Week 24

Weekly Greetings!

It was great to start last week with Parent/Teacher conferences and thank you for making the time to attend. As the week moved on, it was rather quiet in our classroom with a number of students absent. Despite the low numbers, those that were in attendance pressed on academically. This week, it will really be important to have your child well rested and at school on time. Starting on Wednesday, the winter MAP testing will start for 3rd grade on up. The test will not be a part of your child's grade, but it does give a wealth of information on the progress of each student.

On Friday, we will also be having a celebration for the 100th day of school. Please send in a snack item that can be counted out for each child to have 100 pieces. If we have ten different items, then the items will be put together as a trail mix. That means 100 pieces of each item times 10 for each student. Some suggestions are: raisins, Cheerios, peanuts, M&M's, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, popcorn, or any other small snack food you can think of that can be counted.  Now for a few highlights from last week!

On Tuesday, we participated in an AK Teach virtual activity that explained how wildfires affect huge areas of forest every year and how outbreaks of insects kill millions of trees and other plants.  We joined Jenny Briggs of the U.S. Geological Survey as she explained her studies in the mountain environment of Colorado and discovered how she works with other agencies to help understand and manage forest health, fire, and wildlife. Sometimes, these changes can be damaging or scary, and other times, they have positive effects on our ecosystems. The class seemed to really enjoy talking with the scientist and the students had some good questions to ask.

The class also started our Alaska Studies unit by doing a couple scavenger huts. The first day, they hunted down basic facts about our state, and the next day they were on the search for key geographic features.

When Friday arrived, we took a few minutes to take a movement break and toss foam Frisbees around while music played in the background. The students love it when I bring out those Frisbees to celebrate their hard work.

With the start of a new month, I have decided to reduce the homework to just math facts and spelling each night. There were only a few students that kept up with last month's assignments for various reasons. Many have sports practice, or have been traveling and just choose not to do it. For that reason, I have dropped the Language Arts page as I would like to see them at least work on math facts and Spelling rather than toss it all in the trash.

I hope you have an awesome week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Week 23

 Weekly Greetings!

What a busy schedule we had last week! In addition to the regular curricular expectations, we were able to fit in a few extracurricular events.  The week began with the bi-weekly visit from the school councilor prompting the students to think about careers. As you can see by the photo, the group really enjoys the visits.

On Tuesday, the class competed in the district Battle of the Books competition. There we three groups of three, though one student came late and another had to compete by a computer connection as he was in Anchorage. I was very proud of all the students, and one group even took second place.

We have been fortunate to get a professional art class on Wednesdays twice a month, and last week the class worked on blending backgrounds for a new painting project. For art in class, we have also been working on a poster to enter in the Migratory Bird Calendar contest through the USFW Service.

Using contractions was one of the concepts addressed in our grammar lessons last week. As a movement activity to reinforce that concept, we had some contraction action using balloons. After tossing balloons around the room, each student had to find a contraction match to a balloon with two words on it.

 Then students shared their matched pair.

 When they were done sharing, everyone had fun popping their balloons.

In Science, the class has been studying about the inner and outer planets of our solar system. For fun on Thursday, they made their own solar system mobile to hang at home.

We will continue our focus on the universe this week and the class will also be participating in an AK Teach activity with the Scientists in Action program on Tuesday. The focus is going to be Fires and Infestation with scientist Jenny Briggs. Being part of the interactive session through the Denver Museum seemed relevant to life here in Tok, when fire is such a concern in the summer season.

Now that the second semester has started, the class will be spending the remainder of the year studying about Alaska in Social Studies. When spring arrives, I hope to tie in some field trips into this unit.

Wishing you a warm and productive week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

 

Week 22

Weekly Greetings!

We made it through the cold snap at the beginning of last week, though the room was much cooler than when we have warmer weather. Please make sure on very cold days that your child has an extra sweatshirt, or wears a long sleeved shirt to class. This was the second time the room was harder to heat during a cold spell. Forecasters are saying we could get colder temperatures again sometime this week.

Something out of our normal routine last Tuesday was our participation in an AK Teach Instant Challenge. Even though we had a small number of of students in class that day, there were three groups of two in each team for the competition. We signed in to the program with a number of schools around the state, and the students were given a challenge to build a tower with just two pieces of copy paper. This 4th grade group continues to amaze me on how well they work together and the ideas they generate when given a problem to solve. After hearing the challenge, they got busy and figured out ways to make to complete the challenge.

It was a timed event, and when the time was up we were able to hear about and share about everyone's building ideas.

Not only will we continue to connect with scientists in different fields though AK Teach, but also hopefully we can continue to fit in the Instant Challenge events as cooperative and problem solving activities.

On Tuesday this week, the class will be participating in the district wide Battle of the Books reading competition. I am not sure what time it will start, but I will tell the class when the time is set and they can pass on the information if you would like to attend. 

Also, I am still contacting families to set times for Parent/Teacher conferences next Monday. Trying to connect on the weekend was not the best idea, as some people were not available. I will send a reminder note with your time on it sometime during the week. Of coarse, please remember that there is no school next Monday, January 23.

I have just two more pieces important information before I close. First, book orders are due this Friday and second, I am sending home a permission slip for your child to participate in the 2018 Migratory Bird contest. Most students have worked on both a literature entry and a poster entry. 

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Week 21

 Weekly Greetings!

We had a fast and productive week to start the New Year, though there were a few tired students the first couple of days. In Social Studies we started a short unit on Dr. Marten Luther King, Jr. with the focus being on strong leadership. Students worked in small groups and answered questions on three large pieces of paper located around the room. The statements on the large papers were: "A leader is...; I like it when leaders...; One day, I would love to lead...." I was really impressed with all of the responses and discussion that took place in each group.

After talking about their responses we did a KWL chart on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to assess what they already knew and wanted to learn about the famous man. Then we read a short story on his life, and were able to answer a few of the things the class wanted to learn about him. This week we will continue this mini unit leading up to his birthday.

Looking at the Universe is the focus in Science for the next month, and we started off by looking at the importance of the sun. We did an experiment using a lamp as the sun source, to see what heated faster: water, soil, or sand. Our prediction was the soil because it was dark and dark things usually absorb heat more. We found that the sand actually heated the most in a short amount of time. The water was the slowest. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be looking closer at the solar system. This week, we will also participate in an AK Teach activity on Tuesday that is called an "Instant Challenge". The students will not know what we are doing until the director gives them a challenge to create something with the materials provided. These challenges are great problem solving and cooperative learning experiences with students from other schools across Alaska and in other states.

I will be sending home book orders with the parent letter to start the week, and please return any orders by January 20th. Also, Friday will be the end of our 1st Semester, and the end of the 2nd Quarter. After discussing time slots at our PLC on Friday, I will be letting you know next week what your schedule will be for conferences on January 23rd.

Have a great week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown

Week 20

Weekly Greetings and Happy New Year!

I hope you have all enjoyed the vacation break, in addition to a memorable time with family and friends. A four-day week should be a good way to get back into the swing of school again after two weeks off. As most of you know, we will be starting 2017 off with a "Movie Night" fundraiser on Thursday night. Thank you all for your support in input.

The last week before the break was really busy, with a lot of special activities. We enjoyed reading The Gingerbread Man along with The Ninja Bread Man, and compared and contrasted the traditional fairy tale with the fractured fairy tale.  Then of coarse, we had to make gingerbread cookies.

 Another day we read The Gingerbread Baby, and compared and contrasted that version with the traditional story. At the end of The Gingerbread Baby, the run away cookie is caught in a gingerbread house instead of being eaten by a fox. So for fun, the students made gingerbread houses using gram crackers.

 When we were finished with the houses, it was time for the mini and little dribbles games. Some of the students from our class were playing in the little dribblers competition, and it was fun to cheer them on.

 Later in the day, students explored Tangram pieces after reading Father Tangs Story.

 On Thursday morning, we were able to log on with the AK Teach program to Antarctica and view the Adelie Penguins that exist in the far southern region of our planet. We were able to connect live with scientific researcher Jean Pennycook who lives among the penguin colony. She is in her third of the year of collecting data for long term studies about these amazing animals.

 That same day was the Christmas concert, and it was a lovely event. Our class got to close out the show with Feliz Navidad, and the group did a great job with the song.

Friday afternoon was our class party, and we started off with a piñata . Unfortunately, I was so busy handling the rope and making sure students were safe that I forgot to get pictures until the class was diving for candy.

Then everyone settled in to eat great snacks and watch a movie before school was out. Thank you for sending in snacks!

Everyday. the our last week of school in 2016 was packet with interesting activities and fun events. 2017 should continue to be rich with stimulating and rigorous content also. In class this week, we will get right back into our regular routines with two new units in Science and Social Studies. I will continue to send homework nightly as usual too.

Have an awesome week!

Kind Regards,

Julie Brown