New Blog Platform

Hey everyone we have been upgraded to the new Kidblog platform at our student blog site.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

MYSTERY SKYPE #4

Bravo to our small class!  Despite the loss of 6 missing flu victims, we still managed to pull though and guess the state of North Carolina for our 4th Mystery Skype.  Our competitors were doing their first Mystery Skype however they guessed Wisconsin right after we guessed their state.  The visiting classroom lived 5 miles from the border of Virginia-they could practically walk across the border!  We also learned the Wright Brothers flew their first plane there (Pogoboy already knew that though because he is researching the Wright Brothers.  You can check out his report on his kidblog page).

Talent

Check out this totally cool drawing that Artboy did of BalisticBomb on the whiteboard!  Great likeness.

Hour of Code

Dec. 8 - Dec. 12 was Hour of Code and our class participated.  We LOVED it!!  Who knew computer code could be so much fun.  We spent two days for one hour each with the laptops learning about coding.  I think it was the quietest this classroom has ever been!

Crazy Hair

Last Friday was crazy hair day.  We had some very crazy hair here!

3rd Mystery Skype

We had our fourth Mystery Skype on Thursday.  This time, we discovered that one of our favorite questions, "Do you border a large body of water?" needed some clarifying.  When we asked the question at first, the class said no.  When we went back and asked it again-but adding "including lakes?" they answered yes!  From now on, we will definitely make sure our questions are VERY clear!

They guessed our state first this time, but we did figure out that they were from Illinois (AGAIN!).  Just because we have already had a state doesn't mean it can't come back again!! BEWARE (mwah ha ha ha).

Sincerely,

Ms.McLean

Division- A Tale of Two Methods

Here are two great movies that explain the place value sections and expanded notation method for division!

3rd Mystery Skype

We have completed our third Mystery Skype this week!  When I was contacted by the teacher in Illinois I thought to myself, oh this is going to confuse them a bit being so close to home.  But our class did great.  We were organized with our maps and very focused on discovering where they lived.  We managed to guess their state in only a couple of questions!

The funny part of the Skype was when the other class asked where we were from, they didn't ask are you in Wisconsin.  They asked "ARE YOU PACKERS FANS?"  We all had a good laugh about that one. Especially if you remember the last football game between the Bears and the Packers!!

Multiplying 2 digit by 2 digit numbers

There is a very good video explaining 2 digit times 2 digit numbers using the area model at Learn Zillion.  Go to www.learnzillion.com and use the code LZ1879 to view the 2 digit times 2 digit movie.

Here is another movie about multiplying 4 digit numbers times one digit numbers, also at www.learnzillion.com  .  Use the code LZ1878 to view the 4 digit times one digit movie

Multiplying 1 x 2 Digit Numbers

14th Goldfish GRA

We are reading 'The 14th Goldfish' in class as part of the Global Read Aloud.  All over the world, students are sharing and discussing their thoughts while reading this engaging book.  Our class has been doing some drawing while listening to reading.  Friday we put these drawings together with some of our favorite dialogue from the story using the Chatterpix app on the Ipads.  Loads of fun, check it out!

Fabulous Surprise Birthday today

Today we had a big surprise birthday for Ryane!  Check out this special movie that his dad made for him!! We all thought it was pretty awesome, and I don't even know any of these guys!

Sincerely,
Ms.McLean

Group Challenge #2 SAVE FRED!

Friday after our end of unit math test we had another group challenge.  This challenge was to work with a partner to save Fred.  Fred was a gummy worm who had been out boating (clear cup) but had capsized.  Unfortunately he had forgotten to wear his life vest which was trapped underneath the boat (don't ever do that!).  Here is a picture of how each group began the challenge.

Fred is on top of his boat but the life saver is trapped underneath!  OH NO!

Students were given 4 paper clips and were not allowed to touch Fred, the boat, or the lifesaver.  They had to work together to get the life vest out from under the boat and then put Fred into the life vest.  Not as easy as it sounds!  However all groups were successful and here are some pictures from our challenge.....

Mystery Skype #2, by Bball 1013

Today my class had our 2nd mystery skype.  They guessed our state, Wisconsin, really quickly.  It took us a long time to guess their state. Their state was Kansas.  In our 1st mystery skype they were in Utah.  This time another 4th grade classroom came into our classroom and did the mystery skype with us.  Warrior30 did a great job keeping track of the questions .  We were asking the people in Kansas to find out what state they were in.   At the end we asked regular questions like what school they were at and have they ever had a tornado.  They said they are the state of tornadoes.  They also said their state animal is a Buffalo.  Ms. Mc said that we are going to do more mystery skypes throughout the year. MYSTERY SKYPES ARE AWESOME!!!

This week in Daily Geography and Social Studies..

Latitude and Longitude!! sing along.....

Preview Some New Books Coming Out

Mystery Skype

Our class had our first mystery skype today and we were able to guess that the 4 the gr. class we were talking to was from Utah!  They guessed our state right after so I guess we tied that game.  We had a great time talking with the class in Utah afterwards and learning more about their state.  They are a very dry state and the temperature there today was 85!   We had a quick question session about our schools and our classes and then signed off.  If you want to know even more about Utah, check out this site  visit Utah

WELCOME!

Hi new 4th graders, welcome to our class!  It is going to be a great year and I promise we will all have an exciting time!  Just look back at our last year here on the blog.  

Here is a little bit about me. Mouse over the image below and click on the icons to learn some facts about me.


What are some things you would share about you? Get ready to create your own thinglink and share a little bit about yourself.

Another story of perseverance -my fav- Kate DiCamillo

Click here to see End of the Year Slideshow

Wings and Flight

We had our virtual field trip with the Smithsonian today.  We were one of two classrooms chosen, so lucky!!  We learned quite a bit about lift and how planes fly.  Here is a video of our visit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtKJENbizto#t=17

Geometry Vocabulary: Adjacent

10 Of The Best Paper Plane Designs | Paper Planes | Kids Activities

10 Of The Best Paper Plane Designs | Paper Planes | Kids Activities

Alphabet to the last day of school!

We are counting down the alphabet to get to the last day of school. Today was the first day 'A' for airplane day! We made paper airplanes in class (look at those angles and triangles-YES math is everywhere!).

We took our fabulous paper planes outside for a quick race. Here we are lining up to get started.

Here are the finalists

And of course, it had to happen....

(BTW we did rescue it!)


Tomorrow is 'B' for baby picture.

Perseverance

Here is another story of someone who just never gave up.  How about you?  Will you give up, or keep on trying?  Imagine what could happen to you if you just kept trying.

Triangular Music

So, what are the math questions and observations you can say about this video with a triangle?
Do you see the different angles he uses?  Which kind does he use the most?

TRIANGLES

How do you remember your triangle names?  Today we looked at how to build scalene, isosceles, and equilateral triangles with people.  We found that we could use 3 students all the same size to build an equilateral triangle.

We also found that 2 short people (slightly height challenged, sorry guys) and one tall student will make an isosceles triangle.  You can also build an isosceles triangle with 2 tall students and one shorter person.

Madison

We took our field trip to visit our state capitol last week.  What was your favorite part of the trip?  The bus ride?

Some happy bus riders!

Or perhaps it was seeing the statue of Colonel Heg?  Do you remember what we read about him?

We finally meet Colonel Heg!

Did you like seeing the different parts of government?

Some young legislators.

Was your favorite part the museum?  Seeing all those artifacts that connected to our text?

Some tired lead miners.

Leave a comment and let me know what you liked the BEST!!!

Mr. Bale

"Should I push the yellow button?" Mr. Bale asked himself.   He wondered and wondered and decided to push it .The house started to shake and Mr. Bale flew back at the wall. He broke his right rib. What the heck is going on with the house Mr. Bale asked himself?

The house landed hard, Mr. Bale stood up and looked outside through the window and saw he just landed on the moon. He went down stairs and saw a space suit laid out on the ground. He put it on and opened the door and slowly walked out. It was hard to breathe.   He looked at his air tank and saw it was on empty and hurried inside.  He was so scared he just wanted to go back to earth so he pushed the button.

The house started to rumble and took off like a bullet. He’s going back to earth. The house landed hard. Mr. Bale stood up with pain and looked outside. People stood outside and looked right at him.                                                                                                                                           

Just Dessert- Harris Burdick Stories Quick Write

A woman named Erica was at a farm one day looking for a pumpkin for her dessert, her favorite, pumpkin pie!  All the sudden her foot hit a huge pumpkin and she exclaimed, "the bigger the pumpkin the bigger the pie".  Erica picked it up and put it in her wagon.  On her way home the horse hooves made a beat and she whistled to the beat.  All the sudden her wheel hit a big stone she looked at it.  It did not move one bit.  She made it home and went inside with the pumpkin.  Then she prepared for her dessert.  She put the the pumpkin on the table.  She grabbed her knife.  The pumpkin started to glow when she lowered the knife and it got brighter.  She cut open the top she took out a glowing see-through ball. 

 It was a universe!

by Lucky 12

The Library- Harris Burdick Stories Quick Write

     Vines scrambled out of the book. Mary woke up and the vines started to choke her. Mr. Linden had warned her but she didn't listen.Now, this might be the last she'd see in her life.

The day before...

     "I'm warning you," croaked Mr. Linden. "The book has been acting very strange. The last 3 owners died while they had it." Mary thought that Mr. Linden was trying to creep her out. She snatched the book out of his hands, checked it out, and skipped out of Jocksenville's public library, Mr. Linden's Library. All the books in his library were magical. They were ordinary books you could find at ordinary libraries except what happened in the book would really happen. Mary had chosen the newest book, 'Jumanji,' by Chris Van Alsburg. She loved to read, especially books she hadn't read.

     "But mom!"stammered Mary. "I wanna read it!" "Not until you finish your chores, young lady!" replied her mom. "Hmmphh!"complained Mary. She cleaned the toilet. scrubbed the sink, and washed the bathtub. By dinnertime, she was finished. "I've finished my chores", said Mary.  She picked at her dinner, devoured her dessert, got ready for bed, and finally started to read. She fell asleep and the book lay open.

     Vines scrambled out of the book. Mary woke up and the vines started to choke her. Mr. Linden had warned her but she didn't listen.Now, this might be the last she'd see in her life.By morning, she was dead. The book had killed it's next victim. Her parents came in and saw the vines and their dead daughter. They cried and cried and cried for the most of rest of their life.

by All-Star28

The Library- Harris Burdick Stories Quick Write

     Jannya Gornor was walking through the library looking for a scary book.  She found this scary book called 'The Cong0.'  But, before she could grab it, Mr. Linden walked up to her.  He grabbed the book from the shelf and warned Jannya,"You may not want this book!  It's quite scary for a little girl like you!"  "Shut up," she yelled, irritated that he thought of her like a little girl.  "Shh," everyone hushed, turning back to their books.

     But, stubborn Jannya checked it out anyways.  When she arrived at home, Jannya did the usual boring homework and stupid chores.  She started to read her book, 'The Congo', and after stopping at a really good part, she started to slumber.

     She left the book open, to the part about the forest, and started to snore.  (She sounded like a donkey when she snored.)  All of a sudden, darkish green vines started to grow bigger and bigger.  They slowly came out of the book, crawling over Jannya.  A few minutes later, they choked her to death.  The book never returned to the library. 

by sparkle 12

Cool opportunity to get some free audio books! I am looking forward to hearing 'Code Name Verity,' but there are lots of really good titles on the list for summer, and they are all free! Check it out...Free Audiobooks   http://www.audiobooksync.com/warp/

Math Blog

Check out or new math blog for 4th and 5th graders presented by the after school math club called 'Math Rocks.'  Here is the link ghgladiators.blogspot.com/

Math Review

Changing an improper fraction to a mixed number: Turning improper fractions into mixed numbers- for those still struggling with that here is a good resource...

I Survived...

Do you enjoy the 'I Survived' books?  Guess what, you can vote for the next 'I Survived' book!  Go to this link and make your vote today.  Scholastic I Survived

Math This Week

Here is a video that supports our fraction lessons this week.

False Prince

Our class has been living in Carthya these past few weeks as we read through Jennifer Nielsen's The False Prince.  It is hard to stop reading, and oh we want to keep reading each day to find out what will happen to Sage - except for those lucky few who got their own book and read ahead-shame on you! But we don't blame you, the suspense is killing us!!!  Well here is the author's website and guess what, looks like there is going to be a movie.  YIKES, we urge you to read this book before the movie comes out and ruins all those great images you can create in your own head.

BTW anyone interested in starting a morning book club to meet once a week and read the second (and perhaps third) book in the series????  Leave your comments below.
How do you think this book is going to end???

Snow Fort Math Class

Time to make snow forts and talk about perimeter and area.  Today was the warmest weather we have had all month!  A balmy 30 outside a perfect day to go out and make snow forts!  We had some grand designs but found transferring design to actual fort is not as easy as we thought.  Anyway, we had great fun practicing our perimeter and area skills.

We are Quadblogging again!!  Welcome to our new quadblogging friends from Singapore and the United Kingdom.  We are looking forward to sharing with you.  

• You can learn more about us through our first few posts from September - all about our classroom and our school.

Some info about SINGAPORE

Info about the UK

Free Books!!

Are you interested in free audio books?  Check out SYNC.  Over the summer they have a monthly free audio book you can download and then listen to on an Ipod, Ipad, or other device.  Last summer I downloaded some great books for free and then my family and I listened to them on some road trips we took in the car.

They have just announced their free book schedule.  If you sign up they will email you each time a new free book is available.  The new list includes 'Code Name Verity',  'WARP, the Reluctant Assasin', 'Red Badge of Courage' and 'Peter and the Star Catchers.'  Adult books are also offered.

Check it out here...SYNC