Regions brochures and P.E. with Ms. van Ark

Three days without the wonderful people who live in Room 8 is hard on ole Mrs. Johnston! I've been missing all of you...but have felt confident that you were in good hands with Ms. van Ark.

We've been studying about the four regions in California - coast, mountains, desert, and Central Valley. Ms. van Ark taught Room 8 about taking notes on the regions and then gave a lesson on making a travel brochure! Each student got to pick whichregion they wanted, and then using their notes and textbook, they are creating a brochure. From these photos, they are turning out great!




It looks to me like PE was a challenge! I'm thinking the goal was to pass a hula hoop around the circle without letting go of hands???



Tomorrow is Friday...and oh boy...I get to come back to Room 8!

A Day with Ms. van Ark

Today Ms. van Ark taught the whole day. From what I've heard, it was a great day! I had a doctor appointment today to have a place cut out of my back. I actually had it cut out in July and when the report came back, the doctor said they needed to cut deeper. So that's where I was today...now it HURTS! I'm not sure how many stitches...but it's sore. Unfortunately for me, I cannot do anything for 48 hours. That means I for sure won't be at school tomorrow - Wednesday - and I'm actually not suppose to come on Thursday either..but I'm going to wait and see how I feel tomorrow. I don't want Room 8 to worry...I'm fine.

Ms. van Ark sent me some photos through email so I could update the blog. THANK YOU, MS. VAN ARK!!!

Room 8 did Scholastic News today...and it looks like working in pairs went well!
Look carefully at this picture. See the football? Kade + football...they're always together!

For P.E., Ms. van Ark taught a new game...team bowling! I need to learn how to do this.


I hope you have another fun day tomorrow, Room 8. I miss you!

Fire Safety

Today Room 8 joined Room 6 outside to watch a demonstration of the use of fire extinguishers...and to learn about fire safety. I learned something...I did not know there were multiple types of fire extinguishers! Now I know!


Fireman Shawn told us about the 3 types of extinguishers they had there. One type is used to put out fires that cause ash...paper, wood, etc. It has water in it! This is NOT to be used for a gasoline fire. They lit a fire using fuel...and then sprayed water on it. Oh my gosh, the fire got so much larger! There is one extinguisher that is used for any type of fire. That is what this photo of the extinguisher is. I don't know if you can see the pictures on the label that show the different fires it can extinguish.

To use an extinguisher, remember PASS - Pull the pin....Aim....Squeeze....Sweep. He told us it's important to aim at the BASE of the fire.

We also learned the difference between fire trucks. There's the ladder truck....it has ladders! The rescue truck....it has rescue equipment....the trucks are named according to the job they do. The engines are numbered...we had Engine 5 come visit...and the person who drives the engine - well, that's the engineer!

We learned a lot from our valuable firemen today! Thank you for coming to our school!

Scholastic News

Scholastic News is a weekly magazine I subscribe to for Room 8. Each student gets their own copy. Many of them like to punch holes (3 hole punch) when we finish reading it and keep them in their binders. I think that's a great idea. At the end of the school year, they'll have a record of all the news that happened during their fourth grade year.




Usually we have some comprehension questions to answer from the stories. Prior to today, we would read the stories together and discuss them. Sometimes we would read the questions before we read the story, and then I'd have students raise their hands when they heard the answer to a question. It's a new skill in 4th grade to be reading for information.

Today, Room 8 worked in partners and read the magazine AND answered the questions together. Some of them finished...some didn't. After today it became homework...although it's not due until Thursday.
Conall and Nikkiah are excited about reading about pennies. Sterling and Lindsey...yep, that's Lindsey reading in a rather unconventional way!
Look at Tiffany and Anne! This photo looks like they posed, but they didn't. Ms. van Ark answers a question for Nate and Cole.
Joshua and Connor are diligently working...so are Donnie and Jack!
We had one group of 3 - Ashley P., Sydney, and Bailee. Now Kade is noticing there might be a Kodak Moment of he and Brenden coming up!

Now Garrett and Amanda were definitely working...even though it looks like Garrett might be half asleep. He wasn't...the photographer caught him in between blinks... maybe!

Fridays in Room 8

Friday is our day to go to the library. The students are welcome to go during the week to check out books, but Friday mornings at 10 is the time we go as a class. Often Mrs. Benedict will read us a story...or sometimes will read a novel. After this time, we have time to check out a book.



Today we did a math activity called "Create a Number." I had the class working in pairs and together they were trying to come up with,in this case, 5 different possible answers to a set of clues. For example, today we were given clues to help Mr. Redding locate his car by identifying his license number. The clues were: The numbers were in succession and in ascending order. The first three letters of his last name were in the number, but not in the order of his name. The last clue was that there was a digit, three letters, and then three more digits. Oh yeah, there was more clue...that the last digit was 7. One thing I encourage the kids to do is look for patterns as they discover the answers. I believe Room 8 enjoyed this activity!


We had Free Friday PE at the end of the day. The bars were busy...

We have a map of the United States painted on the playground. It's often a place where the students play. Someone will call out a state and they quickly run to stand on it. In this photo, I think they were on Washington,D.C....but Nate was showing Ashley, Brenden, and Sydney how he got red paint on his new jeans from sliding across Virginia!

Coming up next week: exponents...and the order of operations!

Our schedule, buddies, and granite models

Here's the schedule of one of our days. Every morning the days schedule is on the board. This way the students know what we're going to be doing...plus it helps keep me on track! Every place you see the 'squiggle line', that means it's time for recess. One thing I forgot to write on this days schedule is "learning log." That is something we do everyday.




How fun it is on Thursdays when Mrs. Friedman's first graders come to Room 8! They are our buddies. I can't post many photos yet...Mrs. Friedman is going to find out if the first grade parents are OK with their children being on the blog. I know one that's OK since her brother is in Room 8.
Today when they came, Mrs. Friedman brought a little book. The fourth grader read it to their buddy, then the first grader tried to read it back. When this was finished, we helped our buddies make a poster on an animal. The first graders are doing little animal reports. The poster has the animals name, a drawing of the animal, and at least one fact. How fun it is to be the teacher!

We worked more on our granite models...cutting the pieces out and putting it together. Remember the four minerals???

Granite models, learning logs, and spin art

As you may have realized from some of our photos, Room 8 is learning about Rocks and Minerals in science. We've been talking about Igneous Rocks (ask your Room 8er what Igneous rocks come from). One of the things we've learned is that granite has four minerals - mica, feldspar, hornblende, and quartz. We're making a paper model of granite.



Everyday, except Friday, we write in our "Learning Logs." This is like a daily planner that is divided into weeks. We have a "Homework Board" in the classroom where I write the homework daily. At the end of each day, I tell Room 8 to 'open your learning logs to Week 6 - today is Tuesday." Then I read the homework board and they write it in their log. Here's the key...I then go around and stamp each log. IF your child is telling you they have finished all their work AND their purple half sheet is coming home on Tuesdays with missing assignments listed, then check their learning log. Make sure they are leaving it open long enough for me to come stamp it. They raise their hand when they finish writing...then I go stamp. It would be easy for a student to not raise their hand and me not realize I had missed someone.

Unfortunately for me, I missed the carnival this past weekend. It sounds like it was a big hit! I was out of town for an Australia meeting. Here are a couple of spin arts from Room 8ers!