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Friday, May 27, 2011

Talking Behind Backs







We had a morning task today that gave new meaning to "talking behind someone's back". I wanted to do something encouraging for the students and something that would be fun on the last day of school. We went around and wrote kind notes about each other on the papers taped to their backs. It was a lot of fun and something neat to keep and look at as we get older.

Fourth Grade 2010-2011

Fourth Grade 2010-2011

Take number three! I had so many pictures uploaded I have been having trouble getting them all in one show- so here we go again. Hopefully this time, the show will appear in one segment. I hope you enjoy- we have had a great year!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Kentucky Core Standards

With our standards changing for the next school year, here is a site for parents to see an overview of what their child will learn during the next school year. All you have to do is click on the grade level and the standards breakdown will be available for the content areas of reading and math.

http://www.pta.org/4446.htm

Heritage Days Video

Heritage Days

This is a video from our heritage days event! It was awesome to be able to take a little trip back in time to see what life was like several years ago. We got to see a horse get new shoes, watch Native Americans cook food over an open fire, hear live bluegrass music from local musicians, a pioneer story teller, and take a gallery walk to look at artifacts new and old. We ended the day with a Heritage Day Revue and the kids did a fabulous job! Way to go, Panthers!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Skype to London, England



Today has been such a busy day with Heritage Days, but we were able to squeeze in a SKYPE session with a professor at Lindsey Wilson College, who lives here in Burkesville. She has been visiting London the past few days and we got to catch up with her today! She said it had been a very exciting day, because she had seen Prince Charles and President and Mrs. Obama! She talked with us in front of the London Bridge, which was neat to see! Check out our pictures and video!


Career Day Video

Career Day

This is a video I created using Animoto. There are snapshots of some of our presenters and family members who was able to attend! A special thank you goes to the FRYSC for helping us organize the event at Dale Hollow State Park and all the volunteers and parents who were able to share on this special day with us! It is never to early to plan for our futures!

Christmas Service Learning Project



When I was going through my pictures today that were saved on my computer, I stumbled upon this one. It was taken the last day before Christmas break of all the fourth grade after we had completed our service learning project. We had a contest with which homeroom could collect the most canned goods and each child donated $1 instead of exchanging gifts with each other. We delivered our donations to the Salvation Army organization and they provided cookies and punch for us. It was a wonderful project and taught us it is better to give than to receive!

Heritage Days



Today at CCES is our Heritage Days! We are studying and learning about how children and adults lived so many years ago! We have many presenters modeling different trades, viewing artifacts, farming with mules, creating crafts, live bluegrass music, and a student play this afternoon. Let's go back in time!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Career Day



Today was our Career Day and it was so much fun! Students took a survey a few weeks ago to see which career would best suit their personality and their interests. (The link to the survey was posted earlier in the month on our blog.) We did a little research and students found out some great information about those areas. FRYSC helped us organize our career morning at Dale Hollow State Park where we had community members come share with us about their careers. We really appreciate the many people who came to volunteer their time to speak to our kids today! After our career clusters, we enjoyed a lovely meal at the lodge, which was such a treat! During the afternoon, we paused for a moment to take pictures of our career costumes and then it was time for our Parent "Show and Tell". We had many parents visit our classroom this afternoon and my dad was able to come and share with the class too- which was very exciting for me! We had a wonderful day- it's always important to remember as adults and students- we can accomplish any dream or career as long as we work hard and NEVER give up! I saw an awesome motto recently that I really love and might use as my class motto next year. It said, "Excelling without excuses!"

Formative Assessment Ideas

I'm on the "Smart Team" at our school, which is a district group that focuses on the use of formative assessments in driving classroom instruction. We recently conducted a professional development at our school. Here are some of the examples we shared with our teachers that we have found successful in our classrooms. I have video clips of these examples also.

*Stars and Stairs- students reflect on things they did well and an area they could improve.

*Exit Slip- strategy where students answer a question and hang their answer on the door as they exit the room.

*Clock Partners- students have four different partners. They are allowed to pick their partners when we sign up, but then at different points throughout the day, I tell them which partner to meet with for different topics. This is great because it allows the kids to work with different team members other than the people they sit beside and it's an energizer because they get up and move around the room.

*Gallery Walk- a Thoughtful Education Strategy- students were discussing topics we have learned about in class. The great thing about this strategy is the teacher is the facilitator and the discussions are led in small groups by the students.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Panther Movie Night @ CCES




Our fourth grade movie night was a huge success! We wanted to do something just for fun to spend time together and hang out! Thank you to all the people who donated soft drinks, cookies, and popcorn and more importantly their time for our fun evening!

Friday, May 6, 2011

End of Year Reflection

It's that time of year again to reflect on what worked well and changes that need to be made for next year. There is an awesome blog I'm following and I'm so excited to begin planning for next year, borrowing some of Mr. V's ideas from his classroom this year! The blog can be found at this site and his website below!

http://blogs.scholastic.com/classroom_solutions/brent_vasicek/


http://www.cvs.k12.mi.us/bvasicek/

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Career Survey for Kids

Here is an awesome career survey we are using to identify what areas students are most interested in as a career!
www.schcounselor.com/2010/03/fun-and-interactive-career-interest.html