on Monday evening. Just treat it like any other night - make sure they are well rested and don’t forget a good breakfast each morning of testing.
I am asking for 6 parent volunteers to provide healthy drinks & snacks for our two testing sessions (reading testing next week, and then the math testing in April). We test mid-morning, and a snack will keep bellies from grumbling and keep our brains ready to go during testing.
If you could help out with drinks and/or snacks for a day, would you either email me or give me a call?
Thanks so much for your support!
Carla Goertzen
cgoertzen@buhlerschools.org
543-2240
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Water Cycle Projects 3/3/10
I am attaching links to the kids' water cycle projects. They divided up into teams, researched the water cycle, and choose from a variety of projects to teach others about the water cycle. You'll see VoiceThreads, Keynotes, and photos of posters!
Water Cycle
Water Cycle
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Fundraiser on Wednesday!
Hello parents,
Just wanted to reinforce what your kiddos are (hopefully) telling you at home:
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are having a fundraiser at school to benefit some kiddos (who attend our school) who recently experienced a house fire. If your child brings at least $1 to school tomorrow, he/she earns the right to attend a game time in the afternoon. During that game time, your child may either play with a classroom board game, or may bring an electronic game from home to play with (DS, PSP, iPod, etc).
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
Carla Goertzen
Just wanted to reinforce what your kiddos are (hopefully) telling you at home:
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are having a fundraiser at school to benefit some kiddos (who attend our school) who recently experienced a house fire. If your child brings at least $1 to school tomorrow, he/she earns the right to attend a game time in the afternoon. During that game time, your child may either play with a classroom board game, or may bring an electronic game from home to play with (DS, PSP, iPod, etc).
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
Carla Goertzen
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday 2/22/10
Hello everyone,
We are entering a rather crazy week - conferences, Personal Safety Awareness classes, and water cycle projects. I can't wait to share the kids' projects with you - most of the groups have chosen to create a project to share on VoiceThread, so you'll be able to watch and listen to them. We have groups writing songs, making posters, creating a story about a water droplet, and writing plays - it's going to be great!
See you either Tuesday evening or sometime on Thursday!
Also, a reminder that we have "themes" this week for Read Across America week:
Monday - "Team Up For Reading" - wear your favorite team shirt.
Tuesday - "Fox In Socks" - wear crazy socks.
Wednesday - "Cuddle up with a Good Book" - wear pajamas
Mrs. Goertzen
We are entering a rather crazy week - conferences, Personal Safety Awareness classes, and water cycle projects. I can't wait to share the kids' projects with you - most of the groups have chosen to create a project to share on VoiceThread, so you'll be able to watch and listen to them. We have groups writing songs, making posters, creating a story about a water droplet, and writing plays - it's going to be great!
See you either Tuesday evening or sometime on Thursday!
Also, a reminder that we have "themes" this week for Read Across America week:
Monday - "Team Up For Reading" - wear your favorite team shirt.
Tuesday - "Fox In Socks" - wear crazy socks.
Wednesday - "Cuddle up with a Good Book" - wear pajamas
Mrs. Goertzen
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday 2/19/10
Today was Fun Friday! That means that every student (today this was 12 out of 17) who had ALL of their work turned in, and was caught up on their Sunflower Reader (14 books as of this week), got to participate in a tessellation project. We have been studying shapes and transformations in math, so this was a perfect tie-in with what we've been studying. We looked at some examples of M.C. Escher's tessellation artwork and then created our own tessellation shapes from notecards. We have some amazingly creative artwork being created - check out the photos! The kids can't wait to show them to you at conferences next week!
This was a fun day to be a 4th grader, since we played a game in math class today on the Promethean board about coordinate planes and ordered pairs. The kids got to choose an image of candy from the grid, tell the correct ordered pair for the candy's location, and then earn that piece of candy. And then we had art class this afternoon, learning about drawing 3-D cylinders.
What a fun day!
Mrs. Goertzen
This was a fun day to be a 4th grader, since we played a game in math class today on the Promethean board about coordinate planes and ordered pairs. The kids got to choose an image of candy from the grid, tell the correct ordered pair for the candy's location, and then earn that piece of candy. And then we had art class this afternoon, learning about drawing 3-D cylinders.
What a fun day!
Mrs. Goertzen
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday 2/16/10
Written by Drew and Luke
Today we started our Common Assessment in math. There are 48 questions on it, but we are only doing 12 of them each day. This is our last common assessment in math! Yay!
We made a comic strip this afternoon about a folklore story called "Gluskabe and the Snow Bird".
We made a magazine cover about famous Kansans today. We used the website www.bighugelabs.com. Each of us is studying a different Kansan - ("I had Bob Dole" one of them says. "I have Barry Sanders!")
At the end of the day we filled out our agendas - there is a reminder that we have Family Reading Night tonight. And the Book Fair is open tonight during Reading Night.
Today we started our Common Assessment in math. There are 48 questions on it, but we are only doing 12 of them each day. This is our last common assessment in math! Yay!
We made a comic strip this afternoon about a folklore story called "Gluskabe and the Snow Bird".
We made a magazine cover about famous Kansans today. We used the website www.bighugelabs.com. Each of us is studying a different Kansan - ("I had Bob Dole" one of them says. "I have Barry Sanders!")
At the end of the day we filled out our agendas - there is a reminder that we have Family Reading Night tonight. And the Book Fair is open tonight during Reading Night.
Box Tops
Hello parents,
I want to thank everyone who sent Box Tops earlier this year. Our classroom earns 10 cents for each Box Top sent in. So far, we have used our Box Top money to buy TinkerToys for inside recess, a United States puzzle, flashcards, and playing cards for math games. This is particularly nice for us this year, since our classrooms have no classroom budget at all this year to buy supplies. I am hoping to use the Box Top money from this current round to buy hand sanitizer, air freshener, more outdoor recess equipment, and CD disks for each child so that at the end of the year I can put all of his/her projects on a disk for him/her to take home and keep.
This is our last round of Box Top collections for the year, and the representative will be picking them up on this Friday, the 19th.
Thank you for supporting our classroom!
Carla Goertzen
I want to thank everyone who sent Box Tops earlier this year. Our classroom earns 10 cents for each Box Top sent in. So far, we have used our Box Top money to buy TinkerToys for inside recess, a United States puzzle, flashcards, and playing cards for math games. This is particularly nice for us this year, since our classrooms have no classroom budget at all this year to buy supplies. I am hoping to use the Box Top money from this current round to buy hand sanitizer, air freshener, more outdoor recess equipment, and CD disks for each child so that at the end of the year I can put all of his/her projects on a disk for him/her to take home and keep.
This is our last round of Box Top collections for the year, and the representative will be picking them up on this Friday, the 19th.
Thank you for supporting our classroom!
Carla Goertzen
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Tuesday 2/9/10
Today we created a VoiceThread about the geometric shapes we've been studying. We used shapes to make pictures, colored them in, then took photos of our pictures and loaded them onto VoiceThread. Then we each talked about the shapes we used to make our pictures.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Friday 2/5/10, take 2
Hello everyone,
I am going to add a video to this post of the kids during Science class today. We had centers that focused on the states of matter - specifically, gas (which, of course, gets a lot of humor in 4th grade!) The class had a great time blowing up balloons, inflating ziploc bags, blowing bubbles in liquid soap, using straws to blow bubbles in pop and water, and dunking air-filled cups in water. The videos show the kids working in some of the stations.
Your kiddo should have brought home a conference note yesterday, asking which conference times work best for you. This is just a reminder that we fill those time slots on a first-come, first-served preference system.
Also, just a reminder that we DO NOT have school on Monday - it is a Professional Learning day! Have a great 3-day weekend - see you on Tuesday!
Mrs. Goertzen
I am going to add a video to this post of the kids during Science class today. We had centers that focused on the states of matter - specifically, gas (which, of course, gets a lot of humor in 4th grade!) The class had a great time blowing up balloons, inflating ziploc bags, blowing bubbles in liquid soap, using straws to blow bubbles in pop and water, and dunking air-filled cups in water. The videos show the kids working in some of the stations.
Your kiddo should have brought home a conference note yesterday, asking which conference times work best for you. This is just a reminder that we fill those time slots on a first-come, first-served preference system.
Also, just a reminder that we DO NOT have school on Monday - it is a Professional Learning day! Have a great 3-day weekend - see you on Tuesday!
Mrs. Goertzen
Friday 2/5/10
Today we did Gas Stations in science. It's when we had 6 stations and each station had something to do with gas (the state of matter, like solids and liquids).
Today we got Valentines bags and we got to decorate them for Fun Friday. We put ribbons, glitter, fabric markers, paint, stickers and other stuff on them.
In math we got to make Keynotes about shapes - we got to pick a picture off the internet and do the transformations to them - original, slide, flip and turn. We chose the Titanic and Gravedigger (the monster truck).
Written by Bailey and Cade
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday morning 2/4/10
Hello Parents,
I was not at school yesterday, so we did not get any posts added to our blog yesterday. But I realized this morning that there were some announcements parents needed to know:
1. I will be sending home a class list with your child today, for Valentines cards. Your child does not have to bring valentines to school, but if he/she wants to, they must bring one for everyone in class. We're working hard this year on showing good character, and we want to make sure that no one feels left out.
2. This Friday, for our class Fun Friday activity, we will be decorating valentines bags. These are fabric bags, and we will be decorating them with fabric paints, Sharpies, etc. Your child qualifies to participate in Fun Friday if they are caught up with Sunflower Reader (this week, they must have at least 13 books read and passed) AND they have all of their work turned in. If your kiddo meets these qualifications, they will probably be asking you about bringing fabric paint and/or Sharpies to school, as well as possibly looking for a valentines image to trace. I wanted to make sure you knew what we would be using them for! I will also be providing some images at school to choose from, but many kids like to personalize their bag with something they are interested in.
Have a great Thursday!
I was not at school yesterday, so we did not get any posts added to our blog yesterday. But I realized this morning that there were some announcements parents needed to know:
1. I will be sending home a class list with your child today, for Valentines cards. Your child does not have to bring valentines to school, but if he/she wants to, they must bring one for everyone in class. We're working hard this year on showing good character, and we want to make sure that no one feels left out.
2. This Friday, for our class Fun Friday activity, we will be decorating valentines bags. These are fabric bags, and we will be decorating them with fabric paints, Sharpies, etc. Your child qualifies to participate in Fun Friday if they are caught up with Sunflower Reader (this week, they must have at least 13 books read and passed) AND they have all of their work turned in. If your kiddo meets these qualifications, they will probably be asking you about bringing fabric paint and/or Sharpies to school, as well as possibly looking for a valentines image to trace. I wanted to make sure you knew what we would be using them for! I will also be providing some images at school to choose from, but many kids like to personalize their bag with something they are interested in.
Have a great Thursday!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tuesday, 2/2/10
Hello everyone!
I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day and long weekend! It was nice to be able to go outside for recess again for the first time today - although the playground is surrounded by snow, our blacktop play area has been cleared off, so the students can run around at recess time!
I wanted to let you know that although your student hasn't been bringing any Social Studies papers home for the past couple of weeks, we ARE studying that subject at school! As we do more and more of our activities online and as hands-on projects, it sometimes means that there aren't as many papers coming home. Many of these activities are graded, however, and you can always check their grades at any time on PowerSchool. We have been creating Kansas objects lately in social studies, and we have created models of sod houses, covered wagons, tepees, and buffaloes. All of these objects are currently on the walls of our classroom and hallway, but they will be coming home soon! I'm planning to post some photos of our creations on Thursday.
Also, I got some interesting information about an opportunity for Wednesday, February 3 - the International Space Station's line of orbit will pass directly over our area for one pass, and we will be able to see it clearly if the skies are clear. It will pass for a 5-minute time span, from 7:13 - 7:18, traveling from SW to NE. My family got to see it the last time it's orbit crossed our path in an evening, a few weeks ago, and it was pretty interesting - it looks like a larger airplane light traveling across the sky! Isn't it amazing to think that we have astronauts living on the Space Station and that we can see their home from our yards!
Mrs. Goertzen
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, 1/30/10
Hello everyone! I hope that you are enjoying your unexpected Snow-Day/Long-Weekend! We had several fun things planned for Friday, and so I wanted to let you know about how the schedule will change. We were planning to celebrate Kansas Day on Friday. We will be moving the activities to Monday, including wearing Kansas team wear. Also, Friday was scheduled to be the Early Bird Sunflower Reader pizza party. The party will be held one afternoon this week, but I am not yet sure when...probably either Monday or Friday. The party is held at the end of the day, so it doesn't affect lunch plans. And our students have been collecting money for Haiti this past week, bringing a different denomination of coin each day. Friday's plan was to bring dollars, so the kids will be doing that on Monday, instead.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - see you on Monday!
Mrs. Goertzen
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - see you on Monday!
Mrs. Goertzen
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, 1/25/10
Today we reviewed the different kinds of measurement that we have been studying - length, volume, weight, temperature and time. We played a matching game with cards that had measurement words, pictures of measurement tools, and short paragraphs with questions about what kind of measurement to use in a certain situation ("This kind of measurement would be used to tell how much water is in your bathtub"). This game was fun, but it took a LONG TIME to figure out. I'm attaching videos of our class working on it.
We also had art today - we have art 2 afternoons a month, for 45 minutes each time. We have it at the end of the day, 2 days in a row, so I'll be blogging today and tomorrow so that no student has to miss any of their art time! Today the kids are learning about perspective while they draw connecting pipes.
Also, this week the school is collecting money to benefit Haiti. It is being run by the 5th grade classes, and the kids all heard an announcement about it on Friday morning. However, I know that many of them have probably forgotten (like I did). Every morning in the gym, the 5th graders will be collecting change to be donated to the Red Cross and/or World Vision. Your child is welcome to bring change on any of the days. Each day a certain type of coin is being collected:
Monday-Pennies
Tuesday-Nickels
Wednesday-Dimes
Thursday-Quarters
Friday-Dollars
Thanks for your support!
We also had art today - we have art 2 afternoons a month, for 45 minutes each time. We have it at the end of the day, 2 days in a row, so I'll be blogging today and tomorrow so that no student has to miss any of their art time! Today the kids are learning about perspective while they draw connecting pipes.
Also, this week the school is collecting money to benefit Haiti. It is being run by the 5th grade classes, and the kids all heard an announcement about it on Friday morning. However, I know that many of them have probably forgotten (like I did). Every morning in the gym, the 5th graders will be collecting change to be donated to the Red Cross and/or World Vision. Your child is welcome to bring change on any of the days. Each day a certain type of coin is being collected:
Monday-Pennies
Tuesday-Nickels
Wednesday-Dimes
Thursday-Quarters
Friday-Dollars
Thanks for your support!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Announcements for the week of January 25 - 29, 2010
Hello everyone,
I hope that you are having a good weekend! There were several things I wanted to share while I was thinking about them:
* We are no longer sending home paper newsletters on Fridays. As one of our district efforts to save money, we are now publishing the newsletter online only. If you go to our school website (www.buhlerschools.org) there is a link to our newsletter. Also, the school is emailing the letter to every parent who put their email address on the registration form at the beginning of the year. Feel free to contact the office and change your email address if it has changed!
*This upcoming Friday is Kansas Day! We will be celebrating with special Kansas snacks and activities. The kids will be square dancing this week in p.e. and music. They also created a Kansas story during their library class time, which every class in the school added to. They will be showing this story on BGTV this week. You'll can see every episode of BGTV on the school website, as well. Also, your student is encouraged to wear any sort of Kansas team/spirit wear on Friday!
*Our school is once again having a BoxTops contest. We will be having a "Love Your Classroom" theme. Bring your collection of BoxTops to school from now until February 22nd. The class contributing the most BoxTops will win a great new classroom board game and time to play! Teachers receive the money earned from the BoxTops and can use it for anything they need for their classrooms. Keep an eye on the bulletin board by the cafeteria where each class's collection progress will be recorded.
*Our spelling words this upcoming week are words that go along with Chapter 9 in our Social Studies book, which we are using as our text during reading class this week. This chapter is about the people who live in the Midwest, from the Native Americans through today. This is always the students' favorite section - we get to see images of the tribes who lived here, and there is a whole section on John Deere! These spelling words are also posted on www.spellingcity.com, so your student can practice with these words at home, too.
Spelling Words for Chapter 9
sod
interstate
highway
system
trade
fur
steamboat
railroad
mission
hub
trading
post
mound
traditional
cargo
canoe
gathering
settle
plow
route
Challenge Words:
movement
ceremonies
settlement
reservation
transcontinental
I hope that you are having a good weekend! There were several things I wanted to share while I was thinking about them:
* We are no longer sending home paper newsletters on Fridays. As one of our district efforts to save money, we are now publishing the newsletter online only. If you go to our school website (www.buhlerschools.org) there is a link to our newsletter. Also, the school is emailing the letter to every parent who put their email address on the registration form at the beginning of the year. Feel free to contact the office and change your email address if it has changed!
*This upcoming Friday is Kansas Day! We will be celebrating with special Kansas snacks and activities. The kids will be square dancing this week in p.e. and music. They also created a Kansas story during their library class time, which every class in the school added to. They will be showing this story on BGTV this week. You'll can see every episode of BGTV on the school website, as well. Also, your student is encouraged to wear any sort of Kansas team/spirit wear on Friday!
*Our school is once again having a BoxTops contest. We will be having a "Love Your Classroom" theme. Bring your collection of BoxTops to school from now until February 22nd. The class contributing the most BoxTops will win a great new classroom board game and time to play! Teachers receive the money earned from the BoxTops and can use it for anything they need for their classrooms. Keep an eye on the bulletin board by the cafeteria where each class's collection progress will be recorded.
*Our spelling words this upcoming week are words that go along with Chapter 9 in our Social Studies book, which we are using as our text during reading class this week. This chapter is about the people who live in the Midwest, from the Native Americans through today. This is always the students' favorite section - we get to see images of the tribes who lived here, and there is a whole section on John Deere! These spelling words are also posted on www.spellingcity.com, so your student can practice with these words at home, too.
Spelling Words for Chapter 9
sod
interstate
highway
system
trade
fur
steamboat
railroad
mission
hub
trading
post
mound
traditional
cargo
canoe
gathering
settle
plow
route
Challenge Words:
movement
ceremonies
settlement
reservation
transcontinental
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday 1/22/10
Today we watched Sarah, Plain and Tall and we got to eat cookies. Today we all took our spelling tests online at www.spellingcity.com. This is the first time that we all took the tests online. The computer reads the words out loud, so we all wear headphones. Or earbuds. We can have the computer read the word as many times as we want while we spell it, so it is easier to hear the word over and over if we want to.
Written by Drew and Ethan
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wednesday 1/20/10
Today we played a game called "Painters' Challenge" in math, where the kids practiced converting standard capacity measurements -gallons, quarts, pints and cups. They were so good at it by the end!
We also continued researching sod houses, and how the settlers in Kansas built them when Kansas was first being settled, since trees were so rare. It's interesting to imagine how different Kansas looked when it was first settled.
Tomorrow and Friday we will be taking the Reading Common Assessment on the computers, so please make sure that your kiddos get enough sleep tonight!
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About Me
- Carla Goertzen
- I am a teacher, mother, wife of a drag racer, and avid reader who dreams of winning the lottery so that I can travel as exorbitantly as I wish.