PSSA Testing

It is that time of year again! We will begin the PSSA testing on Wednesday. Testing will continue through next Wednesday. We have been preparing very hard for these tests. It is very important that your child is well rested and eats a good breakfast.

Recipe for "GAK"

Last week we made GAK with our kindergarten buddies. They were learning about the letter G, so we helped them make some green GAK. All the kids loved it, and many asked for the recipe so here it is.

Mix: 2 cups glue
1 1/2 cups cold water
green food coloring
Set aside.

Mix: 1 cup hot water
1 tablespoon borax
Mix until dissolved. Then mix into the first mixture very slowly. Knead. Then enjoy.

Beauty and the Beast

On Wednesday afternoon, we will be walking to the high school to see a preview of the high school musical, Beauty and the Beast. Please be sure your child is dressed for the weather and is wearing comfortable walking shoes. I can't wait to see this. I have heard that the costumes are wonderful.

The Race is on!

What race you may be asking? The Last Great Race otherwise known as the Iditarod started on Saturday. We began studying the race last week by doing an Iditarod trivia search on the computer. The Iditarod is a 1,112 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome. Each student has chosen a musher to follow in the race. Students will be keeping a daily journal tracking their musher as they head to Nome. The students are already very interested in the race, and I am excited to see their enthusiasm grow as they track their musher to Nome. Hopefully, one of the students will be following the winner of this year's race. We will also be reading many books about the race so students will realize what it is really like to race in the Iditarod.

I encourage you to check out the official Iditarod website with your child: www.iditarod.com . They will be able to share lots of interesting information with you from the website and they check their musher's progress. The race will wrap up around the middle of next week. The students will be anxious to see how their musher is performing as they get closer and closer to Nome.

Valentine's Buddy Activity

Last week we did a Valentine's Day activity with our kindergarten buddies. The students worked with their buddies to sort candy hearts by color. Then they made a bar graph of their colors. We then compiled the individual bar graphs into a giant classroom bar graph. The fourth graders did a great job of helping their buddies. Pictured in the top photo are Karlee and her buddy. The bottom photo shows Riley with his buddy.

Sandwich Book Reports

Last week I assigned the students a book report. Each student has their book for the report and has already started reading the book. They are making their report in the form of a sandwich. On each part of the sandwich, they must report on one aspect of the book. For example, on the lettuce they need to describe the book's setting. Book reports will be due on February 17. This is an independent project, and most of the work will need to be completed outside of school. Please encourage your child to tell you about the book they are reading and show you the sandwich as they are working on it.

New Grading Period

It is hard to believe that we are starting the third nine weeks today. This year has just been flying by. Today we will switch for Science, so my homeroom will be going to Mr. Bowser for Science this grading period. There they will be learning about simple machines, energy, and wetlands.

We have also started a new textbook in Social Studies. We are now learning about the regions of the United States. I have a lot of fun teaching the regions, and the students will get involved in many different projects. We are going to begin with the Southeast region.

In Reading this week, we are reading a story called Scruffy. Scruffy is an arctic wolf living on Ellsmere Island. He is a low ranking wolf in the pack, therefore his job is the baby sitter. The children have really been enjoying this story.

Tomorrow our class will be going to the book fair. Yesterday we went for our browsing day, and there were many wonderful books to choose from. Remember that you can use Boxtops for Education to purchase books.