Courtney, Centers, Recorders...and the Carnival is Friday!

Today being Wednesday, we had the treat of Courtney coming to read Poppy and Rye to us. We were just finishing up some geography review when she came in and so she started asking us some questions too. Courtney is just part of Room 8...and that's just how we like it!

We started a round of math centers today. We have 4 centers: I'm working on division - one group was dividing something like 49,563 divided by 61! Mrs. V is working on horseshoe factoring. Ms. van Ark played a game called 'The Remainder Game' which they play in partners. The number of spaces you move on the gameboard is determined by the remainder from a division problem you solve. We had Joshua's mom volunteer in our class today (and tomorrow) and she ran another group. This group analyzed word problems and then she was right there with them while they worked. I love centers and I do believe Room 8 does too!

Today was also our music day. Room 8 was SO EXCITED because they knew they were getting their RECORDERS today...which they did.




Just a reminder: The school carnival is Friday from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. If you buy tickets tomorrow after school, for $5 you can get 15 tickets. If you wait until the carnival, they are 2 tickets for $1.

What's happening tomorrow in Room 8?

Guess who will be teaching in Room 8 tomorrow? Well, yes, Ms. van Ark will...but also the recently retired Mr. Collart will be there! (I will be in a safety meeting all day.) Room 8 is SO excited. Many were disappointed when he retired because that meant when they got to 5th grade, he wouldn't be there. I hope Mr. Collart has fun...I know Room 8 will!

This photo was taken at a retirement party last June.


Can you believe Mr. Collart can still fit into these PLAID pants he wore his first year of teaching? Not too many of us could do that! Could you?

Sterling, Sydney, and Tiffany's bags

I have LOVED learning about everyone through their bags. It definitely has taken time in our morning, but it's been well worth it. Today, our last three Room 8ers shared. First came Sterling. One of the items she had in her bag was a pink bracelet from the Breast Cancer Project. I am impressed when 9 & 10 year olds can support a cause and understand the support. She also had a cute little stuffed bear Christmas ornament!

Next came Sydney. She had a lot to share, but the modeling has to be the photos to post on this blog. I'm not sure what the deal is with the Raiders...but there are quite a few Room 8ers who like the Raiders...Sydney being one of them! She also loves to swim...that's why she's modeling the goggles.

Last but certainly not least, was Tiffany. I think I learned the most, or rather, I guess I was surprised the most, by Tiffany's bag. Tiffany is a little doll...and I what I didn't expect was her riding a QUAD...she brought her quad gloves. "Do you want me to put them on, Mrs. Johnston?" Sure, Tiffany! She also brought a golf ball because she loves to play golf with her dad! She also brought her goggles...and a lot more. What photos to post of Tiffany? Um??? I don't know. I think the little people who live in Room 8 like the goggle photos...and I guess I just have to include her modeling the quad gloves...I just didn't expect that!

So that's the end of our bag presentations! What fun they were!

Ty's bag, Picasso, and some random shots

Today we learned about Ty. Sterling couldn't find her bag this morning...I think she may be distracted since she has a new baby brother!!! Congratulations to Sterling's family.

Ty had a lot to share. He loves football, even coming dressed in his football jersey with a photo of him in the same jersey! He also had his gloves he uses when he rides his quad. He had a little tiny guitar that lights up from a battery. Room 8 loved that guitar.

This afternoon we looked at a few paintings by Picasso. We especially looked at one titled "Girl in the Mirror." Then I led them through drawing a face with only half of it in profile. Like Picasso, we don't have to use the usual colors for faces, lips, eyes, etc. We finished the drawing, and now we're using oil pastels to color them. We didn't finish...but we'll work on them more next week.




Nikkiah asked me yesterday if I had taken a photo of her with her bear when she shared her bag. I hadn't. She wanted to know if she could bring it back so I could take a picture. Sure, Nikkiah!

As we were going outside this afternoon for "free Friday P.E.", Adam asked me if I'd take a picture for the blog of him hanging upside down. You bet I will, Adam! Doesn't he look great hanging upside down? Playing on this dome and hanging upside down consumes a lot of recess time for some of the kids in Room 8!

At the end of the day, Ryan came up and asked me if the inside of your eye was always red. I asked him to show me the part he was talking about....

The wonderful little people in Room 8...don't they make you smile?

Riley and Ryan's bags, Nate's new haircut, and Cole's rock

We're into the R's on our bags and today we had Riley and Ryan. Riley had a lot of photos of his family. You could tell how special they were to him. He has his own quad and a track to ride them around his house! Sounds fun!

Next came Ryan, our scientist! He showed us his 'idea journal' where he has written or drawn ideas of things to build. He brought his plane built from legos plus one built out of a popsicle stick and paper. Ryan is also a reader, so he brought one of his favorite books written, I think he said, in the 1950's!

Two other photos I wanted to include today was one of Nate and his new haircut...and Cole sharing one of his rocks.

Nate & Nikkiah's bags, Courtney reads, & Latitude and Longitude

We're getting toward the end of sharing our bags. You may have noticed we're going in alphabetical order by first names. Today Nate started us off. I had a hard time deciding which photographs to use. Nate brought so much in that small bag! I decided on the one with the karate belt for his Build-a-Bear...and one with an orange golf ball. Nate also had baseball cards...he's just a sports kind of guy!

I had no trouble deciding which ones to use with Nikkiah. Troll dolls! Oh my gosh,I haven't seen those in a LONG time. I use to have some when I was young and I absolutely loved them. The second photo of Nikkiah shows her in clothes from the company her dad works for. Modeling with items from the bag is catching on!

Courtney came to Room 8 for the first time this year. She owns our local book store, but more than that, Courtney is the 'best reader alouder!' Now that's not proper English, but I don't know how else to say it. She's been coming to Room 8 for 7-8 years at least, reading to us every Wednesday afternoon. Today she started Poppy and Rye, by Avi. I was reading Poppy and we finished it today. Poppy and Rye is the sequel to Poppy. Believe it or not, I forgot to take a picture! I'll take one to post next Wednesday.


This afternoon we learned how to locate a place on a map by naming the coordinates. For example, I wrote 30N, 120E (I don't know how to put the 'degrees' sign in after the numbers...but it's 30 degrees North) and then all the scholars in Room 8 looked in their atlas' and found SHANGHAI. We located Indonesia (0,120E), South Africa (30S, 30E), Brazil (15S,60W), the Black Sea (45N, 30E), and Uganda (0, 30E) by their coordinates. If you practice this at home, remember the line of latitude is named first. Lines of Latitude are those that are parallel to the equator. They'll end either in N for North or S for South. Room 8 LOVED doing this activity!

GATE Testing, Matthew's bag, and Garrett Rocks...or should it be Garrett's Rocks?

Most of our morning was led by Mrs. Wheeler as she gave us the SOI, the Structure of the Intellect - our GATE test. I think most of the class really enjoyed taking it. Mrs. Wheeler made it fun...and even a bit silly during our breaks! Here are some photos of the class singing and clapping with her.



Matthew shared his bag today. He showed us one of his caps...he said he collects them. He also showed us a little notebook/journal, a cool little car, and his camera. He said he loves to take pictures and does it all the time. So he took some photos of Room 8...and I took a picture of him taking a picture!

Garrett brought in some rocks to share. We're loving all this rock sharing. Even if we don't know what kind they are (Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic), we can still appreciate a cool looking rock!

In regard to the GATE test: Once all the 4th graders have been tested, the tests are then sent off to Oregon to be scored. Once the scores are in, Mrs. Wheeler will contact you if you're child scored in the gifted range.