Saturday, March 7, 2009
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! :)
Monday, March 2, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
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. :)
Oh and extra recess on Friday for Homework Heros and Champions wasn't so bad either. :)
Friday, February 13, 2009
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)!
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)!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
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!
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!
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