Put Your Affixes to Work!

We have studied, reviewed, memorized, and explored affixes since the beginning of school! But, that's no reason to stop. We must keep our minds fresh and quick! The more we explore and use our knowledge, the better our long-term memory will store it! So, Mrs. Johnson had us put our affixes to work!

• A prefix is a group of letters added to the beginning of a root word. Prefixes change the meanings of words.
• A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a root word. Suffixes also change the meanings of words.

If we learn the meanings of the various affixes, we can figure out the meaning of any new word made with affixes! Some words even have both a prefix and a suffix added to the root word! Don't worry! We can do that too!

This week, after reviewing all the prefixes and suffixes, Mrs. Johnson had us to create a Venn diagram for our words with affixes. We cut out words that had prefixes, suffixes, or both. Then, we sorted them according to which affix was added. Finally, we put them to work! We used our knowledge of affixes to write the meanings of all the words. Simple as long as you know the meanings of the affixes!

Brindarius

Antasia

We are so glad we are keeping our minds sharp by putting all our knowledge to work!

Kristin is tired from all her hard work!

Take a closer look:

Shipping means to ship it now because -ing means that it is happening now.

Mishandling means to handle wrongly right now because mis- means wrongly and -ing means that it is happening now.

That's right! We put our affixes to work! Not only that, but we put them on display for all to see!

We Did It!

District test scores are back, and we are proud! We are proud because of our improvement! We are proud because we worked hard! And, we are proud because we have six more weeks to get even better! Watch us! We can, and we will! But, for now...we will celebrate!

Tuesday morning, Mrs. Johnson held a "ceremony" for those who passed each test. Some of us were so surprised and excited! Now, we have a certificate to take home and keep as motivation!

We passed our district reading test!

We beat that district language test!

And, math test...watch out! "Who dat" passing that math test?!

Not only were we proud of our individual test scores, but we were also proud of the students who passed all three district tests!

That's what I'm talkin' about!

We did it!

And, we'll do it again!

Just watch and see!

MCT2...Coming Soon!

That's right! That MCT2 is coming sooner than you think! Seven weeks! That is the official countdown! It's time, as Dr. Bowen said, for a "full court press." We are buckling down even more than ever.

Our teachers and staff welcomed us back from Spring Break with open arms and with their game faces on! Dr. Bowen and Mrs. Grigsby met with each grade level to discuss what our goals are and to tell us what our game plan would be.


First, our teachers will send home practice homework. This homework should take maybe an hour to complete. Don't worry, parents! It will not be anything too overwhelming. We SHOULD be able to complete it independently. Then, YOU can check it for accuracy and help us when we need it. Next, we are starting a new strategy - Power Hour! From 8:30-9:30 each morning, we will have centers, tutoring, and small group time to help us prepare and practice for the test. This is going to be very helpful! The more small group and one-on-one time we get, the better we can talk about things we need help with individually. Lastly, Dr. Bowen talked about the incentives for completing homework and working hard. Each night we complete our homework, we will receive 5 bonus points! Wow! Some other incentives include: dances, talent shows, parties, raffles, etc. We better start working hard!


MCT2 is coming, and we are aiming for STAR School or HIGH PERFORMING School! Watch us grow academically! Help us to reach our goal by encouraging us, helping us with our homework, and having us at school ON TIME daily!

Together we can do it! Yes, we can!

Spring Dance

Friday, before leaving for Spring Break, our school held a Spring Dance. When it was time for third through fifth graders to come for the dance, we heard our DJ all the way down the hallway! We were pumped! Yes, our teachers were there to watch us and make sure everyone was safe, but once we entered the cafetorium, they set us free to find our friends and dance!

We all had a little trouble at first, so Ms. Sasser got out and tried to get the crowd excited while Mr. Franklin asked if we would rather go back to class. What?!?!

We decided we would much rather dance!

Sha'Erykah and Jendaya

So, we did the Stanky Legg...

Go girls!

...and the Jerk...

Selicia!

...and Cupid Shuffle!

Look at Quintarrius getting down!

Our teachers even got out there and TRIED to dance! Ha!

Ms. Bew doing the Stanky Legg

The music teacher and office staff soon joined!

Mrs. Williams and Ms. Odoms doing the Cupid Shuffle

Even Dr. Bowen joined in!

Sabbion, Alero, and Dr. Bowen

Just take a look for yourself!

It is so nice, after a long two weeks of testing, to have fun with our friends and teachers!

Now it's time for SPRING BREAK!!! See ya next Monday!

Good Writers in Full Bloom

Well, we did it! We survived the Mississippi Writing Test on Wednesday. Although it took us more than three hours to complete the assessment, we had nothing to fear. Why? Because we have prepared, of course! We grew from budding writers to writers in full bloom! Ready for Spring!

One of the writing projects we completed was a narrative assignment. Our writing prompt asked us to write about a day that we enjoyed doing something outdoors. We were to use strong verbs and descriptive language to help the reader see what we wrote about.

Mrs. Johnson introduced the activity by connecting a previous lesson on quotation marks. We discuss careers that use quotation marks, or dialogue, in their lives. One of the careers we discussed was script writers and producers for television shows or movies. When a person writes a script for a movie or television show, there must be enough specific and vivid language so that the actors will know exactly what they are supposed to do. It is also important so that set designers and costume designers will know exactly what their creations should look like. Mrs. Johnson told us that movie and television producers begin with storyboards. A storyboard is much like a comic strip. There is a picture of the scene with a description underneath. So, we thought about four main things that happened during our day outside, and we drew those four things. Our drawings had to have the set and costumes needed for our "movie." We also wrote a caption under each scene to tell us what is happening in the picture. This activity served as our brainstorming session.

Once our storyboards were ready, allowing us to visualize what we were writing about, it was time for prewriting. To organize our thoughts, topics, and details, we used a Four Square graphic organizer. We used this organizer to add vivid details and topic sentences for each scene. We also came up with an introductory sentence for our whole story. The topic sentence of narrative writing consists of who, what, when, where, and why.

Once our thoughts were organized, we put our ideas into paragraph form using the best sentence structure and grammar possible.

Mrs. Johnson met with us one on one to edit and discuss revisions. When our first and second drafts were discussed and corrected, we completed our final draft. You should be able to read our writings and visualize what we drew on our storyboards.

Our Storyboard Brainstorming "Bloomed" into Narrative Writing! See, we told you that we were writers in full bloom!

Just take a look!

We went from movie producers and script writers...

...to narrative writers!

Now that will put a little "Spring" in your step!

Fourth Grade Black History Program

As you know, fourth graders and the show choir presented our Black History Program on Friday night. New Stage Theater worked with us on original skits built around our summer reading books. Ms. Bew's class presented Uncle Jed's Barber Shop while Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Hick's classes presented scenes from Talk About A Family. We learned our lines, and we even created our own backdrops. We had a great time! Friday night was the night to show all our parents and teachers all the hard work we have been doing!

Our show choir presented a wonderful interpretation of "Wade in the Water." Mrs. Williams is so wonderful with this group! They did a fabulous job! Mrs. Johnson has a few students on the show choir. Can you find them?


Once the show choir finished, fourth grade show choir members raced to change into their costumes. Then, the show began! Everyone did very well remembering their lines, and the production crew was fabulous with changing the backdrops they had created for each scene!

We had one main character absent, and Sabbion saved the day! He stepped right in and did the part so well! He even helped Mrs. Johnson remember what props were needed for each scene! Thanks Sabbion!

Mrs. Johnson is so proud of all our hard work! But, we could NOT do it alone! A very special thank you goes out to all of the New Stage Theater crew who helped us prepare for this night! We had a blast! Please come back anytime!

Now we just count down the days until we are able to visit New Stage Theater and see their presentation of A Year with Frog and Toad!

Read Around America Day

Tuesday marked the celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday! We also call it "Read Around America Day." In celebration of this day, Ms. Sasser prepared a wonderful treat for all the students! We had thirty visitors from Mississippi College come to read Dr. Seuss books to our classes! Every class in the school had a reader...or two!

As the readers began to arrive, most of whom are in school to become teachers, Ms. Sasser and her committee had a wonderfully decorated table with breakfast and snacks!

The sign in table even looked nice!

Each reader signed in and took a card. This card told them where they would read.

Dr. Shephard, formerly an assistant superintendent in JPS, is the supervisor for the Mississippi College readers. We always love to have her and her college students in our school!

Our school tour guides were dressed in their monogrammed attire and ready to escort readers where they should go!

The readers arrived, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and chose a book to read to their classes.

Our class had two wonderful readers. Ms. Allred and Ms. Sanders read Oh, the Places You'll Go! We loved this book!

They were so nice and sweet! Ms. Allred read the first half, and Ms. Sanders read the rest. We listened quietly and giggled at the fun rhymes Dr. Seuss used!

Then, Mrs. Johnson asked the readers if they would mind taking a group picture..."at their own risk." We're not sure what Mrs. Johnson meant by that! Ha!

Thank you so much, Ms. Allred and Ms. Sanders! We always LOVE having visitors in our school!
And, thank you for encouraging our love of reading! Come back and visit anytime!

Have a Heart for Haiti

This year, our school had the honor of raising money for the victims of the horrible earthquake in Haiti. As Valentine's Day approached, we all chipped in! We called it "Have a Heart for Haiti." Each child could bring $2 to donate to Haiti. In return, we were able to wear jeans and a splash of red in honor of our friends in Haiti.

Our school raised over $1,000! Wow! It feels so good to give.

Now, we have over $1,000 and a nice banner full of hearts and notes we have written to the people of Haiti. What a wonderful experience to share what we have with those less fortunate!