Miss Stephens' Survivors

Spring is in the Air!

Spring Break is just around the corner and I know that everyone is looking forward to a week off to relax and get ready for the last 6 weeks of school!  It is so hard to believe that we are less than 7 weeks away from the end of the year. 

We have been working very hard!  In science we are still studying Space and will resume after Spring Break with the Solar System and Planets.  We have covered nouns, verbs, adjectives and have begun adverbs.  After the break we we review subjects and predicates and compound sentences.  Please continue to review all of these skills with your children before the CRCT.  We will continue talking about the Birth of a New Nation and also begin Western Expansion in Social Studies.  In math, we will be studying space spaces and continue talking about graphs and data.  I am also very excited about our Author's Study on Andrew Clements.  He is one of my favorite authors and I really hope that the children enjoy reading his books and creating projects based on the books that they choose to read in class.

Please remember that we will begin the CRCT Test on April 23rd.  Please make sure that your child gets to school on time each morning.  We will start promptly at 8:00 am.  Children who are late will not be allowed to come into the classroom after the tests has started.  There is still time to take the CRCT practice tests on line.

Of course who can forget about the much anticipated field trip of the year to Huntsville Space Center.  We are all very excited and ready to have a fun filled day of learning.  More information will come home after Spring Break with very specific details on what can be brought on the bus with your children.  If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask!  A huge thank you in advance for all of the parents who have volunteered to chaperone this field trip...I could not do it without you.

Encourage your children to keep working hard in school these last 6 weeks and we will accomplish great things.  It has been a wonderful year and lets continue to work hard until the end :)

March Madness

Can you believe that we are almost done with the 3rd nine weeks of the school year!?!?  Where has the time gone?  We will be heading into our last nine weeks of school this month and we have a lot going on.  The students are busy learning about the American Revolution, Simple Machines, Infectious and Noninfectious diseases, Informational writing and all about weight!  We will continue reading class novels about the journey through the Revolutionary War.  Please continue to ask your students about all they are learning in the classroom.

March is looking to be a very busy month around school.  We have several important dates coming up to remember.  On Saturday, March 29th you are all invited to our third annual "Movie on the Mount" featuring the movie "Game Plan".  Dinner will be served by Backyard Burgers beginning at 5:30pm and popcorn and candy will also be available during the movie.  I will be there selling tickets at the door and I hope to see everyone there! 

Also, mark your calendars the International Festival and School Council Silent Auction on March 27 at 6:00pm.  Dessert will be served and you will have the chance to bid on a fantastic themed basket of your choice and to the highest bidder you will have a chance to bid on an afternoon of fun with Mrs. Johannesen and myself!  We have several activities planned for our winners and we can't wait to spend the afternoon with them. 

All of the students in 4th grade will be taking a state wide practice writing assessment on March 17th and 18th.  Please make sure that your children are in school both of those days.  This test will help prepare them for next year in 5th grade, when they have to take the writing assessment.

Report cards will be sent home on March 20th.  Please review it with your child, sign the signature card, and send back the envelope with your address and 2 stamps so that I can mail it to you at the end of the year.

At the end of International Week here at Mountain View, the 4th graders are proud to present our annual musical "From Borders to Bridges."  The children are working hard on their songs and are very excited to perform on March 27th at 8:15am for all of the parents.  Hope to see everyone there!

Colonial Websites

I have listed a couple of web sites to use for the Colonial Brochure project and to reinforce our unit on Colonization of America.  The first one is interactive!

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm (be sure to use all of the links on the right hand side of the page)

http://www.hfmgv.org/education/smartfun/colonial/intro/index.html (be a history detective)

I have listed a couple of web sites to use for the Colonial Brochure project and to reinforce our unit on Colonization of America.  The first one is interactive!

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies1.htm (be sure to use all of the links on the right hand side of the page)

http://www.hfmgv.org/education/smartfun/colonial/intro/index.html (be a history detective)

February Fun!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our chaperones that went with us to the New World Of Coke.  I really appreciate your help with all of the students! It was a great field trip filled with new information and fun.

In February we will be continuing with our units that we started in January as well as begin some new exciting topics..  In math we are continuing to work with fractions and mixed numbers and will move on to the relationship of fractions and decimals.  We will then finish the unit with measurement.  We are working on how to write an informational piece of writing that compares the similarities and differences between two things.   In social studies we are on working hard on learning all about the 13 colonies.  The class is discovering all the similarities and differences between the colonies while researching a colony of their choice and creating a brochure.  We will be moving on to the American Revolution in the next couple of weeks.  We will actually do some simulations to try and re-enact some of the events and also reading several historical fiction books about the revolution. 

February is also heart month!! We will have a simple Valentine's Day celebration in our classroom on the afternoon of the 14th.  A note came home today about our classroom box contest!  Please let me know if you have any questions. 

                                                                                                                

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I cannot believe how fast this year is going!  We are already half way through the school year.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday break, filled with some much needed rest and time with family.  January is going to be a very busy month!  We started learning about fractions in math, all about light in science, continuing working on reading strategies with National Geographic and talking about Informational Writing throughout the curriculum.

I am looking forward to meeting with all of the parents at Conferences this month.  To share all of the excting things that are going on in our classroom.  Conference forms went home last Friday, please make sure and send them back asap.  If there is anything specific that you would like to talk about during your conference, please let me know.

I am looking forward to a great rest of the year!  We have a lot of information left to cover and we will also be very busy preparing for CRCT later.

Important Dates:

January 18- Science Night

January 21- MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY- NO SCHOOL

January 22-28- CONFERENCES- 12:30 Dismissal

January 29- Bank Day

End of December...

Wow, where has the time gone!?!?!  It is hard to believe that we are already half way through the year!  We have had a very busy month trying to finish everything up before the Winter Holidays.  Our class finished our first novel study reading Sign of the Beaver.  We learned a lot about how two worlds can come together to live as one.  We will be finishing up with a culminating project.  After a lot of extending multiplication and long division, we had some fun with Geometry.  The students finished up our unit with an exciting in class project on creating City Planners!  They took the role of an architect and created their own city using all the geometric terms that we have learned in class.  We have post-tested and are ready to move on to fractions and decimals in January.  This week we will also be finishing up Explorers!  I was so amazed and proud at how well each student did with their explorer project!  They all worked very hard and it truly shows :)  Please come by and check out the wonderful hall display of each explorer from the class.

This is truly a very special  time of year.  With all of the hustle and bustle that comes with this time of year,  I hope that each of you take the time to enjoy your families!  Spend time together, have some fun and relax.  Then get ready to come back in January all fresh and ready to learn all the exciting things that we have planned for the new year!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year :)  I am truly blessed to have a great class and wonderful parents this year.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone in 2008.

Spelling Bee

It is time for our annual Mountain View Spelling Bee!  Each 4th and 5th grade classroom will hold their own spelling bee.  The winner from our class will compete against all of the winners from the other classrooms.  My class Spelling Bee will be on Monday, December 3rd!  I have posted a website for you to log onto and study the practice words in order to be ready to spell :)  Happy Spelling!!!!

Spelling Bee Practice Words

Explorer Project

The Explorer Project was given out Monday in class!  I hope that everyone is excited about learning about their explorer and his voyages.  The project is strictly an at home project and it is due Tuesday, December 4th!!!  Please do not wait until the last minute to start researching.  If you have any questions please ask and I will be more than happy to answer them.  I have posted a wonderful website that has great information on each explorer!  Happy Exploring :)

Individual Explorers

November

     The school year is flying by and it is hard to believe that we are already in November and Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  We are about to begin our unit in Geometry!  Geometry is a fun unit with all kinds of activities and a change of pace from multiplication and division.  I will continue to review larger multiplication and division over the next couple of weeks in our morning work and homework.  Each child will get to create a fun Geometry project and learn how to bring geometry to life in the classroom.  I have included some great websites for you and your child to practice with at home.

Our class just finished our first science unit on Water and Weather!  We learned songs, made bracelets, did experiments, and created our own water cycle and even wrote all about it.  If you have a chance stop by and read your child's story out in the hallway on display.  We are now moving back to Social Studies to study Native Americans and then move onto the Birth of our Nation into Explorers.  Our class is in the midst of learning about the Bering Straight and the five Native American tribes to see how climate and physical features affected their way of life and how they survived the conditions.  We will begin our study of Explorers the week of November 12th with an exciting surprise to get the students ready to learn.  I will be sending home our first project of the year on Explorers that will be due after the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Please ask your child about what they are learning in class with the Birth of our Nation and our unit we are working on in class with Explorers.

We are continuing our reading response journals in class with each child reading a novel in class on their reading level.  They will be writing letters to me after they finish their books to respond to their novel and choose key strategies and thinking points to write about.  In the next week or so, we will be starting our first class novel.  The students will be reading Sign of the Beaver which correlates to our study in Social Studies as well.  This is a wonderful novel to see how two cultures live together and co-exist to have successful lives.  I love this novel and I really hope that the children enjoy it as well.

Please take time to reflect with your children on what you are thankful for this time of year.  I know that school can be crazy and busy, but this is a wonderful time to sit down and be thankful for everything that we have.  I hope that everyone has a safe holiday and enjoys spending time with your family.

I also want to say a big thank you to Mrs. Pattinson and Mrs. Strain for their wonderful fall activity!  The students really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  Also, I want to thank Mrs. Marino, Mrs. Chambers and Mrs. Fowler for their help too.  I am very fortunate to have a wonderful students and great parents who are very supportive and involved

Happy Thanksgiving,

Miss Stephens :).

Measuring Angles               Shape Surveyor               How to use a Protractor            Geometric Patterns

End of October

October is winding down quickly!  We have had a busy month extending multiplication and division, studying the water cycle and weather, writing personal narratives, and diving into chapter books with our reader's response journals.

Here are some wonderful math sites to help students at home with extra practice on multiplication and division.

2-digit Multiplication                     Snork's Long Division                        Math Magic