Spelling Bee 2010

This Friday was our school's annual Spelling Bee. This is a special event reserved only for our fourth and fifth graders. Each class nominated three contestants to participate. Ms. Sasser called the words for us...and calmed our nerves! After a quick practice round, we were set to go!


Mrs. Johnson's class was well represented! D'Aubriney, Sabbion, and Sharnecia did a great job! I know they were nervous, but you could not tell it one bit!

D'Aubriney

Sharnecia

Sabbion

Unfortunately, Mrs. Johnson's students did not come away with a win, but they were winners to us! I don't know who else would have the nerves to get up in front of so many people and spell with that kind of pressure! Watching the final two was very exciting! They went back and forth several times.

Finally, Selah came away winning the Spelling Bee! She was shocked!


Great job to all our Super Spellers!

Martin Luther King Essays and Anchor Writing

A couple of weeks ago, we began working on a special project. Mrs. Johnson wanted all our students to enter the Martin Luther King Essay Contest. You know what that means? We had a lot of work to do, and she LOVES to make us think hard and deep! Although we were not very excited at first, we quickly changed our minds when we heard what the winners received! I'll only give you a clue so that you can guess....it involved money!

We were asked to write about a person who lives out Dr. King's power of goodness and love. We were also presented with this quote as insight of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s values.

Since Anchor Writing is also due soon, Mrs. Johnson told us that she found a way to combine the two! Now, we can take more time to focus on this one writing assignment without being distracted! In combining the two prompts, we wrote about a person we would like to meet that shares the values of Martin Luther King, Jr.

To get us started, Mrs. Johnson read Martin's Big Words to us as a class. We discussed the book and what we thought Dr. King's values were after reading. It was very interesting to hear the various ideas taken from this book. After our discussion, we wrote on an index card the name of a person that we would like to meet that shares Dr. King's values, or "big words." Once we had chosen a person to write about, we began our research.

Mrs. Johnson provided us with a wonderful graphic organizer to get our thoughts organized. Mrs. Johnson said our neurons were flying all over the place and we needed a little help to organize all the ideas! That paints an interesting picture of what's going on in our brains! Ha!

We chose three values that our person and Dr. King share. Then, we came up with three examples showing how our person displayed each value. This required research. She brought encyclopedias, picture books, and magazines on each person we researched. Some groups even used the internet to research.

As we added ideas to our graphic organizers, we used a thesaurus to replace boring words. There were certain words Mrs. Johnson would not let us use. But, some of us used the thesaurus many times throughout our writing. It was great!

We put our ideas into paragraph form, including an introductory and closing paragraph. This gave us a total of five paragraphs! Mrs. Johnson edited them for us, and she held conferences with each person until we were ready to publish! The final products are very good.

Hopefully, we can share some here for you. You can definitely come by the school and take a look after Mrs. Johnson posts them in the hall.

Fourth graders will take a state writing test in March. Mrs. Johnson stressed the importance of each step of the writing process, and we discussed how easy it was when using all the steps. Hopefully, as we continue to practice our writing, we will be ready to fly in March on that test! WE will fly...our neurons will get organized! Ha!

Honor Roll Luncheon

Each nine weeks, our honor roll students are rewarded with a special luncheon. Mrs. Grigsby, our assistant principal, invited us to join her at the luncheon this term. The middle table was nicely decorated, and we were even allowed to talk! What an incentive to strive for honor roll! After lunch, Mrs. Grigsby even surprised us with gifts! We all received pocket folders and nice pencils. Oh yeah! Did we mention that we were served grape soda at lunch! That's very special!

Look at those nice folders!

Mrs. Grigsby with our honor roll students: Jordan, Jendaya, Sabbion, D'Aubriney, Charles, and Sharnecia

Thank you so much, Mrs. Grigsby, for making us feel special! Maybe we will even add to our honor roll list this nine weeks!

H1N1

Today, our school offered H1N1 vaccinations for all students. Those students who returned a parent form received their vaccinations right before lunch. We were nervous! As we stood in the hallway fretting over "that needle," Mrs. Johnson took this as an opportunity to take a photo!

"Show me how you feel right now," she said.

Kenyada, Sabbion, Antasia, Nareuna, and Brindarious are having second thoughts!

De'Eric and Jordan weren't nervous one bit!

But, these girls were!
Nadia, Lyric, Sharnecia, and Arrion

Afterwards, we realized it wasn't that bad! Plus we were in the nurse's office four at a time. It is much better to get a shot when friends are near. Mrs. Johnson only had to come in once for comfort!

No Swine Flu for us!

Fraction Action

The last couple of weeks have been spent on fractions. A fraction is a part of a whole. This is a skill we learned last year. We stepped it up a little for fourth grade. We already knew what a fraction was. But, this year, Mrs. Johnson introduced us to a new word: equivalent. Equivalent means "the same" or "equal."

Mrs. Johnson began by asking us what 10+10 was. 7+3? 6+4? 5x2? 12-2? All of these equal 10! All the problems listed look different and are put together differently. But, they ALL equal the same thing: 10! Mrs. Johnson told us that fractions can be put together in different ways to cover the same part or fraction of a whole. To help us visualize and experience equivalent fractions, Mrs. Johnson gave us our own set of fraction pieces. She called them "toys," which made us all laugh. She would tell us, "Okay. It's time to play with your toys." or "Please stop playing with your toys for a second."

Jordan and his "toys."

We worked with our "fraction toys" to find equivalent fractions, or two fractions that were the same. It may take more twelfths to take up as much room as one sixth. It was like putting together a puzzle.

Four-sixths is equivalent to eight-twelfths because they are exactly the same size!

Once we had time to "play with our toys" and actually see what Mrs. Johnson meant by two fractions being the same, Mrs. Johnson told us there was an easy shortcut. We could actually find equivalent fractions on paper by cross-multiplying! That was so easy! We all said, "Ohhhhhh!" when she showed us how to do it. When we cross-multiply, if both products are the same...the fractions are equivalent. If they are not the same, the fractions are not equivalent.

Cross multiplying is easy!

After showing us and involving us in learning about equivalent fractions, Mrs. Johnson gave us some time to practice our new skills independently. We used our "fraction toys" to come up with two equivalent fractions. Then, we checked it on our paper by cross-multiplying. Mrs. Johnson walked around the room to check and help those who needed help. It was fun!

Lyric saw that four-fifths was NOT exactly the same as four-sixths.

Antasia is checking to see if one-half is equivalent to two-fourths.

Sabbion checks to see if four-eighths is equivalent to two-fourths.

Jendaya is so organized as she explores equivalent fractions!

Now it's time for us to move on to more complex fraction skills. Coming up on the math menu: comparing and ordering fractions, fractions as decimals, and estimating fractions! Wow!

"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand." - Chinese proverb

The Plot Spot

Yes, Mrs. Johnson's class has been the spot to find out about plot! Since coming back from our Water Crisis break, Mrs. Johnson has worked us to the bone! It's a good thing, though, because we want to be prepared for upcoming assessments. Plus, we want to function intelligently in the real world!

This week, we began a review of Plot. Mrs. Johnson reminded us of the elements of a story that make up the plot: characters, setting, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Why is this important? Well besides the fact that any of us who decide to become writers will need this regularly, it is also helpful to determine the main events in a story. Using these elements will help us retell and summarize a story. Mrs. Johnson displayed a plot chart for us to use to organize our thoughts. Before the lesson, she had passed each group a different piece of information from Charlotte's Web. After reviewing the elements, each groups discussed our part. We had to decide where it went on the plot chart and WHY! There goes that WHY question again! Man, she loves to ask us that!

Once all the groups had decided which element they had and glued them onto the chart, we went back as a class to make sure the story is in order. Mrs. Johnson also used this finished product to model what each part looks like.


After the modeling and guided practice, Mrs. Johnson gave each partner group a sample test passage and question. We used our knowledge of the elements to answer our question while Mrs. Johnson came to each group to check for our understanding.

Later on in the week, Mrs. Johnson gave us a group assignment with plot. Each group read one fiction leveled reader. Then, we created our own plot chart complete with the characters, setting, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Mrs. Johnson went to each group and observed and assisted where needed.

Selicia, Arrion, Jordan, and Alero are looking for the conflict.

Sabbion wasn't that happy to work with pink paper! But, the truth is - only real men can handle pink. Ha!

While we worked on group work, Ms. Richardson worked on writing with some of us.

Brindarius, Jendaya, Nadia, and Tatyanna worked well together.

De' Eric, James, and Sharnecia (see her hand?) were a risky choice for a group! They all like to laugh a lot! Ha!

Kenyada, D'Aubriney, and Nareuna were the first ones finished!

Now, our AR books will be even easier to summarize and comprehend. We understand the elements of these stories! Story elements - check! Now, we're moving on. No rest for the brilliant!

Please Excuse this Interruption

Those are the words that ran through our heads last Monday as we were hurried to lunch early because of Jackson's Water Crisis! School let out early! Thankfully, we were just finishing up our language arts lessons as the announcement came over the intercom. So, now that we are back up and running at Van Winkle, let us give you a peek at what was happening before that "Breaking News!"

In language, we discussed and reviewed the various types of nouns.

• A singular noun is just one person, place, or thing.
• A plural noun is more than one person, place, or thing. While we discussed plural nouns, we also talked about the ways to make words plural.
• Common nouns are nouns that name any person, place or thing. These are not specific.
• Proper nouns name specific nouns - a person's name, the name of a business, the name of a specific state. Proper nouns are always capitalized!
  
• Singular possessive nouns are used when one person, place, or thing shows ownership.
• Plural possessive nouns are used when more than one person, place, or thing owns something. We talked about the rules for possessive nouns while studying the latter two.

Mrs. Johnson made an anchor chart as we went through the lesson. The examples listed are ones we came up with as we reviewed.


In reading, Monday, we discussed the various genres. Not only did we review the broad genres of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry...we also discussed types of fiction and types of nonfiction. We learned that fiction can be described as: short stories, novels, fables, legends, fairy tales, or myths. Nonfiction can be described as: biography, atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, report, internet, or textbook. After learning and reviewing these genres, Mrs. Johnson gave each person a sample passage and test question. We also had colorful cutouts (Mrs. Johnson never goes far from her construction paper!) to write our explanations. For example, if it asked the genre, we may choose fiction. On the cutout, we told WHY we chose fiction. Was it a fable? How did we know? This is one way Mrs. Johnson makes sure we "know that we know" the material. We always have to explain WHY!

Once we all finished, we brought them up one by one to share our reasoning with the class. We glued our passage, question, and explanation under the appropriate genre.

Now we have a visible reminder of the various genres!

Christmas Break

It's finally time for Christmas break! Everyone around school has been counting down! We worked hard, and we finished our nine weeks tests. Now, it's time for a break! Mrs. Johnson had a full half day planned for us on Friday.

First, we began by completing a fun Christmas themed morning work assignment. Then, Mrs. Johnson pulled out fun supplies! We actually made our parents a Christmas gift!

Nadia and Jendaya showing off their handmade gifts!

It didn't stop there! We also wrapped our gifts so that we could put them directly under our Christmas trees at home.

De'Eric and Sherrina carefully wrapping their gifts.

D'Aubriney can't wait to give her parents their gift!

After making and wrapping our gifts, we made Christmas cards to go inside the gift bags.

Nareuna making her card

Our first graders put on a wonderful Christmas program. The entire school was invited, and we are so glad Mrs. Johnson wanted to go! Jendaya, Nadia, and Sherrina performed with the first graders as a part of our show choir. Take a look at the talent!

"Rise Up Shepard and Follow"


"Rudolph"

Finally, we had some surprise visitors! Our young Montessori students came caroling! It was so cute watching these 3-5 year olds singing Christmas carols. Thank you for coming by!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Lyric listening as the youngsters sing.

Now, it's time for Christmas break!!!

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Mrs. Johnson's Fourth Grade Class

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's time to get in the Christmas spirit! Mrs. Johnson didn't waste a second. The first day back from Thanksgiving break, she broke out the Christmas decorations! We didn't know that WE would actually be creating them too!

We reviewed multiple meaning words last week...with a little twist. Multiple meaning words, or homographs, are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. For example, spread could be an action or something that you put on your bed. There are also several other meanings for spread. Each group of students chose a homograph. We wrote our homographs on the star of our tree. On each ornament, Mrs. Johnson had us to write a definition and come up with a sentence to match the definition. We had to be very careful to be sure to use our word correctly in the sentence.

Jendaya, Arrion, Antasia, and Nadia

Tatyanna, Charles, and Brindarius

The following day, we met as a group again to discuss WHY we chose each sentence. You see, next week during the district tests, there may be multiple meaning words in a passage. We need to be able to use our context clues in the sentence to determine the meaning being used in that particular sentence. We must look at the part of speech and other clues. After our groups discussed our reasoning, we presented our projects to the rest of the class with our explanations.

Sherrina, Kenyada, and Charles

Sharnecia, Lyric, and D'Aubriney

Everyone did a fabulous job, and Mrs. Johnson was glad to have more Christmas decorations to go out on the wall with her frog Christmas wreath. Man, those frogs are everywhere!


In case you're wondering about our cute garland, we also decorated with alliterations. Alliterations are words that begin with the same consonant sound. Mrs. Johnson began by reading Fox in Sock, a book full of tongue twisters. Many of those tongue twisters are examples of alliteration. We used alliterations to make sentences about Christmas.

Sharnecia had presents on the brain!

Charles is wishing for a white Christmas!

And, Arrion can't wait for Santa!

Do you have your Christmas decorations out yet?