I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! It is hard to believe that it is already Christmas. December is always a very busy month here at Keystone.

Today in reading class, we will be starting the book called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It is a wonderful story about the awful Herdman children who discover the true meaning of Christmas. Every year the students are entertained by trouble the Herdmans get into. It is a book that they won't want to put down.

In Social Studies we are starting chapter 5 called The Birthplace of Independence. We will be learning about the French and Indian War and how the colonists won their independence from Great Britain.

Halloween Activities

On Friday, 4th graders will participate in the Halloween parade. Students can wear traditional Halloween costumes for the parade. Your child may bring a healthy snack to share with the class if they choose. Please remember to follow the wellness policy. Some suggestions are fruits, veggies, cheese and crackers, and granola bars just to name a few.

Red Ribbon Week

Miss Myers and Mrs. Wingard have planned many exciting things for Red Ribbon Week this week. I hope the students will join in the fun with all the different themes.

Monday - "Rally in Red and Sock it to Drugs!" Wear red clothing and crazy socks.
Tuesday - "You won't see me using drugs!" Wear camo.
Wednesday - "Put a cap on drugs!" - Wear a hat.
Thursday - "Drugs will make you crazy!" - Crazy hair day.
Friday - "Team up against drugs and alcohol." - Wear your favorite sport's team jersey/uniform/shirt.

The Red Ribbon Week Fairy will also be visiting classrooms each day and leaving fairy dust and a special treat on one student's desk. I wonder who the lucky students will be?

On Tuesday, we will be heading outside for different physical activity stations. Please be sure your child is wearing sneakers and a warm coat.

Most of all, I hope you will take this opportunity to talk with your child about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. We can all work together to help Keystone Kids be drug free.

202 Happenings

We have been very busy in Room 202. Last week we made leaf critters with our kindergarten buddies. Pictured in the top photo are Corra, Mehki, and Rachel with their jellyfish creation. The bottom photo is Lilly, Braiden, and Ryan with their pretty butterfly. This week we are busy preparing for our class's Stone Soup performance. We are performing for our parents on Friday at 2:30. Hope you can be here. Tomorrow is Walk at School Day. Please be sure your child is dressed warmly and has comfortable shoes. We have some important tests coming up at the end of the week. Thursday we have our chapter 2 animal test, and on Friday we have a chapter 1 social studies test.

Bird Identification

We were hard at work today identifying common backyard birds. The students worked in groups using field guides to identify 14 birds. Some of the birds included were blue jay, black capped chickadee, rose breasted grosbeak, american goldfinch, and red bellied woodpecker just to name a few. The students will be learned these birds and will be tested on them on their animal test. Pictured above are Rachel, Cayla, Lilly, and Braiden.

Walk to School Day

Wednesday, October 7th is Walk to School Day. After announcements, we will be going over to the track to walk. Please be sure your child wears their tennis shoes that day. Now all we need is a little sunshine.

Scarecrows

Last week we did a scarecrow activity with our kindergarten buddies. It is wonderful to see the fourth graders work with their buddies. I am seeing a lot of teamwork and willingness to assist the buddies on the fourth graders part. The kids are always asking when we are doing buddies again. In the top photo, Josiah and his buddy show off their finished product. The bottom photo shows Zach and his buddy hard at work.

Off to a great start!

I can't believe we are in the third week of school already! We have been very busy in Room 202. In social studies, we have been learning about map skills. For science class we are learning about animal adaptations. Be sure to ask your child about some of the really cool adaptations animals have for meeting their needs. Last week, we went outside for science class to to a predator prey camouflage activity. All of the students enjoyed being birds who had to hunt for caterpillars. Our reading story this week is called Amelia's Road. It is about a migrant farm worker who has no place to call home. Ask your child how Amelia solved her problem in the story.

New School Year

It is hard to believe that school is starting. It seems like the school year just ended. I am looking forward to meeting all my new students and starting a great year in fourth grade. Hopefully all of my new students have received my letter and have started on your boxes all about you. I am anxious to meet all of you on Monday and look forward to you sharing your boxes. I always learn so much about my new students when we share the boxes. Enjoy the last few days of summer vacation! See you on Monday!

Accelerated Reader Field Trip

Congrats to Eric, Kyle, Noah, Wade, Danielle, Grace, Brooke, Kaci, and Maddi who were the top Accelerated Reader point earners in fourth grade. As a reward for this accomplishment, they were treated to lunch and miniture golf at Wolf's Camping Resort. They also got to go to Renninger's for an ice cream treat. Keep up the great reading.

4th Grade PA Trivia Competition

The 4th Grade PA Trivia Competition will be held on May 26th at 2:00. Congratulations to the finalists from Room 202: Nick, Christian, Kaci, Wade, Grace, Makena, Maddi, Brooke, Noah, and Kyle. Study hard! There are lots of facts to learn.

Clear Creek Field Trip

Thursday, May 7 is our field trip to Clear Creek. Students need to ride the high school bus or be dropped off at school by 7:20. We will be back in time for regular dismissal at the end of the day. Be sure your child is dressed for the weather. It is usually a bit cooler at Clear Creek. It may be raining, so an umbrella or rain coat would be a good idea. Please send an extra change of clothes and shoes. We will be wading in the creek and often get wet. Be sure to send your child a lunch and a drink (no glass containers). Students will also need a plastic container to dig in the sand with. A sour cream container or something similar would be great. The students are very excited for the trip. Now let's hope for a nice, sunny day.

Animal Research Reports

The class has turned in their animal research reports, and I really enjoyed reading them. I learned many interesting things from the students' research. I was surprised to learn that Dall sheep have growth rings on their horns which are very similar to the growth rings that trees have. I also learned a lot about walrus tusks. I didn't know that the tusks are used for protection against enemies or that they are used to help the walrus move around. The students are now in the process of sharing their books with the class. I think the students definetly learned about the research process. They put a lot of hard work into their projects, and I am very pleased with the final outcome. Pictured here are Makena, Eric, and Grace with their projects.

Upcoming Events

It is so hard to believe that we are nearing the end of April. That means that we will be very busy here in Room 202.

On April 28th and 29th, fourth grade students will be taking the PSSA Science test. We will be testing on both of those mornings. Please be sure that your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a good breakfast.

On May 7th, the fourth grades will be traveling to Clear Creek State Park. This is a fun-filled learning adventure. Our first activity will be constructing the Allegheny River Watershed on the beach area. Students will work in groups to dig the tributaries and build the towns along the Allegheny River. One of the favorite activities is the stream activity. Students will be wading in the stream searching for "critters." It is amazing to learn about all the different creatures lurking in the stream. Then students will then try to identify what they have found. We will also be hiking the Ox Shoe trail and learning about the timber industry in the early days of Clear Creek. The students are very excited for their trip. Please return your child's permission slip if you haven't already done so.

Kindergarten Buddy Activities

We have done some fun activities with our kindergarten buddies. A few weeks ago we made GAK. The kindergarteners were working on the letter G that week. The 4th grade students had a blask making GAK and playing with it. This past week we made spring butterflies out of coffee filters and clothes pins. The butterflies have added a touch of spring to our classroom. We sure need some spring inside with the snow outside.

Animal Research Report

We have been working very hard on our Arctic animal research. Research is finished now, and students are writing rough drafts and publishing their book. I have given the students a hard back blank book to publish their report in. I am looking forward to seeing the finished products. The students have learned some very interesting information about their animals. The books are due on Friday, April 17th.

Southwest Region

We have been busy learning all about the Southwest region of the United States in Social Studies. My student teacher, Miss Whelan, is doing a creative unit on the Southwest. The students have learned about the the amazing Grand Canyon. Last week, the students explored a website on the Grand Canyon to learn about this beautiful place. This week we have been working on map work with the Southwest, and the students will be researching a Southwest state. Pictured above are Reese and Emma working on their map.

Iditarod News

The Iditarod is wrapping up in Nome, Alaska. My prediction of Lance Mackey winning the race was correct. He was in the lead for several days and ending up winning by several hours over the second place musher. Jacob's musher, Mitch Seavy, was the winner in our class. He came in fourth place. We are still waiting for several mushers to finish. The Red Lantern Award is given to the last musher to cross the finish line. This award is given because just finishing the race is a great accomplishment, no matter what place you finish in. I think that is an important message for us all to keep in mind. We also read the book: The Iditarod - The Greatest Win Ever. The students enjoyed reading about Kara, a fictional character, and her ordeal through out the race. Next week, we will wrap up our Iditarod unit with a Jeopardy game and by completing our classroom ABC Iditarod book.

Iditarod Update

Hi, kids! I'm sending this post to you over the weekend to keep you up to date on the race. Lance Makey has been in first place all day. He checked out of Eagle Island at 7:48 pm our time (which is 3:48 in Alaska). There are currently 4 other mushers in Eagle Island. Makena's musher, Mitch Seavy, is currently the highest placed musher that anyone from our class is following. He is in 5th place. If I was a betting person, I'd be placing my money on Lance Makey. He just dropped his first dog today. Lance also won $3,500 for being the first musher to the Yukon. This is in addition to the $3,000 he won just a couple of days ago. I bet he can buy a lot of dog food with his winnings. Be sure to be checking the current standings. The race will be over in just a few days.

Iditarod Musher Journals

We have been writing in our musher journals each day telling all about what is happening to our musher out on the Iditarod Trail. The students are so excited when I pass out the updates each day. I will be posting some of the journal entries. Here is Danielle's journal entry:

March 12, 2009
Yesterday, we checked in at Nikolai at 18:08, 0r 6:08, and stayed eight hours and fourteen minutes. While we were there, I decided to change the team arrangements a bit. Stamp and Montana, the swing dogs, weren't working well together, so I switched Stamp with Oatmeal, one of the team dogs. Today we left at 2:22 and now we have been on the trail for eighteen hours and 19 minutes. We are traveling at 4.09 m.p.h. and I still have 16 dogs. We are on our way to McGrath, 54 miles from Nikolai. We moved back one place in the race and now we are in 58th place. I hope we move up farther in the race by at least 4 places by tomorrow. It is cold out here, but not cold enough to make me scratch.
Musher: Jen Seavy

March Happenings

March is a very busy month in Room 202. On Monday, March 16th, we will begin the PSSA test. We have been working very hard to prepare for these tests. Please be sure your child is well rested and eats a good breakfast.

March 17th is Go for the Greens Day where children are encouraged to eat vegetables. We will be snacking on fresh veggies that day here at school. If you would like to send in vegetables with your child for a class snack, please let me know. We will also be participating in a Produce Pentathalon next week. Your child should have brought home a letter explaining this and coupons. Each day next week that your child eats fruit or vegetables at home, please fill in a coupon and send it back with your child. If your child returns all 5 coupons, they will be treated to a special prize.

We are still following the Iditarod. Each day, students are writing in their musher journals. They are recording what is happening to their musher out on the trail. The students have been very excited about this. They can't wait until I pass out the current race standings each day. I predict that the winner will arrive in Nome sometime on March 17th or March 18th. Be sure to check out www.iditarod.com to stay up to date on all the happenings.

The Last Great Race

We have just kicked off a unit on the Iditarod. What is the Iditarod you ask? It is a 1,150 mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. The students have all chosen a musher to follow throughout the race. The race begins tommorrow in Anchorage. We will be closely following the race to see how our mushers are performing. The students will be keeping a journal on their musher. Log on to www.iditarod.com to see how the race is progressing and to learn all about the race. Check back here to see what Room 202 is doing with the Iditarod.

Blog confusion

For those of you who subscribe to my blog, you were sent an update to my blog about an animal report. This post is from last school year. I do not know why you received this as an update. I sorry for any confusion this caused. I hope I can find out why so we don't have this confusion again. We will be doing animal reports this spring, but we haven't started them at all yet. So if your child told you they have no idea about an animal report, they truely had "no idea."

Ellis Island link

For some reason, I am having difficulty adding the Ellis Island link under helpful websites. Here is the link: http://www.tenement.org/immigrate/ . Be sure to try out this really cool websit to learn all about immigrating to America and starting a new life.

Immigrants and Ellis Island

In our unit on the Northeast states, we have been studying about immigrants and Ellis Island. I added a link on the side to a cool website. You get to create a character to immigrate to the United States. Victoria, a previous immigrant, tells all about Ellis Island and beginning a new life in New York City. Check out this website to have a real life immigrant experience.

Important Dates

February 27 - Yearbook orders due
March 2 - Dr. Seuss Day
March 4 - Spring pictures
March 16-27 - PSSA testing
March 20 - Biography book report due

It is hard to believe that February is almost over and March is right around the corner. The school year just seems to be flying by. We have been very busy in Room 202. On Friday, we enjoyed some time with our kindergarten buddies. All the children had fun playing board games with their buddies. Pictured here are Brooke and Makena with their buddies. In Social Studies we are working on the Northeast region. We have been studying the immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, and the students are finding this very interesting. We are also enjoying a novel called Dear Levi. Through this book, the class is getting a true understanding of the hardships of traveling west in a wagon train.

Snow, snow, and more snow!

I hope everyone is enjoying all this snow. With all the snowy weather outside, take some time and curl up with a good book. Book reports are due January 30th, and the children really seem to be enjoying their books. We are also reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing during our novel time. Everyone is enjoying the hilarious antics of three year old Fudge. Fudge is providing us with many laughs such as when he dumped his food over his head at the restaurant while saying, "Eat it or wear it." Be sure to ask your child what else Fudge is up to.

Tomorrow we will be starting the regions of the United States in Social Studies. We are beginning with the southeast region. We sure could use a bit of their sunshine and warmer weather.

Get out and enjoy the snow. The possiblities are endless: snow angels, sled riding, ice skating, snowball fights, ect...