Reading

Our reading goal for the 2nd Quarter is 500 pages.  Be sure to check out the new info on Reading in 4J.  You can get there by clicking here.

Thursday, October 18th we went on a field trip to Coralville Lake.  We started at the visitor's center with a movie about the dam and floods followed by a question and answer session with Ranger Terry Escher.

Then we spent some time in the visitor's center looking at the fossils and stuffed animals native to the lake.  After Stopping for a class photo op we headed to the Gate House.

We were lucky to see the inside of the gate house as it is "top secret"!  Following that we headed for Fossil Gorge.  We saw many fossils and other interesting things.

Our last stop at Coralville Lake was a quick trip on the Veteran's Trail.

Because of the cold rainy day we decided to eat lunch at CoralRidge Mall.

And then we were off to the Museum of Natural History where we toured Iowa Hall, Mammal Hall, and Bird Hall.

This guy was a favorite.

And even with the cold wet weather a good time was had by all!

Thank you to the parents that accompanied us.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Wow!  We have been so busy this past week.  Homecoming Week was very fun and we enjoyed seeing the kids dress up on each day.  The week concluded with a Pep Rally on Friday afternoon with the captains of the football, volleyball, and cross country teams.  The athletes stressed the fun they have while playing, but also pointed out the importance of keeping their grades up and homework.

math news...
We have time in math working with a great program on the ipads, Educreations.  This program allows us to make 1-take videos (no editing) explaining what we are learning in class.  We have found a few glitches, especially the fact that only one video can be created at a time as there is no saving.  So, we are alternating which classes make videos with partners and which make whole class videos.

Our goal in math was to make videos explaining and reviewing the target (secure) goals for Unit 1.  We hope to do these throughout the year.  The videos are private, meaning you have to have the url to access them as they are not searchable.  Hopefully these will become another resource for students as they are working at home.

There is a new page at the top of the blog called, "Links to Educreation Videos."  I will keep updating this page with all the links.

This week we moved back to unit 2, Using Numbers and Organizing Data.  Today we used fun size packs of M-n-M's to explore maximum, minimum, range, and mode.  We will also spend time reviewing multi-digit addition and subtraction.

social studies news...
Now that we are geniuses on landforms, we are also using Educreations to share that genius.  While working on these videos, we are constantly asking ourselves if they are "WOW", worthy of the web.  We only want to share accurate information while still paying attention to our verbal skills, written skills and grammar.  I will post these as we finish.

Next, we will study climate and natural resources.

field trip news... 
Our 4th Grade field trip to the Coralville Lake (visitor's center, gate house, fossil gorge) and to the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History is scheduled for THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18.  Your child will bring home a form on Friday asking you to indicate whether he/she will be bringing a sack lunch or will purchase a sack lunch from school that morning.  Please return this form by October 16 so we can let the kitchen know.

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parent-teacher conferences...
Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, November 1 and Thursday, November 8.  If you have not returned the bright green scheduling form, please do so as soon as possible so we can get those scheduled.