We're a physically fit bunch of 4th graders!

Every morning - unless it's raining - we run. Mrs. K's fourth graders and Mrs. B's fifth graders also run.

We start by stretching...Mrs. K leads part and Mrs. J leads part. Then off we go.



Once we've run, we walk around the basketball courts 3 times to cool down. Someone, I think it was Amber, asked me one time if we could line up in Texas to go back inside. I thought that was just a GRAND idea...so here we are, lining up in the great state of Texas.
And off we go to start our day!

We're learning to play the recorder!

Every Wednesday at 2:40 p.m., Room 8 goes to music with Mr. R. Each student was given a recorder to use for the school year. Today, most Room 8'ers had a test to see how they played a song.
Looks like Mary has her recorder in 'rest position.'
Dillon and Michael watch Trevor as he's taking his test.
Listening to Mr. R give us instructions.
Kamren takes his turn playing a song.
A few Room 8ers would take their test, then we'd all play a song together, which is what is happening here. Um? I wonder if Mae forgot her recorder?
Edin and Branndon are trying to figure out how to hold their fingers for a certain note.

All the 4th and 5th graders will have a concert in ... think it's in January. Now, here's some video of them playing today... you may want to replay this in January before the concert to see how much they've improved.

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A beautiful warm day and no wind...a perfect day for frisbee

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. I thought it would be a perfect day to go out and practice throwing frisbees. It looked like Room 8 enjoyed it!

We started off in 2 lines - with partners facing each other. I had one partner step back 5 GIANT STEPS. We just practiced throwing and catching it for a while.
Mae and Mary decided it was easier to throw and catch the frisbee if they were on their knees. Ok...
Ahem..well, what can I say? Look at that catch by Mary!
Notice the eye contact Austin is making with his partner. Well, you can't SEE his partner in this picture, so you'll just have to trust me that that's what he's doing!
You need to notice Amber's tights! I love to see what she is going to wear everyday. She wins the award for the BEST TIGHTS!
Whoa, Devin! Look at him...well,hold on...is he throwing or catching? Whichever it is, you're looking good, Devin!
Edin made a diving catch...what a frisbee player!
Um? Looks like Elijah is not too happy. He must not have caught the frisbee very well. Look at the rest of Room 8. I don't think they look that happy to be going home, no way...they're still excited after playing frisbee!

Austin decided to do a bit of reading while he waited for the bus...good choice, Austin!

Don't you just love it when people smile?

Well, congratulations to Branndon for correctly identifying a select group of Room 8'ers by their eye!

Here's another puzzle for you...can you identify these 6 Room 8ers by their smile?

Person #1:

Person #2:

Person #3:


Person #4:
Person #5:


Person #6:
Give it a try... can you name all 6?

Can you tell who these Room 8ers are?

Isn't it wonderful how we all have eyes, a nose, a mouth, ears..etc., but yet we all look so different?

Try your hand at this...can you tell who these Room 8ers are?

Person #1


Person #2:

Person #3:

Person #4:

Person #5:

Person #6:
Can you name all 6?

Miss C helps us study

On Fridays, Room 8 USUALLY has a math test. This Friday was no exception.

Friday morning, Miss C announced that she would be in during recess if anyone wanted to stay in and study for the test. She had a few takers...and did they ever enjoy this study session!
Miss C is reviewing long division with Casey O, Amber, and Macey.
Look how happy Casey O., Amber, and Macey are while they divide!
Ok, we need a little Kodak Moment here...I asked these division masters to stand with Miss C!
Now because this looked like a lot of fun, we had some more Room 8ers join the division review. Branndon and Emily wanted to have a piece of the fun.Whew! Look at some of these division problems they were doing!
Miss C is pointing out something about the problem to Emily. See that red star next to the quotient? That means it's correct.

We're excited that from now until Christmas, we have Miss C with us all day, every day!

Cube-O...which was also our introduction to positive/negative numbers - Whew, are we ever a smart bunch!

This last Friday (sorry this has taken so long to be posted!), Room 8 was introduced to the math game of Cube-O. Here's how it works:

The class is divided into groups. Each person has a calculator and some scratch paper.

Each group is given 4 die - 2 are numbered 0-5, and 2 are numbered 5-10.

One person rolls the die and each person in the group records the numbers.

THEN, I give a 'target number.' At that point, each member of the group is trying to use each of their 4 numbers - and using each number only once - to reach the target number. They can add, subtract, multiply, divide...but they can only use those 4 numbers.

For scoring, if the group reaches the target number, their group receives a -10 points. Otherwise, the number of points they receive is how many points away from the target number they are. It's kind of like golf (which I know hardly anything about!) - you want the LOWEST score....so, as we learned, NEGATIVE TEN IS GREAT!
This group was certainly hard at work...Cayla, Ralphie, Emma, Amber, Austin, & Macey
Elijah, Mae, Jacob, Danielle, and Kamren were trying to reach the target number.
Devin, Dillon, Casey J and Casey O...looks like Devin is checking out Dillon's equation!

You may not notice Mary sandwiched inbetween all these guys! I don't think I realized she was the lone girl in this group until I saw this picture! Mary doesn't even have a brother, but she knows how to hold her own! Here is Michael, Edin, Branndon, Tyler, Mary, and Carlo.

And hold on a minute...there's a face we haven't seen on this blog! Well, meet Mrs. T! She now comes to Room 8 from 11:05 - noon - which is when we do MATH! We're delighted to have Mrs. T.Hey, who is this? Meet Mrs. W! Mrs. W will be with us in Room 8 after Christmas as our student teacher. We're fortunate to have Mrs. W and Miss C this year. In this picture, Mrs. W is checking out the equations of Trevor, Madison, Kyle W., Shawna, and Kyle A. Kyle A. looks VERY happy with his group...they must have hit the target number!
Um, now wait a minute. This is the same group from a different angle. Trevor DOES NOT look happy...maybe he was just thinking, 'Oh great. There's Mrs. J again with that camera!'... or maybe I just got him inbetween his smiles...or maybe they didn't get the target number.

After two rounds of play, we figured out the total for each group. I was amazed at how quick Room 8 learned to add positive and negative numbers. For example, we learned that -10 + 2 = -8 We also learned that -20 (because one group had this as their score!) is a LOWER number than -8. If you think about it, we've always learned that 20 is a HIGHER number than 8...so how can 20 be lower? Well, Mrs. J used a number line to show that when we get on the negative side, it's the opposite.

Well, it was certainly a fun day learning to play Cube-O and having Mrs. W join us for the day!

The Best Reader Alouder...please excuse our English, but this is a true title

Meet Courtney.

Courtney has been reading to Room 8 for... well, we can't remember. It's been about 8 or 9 years at least! How's that for dedication? Every week, Courtney comes in for about a half hour and reads...and we are mesmerized.

I termed the phrase 'the best reader alouder' because of the fact that as a child, books weren't read to me. Because of that, I've always had a difficult time focusing on someone reading outloud.

Enter Courtney.

When she first came to be a part of Room 8, I realized I was captivated when she read... and then I realized why. She reads so well. Thus, the term - 'the best reader alouder.'

Room 8 had the pleasure of meeting Courtney on Tuesday. Some already knew her from our local bookstore. Room 8 is extremely fortunate to have Courtney come.
She is starting the year reading The Hoboken Chicken Emergency. Oh my, it is funny! There is this giant chicken...

In other reading news, Room 8 is also hearing Running Out of Time, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. This is also a great book. Jessie, the main character, has just found out that she does NOT live in 1850 - that it's actually 1996. She and her family have been living in an historic preserve - like a living museum, except the children thought it was all authentic. Diptheria begins to invade the village, and Jessie's mom sends her out into 1996 to try and get some 'modern medicine' to heal the sick. Jessie has no idea what a zipper, car, telephone, or toilet is.

I've been reading this book to Room 8 for 10 years and it has always been a favorite.

It's Ok because it's a Picasso!

Room 8ers, along with all the other 4th graders at our school, learned a bit about Picasso when they were 3rd graders.

Now that they're in 4th, we talked about what they remembered about Picasso and discussed some of his 'periods of art' - like the Blue Period, Rose Period, cubism, etc.

I led them through drawing this with their pencils, then Friday we started using oil pastels to color.

With this project, the pastel is not to ever go over a pencil line. As you can see on Jacob's, he brings the color up to the pencil line, then stops. The next color comes up to the pencil line, but again, doesn't touch it. Wait till you see the finished product, they're phenomenal.

"Can my face be purple?"
"My eye looks funny!"
"Uh oh, I made this the wrong color."

To all these and more, our answer would be, "It's Ok, it's a Picasso!"

Look at our progress...

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