Muffins with Mom

Sydnee and mom striking a pose.

Jerald loving on his mom.

Bree sharing her mom with Aynee.

Reese and her camera shy mom.

Trevor definitely is sharing his mom.

8 Changes in 8 Years!

Looking  down the road ahead of us these are the changes we'd like to see...

Taxis and churches have made more changes in recent years than the classroom but according to these 4th graders education might not be too far behind.

When asked to predict what changes they would like to see before they graduated in 2024 this is what they agreed would make them happy...

#1. Jerald would like to see schools do away with desks!  His alternative would be a recliner with a writing surface that u could pull up on the side. 

#2. Everyone was quick to vote for "No Homework!"  Kids today like to have time for sports and family activities and don't want more schoolwork they said.

#3. Bree suggested taking down the walls between classrooms. Just in case we wanted more room or wanted to work with other kids sometimes.

#4. No written tests, no fill in the blanks!

I'm not sure who suggested this first, but everyone yelled their approval! When they were asked how we would get grades, they came up with lots of ways...make iMovies, do fun projects, build models. Austin even thinks that by 2024 we will have hand held brain scanners that will read brains to know how much you know!!

#5. Catherine and Kellan suggested that we have flexible start times, because some of us like to sleep in and can think better earlier or later.

#6. Shelby thought it might help keep lots of students calm by having tempered glass floors in the hallway, that would let you see through to an aquarium down below us!

#7. Food was a popular topic! Since we already have iPads on our desks, why not make your personal lunch choice yourself on your iPad. And, someone suggested that technology of the future would allow you to smell the pictures! Some of the boys thought that if you were too busy to go to the cafeteria, robots would deliver to your classroom!

8. "Responsibility talks" are always hot topics in school and at home, but Ashley who is our hermit crab caretaker wanted to take it a step further. "We want our future classrooms to have real live dogs and cats," she said. "They could live in our classrooms and run down our hallways and play with us at recess," someone else added. We would be responsible for them every day.  What would be better than that for our future schools!?!

Circuit Training

Connectors, power sources, and switches, oh my!

Students formed teams and grabbed electric kits charged to connect wires to successfully complete 3 different projects .

Feeling confident is not the word for these four electrical engineers hot on the trail of connections.

 

Ok, we can do this...A goes to B then around to C?

What's next..we already got this!

Teamwork means everyone's critical to a successful circuit.

Constructing Polygons

After researching POLYGONS and drawing a few, we were given pipe cleaners and straws and asked to build a quadrilateral, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, and octogon. 

Then we took pictures of all 5 and saved them on our iPads.

On Day 2 we took our saved polygon photos and using the Pic-Collage app, made a collage. We sorted them into polygons with perpendicular and parallel lines and emailed them Mrs Johnson.

Spa and Sports Day Celebrations

Now we had a choice to make. Should we play our favorite sports or pamper ourselves at a spa? As you can see we had a split decision.

Check out our satisfied customers.

Around the World in 40 Days!

3 text structures, 6 graphics, 2 tables or graphs, factual info using text features, and less than 5 spelling/punctuation errors...I CAN do this.

Using the plant and animal adaptations info from my field guide helps me write the perfect cause and effect article for my magazine article.

Preamble to our Constitution...Can You Rock It?

History is coming alive for us in 4th grade as we study the Constitution, the 3 Branches of Government, and the Balance of Power.  The video above will help you memorize the Preamble that begins "We the people..."

Remember when we said that the Judicial Branch is made up of 9 Chief Justices to the Supreme Court that are appointed for life?  Well, one of the most loved justices died this weekend, so you will hear a lot in the news about who will replace him.

 

Be sure to study what the phrases mean...

establish justice

 

insure domestic tranquility

 

provide for the common defense

 

promote the general welfare

 

secure the blessings to ourselves and our posterity!

January Ends with PANCAKES and POETRY!

 

 




The day started out with our long-awaited celebration...PANCAKES with the PRINCIPALS for being the 4th grade class that read the most minutes over Winter Break!

 

Our top reader, Allena Jeter, was proud to be the one to bring back the trophy for our classroom!

Alexey was wanting the works on his pancakes... syrup, chocolate, sprinkles, and, of course, whipped cream!

Miyona, Catherine, and Julia dressed up for the occasion, down to their fingernails. 

Three is not a crowd especially when there are so many pancakes to eat!

One hour later we were welcoming our guests into the Media Center for our 2nd Annual Beatnik Poetry Café.  (To say we were a little excited would be an understatement!) 

We were finally ready to shine after practicing for weeks.  The room was decorated with posters of famous poets, the programs had been printed, the mic was on its stand by the Walt Whitman stool, and our refreshments were set up.  

Aynee was the first to welcome everyone and explain how in real poetry cafes back in the 40s and 50s you snapped your fingers instead of clapping.  She started us off reciting "Caged Bird" by Maya Angelo...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's nothing that compares to a grandmother's love and here's proof...Kameron's grandmother sat through two Poetry Cafes because Kameron got the time mixed up and she's still smiling!!

 

Sydney knew that if she brought a prop she would get extra points, so she brought her mom to help prove her point in 
Kenn Nesbitt's poem "My Mother Does My Homework!".

 

 

 



Last but not least, a big thank you to Reese, her grandmother and mom for bringing refreshments for all!