Last Minute Reminders

Dear Class,

Just a few reminders and things...

1. Congratulations on the wonderful job you did with Mrs. Mitchell on Friday!  I was so proud of the way you listened and took notes on how to "Brain Purge" as a writing technique when you have a timed writing test. 

 

2. This will be a "fun-filled, faster than the speed of light" week.  There will only be one test and that will be all about the Declaration of Independence first thing on Friday.  Stay tuned for notes and class review all week.  Parents, look for important study guides in the Social Studies section of our notebooks.  Here's the youtube video we watched in class on Friday called, "Too Late to Apologize...a Declaration."  See you if you can pick out our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock.

 

3. Dr. Patterson has set the 2014 Oakland Elementary Holiday Reading Challenge to begin after school ends on Friday!  This is an important contest between all 4th grade classes to read as much as possible over the 17 days of Winter Break.  The winning class will earn "Pancakes with the Principals," a class trophy, and bragging rights for the rest of the 2014-15 school year.  My class has won the past two years and can do it again.  Don't let Mrs. Gault's class cloud your vision.  Read first thing in the morning, in the car on the way to all your holiday fun and before bed every night. Have your parents send pictures of you reading on Facebook or Twitter #OESRead and I'll do the same.

 

 

 

http://oaklandelemlibrary.blogspot.com/2014/08/resourceswebsites.html

Polar Express Pancake Breakfast...Did You Survive It?

Although the temperature wasn't freezing and the winds weren't blowing...it WAS raining! Lots of OES students and their parents hopped aboard the

Polar Express anyway.  Lots of pajama-clad children were greeted by a conductor, Frosty, and Santa Claus. Many thanks to  the P.T.A. and all the families for coming out to help raise money for our school.  I saw Connor, Sarah Reilly, and Chloe...but thank goodness they had really good waitresses. Poor Emily and Olivia had to put up with this one...

But, I learned that having a lot of back up support in the kitchen made my job a lot easier than I ever remembered my days as a waitress being!  Thanks to all the families that contributed further by also leaving me TIPS which will go towards our after Christmas classroom STEM projects.

Shine a Little Light on Socrates and Socratic Circles!




                                                   

                              Up Close & Personal



 This past week we learned about Socrates, a philosopher in Ancient Greece.  He loved to talk to people at the agora and ask them fundamental questions about their life.  He taught them to question everything. Socrates thought that if you were too busy you wouldn't have enough time to reflect on your life and what was important to you.  He has often been quoted as saying, "An unexamined life is not worth living."  Many people living in Athens at that time were very wealthy and thought that there was nothing more important than gathering money and things.  Socrates thought it was more important to do good deeds and think about your very existence. Many people did not like Socrates and, in fact, had him arrested for corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods.  Socrates convinced the court that the good of many was more important than the good of one man.  So, he agreed to be put to death.  In the end he inspired many people!

 

This coming week we will learn how to debate a topic in a Socratic Circle much like Socrates would have done.  In our current "Tread Lightly" PBL we have studied two points of view from people in the Pacific Northwest, the environmentalist and the loggers. We will prepare arguments and counter-arguments and see what happens. Monday look for homework to get ready for Wednesday's debate. Check back next week for pictures and maybe a video of our "Socratic Circle."

 

On Tuesday we will have a test on the 14 words from our Socrates article.  Be ready to match synonyms with the words and be able to use them in sentences. 

 

Friday we will have a "LIGHT" Science test.  We have been investigating reflection, refraction, absorption, translucent, transparent, and opaque. 

Check out some of our experiences! If you comment on any of the pictures by telling what you learned you can earn 5 extra points on your test on Friday.