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