Tuesday, 12/20/11

It's the last Tuesday of school before Christmas! And we had the CUTEST cupcake treats EVER today, courtesy of Aliah.

Today we worked on "Operation Elf" - we can't tell you anything else about that, since it is TOP SECRET!
Today we also had to stay inside during recess time, since it was a little snowy outside. :)
We are working on Christmas Around The World projects, where we are each studying a different country and its winter celebration. We are making Keynotes to share our information.
We read "Auntie Claus" and talked about how characters can change over time. And we started "Mooseltoe" to talk about problems and solutions.
We had music today and we had a test about treble & bass clef. We had to write words that were spelled with the notes and put them on the staff.
Today we are getting a skating pass to use over Christmas break - free skating in the afternoons!
We edited more sentences about our superhero - Mighty Morton - in grammar writing class.

Tuesday, 12/13/11

It has been a while since we have blogged! We are busy getting ready for Christmas!

Today we had Hobby Hour, as a reward for earning 20 (virtual) gumballs for good behavior choices! Students in our class brought their electronic games, electric guitars, iPods, and circuit boards!
Today we also got to go watch the K-2nd graders perform their Christmas program.
We read more of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever - we are almost half way done!
We learned about lattice multiplication. We are going to practice until we are amazing and then we are going to make videos to show our parents!
We watched about 20 minutes of The Nutcracker this afternoon, since it was too rainy to go outside!
Yesterday we got to watch Shrek the Halls as a reward for making good choices.
We got to stack cups in p.e. this morning!

Wednesday, 11/30/11

Today is the LAST DAY of November!
Today we finished our Nutrition Play in science. It told about aliens coming to Earth and learning about nutritious food.
We had library class today. In library, we started a report about Famous Kansans. We will each be studying and making a project about a famous Kansan.
Someone in our class said that I looked like an ant-mole. (I had to put this comment in - it was probably the funniest moment during math class today! I was trying to send teacher brain-waves to a couple of students, but apparently it looked funny!)
We did ADD math today and it had some problems about FRACTIONS! Very exciting!
We also played Multiplication Hangman - ask your student about how to play this - it's a great fast math game to play at home!
We used our classroom camera to take photos of Causes & Effects for the book that we are making!

Monday, 11/14/11

I forgot to post last week's newsletter! So, although it's late, here it is!

Thursday, 11/10/11

Today we learned that immigration still happens.
We did the MMMR rap some more - we're getting to be experts! :)
We wrote some more of our Helping Hands stories about a time that we helped someone or that someone else helped us. Tomorrow we are finishing our rough drafts.
We walked to the musical at BHS. It was called "Big River". In it, a character shot a pretend gun and a pretend chicken fell from the sky. After the play, the actors made a sort of tunnel for us to walk through so that we could see them all close up.
We have a spelling test tomorrow. That means that we get to play Sparkle (and Mrs. G has FABULOUS prizes for tomorrow!)

Wednesday, 11/9/11

Today we read about some interesting things in Social Studies - the people that are actors at the Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA, the fortress that they built, the houses with grass thatch roofs, and the Declaration of Independence. We got to watch a little bit of a video about the actors who "live" at the plantation so that visitors can see what life was like then.
We started writing stories about having "Helping Hands" - either a time we helped someone else, or that someone else helped us.
We did our last PSA session!
We made flipcharts about Mean, Median, Mode and Range. And then we went outside and ran a couple of laps around the blacktop.
Three of our mealworms are pupas - FINALLY!
We talked about what the words "independence" and "declaration" mean.

Tuesday, 11/8/11

Today we did so many exciting things!
We got our 1st postcard for our Postcard Geography project. Mrs. G made a website to help us study the 50 states. We are hoping to get a postcard from all of the states. The website is: and it explains the project. If you know anyone who might be willing to send us a postcard, we'd love to get some more! Our mailing address is BGS, Mrs. Goertzen's 4th grade, 808 N. Main, Buhler, KS, 67522.
We also showed off our novel projects - lots of posters and "trunks" and ABC lists to show what we learned in our novels.
We are studying the Narragansett tribe from the NE region . We watched a video of the tribe dancing at a powwow on YouTube.
We starting learning about Mean, Median, Mode and Range in math, and we learned the MMMR rap. (And we were AWESOME - Mrs. G is so impressed!)
Mrs. G bought an owl webkinz to have as a class pet and we can earn time playing with it by having perfect papers. Today was the 1st day that we got to play with it!

Thursday, 11/3/11

Today we watched some YouTube videos about how maple syrup is made, and about how cranberries are harvested in the NE region of the United States. We are doing our novel projects - to share what we learned while we read our novels. Most of us are making posters - some of them are paper posters and some of them are online digital posters. We did bar graphs and line graphs today in math. We have a quiz tomorrow in social studies about the NE region. We had PSA today. A sheriff's officer came and talked to us about not opening doors when we are home alone and how to deal with strangers if they ever come up to you, and to never talk to strangers or get into a stranger's car.
We finished up some late work because Mrs. Goertzen *might* have a little reward tomorrow for anyone who has ALL of their work turned in. :)
We have a spelling post test tomorrow.

Parent Information

Hello everyone,
I'm going to try to implement something additional this week. I've been noticing that it can be a bit time consuming to look up the school lunch menus online, and also look up the weekly BGS newsletter, plus our 4th grade classroom newsletter, etc. I'm going to try to attach an image of each of those things to our newsletter when it comes out. I haven't done this before, and I tried to do it on Friday, but I see that it didn't work! I'm going to give it another try and see if we can get that information to you in an easier way!
Mrs. Goertzen

Tuesday, October 25

Today we made a description of our monsters that we drew yesterday. We are trying to describe them really really well, so that other students can read our descriptions and then draw a matching monster.
Today is the 2nd day of our novel reading. We think that our novels are awesome and we like getting to read in a group sometimes and by ourselves sometimes.
Today there is a PSA note coming home - it's really important to show it to our grown-ups TODAY!
We played a new math game called Digit Out, like multiplication baseball.
We made a map of the NE region in social studies, and we labeled all of the states in that region. For extra credit, we can label the capitols, too!
We don't have spelling this week.
We have music tomorrow.
It is supposed to be much colder tomorrow!

Friday, October 21

Blogging done by Mrs. Goertzen today - the class is too busy finishing their Water Cycle Cameras project!
Today was a great day in 4th grade! We read a version of Goldilocks and The Three Bears called "Dusty Locks and The Three Bears" and then compared & contrasted the two stories. We had a lesson with Mrs. Redman about filling each others' "buckets" by being kind to each other and doing thoughtful things. We had p.e. today. Then we played Sparkle to review for our spelling post test and then took the test. We took the STAR test after lunch, so we'll have our new reading levels on Monday. We created skeleton art to hang in the hall to decorate for Halloween. We had 10 minutes of extra recess this afternoon, then created paper cameras to show the stages of the water cycle.
It was a busy, fun day!
Your student will be bringing a newsletter home today with information about upcoming events, so be sure to check it out! We will not have spelling next week, we are going to start PSA (Personal Safety Awareness) in a couple of weeks, and we'll be collecting leftover/extra Halloween candy to send overseas to soldiers - lots of good info!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Goertzen

Wednesday 10/19/2011

Today we earned M&Ms for learning about input/output tables. The whole class had to write the correct equation for 2 different input/output tables to earn our snack!
Mrs. Goertzen forgot that we had library today (because we were having so much fun reading versions of The Three Little Pigs!). Our favorite was The Three Little Tamales!
In library, we made a Keynote about a book that Mrs. Burgey read - we made the library gingerbread man!
Today we put our voices on the computer in something called a VoiceThread. We have pictures of each of us with our instruments and then we each talked about our instrument.
Today REPORT CARDS GO HOME!

Thursday, from the kids!

Today Mrs. Goertzen's class and Ms. Jameson's classes are blogging together, since we are in the same room doing science together!
Today we watched a Magic School Bus video about sound during science. In it, the kids learned that sound is caused by vibrations!
We made cards for the high schoolers, because they came over yesterday for Citizenship Day. They pulled weeds, painted parking lines and designs on the blacktop playground, and picked up trash!
In math, we had cool moving pictures on our equations flipcharts. And we got to use a brand-new set of whiteboards to do our practice work on.
We got extra recess because we have been making AMAZING choices in the hallway in the past couple of days. And so Ms. Jameson's class lucked out and got to have extra recess with us! :)
In spelling, we had the easiest assignment EVER - we just had to write our list 2 times! We have a spelling test tomorrow (that's a note from Mrs. G, not from the class!)

Photos from Ag Day

Hello all,
I am going to attempt to paste 2 things onto this page for you: a slideshow of photos from Ag Day, and also a link to the photos, so that you can print out any fabulous shots of your kiddo!  :)

Also, this is the link to the site:


The folder of photos is called "Ag Day 2011".
Carla Goertzen

Making Musical Instruments

Hello everyone!
Note from Mrs. G:
Tomorrow in science class we will be making musical instruments!  Mrs. Goertzen will be providing tape and a limited amount of construction paper.  We need to bring any other supplies that we'd need to create an instrument.  We spent science class today googling "homemade musical instruments for kids" to get ideas.  We are supposed to make instruments that can be created from common items around the house - toilet paper rolls, rice, paper plates, coffee cans, things in the recycling bin, etc. We will spend our science time tomorrow making our instruments - we are not supposed to make them at home! The only exception to this is if a part of the creating requires a power tool - like drilling holes in a pipe or tube...I'm not allowing the use of power tools at school!  :)
Be CREATIVE!
Today we took a bunch of tests - well, just 2, but it felt like a lot!  We took a reading test this morning and a math test this afternoon. We read about Jackie Robinson today and talked about how he was an African American during a time when that was hard. Jackie Robinson was a famous baseball player for the Dodgers. Tomorrow we are going to read more about him.
Today we had recess on the blacktop because parts of the playground are too muddy to use today.
We have a spelling list to bring home today - everyone has one - it is on yellow paper!  We wrote our real challenge words on our papers.
We had music today, so we need to wear tennies tomorrow for p.e.

Newsletter/Spelling List

Hello all,
Here's the newsletter that your kiddo brought home on Friday - just in case you haven't seen it yet!  :)  And I'm also going to attach a link to this week's spelling list on Spelling City. You can print the list from the site, or play any of the 15 or so free games.  Your child can also take a spelling test at any point in time to help him/her know exactly which words to focus on practicing!
Here's the newsletter for this upcoming week.  Lots of interesting things happening - Ag Day field trip, a school cookbook, Halloween info... always something new in 4th grade!
Mrs. Goertzen

Friday, October 7

Today we took a spelling test on spellingcity.com. 
We had an assembly today called The Windy City Players. They were 3 people from Chicago, Illinois who were acting students. They acted out parts of "Tom Sawyer".  Four of our students got chosen to go up front and be the jury during the trial.
Today we got to shop at Mrs. Goertzen's math store. The math store is in our classroom about once a month, and instead of spending dollars, we spend math fact points.  Today we each had as many points as we have scored on our multiplication timed tests.
In spelling, we played Sparkle before we took our test.
Mrs. Redman came and talked to us this morning about filling buckets, by being kind to each other and saying & doing kind things.
In Social Studies, we learned about the gold rush in Atlanta, Georgia.  We learned that their capitol building's  dome is covered with real gold!
WE HAVE A FIELD TRIP ON MONDAY!  YOU DO NOT NEED TO BRING A LUNCH!
You can wear a hat and/or sunglasses if you want!

Monday, 10/3/2011

Today was a GREAT day in 4th grade!
We got to do and see some amazing things today!
We had an assembly this afternoon called African Acrobats.  They wore green and yellow costumes.  They stacked chairs really high and balanced on top of them. They did aerials and backflips and handstands.  They were really strong! They were from Kenya in Africa and they spoke a few words of Swahili for us.
Also,  we got to see the most amazing thing in Social Studies today.  Mrs. Kelsey brought in a $5 Confederate bill from 1864.  It is 147 years old and it has handwritten numbers on it.
Today we wrote in our journals about if we got to create our perfect imaginary towns.  We practiced fact and opinions in reading.
And we switched desks today!

Amazing Website!

Hello all,
I was just introduced to an amazing website that is such a perfect resource for us!  Another school district took the time to create a chart of every single Kansas 4th grade standard (the list of things that the state says every 4th grader should know by the end of the year). And then they found online games to match each of the standards, and linked them all together in this amazing chart - and then they SHARED IT!  What a fabulous resource for us!  Feel free to explore and play to your heart's content - just click on the link below!
Mrs. Goertzen

Kansas 4th Grade Standards Games

Field Trip!

Hello everyone!
I spoke with several of you at conferences this week about an upcoming field trip called "Ag Day", but I wasn't sure of the date.  Now I have all of the information:

On Monday, October 10 our class will be attending Ag Day, which is sponsored by the high school's FFA chapter.  We get the opportunity to go to three farms around Buhler and learn about agriculture in Kansas from 8:30-1:30.  If you would be willing to accompany us on this field trip, please let me know!
This is a fun field trip - not too long on a bus, the kids love it, and you get to see things you might not otherwise see.  My favorite part is when the demonstrators feed a straw-stuffed dummy into a PTO shaft and let the kids watch what happens. :)
Have a wonderful long weekend - hope to see you at Frolic!
Mrs. Goertzen

New math website to play on!

Hello everyone!  Today in class we got started with a new math tool, a website that is created for students to use to practice math skills.  All of the skills are connected to the Kansas math standards for each grade level, so once the students log in and click on their grade level, the activities are linked to our specific goals!
The website is:  www.ixl.com
The students log in by typing their first and last names together with no space, followed by the number 694.  Their password is their initials.  So, if your name was John Smith, your username would be johnsmith694 and your password would be js.
Your student may practice on the website at home - but they should stick with concepts they are familiar with, for now!
Mrs. Goertzen

Thursday, Sept. 22

Today was a great day in 4th grade!
We created hurricanes (online!).  You can create more at home at this website:  www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/pdf/canelab.htm
We solved a puzzle in math called "Where's the 4" and it was really hard!
More of us finished our keynote presentations about insects.
We read more about GWC's life - the most interesting fact from today is that he died when he slipped on ice.
We had music and p.e. together today so that our teachers could meet.

Monday 9/19/11

Today was a great Monday!  We got to plant lima beans in plastic baggies that we are going to tape to the windows, and we had AMAZING birthday treats for Brooke's birthday!  YUM!
We worked on place value with crayons, and we have math homework...dum, dum, dummmmm... (You have to put that last part to music!)  It's only 4 problems, though, to show off what we know!
We played on spellingcity.com and wrote about our heroes.   Some people finished their insect keynotes, and so they got to play on the iPods.
A photographer came and took photos of our teacher and our classroom today, so some of us might be in the newspaper tomorrow!  :)
Mrs. Goertzen won the Kansas Teacher of the Year regional finalist position, so she's one of 4 elementary teachers who will go on to the Kansas Teacher of the Year finals in November.  A video crew is coming this Friday to spend some time in our classroom.
And TOMORROW IS PICTURE DAY!!

Newsletter 9/9/11

Tuesday, September 6th

Everyone is saying how quickly today flew by - it was busy, but we had so much fun!
We played on the iPods to practice our math facts during math skills time today.  Some people used Education City (for the 1st time!) on the laptops to play a math game about shapes.
We made an ENORMOUS coordinate grid on the blacktop today.  We drew it with chalk and then we won "fabulous" prizes (rubber bugs) by finding the right location on the grid.  Mrs. Goertzen gave us each a notecard with a coordinate location on it and we had to stand on the right location.
Today in science we researched our insects to see what our insects eat - the food chain. The strangest thing we found is that some insects eat blood or flowers that are certain colors or poo or dead rotting carcasses.  (See why we LOVE  science??)

Thursday, September 1

(Note from Mrs. Goertzen:  I can hardly believe it's September now - what a scorcher today!  We stayed inside at 2nd recess because it was 104 degrees!)

We have a spelling test tomorrow - be sure to practice tonight! 
We finished our grid art today - it made an OWL!
We practiced subtracting with borrowing in math, and we proved that even Mrs. Goertzen makes mistakes!  :)
We looked at cicada shells and dragonfly wings that we brought to class.

Tomorrow is Fun Friday - that means that anyone who has ALL of their work turned in AND has one sticker on the sunflower reader chart gets to do a FUN MYSTERY ACTIVITY!

Tuesday, 8/30/2011

(Note from Mrs. G:  We have strep going around our classroom!  If your child has a fever or sore throat, etc, you might want to keep the strep situation in mind.)

Today we found out which insects we are each going to have for our science project.  We got on the computers and got some information about our insects today.  We are going to make our information into a Keynote.

Even better, today we got MEALWORMS!  Mrs. G went to the pet store and bought tubs of mealworms.  They are awesome!  We are going to get to hold them if we want to.  But we are not going to eat them.

We talked about problems and solutions in reading today.  Today in spelling we put the words in their sound groups in a chart.  Our words this week all have the long a or the long e sound.

In math, we played multiplication war with decks of cards.  We also used the iPods and laptops again to practice math facts.
We also learned about coordinate grids and WON FABULOUS PRIZES when we found the location on the grid!

Monday, August 29th

Today was a fantastic day in 4th grade!  We played on the iPods - to practice our math facts.  And we learned about metamorphosis when we talked about insects in science.  Metamorphosis means changing shape.  Insects start as eggs, then larva, then pupa and finally - adult.  (Note from Mrs. G - ask your kiddo to show you the hand motions that go with the life stages!) 
We got to choose the insects that we are each going to study in science - and we'll find out the final results tomorrow.  :)
In math today, we made shape art.  We'll have pictures up tomorrow of our final designs.
And most importantly, today we had Readers Friends for the first time. It was so fun.  We helped them check out.
We took the MAZE comprehension test in reading - it's a great test because it is only 3 minutes long!
Today we also wrote our spelling words in ABC order.
We can't wait to find out which insects we get to start studying tomorrow!

Friday's Newsletter for 4G 8/26/2011

Hello everyone!  Your student will be bringing home a paper version of this newsletter, but I wanted to make sure that it was available for you online, in an "un-crushed-in-the-backpack" version!

Wednesday, Aug. 24th

It was so hot today!  Everyone came in from recess all sweaty!
(Note from Mrs. Goertzen:  EVERY 4th grader has a spelling list to bring home to study for the spelling test on Friday!)
Today we took our apples outside (because Mrs. G was grossed out by all the flies) and we set them in the sun for 2 hours.  We weighed them when we brought them back inside and they all weighed less.  Then we threw them all away!
We wrote 5 sentences in spelling today, so we talked about what sentences need to have.
In math we talked about shapes and we used the Promethean board to play with the shapes.
In social studies we watched a Keynote about the USA's symbols.
We took a reading test on the computers today.  (Note from Mrs. G - we are not finished; we'll finish up tomorrow, I think).
For lunch we had hamburgers and a juice up and the really spicy french fries.  No, they weren't spicy (we have differing opinions in the classroom!)
We talked about deodorant today (always a fabulous 4th grade conversation) and about wearing appropriate shoes to p.e.
Mrs. Goertzen is reading "Larger Than Life Lara" to us.

Tuesday, 8/23/11 (Open House tonight!)

Today we did a lot.  We talked about the AR rules. We did the apple experiment again -  some of our apples are growing fungus and mold - awesome!  We used Google Earth and looked at Buhler, the Eiffel Tower, and the Sears Tower.  We looked at the forests in other states. We took timed tests for the first time.  We played a game called Poison Frogs and we played "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and had to stand up quickly every time we said a word that started with a B!  We got on Spelling City during spelling time. We made lists of 10 things that made each of us smile.
We had a GREAT TIME!
Tonight is Open House night.  From 6:30 - 7:15 you can come to school and see what we are doing so far.

Our Classroom

Photos of our classroom, before students arrived for the 1st day!

Coming Attractions...

It seems impossible, but in just a few hours, students will begin their first day of school for the 2011 - 2012 school year!  I can hardly wait - every year I get a little nervous the night before school starts; I think I'm just so excited that I can hardly wait!
One fun bit of news:
This upcoming Saturday, the 20th, our PTO is having a Family Swim Night at the Buhler Pool!  It's only $1/person to get in (or $5 for a whole family if that's cheaper!)  And they are selling candy and soda for $1 as well.  They will also be selling $1 tickets for a raffle, and I hear that they have some great prizes - a big gift card, and I heard that they might have an Amelia Beadelia's necklace!  Parents need to stay at the pool with their children to supervise the swimming. This sounds like such a fun community-building evening - what a perfect end to such an important week!
Mrs. Goertzen

It's Almost Time For School!

It seems impossible, but the days of summer are winding down.  I've been working in our classroom, getting things ready for school! 
Our school's theme this year is "Lights, Camera, Learning!"  - kind of like Hollywood at BGS!  I've been having fun decorating our room and making Hollywood name tags for everyone! 
I hope that you are having a marvelous summer and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!
Mrs. Goertzen

Squishy Eggs, Mealworm Larva and Winning Airplanes

This has been an exciting science month in 4th grade - hands-on science is one of my very FAVORITE things, so I love the amazing science we get to do this time of year.  In the past three weeks, we've had:
*a paper airplane contest that let us practice our scientific method of finding a problem (how to make our planes go further), coming up with a hypothesis, researching it (we love Google!), and then trying it again with improvements.  So fun!
*the addition of mealworms to our classroom.  They will, hopefully, be turning into darkling beetles by the time school is out.  Right now, we are experimenting with them to see if they prefer to live in cornmeal or flax.
*Squishy eggs!  We put a raw egg in vinegar for three days to see what happened to the eggshell if it sat in an acid.  What a fun, stinky experiment!  We're hoping that Mrs. Burgey will put the video of our final squishy egg experiment on BGTV - we tested whether or not it would bounce!

Suspensions & Solutions

We spent the past week in science studying what happens when 2 objects interact - which things dissolve, and what makes a suspension and what makes a solution. We learned that anything that gets mixed into a liquid, but doesn't completely dissolve is a suspension.  It still has pieces suspended in the liquid.  We found out that you can get those pieces out by using a filter.
Then we learned about solutions, where what's mixed in completely dissolves, and you don't see pieces any more.  We read that you can separate the parts by leaving it set out in a shallow bowl, and the water will evaporate.  Our groups let their solutions sit out in pie tins over the weekend, and had an interesting result this morning!

Making Ramps in Science

You should see our class this afternoon!  We are in the middle of making ramps in science class, for our contest on Friday.  We have been studying forces of motion and friction, and this is our big project for this topic.  We are working in pairs and groups of three, and each group's goal is to make a ramp that will make the golf ball go the furthest distance down the hallway.  There is an amazing amount of very secretive planning and construction happening - duct tape ripping, groups huddled over notebooks making sketches of possible designs, and cutting cardboard into pieces. I love projects like this!
Also, this week we celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday.  Today was Crazy Sock Day, and tomorrow is Hat Day.  HOWEVER, tomorrow is ALSO picture day, so the kids know they are not supposed to put on hats until after pictures.  We will  be having our class photos taken tomorrow, as well.

Monday, Jan.31, 2011

Today we started doing electricity experiments in science!  We used Christmas lightbulbs and batteries and our goal was to see if we could light up the bulb.  Almost everyone got their bulb to light up!

We did measurement centers in math.  We got to measure a chocolate bunny, seasoning spices, a stuffed frog, the hallway from the library to certain doors, salt, oatmeal, a wood block, water, the weight of a paper filer, and around a snowman's head.  We used length, weight, and volume measurements.

Today we finished our Famous Kansan keynotes.  We will be sharing these tomorrow and Thursday in the library, along with the other 4th grade class.

We started focusing on Comparing & Contrasting.  We read an article about Sealab 1 and Sealab 2 - be sure to ask your kid about it! An interesting place to live.

We started something new in p.e. today - bowling!  We get to use rubber bowling balls that are lighter than the real ones.  Some of the balls only have 2 holes for your fingers!

We watched a video today from the Discovery Channel.  It was about the Midwest region, and we learned that many cars are made in Detroit.

Wonders of Kansas presentations

Tomorrow, on Friday, we'll be celebrating the 150th "birthday" of Kansas.  In the past few weeks, we've been studying Kansas history, Kansas artifacts, famous Kansans, Kansas immigrants, etc.  In the past week, we've been studying the places, people and things that were voted upon as being the Wonders of Kansas.  Each student researched one of the wonders, and today we began sharing our presentations with the class.  They have been FABULOUS so far!

 

 

Awesome Kansas Info Day!

Today was one of those unanticipated, out-of-the-blue fun experiential days.  A student's grandparents came to visit our room, bringing an unexpected fun experience for the kids - getting to not just feel, but SIT ON, a buffalo hide.  This child's grandparents have buffalo at their home, and they shared all kinds of interesting facts, photos, and hands-on skulls/hide with our class! Definitely the highlight of the day for many of the kids in our class!
Then we had our school-wide spelling bee, with Hana and Daphne representing our class.  Both of our girls did a fantastic job of representing 4th grade, and it was fun to watch BGS kids have a spell-off!
And then our class received 2 "Traveling Trunks" from the Kansas State Historical Society.  This is an AMAZING program that sends trunks full of lessons, artifacts, and other hands-on activity pieces to classrooms in Kansas for FREE!  They have a series geared toward meeting 4th grade social studies standards, and we signed up for our limit in the summer, and they arrived today. It was so much fun to begin unpacking them at the end of the day - we "ooooh"ed and "aaaah"ed as we pulled out hides and bones and photos and tipi parts.  We get to use the trunks for two weeks before shipping them back, and I can't wait to share all of the "goodies" with the kids next week!
Have a wonderful 3-day weekend!
Carla Goertzen

 Our girls in the spelling bee - look how far they've made it!

 Checking out the buffalo skull (above) and the hide (below).  I was astonished by how soft it was!

These are models of Native American dwellings that are native to KS - a grass hut, a tipi, and an earth lodge.  I  unpacked this layer after school, so the kids haven't seen these yet!