More Books!

Miss Frank went shopping today and couldn't resist getting more book for our classroom library. Speaking of books, book-orders are due tomorrow! Please pay with with cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs. You can also order online at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs with the Class Activation Code: JFC6L. When ordering online you can use a credit card, and since all of the ordered books arrive together, you pay no shipping charge!

Ooooooo...Oobleck!

Yesterday Mr. Drenth took a bath in the Oobleck, today was our turn! Oobleck is a substance from the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. It has the properties of both a solid and a liquid.

March Into Reading

Each year our principal sets up a reading challenge. This year if the students meet the challenge, Mr. Drenth will take a bath in Oobleck, a mysterious substance from a Dr. Seuss book! Students read for 100 minutes to earn a Dr. Seuss "hat." The hats are hung in the school hallways and Mr. Drenth has challenged the students to have the hats go all the way around! There is also a reading calendar that has fun ways to earn extra minutes each day. Notice what Sunday's is? If parents just encourage their child to read more, they can earn 100 minutes! Students who bring a hat in Monday can have first choice for borrowing the new books Miss Frank has bought for our classroom library.

Flat Stanley Goes to Grand Rapids

This week students colored a Stanley from the book Flat Stanley. In the book, Stanley was flattened by a bulletin board and was able to do many special things due to his flatness. One of the things was it made it easier for him to travel. Students can mail their Stanleys to friends far away or take him on Spring Break. If they put together a letter and some pictures of Stanley's adventures, students can win a prize from the prize box.

One student gave Miss Frank his Flat Stanley, and she took him to a technology conference in Grand Rapids. They learned about iPads and other great computer resources and even visited the museum.

The Wright Stuff!

We have been reading about the Wright brothers and their famous first flight. Guess what showed up while we were practicing typing?

Hugo!

Each day after lunch recess Miss Frank reads to the class. Earlier this month it was from the Caldecott Award winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Thanks to the Charlevoix Waterfront Artfair Committee/Council for the Arts all third and fourth grade students are going to get to go see the movie that was based on the book: Hugo. The movie was directed by Martin Scorsese and is nominated for best picture. We are going Wednesday, February 1, but students need to return the permission slips that were sent home today. It will be interesting to hear if Miss Frank pronounced the French names correctly!

We Recommend

For the past few weeks students have been working hard on their own web pages. Each student chose a book they have read, wrote a recommendation, typed that up, created art work to go with it, and put it all together. You can check out the amazing web pages by clicking here!

New Book Orders

Two new book orders went home today. Please send in completed forms with cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs. Orders are due Friday, January 13. If you would rather order online, you can go to http://clubs.scholastic.com/. Enter code JFC6L and our class will still earn points. The more we order, the more points we earn for free books to go in our class library!

Book Orders!

Our first book order of the year is due tomorrow! The more we order, the more points we earn for free books to go in our class library. Please send in completed forms with cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs. If you would rather order online, you can go to http://clubs.scholastic.com/. Enter code JFC6L and our class will still earn points!

When I think back to when I was in fourth grade, I remember being very excited for book orders. I remember they used to have posters, and there was a great debate between the girls over the CHiPs poster: who was cuter, Ponch or John?

Grade Level Content Expectations

In an interest to save paper and time, I am posting links to the fourth grade math and language arts parents' guides here. These documents tell you what your child will need to know by the end of fourth grade.

Homework

After working in the classroom seven of the last nine days I have decided to stay home this weekend. Of course I brought home some work! Last year the school purchased a new language arts series called Treasures. I am excited to dive in and check it out.

For students, a homework folder will be sent home each Monday and is due Thursday. Students who don't turn in their homework will have to do it during afternoon recess. If all students bring back their homework finished and on time, I will have a surprise for the class on Friday. It may be anything from a treat, a present, a video, or a fun activity.

New Books!

Today I took a break from the classroom to do one of my favorite activities: Shopping! Besides picking up various supplies for our room, I also went to the local bookstore. You can see from the picture I had a lot of fun! I inherited a ton of books from other teachers, but I wanted these to give the collection some new life. Thank you to the PTO for the money they give to classrooms. It will help pay for this. I got some great ideas from some librarians, teachers, and parents at LibraryThing, and of course from the helpful people at the bookstore. Each day in class we will have SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) time. I would like students who come to the open house next week to pick out their SSR book then, so we don't have a big crowd at the bookcase on the first day of school. You can see some of our classroom library books at the bottom of this page. Many of these new ones are series, so students, let me know if they are good and I will get more!