4th Grade Field Trip to Jefferson City

Juggling Jeff at the County Library

So this is Juggling Jeff. He says juggling takes balance.

Juggling Jeff is juggling the "Pins of Doom" . . . dom dom doooom . . .

He was actually kinda funny.

Here is Juggling Jeff in action. This is his final trick. The grand finale!!! (and he very nearly backs up on the girls behind him . . . I was a bit scared for them . . . but everyone made it out alive.) :)

Slip 'n Slide

Park Days

We enjoy getting outside in the summer. We go to the park nearly everyday. Here are some photos of us playing ball on the tennis court at the park today.

Da Boyz

Umm . . . wrong racket?

Ooooh . . . Work it, Girls!!!

This ball is gonna get it!

St. Louis County Library Reading Club

Our first day of summer break brought us rainy chilly weather. Boo. But on the bright side, we were planning to go to the library anyway and sign up for the summer reading program. We got a lot of reading done and checked out some great books. We've started reading Poppy by Avi together at home. It's about a field mouse named Poppy and it's already action packed. Her boyfriend, Ragweed, was already eaten up by the wicked owl, Mr. Ocax, who enjoys making others feel afraid. We also wrote in our summer journals and shared them with each other.

Today, we went to the library again for story time. The reading club theme is "Be Creative" so we learned about different types of music and instruments. Even two sticks can bring quite the music and adventure. And we were able to play at the park after story time. The weather was beautiful. Warm in the sun, but a cool breeze would blow from time to time.

Next week we will need to start some math fact practices. Plus a little cursive review for the older kids and letter recognition for the younger ones.

We also got an email from Mrs. Jackson, so perhaps a few summer pen pals are in order.

We are looking forward to lots of fun this summer.

Lots of Good News . . .

MAP testing comes to a close. It has been a while since I've posted. The class has been doing a great job review and preparing to take the MAP test. And now we are nearly finished with it! (And yes, no homework other than reading has been assigned due to the test.) :) Snacks have been enjoyable since our lunch time is later to accomodate test sessions. But remember, next week we go back to normal. Yes that means homework and no more snacks and water bottles.

We earned another class party! We decided to take advantage of the MAP testing schedule and the good weather and have extra recess every day for a week!

The field trip to Jefferson City is on Wed, April 22nd from 7 am -4:45 pm. Buses will leave promptly at 7:15 so don't be late! The cost of the field trip is $10 and must be paid in full if you plan to attend. Money was due last Monday, so if you haven't turned it in yet . . . .
We will be taking coach buses with TVs and we will be able to watch a movie on the way there and on the way back. :)
We will be touring the Capitol building, the House of Representatives, and the Governor's Mansion. We will also see a play, eat a picnic lunch (Everything must be disposable), and have ice cream from Central Dairy on the way home.
Your child will be given a blue shirt from the PTO on Tues, April 21st. They must wear the blue shirt and a pair of comfortable shoes on the day of the field trip. We will be doing a lot of walking throughout the day.
Everyone is excited about the upcoming trip. There is so much to be learned. What a wonderful opportunity to extend our education of Missouri history.

Mrs. Pearl returns!!!! Friday is my last day teaching this class as your regular teacher. Mrs. Pearl will be at school on Friday to plan and prepare for her upcoming lessons and I will be there to teach my last day. I will continue to substitute and I will see you all often. I hope to hear wonderful things as you learn and progress through the remainder of the school year. Keep up the good work and amazing efforts you have shown me and remember to give your best. Don't settle for less. Strive for the strongest, noblest character worthy of an "EAGLE" and make good choices . . . now and forever. I love you guys!!!!!

Mrs. Voelkel's Moment

My favorite moment during this past week (March 2-5) was our Math review on Thursday afternoon. I thought you all asked some great questions and were attentive to the answers. You listened respectfully and were more focused. I feel a lot more of you understand how to add and subtract fractions, and how to make fractions equivalent (equal). Don't forget to look at their bottoms! :)

A Few Updates

Our district honors spelling bee winners from each elementary school and our school (4th and 5th grade) made a quick decision recently to join in on the spelling fun. Lists went home with students who were interested in competing. Our class will have our "spell-off" on Friday/Monday. The school spelling bee will be March 12th! Good luck to all of you in the running. I know you will do a great job.

This week we are using our "Time for Kids" newspapers for Making Meaning. The students will read the articles, create questions to challenge their peers, and try to "beat the experts". In order to remain on the Expert Panel, the students will be required to answer their friends' questions by citing text evidence found in the articles. Nothing like a little friendly competition to liven up comprehension.

The end of the 3rd quarter is also upon us and you will need to turn in your home reading logs. Wednesday afternoon (at 1:45), Marion Elementary will be having a Black History Assembly.
Thursday morning, students will receive their 2nd quarter awards from Ms. Houston and have spring pictures taken.
Thursday is also the student council's polar plunge day. Marion is adopting a polar bear from the St. Louis Zoo and is asking students to come to school in their best polar attire. Feel free to bring comfy hats and scarves, but remember how warm our room gets in the afternoon. And if you do bring winter wear to honor our polar bear adoption, Don't Forget To Take It Home!!

We are begining to explore perimeter and area in math, while continuing to practice our multiplying and dividing.

In social studies, we will begin unit 7 which expands our discussion of the southeast States by considering the geographical impacts of the area.

And remember: There is NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 6th.

Mrs. Voelkel's Moment

My favorite moment of this week is easy . . . earning a gum day! I liked being able to chew gum with my responsible fourth graders. And we didn't have a single problem with it. Everyone remembered the rules, shared, kept it in their mouth, and spit it out when we went to another class. Good job everyone!

Oh and extra recess on Friday for Homework Heros and Champions wasn't so bad either. :)

The Week in a Blink

This week in fourth grade:
We will be exploring important facts in our Making Meaning book Flight which is about Charles Lindbergh's famous flight across the Atlantic. We will also practice this skill in our guided reading. Continue to make inferences, visualizations, and ask clarifying questions as you read at home.
We will be typing our final drafts of our persuasive essays and taking the third quarter writing assessment. The prompt will also require a persuasive essay response.
We should be finishing Unit 7 in Math. We have been exploring fractions. We haven't discussed algorithms regarding fractions, so don't be surprised if your student is still drawing out diagrams and pictures to help them add fractions and solve other related problems. They need to understand what fractions represent.
We are discovering some fascinating things about the Southeast United States in social studies. Ask us about the music that originated in the south. There were four distinct sounds we heard. We also found Appalachia, the Sun Belt, and Jamestown on our map (to name just a few).
Don't forget your library books on B days (Friday this week)!

Mrs. Voelkel's Moment

My favorite moment of the week (for 2/9-2/12):
So hard to pick a favorite this week. We had Mrs. James and Miss Joy teach an awesome SPIRIT lesson on Monday. Augistena's mom began volunteering in our classroom for math one day a week! She was such a big help in creating fraction posters with math groups and then organized paperwork while our friends were in science with Mr. Buckner.
And of course we can't forget changing our seating arrangement and our super fun Valentine party on Thursday!!
But my all time FaVoRiTe moment of the week was getting 3 compliments from other teachers about how well our class was working Thursday morning! What an awesome job you all did!!! Congratulations!