Winters4th

What's new in 4A+ (April)

2010-04-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! What a beautiful start to spring. Hope that does not doom us further down the calendar...
Lots of the kids in 4A+ are excited about their new yoyos. We should see some fancy new tricks considering the price! The NED show was fun and funny to attend with a good message on how to be a champion.

We have just finished a math chapter on mutilplying with BIG numbers. We are in the middle of a quick unit on measurement (metric vs. standard), and will soon delve into the chapter on dividing with BIG numbers (aka long division).

The kids are madly reading Dear America journal books that tell about an important era in our nation's history. These are really captivating historical fiction stories. Reports are due April 7th.

The following kids from 4A+ made it into the 4th/5th grade school spelling bee:
Brendon Bartels
Shayne Trueber
Lindsey Murphy
Everett Winters
Alternate: Alexys Daniels

We have not had an assembly for some time, so our Students fo the month have not been rewarded yet. For February our 4A+ SOM was Tyler Riechel, and for the month of March it was Alexys Daniels. Tyler is a polite, smart, athletic young man. Alexys is a sunny, bright spark plug. Both of these kids are easy-going, positive, friendly and humorous. They make friends easily and follow the 4 agreements nicely.

Jordan Zimmerman was our birthday girl in March, and Tricia Spinelli is our April girl.

End O' February

2010-02-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

We are almost to the end of the second trimester. That means 6 AR points are due (March 9th); grades will be posted (Check family access March 10th or 11th); report cards will be issued; and the second round of conferences will ensue (March 22nd).
It also means 2/3 of the way through the school year. Time flies! I certainly have been having fun with this group! It is always enlightening to have group discussions--they have so many unusual, insightful, and sometimes humorous ideas to share.

We finished reading Sarah, Plain and Tall, and have begun a reading unit called 'That's Amazing'. We are doing an author study on Chris VanAllsburg and writing a mystery story via some perplexing pictures from his book entitled The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

In math we are well into the very important multi-digit multiplication unit. I teach them the "granny" method (aka the old way that we all learned) as well as a whole bunch of other methods, including a few the kids have invented. Ask your child to show you the rectangle method.

Academics and Tidbits

2009-12-14T13:21:00.001-08:00

We are in a reading theme called American Stories. The kids are reinventing themselves as elves for a writing project. We are working on adding suffixes, plurals and apostrophes to our fourth grade core spelling words. In math our focus is on problem solving situations and addition/subtraction methods.

Christmas in 4A+

2009-12-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

You should have recieved a letter on Friday explaining how our holiday party/ gift exchange works. If not, make your your child brings that home. If you have questions please call me.

Academics and Tidbits

2009-10-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

We are reading about finding the Titanic in our textbook and working on reading and grammar skills around the topic. We have ALL of the Titanic books checked out of the library to look at and learn more about this ever fascinating shipwreck.

Little House in the Big Woods is our new class set of books we are reading together. Laura Ingalls Wilder does an amazing job of describing life in the early days as a young girl in Wisconsin. She describes events and items in great detail. This book is a perfect example of the descriptive writing I am trying to teach in writing class. Since the writing prompt on the WKCE is to describe something, I am working with the kids on sensory descriptions of everything from a piece of candy to a person to a special place.

It is official: I am changing our class name from 4 Awesome A to 4A+. Thanks to the ever clever Miles Saylor for coining that one!

We have PLENTY of snacks now for a long time. Thanks to all the parents for your contributions. Thanks yous go to Lindsey, Miles, Ana, Noah, Tyler, and Everett for recent donations. (Hope I didn't miss anybody.) Hopefully you were not strong-armed by your fourth grader! :)

Happy Birthday to Lindsey Murphy on October 18th!! Also congrats to her for earning Student of the Month for September. It says a lot about her citizenship and academic efforts to be the first one chosen for this honor.

We will be getting slips out to you soon on the next few field trips. You can plan the dates for now:
October 23rd: Cutler Cranberry Marsh/ Cranberry Discovery Center
November 4th: play--Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Viterbo

Also keep in mind:
October 26, 27ish: WKCE testing
October 28: Halloween dress up and party
October 31: Trick-or-Treating in the village (4-6pm?)

Homecoming Week

2009-10-07T07:37:00.001-07:00

This is a really busy week for us with many odd things going on. Monday and Wednesday mornings started with a long, and challenging MAPS test(math and reading skills)on the computer. The data we take from these tests should help us to figure out where our students strengths are so we are better equipped to teach and assist individuals.

On Tuesday we went to see the Melikin Puppets perform a show about poetry, entitled "Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax..." (Ask your child to recite the poem that we memorized a few weeks ago!) 4 Awesome A kids were very NERDY that day as well. If I can figure it out I will post a photo here of our fashion sense.

Thursday we are heading to Portage to tour the Old Indian Agency House and Surgeon's Quarters. There we will learn about early Wisconsin history (fur trading, Indian relations, U.S. Army), and see many artifacts from the time. We will lunch at a beautiful park by the Wisconsin River.

Friday is Necedah's Homecoming. The kids will construct pompons to march around the building with for our mini parade. We all need to wear as much RED as possible to show our loyalty. Mrs. Winters has a surprise set for the kids in 4A for the afternoon....???...

Week 2 in 4 Awesome A

2009-09-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

We welcomed a new student to our room. Tyler is from Appleton. He and his dad are living with relatives in the area. Tyler is quickly learning the routines of his new school.

We have been motoring along with our academics. In MATH we are struggling to learn multiplication facts, by practicing in different ways, looking for patterns, and manipulating factors and products to solve and create real world situations (story problems). We started with the easy numbers (2, 5, 10) and added on 9s and 3s. This week we will tackle the harder 4s, 6s, 7s, and 8s. Keep practicing at home. Some facts just have to be memorized through repetition. I will give periodic timed tests, with the personal goal of getting faster each time. This week we will also write X and / problems, and play a few skills games. They will have math homework at least 3 days.

We have been reading a fun novel together called Because of Winn Dixie. Also for LANGUAGE ARTS we have started the first reading theme--Journeys. The first story, Akiak, is about a sled dog who leads her team to victory in the famed Iditarod race. We work on reading, spelling and grammar skills throughout the unit, such as story structure and types of sentences.

School has Begun

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

We have a few days under our belt now. The kids have met their teachers and have a feel for their classes. We are starting to gel as a class, and getting some lessons underway. I am very excited about what I have seen so far. The kids in 4 Awesome A are a nice, bright, and enthusiastic bunch as a whole. I think we will have a great year!
The students have had some positive comments about the tables and cubbies, which do take some getting used to. It is harder to stay organized or keep to yourself, but they offer a lot of work space and flexibility.
We expect the kids to be a little more responsible for their own materials and homework. They should write down their homework in their agendas and ask for your signatures. I check them over in the morning for notes, reading and work completion.

I hope you had a chance to read over all of the information we sent home on the first day. My school email is the best way to get in touch with me. Let me know if this blog is useful to you. If I know it is being read, I will be sure to keep it up-to-date.

We had a bus inservice given by Mr. Gierach. The kids all scored quite well on the test, so we can be sure they know the rules and hope they follow them!

Welcome to a New School Year!!

2009-08-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to meet my new students! I hope you can make it to open house to see the lay of the land and check out your new classroom. I have met most of you, but there are some less familiar faces to get to know. I love to meet the parents and siblings, too, and learn about your family. If you are not able to attend open house, I hope you will bring your family in soon to make my acquaintance.

Reduce Reuse Recycle psa

2009-08-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

2009-03-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Student Spotlights

2009-01-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

4 Awesome A

2008-08-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to 4 Awesome A!

This blog is for YOU fourth grade parents and students.
Check my wiki post for daily routines, acedemic overviews and general fourth grade info. Click on http://www.amy4th.pbwiki.com/

For general school news and info please go to http://www.necedah.k12.wi.us/

If you wish to contact Mrs. Winters (homeroom and writing), please go to www.awinters@necedah.k12.wi.us
For science inquiries contact Mrs. Ledvina at www.tledvina@necedah.k12.wi.us
For social studies questions contact Ms. Gross at www.hgross@necedah.k12.wi.us