9 More Days!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was field day. You know what that means, the end is near!!! Field day was so much fun. The kids had a blast in all of the games. They especially liked getting wet, and by wet I mean SOAKING WET! At the end of the day, I played softball with some of the other teachers against the 5th graders. What a fun day!!

3 1/2 More Weeks!

For those of you who check the blog regularly, I'm sorry that I didn't post last week. It is getting to be that time of year where everything is very exciting, but also very crazy! Not only did our field trip get cancelled because of all of the rain, but our field day and honey money spending spree were postponed due to the rain as well. We have been working hard to prepare for the PASS test. It will start tomorrow and go through Friday. This week, we will start a novel study on Holes by Louis Sachar. We will also continue learning about the Civil War and start a Civil War project. Parents, please make sure to help your child out at home with this project. It is due May 22. Also, there will be no more word studies for the rest of the year!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Our field trip to Piedmont Forestry Center has been cancelled for the second time due to rain! We are all so bummed because we were really looking forward to getting in the stream to catch all of those creepy crawly creatures. Oh well, we are going to watch a movie tomorrow afternoon instead. This week is really flying by. We only have one more week to get ready for PASS, so we are working really hard to review everything for the test!

March of Dimes Walk

Today was an exciting day. Orchard Park has been raising money throughout March and April for March of Dimes. Throughout the fundraiser, my class raised $55.00 in student donations alone. We also helped by making and selling baked goods at our bake sale. Another part of our school's efforts was participating in a mini walk on our walking trail here at school. We had a lot of fun making our banner for the walk. Our school's grand total at the end of the fundraiser was over $2000!!!! Way to go OPE!

We're Back!

Wow! Spring break flew by, but it was so nice to have some time off. This week, we are back in full force. Last night we celebrated our Streets of Learning with each grade level showing off their hard work in the hallways. Here are some pictures of my students' work. You can see their anomometers hanging from the ceiling along with their inventor research writings.

Easter Egg Hunt

What a beautiful day for an Easter egg hunt! Our kindergarten reading buddies asked us to hide Easter eggs for them, and we had so much fun doing so. They were so cute hunting their eggs, and my jellybeans were so sweet to help their buddies find the eggs.

War of 1812 Skits

Students wrote and performed skits of the decision to go to war with Britain for the second time. The characters included President James Madison, Henry Clay, and other War Hawks.

Creative Kiddos

For the past two weeks, my class has been getting ready for our upcoming Streets of Learning. The fourth grade's theme is Invention Convention, and we have been working hard to learn about inventors and inventions. Students in my class have researched an inventor of their choice and made a poster about that person, and they are creating weather instruments in science. This week, my class began collaborating in groups to create a student desk for the 21st century. I was super excited to see how creative every group was in their desk designs. They worked together to brainstorm a list of ideas and features to include in their desk. They then drew their desk and wrote a descriptive paragraph about their desk. Each group presented their desk inventions to the class. The desk inventions included features such as reclining chairs, built-in laptops, lighting options, and iPods to download podcasts of each lesson! And who said today's kids have no imagination?