The end

Yesterday was "the end" of another year of school. It was a packed day of activities!

First, Mr. Garber's band students played some songs for us! I was SO PROUD ... three of the performers are former Ms. Leom alums -

It was also pajama day (or comfy clothes) day. These two students had matching jammies and robes -

Ms. Leom, an avid reader, invited all of her students to pick out a new book for their own libraries -

We also had a sing along with the Grinch. Then we HAD TO sing it again, because it is an excellent opportunity to develop reading fluency - and it is so FUN to sing with your class and emphasize your favorite lines!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Students are invited to email Ms. Leom and share the highlights of their Winter Break (writing and keyboarding practice and she really is thinking about her kids and their adventures!)

See you in 2013!

Grinch Folders

On Monday, we made Grinch Folders. This learning tool is an opportunity to develop our organizational skills. All of our Grinch learning should be placed in these folders. The folders are not to go home until the end of the week.

What I LOVE about these folders ... each student started out with the same materials and directions, and yet all the folders are so unique! It was fun to see what expression could be created by adding the eyebrows and other details. Each folder turned out perfectly!

Guest Readers

On Wednesday morning, we welcomed guest readers into class. Mr. Meyer read, How the Grinch Stole Christmas to Ms. Prose and Ms. Leom's students.

 Then Mr. Voshell read the story to Mr. Lundeen and Mr. Greninger's students.

 After appreciating our guest readers and their skills, we started our learning skills for today. First, we talked about Author's Purpose and Perspective.

Next, we worked on Cause and Effect. Ms. Prose reread parts of the book for us to help with our skills. She shared her best tool for determining Cause and Effect. She finds the effect first, then she explains why the event happened (the cause). Ms. Leom shared her best tools, she uses clue words: "because", "as a result of", "so", and many more. Ms. Leom also writes the word, "Because" at the start of the cause section of the graphic organizer. It helps her brain sort the information. (These tips may not work or make sense to read about, but we hope for some students in the class, one of the tips might make some sense in his/her brain to be helpful).

It was another fun, Grinchy day in fourth grade! Special appreciation for our administrative staff! We only need to watch and listen to them read to realize they are TEACHERS first, and their "principal" titles are additional skills they use in our building.

Funny how "Grinchy" means crabby, selfish, mean, and other negative traits, yet during this week, our "Grinchy" learning is bringing out all the antonyms of the Grinch himself ... !

My Kids

This is a picture of my students and families. Every year, I take pictures of my students and their families at Open House and throughout the year, it is a constant reminder of my responsibilities to their parents and families to keep them safe, to help them learn, and to appreciate and develop the many gifts they bring to my class - especially the ones that are not measured on tests or on a report card.

I didn't have any words to share with you this weekend, or even yesterday. I am not sure I have any words today. So I send a picture, of words that can not be spoken, I care. These are the first images I see when I arrive every morning, and one of the last images I see when I leave. We are reminded every time we walk through the door. The students I work with are special. They are my kids.

Sincerely,
Michele

Grinch Week

It is Grinch Week in fourth grade. When one typically thinks about the Grinch, they are reminded of the mean, cuddly as a cactus ... bad banana with a greasy, black peel ... green guy ... (for the musical version, Grinch).

In fourth grade, it is an opportunity to harness all that energy our students don't know what to do with during this time of the year ... an opportunity to review the many focus skills and learning from the first part of the year: character traits, compare and contrast, subjects and predicates, cause and effect, author's purpose ... and an opportunity to enjoy our students and have some fun ... who knew kids and fun better than Dr. Seuss himself?!

Stay tuned to more pictures and updates of all things "Grinch-related" later this week!

(Note: Special thanks and appreciation to our own personal shopper, Mrs. Arens, who outfitted our teaching team. As green in the color assigned to fourth grade in the elementary school, we are thrilled with another addition to our green collection!)

Memory Alert

In November, Ms. Leom started reading a message alerting her to limitation in blog memory. Apparently, when you load pictures, it takes up a lot of memory... Ms. Leom takes a LOT of pictures and limitations in memory isn't a new idea to her ... she even learned how to shrink the picture file size, but apparently that wasn't enough ... How do you pick the "most important" pictures?! EVERY student is important! So Ms. Leom "took a break" to determine the best solution ... then she deleted all the posts from last year ... then she thought some more about it ...

Stay tuned. The blog is still alive ... it just needed some "problem solving think time" ...