Jefferson City Capital and Governor's Mansion Fun!

We had such a great time on our field trip on Wednesday! The students really learned a lot about Missouri as a whole. We were lucky enough to also be able to tour the Governor's office and have a mock bill session. In the mock bill session students were able to discuss a real bill that was passed through legislation and gain a better understanding of how a bill becomes a law.

Here are some pictures of our trip! 

                  

 

Having our mock session in a real Hearing Room! 

Learning about the Governor's Mansion from our Docent! 

    

Learning about Thomas Hart Benton and the meaning behind the amazing murals he created.

We also had such a great time, we were a little sleepy on the way home .... 😴

            

BMX Craziness Today! 

     This morning was soooo much fun! I am so glad we were all there to experience it! Here are some pictures and videos from the show. 

What a Great Year so Far!

This school year has kicked off amazingly! 

   All students have been working really hard and are already accomplishing difficult goals. Which shows because we have our Fort Day celebration today, because they met their Class Dojo goal! Be looking for pictures on twitter or our twitter feed on the right! 

Upcoming Dates

• September 25th - No School 
• October 3rd - Fall Picture Day 
• October 6th - PTA Movie Night 
• October 17th - Early Out at 12:50 
• October 25th - Capitol Field Trip 
• October 27th - Fall Parties at 2:30 
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Kohfeldt Elementary Donations for Hurricane Relief

   Thank you for all of the awesome donations everyone has made! It is showing our kiddos just how important it is to give back to others in need. I am super proud of how involved all of them have wanted to be. I am excited to read the letters they make for the Kohfeldt students next week!

Weekly Newsletter

    Every week be sure to check out the 4th Grade Weekly Update to see what we are learning and what will be coming up soon! You can also access this in the weekly email that is sent out. 

How is this year almost done!? It has been an awesome year at Beulah Ralph and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with any other class! :) 

Upcoming Dates: 

• May 22nd: Field Day
• May 25th: Last Day of School and report cards sent home

What We Have Been Up To! 

• Writing: This week we spent time finishing up our poetry notebooks. We went through our checklist of poems and made sure everything was great for our poetry share!
• Social Studies: This week we spent some time working on finishing our research for our Famous Missourian project.  Remember that kids can bring these home to work on!  We will start presenting these on Friday, so that should give everyone enough time to finish! Kids will still have some time to work on these in class next week as well.
• Science/Health: We started our health unit this week.  Kids worked in groups to take notes on functions of our different body systems. Next week we will learn about hormones and the different glands in our body.  On Thursday, we will split up into girls and boys and watch the puberty videos.  I’m sure you can imagine how excited all of the kids are for this!
• Math: We took our final math STAR test this week and the kids did great! We also started our new math inquiry unit.  I love how excited the kids get when they know they’ve got a touch problem to solve. We will continue with this inquiry unit next week.  We will focus on working with fractions with unlike denominators.  
• Reading: This week we finished up our reading assessments!  It’s been amazing to see how much these readers have grown since the beginning of the year! Next week, we will continue to read our super silly read aloud, Sideways Stories from Wayside School.  In reading groups, we will read some fun articles and short stories.

Here are some pictures from today's Poetry Picnic: Writing Share! - For more look at our Twitter Feed. 

Happy May!

Upcoming Dates:

• May 8th: Buckman Farm Field Trip
• May 10th: PTA Meeting - 6:30 Media Center
• May 9th-11th: STAR Testing
• May 12th: Poetry Picnic Lunch (4th Grade Writing Celebration)
• May 22nd: BEU Field Day
• May 25th: Last Day of School

Service Learning Update:
  The kiddos did a great job picking out some more fun and practical items for our baskets. We worked together as a grade level this week to put all the materials together with ribbon and but them into the bags for moms.

What We are Learning!

Writing: We will be completing our Poetry Notebooks next week to get them all ready to show on our Poetry Picnic day! 

Social Studies: Students are going to complete their research on their Famous Missourian and begin the project of their choosing. 

Math: We are going to be doing one last unit called Field Trips and Fundraisers. The kiddos will be using their knowledge of fractions to solve real world situations. They will get to work together to create posters explaining their thinking and then participate in whole class discussions. 

Reading: We are continuing our fun read aloud book to wrap up our school year. I will also begin our DRA and AIMs Web testing. During this time students will still meet in their book groups, but work on facilitating it on their own. They will also be using this chunk of time to work on their Famous Missourian project. 

Whoohooo 4th Grade Rocks!

Upcoming Dates: 

• April 17th - Library Check-Out 
• April 18th - Missouri History Museum Field Trip 
• April 24th - Library Check-Out
• April 29th - Flash's Big Top Circus 
• May 1st -4th: MAP Testing 
• May 8th - Library Check-Out 
• May 8th - Buckman Farm Field Trip 
• May 12th - Brown Bag Lunch - Poetry Picnic

What We Have and Will Be Learning About! 

• Writing: This week we have been creating poems using similes and metaphors. We wrote practice lines and poems, then published them into our poetry notebooks with illustrations. Next week we will be focusing on using alliteration and idioms. 

• Social Studies: This week we got our Famous Missourians and have started researching about their life. For example, their childhood, schooling, their impact on Missouri, etc. We will continue to do through research for the next couple of weeks. 

• Math: We had such a great time learning from different teachers this week! Students learned about length, weight, time, and capacity volume. Next week our focus is triangles, regular vs. irregular shapes with symmetry, mirroring, rotating and slides. Also 3D shapes and area/perimeter will be covered next week. 

• Reading: We are obsessed with how good House Arrest is! We have been working on answering higher level thinking questions about the book during our whole group time. 

Runge Nature Center!

Here are some awesome snaps from today's field trip. The kiddos did such a great job and had a lot of fun! 

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

Upcoming Dates:

• April 7th: Runge Field Trip
• April 12th: 6:30 PTA Meeting
• April 17th: Library Check-Out 
• April 18th: Field trip to Missouri History Museum in St. Louis 
• April 24th: Library Check-Out 
• April 29th: Flash's Big Top Circus 
• May 1st -4th: MAP Testing 
• May 8th - Library Check-Out 
• May 12th - Brown Bag Lunch - Poetry Picnic 

Service Learning Update:   In the next couple of weeks we will be working as a grade level to have the students pick what they think should be in the baskets. Students will also be bringing home thank you notes for all of the amazing donations we received. 

What We Have and Will Be Learning About! 

• Writing: This week we have started our poetry unit! Students got to read different types of poetry books on Monday. Then they put together their own poetry notebook that they have been using to copy down poems they liked. They are using these poems to inspire and guide them to creating their own poems. Next week we will look at specific language types, found commonly in poems. 

• Social Studies: This week we introduced Famous Missourians and they did some research on them to determine their top 3. Next week they will get who their Famous Missourian is and begin to research them specifically; their childhood, adulthood, accomplishments, their impact on Missouri, etc. 

• Math: We have now finished our unit on fractions, percents, and decimals. The kids did SO great on this! For the next few weeks, to put our best foot forward for MAP testing, we will be trading classes every day. This is a fun for students to receive information that could be on the MAP test, without making them feel overwhelmed. We are really excited as a 4th grade team that we can do this, so that the students can be at their best! 

• Reading: We have just started our new book, House Arrest. They are already so immersed in this book and asking great questions, that are leading to even better discussions. Next week we will begin to show students examples of construed responses, tricky multiple choice questions and more literal questions pertaining to the book. 

Spring is Here!

Upcoming Dates: 

• March 22nd:  Capitol Field Trip 
• March 25th-April 2nd: Spring Break
• April 6th: STAR Math and Reading test 
• April 7th: Runge Field Trip 
• April 10th: Library Check-Out 
• April 18th: Field trip to Missouri History Museum in St. Louis 
• April 24th: Library Check-Out 
• April 29th: Flash's Big Top Circus 
• May 1st -4th: MAP Testing 
• May 8th - Library Check-Out 
• May 12th - Brown Bag Lunch - Poetry Picnic 

Service Learning Update: 

  Our walk-a-thon was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves! They loved the idea that they were walking and/or running for these moms that are going to receive our help. We even had a coordinator from First Steps come to see the event. When we return from Spring Break, we will start putting together the baskets for moms, with the students. 

What we have and will be learning about! 

• Writing: Last week we finished writing about whether or not we would have made the journey on the Oregon Trail. This week we will be making a finished product with our writings, within Google Docs. This week students are also working on their post writing assessment. They watch a video and read articles to help them develop notes, to then make a plan sheet. The prompt for 4th grade is, Should Students Wear School Uniforms? 
• Social Studies: We will be making a lot of connections about what we have learned about Missouri history and government when we visit the Capitol on Wednesday. 
• Science: We have now finished our waves unit and will use the information we have learned to participate in the STEAM bus activity on Friday when it comes for our class. 
• Math: We are getting close to the end of our fraction, percents, and decimal unit. They are doing a GREAT job building connections between how these three types of numbers relate to each other. This week we are working on games that include all of the object's, for example: comparing fractions, percents, and decimals; ordering them from least to greatest; and being able to explain with words how you know how your answer is correct. Later this week we will work on word problems with these math components in them, and the students have to decipher it themselves. 
• Reading: Last week we worked on dialogue and how we should use quotations around direct speech, for our mini-lesson and we finished the Mighty Miss Malone. This week we are looking at commonly misspelled words and the students will be creating their own little dictionaries. We are also reading poetry picture books this week to get us ready for our poetry writing unit after spring break. 

Happy Monday!

Upcoming Dates: 

• March 7th - Early Release 
• March 13th - Library Check-out 
• March 14th - Beulah Math Night 
• March 17th - 'Miles for Moms' Walk-a-Thon (4th grade service learning)
• March 22nd - Jefferson City Field Trip 
• March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK
• April 7th - Runge Field Trip

Service Learning Update: 

        We met today as a grade level today and found out that we have already surpassed our goal for the money we wanted to raise! We will now be able to discuss how we can take our project a step further, because of the amazing donations. 

What We Are Up To With Our Learning! 

• Writing: We are working on looking at examples of editorials pieces so we know how to create a great one ourselves. We will also be reviewing the rubric and checklist to know what our paper should consist of. They will then finish their planning sheets and begin writing their draft. 
• Science: In groups we are working on a presentation to teach the class about our particular type of sound wave. For example, one group will be an expert on echolocation, and teach the class all about it. We will also have the STEAM Bus coming on Wednesday to work on some more waves activities. 
• Math: We are rocking through this fraction unit! We are now starting to compare fractions with different denominators. 
• Reading: This week we will be working on homophones/ commonly misspelled words in the students Interactive Language Arts Notebooks. We will also continue to read The Mighty Miss Malone. Students are also doing a great job in their guided reading/ book club groups. 

** Don't forget to look at the Twitter feed on the right to see some pictures of the things we have been up to!

Updates in Room 216

Upcoming Dates: 

• February 27th - Library Check-out 
• March 2nd - Dr. Seuss Dress Up Day 
• March 3rd -STAR Reading and Math 
• March 7th - Early Release 
• March 13th - Library Check-out 
• March 14th - Beulah Math Night 
• March 17th - 'Miles for Moms' Walk-a-Thon (4th grade service learning)
• March 22nd - Jefferson City Field Trip 
• March 27th - 31st - SPRING BREAK 

Service Learning Project Update: 

        We spoke with all 4th graders this week about starting the fundraising process for our Walk-a-Thon. Each class' goal is to raise $125 to meet our grade level goal of $500. Kids can return the money as they receive it. Let me know if you have any questions! 

What We Have Learned About this Week! 

• Writing: This we we continued to learn more about "Research-Based Editorials." We compared different essays and even held class debates to get us in the persuasive spirit. We build background knowledge about the Oregon Trail, since our next persuasive essay will involve researching the Westward Expansion.
• Science: We continued learning about waves this week. Kids learned about how the further away a wave gets from its energy source, the more the amplitude decreases. Next week we will begin studying sound waves! 
• Math: We are continuing the plug away on our fraction unit. They kids are working very hard on this material. we have spent a lot of time studying the relationship between percents and fractions. We found equivalent fractions and ordered landmark fractions. 
• Reading: This week we started back up with our Daily Interactive Grammar Notebooks. We spent time reviewing the different parts of speech and even got to play jeopardy during reading! Students learned about progressive tense verbs and added to our Interactive Notebooks. Next week, we will focus on elements of complete sentences. We will also be continuing our read aloud, The Mighty Miss Malone. The kids are really loving this book! 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! 

Go Timberwolves!

Our kiddos were lucky enough to be in this weeks Cool Tool singing our school song! 

They are always being complimented on what a great class they are to have, especially by their Specials teachers.

Upcoming Events:

• February 17th - No School 
• February 20th - No School, Presidents Day 
• February 27th - Library Check-Out 
• February 28th - Dental Clinic 
• March 2nd - Dr. Seuss Dress Up Day (our grade level book is Fox in Socks) 
• March 3rd - STAR Testing - Math and Reading
• March 7th - Early Release, Classes Dismissed 2.5 Hours Early 
• March 13th - Library Check Out 
• Mirach 14th - Family Math Night 6:00-7:30 
• March 17th - "Miles for Moms" Walk-a-Thon 
• March 22nd -- 4th Grade Field Trip to the Capital 

What we have done this week! 

• Writing: We worked on our Opinion writing pre-assessment writing. They are really excited to start a new writing unit and share their opinions on different topics. We will be looking at debate skills, research and social studies through this unit as well. 
• Social Studies: The Oregon Trail is our destination! We are going to begin learning about Westward Expansion and the role Missouri played in that. We will start by gaining some background knowledge next week through books and videos. 
• Science: We  loved making our own waves with ourselves and water this week! We are building great connection between how force/gravity affect the wave length and amplitude of a wave. 
• Math: We have started our new math unit! We are working on developing our background knowledge of what we know about fractions, decimals, and percents and how they relate to each other. We have started doing this by using a 100's grid to show that if I fill in 1/2 of the grid that is 50, which is also 50%. 
• Reading: We are still enjoying our read aloud book, The Mighty Miss Malone. With this book we are working on our monitoring skills. This means that we are making sure that when we get confused in a text that we have strategies on how to figure out where, how, and why I got confused. We are also working hard in our book clubs/guided reading groups. All of them are really enjoying their books. 

In conferences I mentioned our service leaning project. For our project we will be doing a walk-a-thon called "Miles for Moms." We are asking for parent volunteers to help with lap counting, music, snack/water station donations and helping at the water station. If you are interested please let me know. Also, if you want to join your student for the walk-a-thon you are more than welcome to. 

Have a great 4 day weekend! 

Here We Go February!

Upcoming Dates: 

• February 10th ~ Problem-Solver celebration, bring a puzzle/ puzzle game from home 
• February 13th ~ Parent-Teacher Conferences 
• February 14th ~ Spring Parties! 
• February 16th ~ Parent-Teacher Conferences
• February 17th ~ No School 
• February 20th ~ No School - President's Day 

What's going on this week in room 216! 

• This week we are going to be finishing up our writing piece on our Missouri cities. We will then be using that writing to create a fun finished piece, that looks like something out of a magazine or newspaper.
• We also just took a pre-test for our next unit in math, that we will officially start next week. This unit will be discovering and unfolding what fractions are and how they relate to percentages and decimals. 
• In science we just started our wave unit. The students have already had great investigations on what different types of waves there are and making their own waves.
• For reading, we are continuing with our read aloud book, The Mighty Miss Malone. We have been working on making efficient summaries and will begin working on reading monitoring skills this week. We are also working really hard in our book club groups.

Happenings in Room 216!

Upcoming Dates:

• January 27th - PBIS Responsible Celebrating: Career Dress Up Day 
• January 30th - Library Check out
• February 3rd - PBIS Positive Celebration: Wear Neon and Bright Colors Day
• February 6th - No School: Teacher Work Day 
• February 8th - PTA Meeting 6:30 

We have been having some amazing happenings going on in 4th grade! Last week we won Flash the Timberwolf. This means that our kiddos were the best 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade class during lunch recess and lunch and they got to go first to lunch everyday last week. 

Last week we also had our school wide spelling bee. Our class was so supportive of our two spelling bee representatives, Exavier and Kendall. They did such a great job! 

Writing/Social Studies: We are continuing to work on our research on our Missouri cities. We will begin to learn about thesis statements and how to organize an information writing piece. They are really finding some great pieces of information and making thoughtful inferences about their city. 

Math: Division is what we are working on right now, especially long division. We have been doing 2 and 3-digit numbers divided by 1-digit numbers. We are also going to be working on math problem solving skills and how to organize information in a larger, more complicated problem. 

Reading: We are finishing up our reading benchmark assessments. Students have been introduced to their new guided reading/book club books and are very excited to get started. Book clubs will offer students time to discuss the text in a deeper way and make greater connections. 

Our students have really enjoyed career week so far and are discovering jobs that truly interest them. I am excited to see them dressed up on Friday! 

Hello 2017!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic winter break!

Upcoming Dates:
January 13th - STAR testing
January 16th - Martin Luther King Jr. Day, No School
January 20th - School Wide Spelling Bee

We have hit the ground running with new topics of study. We are starting our informational writing unit where we will research different Missouri cities. Each student will get a city and research how that city came to be and why/ how it has developed over time.

In math we have started division and they are living it! We are also continuing to work hard in ST Math and FrontRow. Your students can log onto to these at home as well if they want extra practice. Th class code for FrontRow is daughg

For reading we just got new chapter books and we are excited to use book clubs to read them. We will use these books to answer higher level of thinking comprehension questions.