Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog!

Throughout the year you will find glimpses into our days here on the blog. Once I have everyone's release forms to take photos, I will begin to post pictures here of the learning that is going on in the classroom so you can catch a glimpse into our time together!

Make sure to take time to subscribe to our class blog so you can get an email when there is a new post. The post will be sent directly to your email. You can find directions on how to do that here. You will also find other important links on the right-hand side of this page.

I will also update you more regularly and with important reminders through email once a week. This will begin once I have your emails returned on the "Getting to Know Your Child" form that went home with you at Open House.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions! I look forward to working with you this year!

Important Testing Details

As some of you are aware, our testing dates have been pushed to the end of the year.  It is crucial that your child is here for these dates if they are well.  If it is necessary that a child attend an appointment during regular school hours, please try to schedule them for the afternoon during testing days.  The following are the dates for testing:

KCCT Testing:

May 9th-13th

May 16th and Math 18th

May 19th and 20th (Make-up dates)

IOWA (NRT) Testing:

May 23rd-24th

May 25th-27th (Make-up dates)

**Please understand that visitors are not permitted in the building during testing days.  This includes lunch visitors.**

**Also, due to testing dates changing, 4th and 5th grade are not attending the Zoo field trip this year.  The fourth grade team is currently planning a 4th Grade Fun Day for Friday, May 27th instead.  Any details needed will come home in the near future.**

Important Reminders and Tips:

*Please make sure your child gets adequate sleep the evening before each testing day.

*There is a no homework policy during testing.

*Please make sure your child has a healthy breakfast on testing days.  They are not permitted to eat their snack until after testing.  An empty stomach does not lend itself to the best testing situation for your kiddo.

*Please make sure your child has a water bottle for school.  Water fuels our brains.

*Your child may have mints to eat or mint gum to chew during testing as it helps with their concentration.  Only mint flavors will be permitted.  Due to board policies, I cannot provide food for your child, so if you would like them to have it, please make sure you send mint or gum with your child.

*Review the yellow sheet, "De-Stress for the Test", with your child.  This is important information that our guidance counselor, Kerri Hammons, has shared with the children in the classroom.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.  Thank you for your continued support!

Happy Spring!!

Looking ahead to the week following Spring Break...

Math--How do I tell time, determine elapsed time, and convert time measurements?

Reading--How do readers summarize fictional texts?

Science--Why does a shadow change throughout the day and what type of weather can you predict from the different types of clouds?

Writing--How do writers publish an academic essay?

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Spring Break!!

Enjoy! :)

It's SHARK WEEK!

It's Shark Week here at Harmony in the 4th grade!

We have a lot going on this week, including shark dissecting on Wednesday and Thursday!

Math--We just wrapped up a quick unit on area and perimeter.  Our next unit will be a study of decimals, fractions, and percents.

Social Studies--We will continue our study of the American Revolution after Shark Week. Our most current days were spent studying the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

Reading--We are spending this week reading about Sharks! You will also notice that a couple nights this week will be reading homework about sharks.

Science--Our week consists of our Shark Study!

Monday-What can we learn about sharks through the use of scientific tools? (microscope, measuring tape, magnifying glass, and a scale)

Tuesday-What do we wonder about the Dogfish Shark? (On this day we will observe the sharks at our tables without actually dissecting.)

Wednesday-What is the structure and function of the internal parts of a Dogfish Shark? (We will look inside our sharks today and measure them!)

Thursday-How do the independent structures work together in the shark's body system? (We will but cutting parts of the shark open today and even pulling parts out!)

Friday-What have we learned about the Dogfish Shark? (We are creating a News Report about shark spotting using our new schema on the Dogfish Shark!)

Writing--We are learning about essays and how to be an essayist!

In addition to all the other excitement this week, we are taking a field trip to the Louisville Orchestra on Friday! We will eat lunch in the classroom when we return!

Looking ahead....ESS will begin in March! All students get invited to ESS in my class...because we can always benefit from a review! Letters will come home at the end of February about that!

No Taxation Without Representation! (4th Graders Revolt)

"We only had six pennies!"

As I mentioned before, we are amidst our American Revolution unit in Social Studies. Today, in order to have a more "authentic" experience, the students were colonists living in America. A tax system was set in place.

The guidelines:

-Six pennies to start the day for each "colonist".
-An index card to get stamped each time a colonist paid a tax.
-One pencil that must be used the entire day.

Taxes:

-Must pay for any handout given, such as the math review.
-Must pay to sharpen your pencil.
-Must pay to have recess. (This really started to cause some revolting!)
-If wanted, must pay for an extra 5 minutes of recess.

Some students spoke out after the recess tax with quite a bit of frustration!

"How I feel about taxes, is mad and sad because I'm giving money away. Also if I want to spend it on something I can't because there will be nothing left." -JJ

"I think taxation without representation is not fair because we are having to pay to play and I refused to pay, so I didn't get to play. This is very unfair for the colonists." -AA

"I think King Gentry is being very unfair taxing us wihtout representation. It's really not fair! How rude! She's taxing us for things I used everyday! I would hate to live in the 1700s with taxation without representation. I feel very, very, very MAD!" -HW



Investigating the Stamp Act

"I feel mad! I have to pay for my recess! Really? So mad!:/" -AC

"I feel angry! I feel like nothing I say or do will make her stop! Taxation is just not fair! I can't even do recess without being taxed!" -BM

"I feel so mad that I have to pay for sharpening my pencil, getting a piece of paper, and I have to pay if I want recess. I just don't think that's fair!" -KK

"We have to pay taxes for recess, paper, and to sharpen our pencil. :( "
-HS

"I feel bad that we have to pay for recess! I mean come on! It stinks." -EP


Working hard

At the end of the day, colonists were able to trade their left over money for "goods".

What an exciting day!

No More Kings

Our new Social Studies unit is the American Revolution.  We have enjoyed viewing this School House Rock video, No More Kings to help us understand why people traveled to the New World.

Enjoy!

We're Back!

Well it was nice to return after a relaxing, fun-filled break! We had a smooth transition back into the classroom starting with free writing time in our Writer's Notebook about our favorite parts of the break.  Everyone was eager to share about all the fun they had!

Our focuses this week--

Math-Fractions (Unit 7)
Reading-Non-fiction reading; tracking how our schema changes as we read. (This will be connected with Science.)
Science-Animals (Mammals)
Writing- Persuasive Letter On-Demand writing

We will also have guidance with Mrs. Hammons twice this week (Monday and Wednesday) as well as catching up a few loose ends from our extended break.

Have a wonderful week!