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