What are YOUR reading plans for vacation??

Vacation is approaching, are you ready??  What will you be reading over the break?  Do you have your books selections picked out yet?

I am planning on reading the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  I have heard it is really a good read and I finally bought a copy for the classroom.

I am also planning on reading The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, part 4.  The book will be released this week, and my daughter Zoe and I are very excited about getting started on it.  It is full of mysteries and questions and we hope some of those will  be answered in this new book! 

The final book I am planning on reading is Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo.  I bought the book a while ago, but have not had the time to read it.  It is about a super-hero squirrel and a girl named Flora.   Kate DiCamillo is one of my favorite authors and I have read most of her books, but so far I am not totally excited about reading this new book.  I don't know, maybe it's the squirrel.  My daughter Dalin read the book and loved it.  More and more people who read it tell me they like it too, so it has been added to my pile for the winter break

A Tangle of Knots has just arrived in  my Scholastic box.  I have heard so much about this book and I finally broke down and bought a copy.  Something about baking, magic, and mystery all good qualities in a book for me!!  This one also goes onto the pile.

So, what will you be reading over the break?

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TWIN DAY!!

Last Friday was twin day here at school.  There were some crazy twins, triplets, and more.  Of course the 4th grade teachers had to get in on the action!  Such great look alikes!!

The Marshmallow Spaghetti Challenge

It was the day before Thanksgiving vacation, excitement was high in the classroom.  What's a teacher to do with all that energy?? 

 Time for a group building activity!!  The challenge was to build the highest free-standing structure using 20 pieces of spaghetti, a yard of tape and string, and one marshmallow which had to be on the top of the structure.  Students were not allowed to eat or break up the marshmallow in any way.  Oh and by the way, they only had 18 minutes to do this. 

 Competition was fierce, and for a while it looked like we might have lots of little spaghetti all over the floor and no standing structures!  I don't think any of us realized just how delicate those pasta pieces are.  Winners are pictures on the left.  congratulations to everyone, great TEAM  work!

Field Trip to the Audubon Nature Center

Last week, the 4th grade went to an Audubon Nature Center. We learned about landscapes, wind, water and lands. We were divided in to 4 groups. One group looked at a huge piece of granite which was carried there by a glacier. All of the groups went in to mini-groups and made ravines, lakes, islands, and peninsulas on the beach of Lake Michigan. Then we all collected rocks and looked at them to see if they were sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous rocks. Potter78 found four pieces of granite and named them all Mr. Granite(haha). We all had lots of fun except for when we got sand in our shoes.

Dear 4th Grade Families,

We have started division but our curriculum begins by teaching it in a slightly different way than you may be used to. Here is a video that explains one of the strategies we will be using for division.

Student Book Review

Among the HiddenbyMargaret Peterson Haddix

Reviewed by Potter78

Among the Hidden is a book that takes place in the 31st century. The problem in the book is that the government has passed a law that makes having three or more children in one family illegal. Sadly, Luke is a third child that must stay in the attic 80 percent of the day.  

One day he sees someone in a window where he knows two kids have gone to school. Does he dare find out more about the third child?  

I enjoyed this book because the author always has something interesting happening all the way to the end of the book. I recommend this book for kids who like futuristic action books.

Haunted Houses, book 2

Another group of great descriptive writing pieces about scary houses we might have visited...