I Am NOT a Turkey!

Our disguises for turkeys!

4th Grade Poets!

On Tuesday, we joined Mrs. Murphy's class to read lots of different kinds of poetry books.  We then wrote our own poems in the style of the ones we read.

Teddies are on their way!

We are about to send our teddies out into the world!  How exciting!  Our official Send-Off is Thursday, November 14th at 2:30 (parents, feel free to come).  Until then, everything you need to know about the teddies is below.  A paper version is also coming home today (Tuesday).  Please let me know if you have any questions! (kmehlin@topsfieldps.org)

Dear Parents,

         As you probably know, we are beginning the fourth grade Teddy Bear project. The teddy bear send-off is Thursday, November 14^th  at 2:30. Parents are welcome to attend and help the students bid their bears farewell. Below is a checklist of what your child and you need to do to prepare for the send-off:

q  Select a responsible person in another state to receive “Teddy.” Please try to let the person know in advance about the project. Also, try to keep it in this country since the purpose is to learn about the regions in our country.

q  Get a box sturdy enough for Teddy to travel in, but not too big.

q  Pack Teddy, his journal (the journal will be completed in school) and anything else you want to send along with him in the box.

q  Wrap it all up and address it.

q  Bring it to the Post Office in town and alert them that you are sending a bear as part of the Proctor Bear Project. They are aware of the Teddy Bear Project, but remind them that only stamps should be attached.

q  Prepay the postage, but don’t leave the box with the Post Office. They’ll pick it up at the send-off.

q  Bring the stamped, postmarked, wrapped box to school by November 14^th.

Thank you.

Sincerely,                                                      

The Fourth Grade Teachers

We're coming!!!!!!

DASH

A big thank you to the parents who came into our class for DASH (Disability Awareness Starts Here)!

Lowell Mills

Here are some photos from our field trip to Lowell Mills on Wednesday!

Math Jenga!

During Extra Practice yesterday, some of the children played a game of jumbo Jenga with math facts!

Important dates for October

Here are some important general dates along with test and project dates:

Tuesday, October 8th: Curriculum Night, 6:00

Wednesday, October 9th-Thursday, October 10th: Food chain project in CLIC (done in school)

Friday, October 10th: Chapter 2 math test
                                    Science test (on food chains and webs...the majority of the test will be on vocabulary but they will have to explain how food chains and webs work)

Monday, October 14th: No School (Columbus Day)

Tuesday, October 15th: No School (Teacher Professional Development Day)

Monday, October 28th: DASH, 9:00

Wingmasters

Today we had the pleasure of enjoying a visit from Gracie's uncle who rescues birds of prey. It was really interesting to hear about the differences between the birds and how they all fit into the food chain. The children were very excited share some of what they have learned in Science about food chains, webs and adaptation. Check out some pictures from our assembly: 

Study Island

Our class is now up and running on Study Island! Each student has a username and password (see below). This is a wonderful resource for math practice and will be assigned for homework occasionally. Check it out!

www.studyisland.com

Username: capital first initial + last name with first letter capital + . + proctor (mine would be "KMehlin.proctor")

Password: study

Red Sox Pride!

We had a pair of twins in class today!

Visualizing to Music
    In Reading, we are learning how to visualize when we read, forming a clear and detailed picture in our mind.  To help us get even better at visualizing, we spent some time today listening to music (Stravinsky, Copland and Gershwin, to be exact), drawing whatever came to our minds.  We then wrote a description of our visualizing.  Here are some pictures of us hard at work:

    

 And look at some of the impressive work we created!



 

Happy Wednesday!  A couple things:

 

1.)  Thank you so much for all your support over the last few days.  I am very grateful to all of you! :)

 

2.)  Unit 1 Math tests are going home today (Wednesday, September 18th).  Please look them over, sign them, and return them to school by Friday.  Each question has the standard that relates to that question directly on the test (you can look at your copy of the report card for what each standard means).  There are "on grade level" questions which are 4th grade questions (the majority of the test).  There are also "above grade level" questions which require higher thinking and are a bit more challenging (and offer an opportunity to earn a 4 for that standard).  Let me know if you have questions...I know it can be a bit confusing.

 

3.)  Book orders are due on Friday, September 20th! :)

 

As always, feel free to email me if you have any questions.  I will not be sending home newsletters now that I have this fancy new website! :)  I am also working on setting up a time for all of you to come in and meet me.  Thanks again for your support and here's a lovely picture of your children:

 

 

 

Welcome to the 4th Grade!

We're off to a wonderful start!  Please check back for updates and exciting class news.  Add your email on the right in order to receive updates!