Recorders in Music Class

After our next Music class on Monday, the 4th graders are supposed to bring their recorders home and spend some time practicing all that they have been learning so far.  Mr. Lutz assures me that they are all very capable and talented young musicians, and he would really appreciate any extra practice that his pupils can get.  In the meantime, here's a short video showing you what they can do!

US States and Capitals

We have begun learning about the 50 states.  We will go through them all, one region at a time.  Our first region is the Southwest region, which has only four states.  (Ask your fourth grader if they know them!) For each region that we cover, this is what we expect the kids to take away from it:

• Names of the states
• Capital cities
• Important bodies of water (lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.)
• Important land features (Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, etc.)
• Important historical events (The Gold Rush, The Civil War, etc.)
• Important landmarks (The Alamo, The Gateway Arch, National Parks, etc.)

This may seem like a lot, but it's really more of just an exposure to our country.  If there was to be one main focus, it would be on the states and the capital cities.  To help with that, here are some links to some fun US States and Capitals games:

• US Map Test - You need to drag the names of the US states to their correct location on the map before you run out of time.  Regrettably, this game leaves out Alaska and Hawaii.  Can you believe that?!?!
• US Map Puzzle - This one has three different versions of gameplay: (1) States With Outlines, (2) States Without Outlines, and (3) Capitals.  It's fun to watch how students improve their knowledge over time.  How fast can you put the puzzles together?
• USA Games - An excellent assortment of games and tutorials designed to teach and test your knowledge of the United States.  Even has lakes and rivers too!

Thanksgiving Means...

We did another one of those "word cloud" activities today.  The kids wrote blog posts.  They wrote about Thanksgiving, and what it means to them.  The turkey-shaped word cloud is shown below.  Recall that the bigger the font of the word, the more times it was used in the blog posts.  It's a nice way to get a collective view of what fourth graders think about Thanksgiving.

Cow Sightings!

Carly's cow overlooking downtown Port

land, OR

Some of the reports on our Cows on the Loose have started to come in.  We have photographic evidence that our cows have been seen all across the country...from Washington D.C. all the way to Portland, OR.  Check it out:

Cows on the Loose!

Weekend Reporter on Wordle

Once again this week, we did our Weekend Reporters on our KidBlogs. I really like how much more some of the 4th graders write when we do them this way! Also, it's fun to read some of the comments that they leave on their classmate's blogs. As I mentioned last week, the blogs are private and you can't read them without logging in. Students are able to log in at home, and you can read them that way.

In the mean time, I took the text from ALL of this week's Weekend Reporters and imported it into a Wordle word cloud. For those unfamiliar, Wordle generates a word cloud from text, giving more prominence to more frequently occurring words.  Here's what we came up with:

Do you see anything that you might recognize?

The Cows Have Been Set Loose!

Most of the cows went out via US Mail earlier this week.  Here's a map showing the destinations of the cows that have been set loose:

WKCE Testing is Done!

4th Graders finishing up the WKCE testing!

As I write this post, the students in room 148 are finishing up with four long, grueling days of WCKE testing! Overall, I have to say that the class has done pretty well with this. I don't ever get to look at the tests, so I'm not sure how well they did. I don't even really know what they were tested on. All I know is that most of the fourth graders felt pretty confident that they scored well on most of the tests. We're just glad that it's over! Now we can get back to Spelling tests and Multiplication facts and stories in our big purple Reading books! (I think we're going to have to re-learn a few of the rules and expectations too!)

November Book Project

Since we had so much fun with the October Book Project, we have decided to do another one in November.  Our genre for this month is Historical Fiction.  These books are based on real historical events, but in which the characters are not real, and the minor events may not be realistic. Hopefully, your fourth grader has already chosen their book, and has a good start on reading it!

Once the kids are done reading their books, they will do the following "Bag-It" project:

November Book Project

The project is due on Friday, December 2nd.  We will present our projects to the rest of the class.

Does your fourth grader want to read MORE Historical Fiction?  Here are the search results for Historical Fiction books in our Oaklawn school library:

Historical Fiction Search Results

Cows on the Loose!

The 4th graders at Oaklawn Elementary are participating in a project called "Cows on the Loose!"  Each student has decorated a paper cow cut-out, and created a "travel journal" to go with it.  The cows will be mailed out from school to a friend or relative of each fourth grader.  It could be someone who lives in another part of the state, or in another part of the country, or even another part of the world.  Hopefully, the friend or relative receiving the cow will take a photo of the cow near or amidst an important place or landmark in their area.  Then, that person can e-mail the photo back to our classroom at the following address: cowsontheloose2@msd.k12.wi.us.  Also, we hope that the person will take a few moments to write out an entry in the cow's travel journal. Don't worry, there is a complete set of instructions that travel with the cows!

After the friend or relative is done with the cow, we ask that they send it on to someone else, in perhaps a different geographic location.  In this way we will accumulate pictures and information about all kinds of different places!

Clearly, this project only works if the cows keep moving, so any help you can give toward that end would be appreciated.

Click here for a copy of the letter that is mailed out with each cow (it's stapled securely into the Travel Journal that will accompany the cows.)

You will be able to track each cow's travels and adventures right here:

Cows on the Loose!

Halloween Pictures

Well...I'm not much of a photographer, and my camera isn't the greatest in the world, but if you missed the festivities this afternoon, here are some pictures.  Thanks again to all of the parents who donated food for our pre-costume parade celebration!

Enjoy the slide show! (Give it a moment to load!)

Halloween Games and Activities

• FrankenBrain 
• Halloween Pairs Game (Concentration)
• Halloween Hangman
• Write a Scary Story
• Monster Band
• "Dry Bones" Connected
• Halloween Word Scramble
• Make a Jigsaw Puzzle
  

Chalkfest!

Today was an Early Release Day at Oaklawn Elementary. In keeping with tradition, we had an Early-Release all-school celebration: Chalkfest! We set out a big bucket of sidewalk chalk and mapped out enough sidewalk squares for each grade level, and then we let the students have at it! It was a lot of fun watching the kids have fun while expressing their artistic creativity. I took a whole bunch of pictures, but they don't really do the event justice.

Click to enlarge.

Click on this picture of chalk to see the 4th graders in action!

Chalkfest

Subject and Predicate

We took our Theme 1 Reading and Language Assessment on Friday.  There are six themes in our Harcourt Trophies Reading series.  That means we're at least one-sixth of the way done with the school year!  Pretty scary!  Anyway, some of the fourth graders struggled with the section on subjects and predicates.  It's new to them, so it will take some time for them to get the hang of it.  In the meantime, I found a video that helps illustrate the important things to remember when dealing with subjects and predicates.  Enjoy!

Source: http://www.havefunteaching.com

Oaklawn Acorn Dash

The 2nd Annual Oaklawn Acorn Dash was a runaway success!  The Oaklawn PTO/PRIDE members and the Acorn Dash planning committee have truly outdone themselves!  Not only does the event promote physical fitness and family fun, it raises a lot of money for Oaklawn Elementary.  I had a great time running in the 5K and playing some sloppy bass guitar with frozen fingers!  Thanks to all of the Room 148 families that were able to come out and support our school on Saturday, and thanks to everyone who raised money for the Dash!  Just more proof that Oaklawn Elementary is the best school in the world!

Here are some pictures that I have copied from the Acorn Dash Facebook page.  If you couldn't make it, here's what you missed:

Pre-race rally on Friday afternoon.

Getting ready to start the 5K race.  You can see my bald head near the left of the picture.

The Mile Run is about to begin!

UW Stout Gymnastics Team was there to teach tumbling skills.

And the Stout Hockey team too!

Mr. Nelson (far left) was playing with the band!

The morning was capped off with a Mascot Race!

Recycling

Oaklawn 4th graders have a big responsibility in helping our school be environmentally friendly.  It is our job to empty all of the classroom recycling bins into the big collection bins down by the custodial office.  This requires a great deal of independence and self-control on the part of the 4th graders.  With their recycling partners, they scatter throughout the building.  They visit classrooms, the guidance office, the main office, the teachers' workroom and the library.  They need to go about their business quietly and be respectful of others who are working and learning.

To that end, we have had some 4th graders forget about the importance of being quiet and taking their job seriously.  My initial thought was that we would take a break from recycling until the class was ready to do it correctly.  Of course, a few of the kids reminded me that, in the first place, it's not fair to punish the whole class for the misdeeds of others, and, additionally, recycling is our responsibility and it still needs to get done.  (Your kids are pretty smart!)

To solve our problem, we did some re-teaching and reminding about what it looks like and sounds like to do recycling pickup in a responsible and respectful way.  Then we set out to take care of business!  I followed them around and took a little video (of course, I was really just making sure everyone was doing the right thing!)  I'm happy to report that they did a great job!

Here's the very rough video footage (not everybody made the final edit...):

Building Cell Models

This past week in Science, the kids have been learning about animal cells.  We have leaned that all living things are made of millions and millions microscopic cells, and that they are the "building blocks of life."  We learned that cells have parts called "organelles" that have special jobs, much like the organs inside our own bodies.  Here's a diagram from our Science text book:

Yesterday, we made models of cells to help us remember some of the names of the organelles, and maybe even some of their functions.  Here's what we used to represent the parts:

cell membrane - cookie and ziploc baggie
nucleus (the "brain" of the cell) - gumdrop
mitochondria (energy producers) - gummi worm
vacuoles (waste collectors) - raisins
cytoplasm (jelly-like substance in which organelles are located) - frosting

I'm not entirely certain that the Science concepts sunk in once the cookies and frosting were brought out, but I'm hopeful.  There is one way for you to find out!  Here is the quiz that I'm going to surprise them with on Monday:

Cell Quiz

Feel free to download it and go over it with your 4th grader.  There's nothing better than a little preparation!

In the mean time, here are some pictures that I snapped during class.  Enjoy!

Cooper applies the cytoplasm.

Mayanna cuts her mitochondria in half.

Brett places his mitochondria in the cytoplasm.

Zach's finished cell.

Paige is proud of her work!

Mackenzey's cell is good enough to eat!

Cora is pleased with her results!

A Soup Opera

If you have heard a fourth grader walking around and singing in an operatic voice such phrases as, "What seems to be the problem here?" and "I can't eat this soup!" it's all my fault!  This week we enjoyed a fun book written by Jim Gill called "A Soup Opera".  The title says it all.  A man walks into a restaurant and orders a bowl of soup, but he is unable to eat it.  All of the dialogue is carried out in operatic singing.

I didn't actually read the book to the students.  I played the CD while I turned the pages.  No one would want to hear me sing an opera...it wouldn't be pretty.  I found a YouTube video of the opera being performed in front of a live audience, complete with an orchestra and everything.  The director is author Jim Gill himself!

Anyway, enjoy a bowl of "A Soup Opera"!

October Book Project

We are doing an October Book Project!  It's called "Hidden Message", and it will be based upon a mystery book of each 4th grader's choosing.  We had Library today, and hopefully everyone checked out an appropriate book.  If not, I'm giving them until the end of the week, at which time I will make a strong suggestion as to which book they should read.  (That really means that I will pick one for them!)

An instruction sheet was handed out this morning.  You can download your own copy here:

October Book Project: "Hidden Message"

The directions are fairly clear, and we went over them this morning.  I also showed them several examples of great projects and a few not-so-great projects.  Here are a few pictures of a great one:

The Hidden Message project as seen from the cover.

Showing each of the four required pages.

The inside shown, with the secret flaps lifted.

The first step, however, is to READ THE BOOK!!  This will prove to be the biggest challenge for many.  It would be great for them to read a little bit each evening, and then work on the project during the last week of October.  We won't be devoting any class time to this.  Students should complete this at home, or when they have some extra time at school.

The project is due on Monday, October 31st.  Each student will make a short presentation to the class about their book and show off their awesome Hidden Message Project!

Feel free to contact me with any questions that you might have!

Science Investigation: Build a Straw Model

Here's the challenge: take 16 flexible drinking straws, 30 paper clips and 30 cm of tape.  Work closely with your group members to plan and construct a model of a building.  Sound easy?  Think again!

Today in Science class we did just such an activity.  The students worked with the other kids at their tables.  They were given the supplies and told to work together on a plan.  They needed to think about how to assemble the pieces in such a way that would be structurally strong and yet not use up all the straws, tape and paper clips before they were done.  The big thing is that they needed to WORK TOGETHER!

As the pictures show, the kids had a great time collaborating with their classmates on this activity.  I was very impressed with the way they talked things through and worked cooperatively toward a common goal.  Talk about real-world skills!

We haven't talked about it yet, so they don't know, but next week we'll see just how strong their straw buildings are.  We're doing another activity where they'll be predicting how many pennies their structure can hold up before crumbling to the ground.

Anybody got change for a dollar?

(Watch the Slide Show.  Please give it a moment to load.)

Meet the Students in Room 148

We put together this little video over the past week or so.  The students all needed to think of a word that describes them.  Some found it difficult to choose just one word!  Then they had to make a little sign, using the computer and other media.  Then they had to introduce themselves, say the word that describes them and then explain why.

Meet the students in Room 148!!

Student Council

I am SO glad that I am not a student in Room 148!!  Why?  If I were a student in Room 148 then I would have had to vote in yesterday's Student Council election.  That would have been nearly impossible!

We had an unprecedented number of students interested in representing our class this year.  Ten brave young leaders stepped up to the challenge.  Ten!  That's half of the class!  They all wrote fabulous speeches, and overcame their nervousness to get up in front of the class and explain why they would make a great Student Council representative.  They were all well-prepared. They were all convincing.  I would be thrilled and proud to have any of them represent my classroom.

Thank you to Olivia, Daniel, Ashlee, MacKenzie, Janessa, Paige, Mackenzey, Carly, Ruby and Mayanna!  You have all taken a huge risk, and I really appreciate it!  It's a sad and unfortunate fact of life that sometimes we put our hearts and souls into something, only to be disappointed.  Don't give up!  There will be many more opportunities for you to serve as you progress through your school careers.  Our immediate challenge is to find other ways to be leaders and to make good things happen in Room 148 this year.

Congratulations to Student Council representative Daniel, and alternate Mayanna.  I know you will do a great job!

I'm just glad I didn't have to vote!

Mr. Nelson's June Box

You may have heard your 4th grader come home talking about "Mr. Nelson's June Box."  I'd like to take a moment to explain just exactly what my June Box is.  Whenever students are continuously fidgeting and playing with something instead of listening or doing whatever else they are supposed to be doing, I usually take the offending object away from them.  I usually give them a gentle reminder and then a stern warning, but if the problem persists, then it's right into the June Box it goes.

I call it my June Box, because anything that goes into it stays there until the last day of school, June 6th...with ONE exception.  Students can retrieve an item from the June Box if they have a note from a parent saying that it's OK for me to give it back to them.  Most of the stuff I take away is junk that the kids don't want back in the first place, or at least they don't want it so bad that they'll tell their parents that it was taken away!  Occasionally I'll collect something a little more meaningful or precious or that belongs to someone else, forcing the kids to 'fess up to their parents and bring in a note.

Mostly, the June Box is a good deterrent that keeps 4th graders from messing around when they should be listening, plus it's also a lot of fun going through it on the last day of school and reminiscing about all of the junk in there!

The Oaklawn Acorn Dash

The 2nd Annual Oaklawn Acorn Dash will take place on Saturday, October 15th.  The 5K run starts at 9:00am, followed by the 1 Mile Fun Run at 10:00 am.  There will be all kinds of fun things going on that day, including music provided by my band, The Cutaways!  All of the action takes place right here, at Oaklawn Elementary School.

Here's the thing, though...the students of Oaklawn have a bit of work to do between now and then.  This our main fundraiser for the school year.  The PTO/P.R.I.D.E. folks have been working their (squirrel) tails off making preparations and securing sponsors for this big event.  This is a big deal.  Oaklawn students are asked to raise money by getting pledges from family members and friends.  Please help them and encourage them and explain to them that the money they raise goes right back into the school, where we use it for field trips, technology, playground equipment, and many other things.

The pledge envelopes went home on Friday, September 2nd, and they need to be returned by Friday, September 23rd (hopefully full of money!)  If you need a replacement envelope, let me know and I will send one home.  If you absolutely can't raise any money for the cause, please send your empty envelope back for accountability purposes.  The kids earn raffle tickets for a prize drawing based on the amount of money that they raise and turn it. (See the gold colored sheet in your pledge envelope.) 

The kids really haven't been talking much about this.  This past Thursday, our principal Mrs. Smith stopped by with our school mascot Lucky the Lion to remind the kids about the Acorn Dash, and to hopefully drum up a little enthusiasm for the event.

Please consider supporting our great school by helping to raise money and by coming out on the day of the race.  Even if you're not a runner or a walker, there's still plenty of fun stuff to do!  The race organizers are also looking for volunteers to help out on the day of the race.  Anything you do to help will be much appreciated! 

I'm running in the 5K again this year, so I better get out and start training!

Aluminum Foil Art

In Art Class this week, Mrs. Roberts was teaching the kids about balance, through the works of Frank Stella and Piet Mondrian.  (I'd never heard of them either!)  They were putting to good use all of the aluminum foil that you parents donated to the Art room on the first day of school.  Then they take some rulers and some markers and start creating a unique, balanced design.  Here are a few photos of some of the children working on their masterpieces.

Spelling

Hopefully, your 4th grader brought home a Spelling list today.  You may have been surprised to only see ten words (or fewer) on the list.  Let me explain...

We are using an Individualized Spelling program.  Here's how it works: On Monday, we take our pre-test.  That test consists of thirty words, focused around a particular spelling skill or strategy.  This week's list was made up of words with the long "a" or short "a" vowel sound.  The students correct their own pre-test, until they find the first ten words that they spelled incorrectly.  Those ten words are their Spelling words for the week.  If they had fewer than ten words wrong, then they have fewer than ten words for the week.  In general, the farther down the list the kids get, the more challenging and difficult their words are.  So, as it works out, each student has a potentially unique list of Spelling words, but still based on a common skill or strategy.  Get it?

The two most common questions I get are, "Isn't it a lot of work making up each of their individual lists?" and, "How do you test them on Friday if they all have different lists?"  Great questions...I'm glad you asked.  First, I developed a handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet that makes the lists for me.  All I need to do is punch in the numbers of the words they spelled wrong on the pre-test, and the computer does the rest.  As far as testing goes, the students work in pairs and test each other.  Then they correct their tests.  It's actually less work for me!

Meanwhile, we spend a little time each day doing activities that reinforce the Spelling skill that the kids are working on that week.  As mentioned, the post-test comes on Friday.  This system has worked well for me, and I like that it provides students a list of words that they don't already know, and challenges them to master them.

Multiplication!

Today the students in Room 148 did their first timed multiplication exam.  We did a sheet of 80 random multiplication problems.  It is recommended that they be timed for two minutes.  In order to reduce some of the "time test" anxiety, I gave them six minutes and ten seconds.  These are the results:

 Score           Students With Score in That Range

0 - 10                               1

11 - 20                              3

21 - 30                              6

31 - 40                              3

41 - 50                              6

51 - 60                              0

61 - 70                              1

(By the way, here is the test they took in printable, PDF format, for practice, hint...hint...)

It is the second day of school, and our brains are a little rusty, but overall it shows me that we have a ways to go until we can say, "We know our multiplication facts."  I feel like the kids should know their 0's, 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's.  A student only knowing those would have scored a 40 on today's time test.  It seemed that whether I gave them two minutes or six minutes or ten minutes, they knew what they knew, and their scores wouldn't have changed much.  In general, we feel that when a 4th grader can answer around 60 random multiplication facts in two minutes, that student has "mastered" the facts.  That's our goal for every 4th grader!

We will be hitting it pretty hard now, with working on learning our multiplication (and division) facts.  For the next two or three weeks, it's basically all we will do in Math.  We call it "Unit 0", or our "Fluency Unit".  Everything that follows (Units 1 - 12) will require students to have a good grasp on their Math facts.  

"What can I do to help?"

Hopefully, you are asking yourself this question!  There is no magic formula for learning multiplication facts.  Flash cards for a few minutes every night is a great way to develop fluency.  Another good way to learn and practice them is through playing Math games on the computer or other electronic device.  Here are three links to sites that will help your 4th grader learn the facts:

Multiplication.com - One of our favorites here at school.  Most of the games can be customized to your child's level.  If your 4th grader can't find a fun game here, they're not really looking!
Multiplication Madness! - Great for studying, learning and practicing.
Math Magician Games - Awesome for practicing individual fact groups

One cautionary word: don't let kids just play the games on the "lower" levels (0's, 1's and 2's).  Challenge them to play harder levels that require them to know harder Math facts.  That's the only way they'll learn them!

Together, I'm expecting that we can make the 4th graders feel confident in their mastery of the basic multiplication and division facts.  It will make their 4th grade Math experience that much better!

Thanks for your help! 

'Twas the Day Before School...

Alright...who took my summer?!?!?!  It's time for the annual utterance of those magic words, "I can't believe that tomorrow is the first day of school!"  24 hours from now, Oaklawn Elementary will be teeming with nervous children and excited parents.  Meeting teachers, dropping off supplies, choosing the perfect spot to sit, all in anticipation of what is to come.
I love the first day of school orientation.  It gives me a chance to meet my new students (most of whom I knew as 3rd Graders!) and, more importantly, I get a chance to get acquainted with parents and grandparents and siblings and whoever else shows up at school.  Making that initial connection is so important for building a relationship that will last for the next ten months or so.
So here we go...a good year to all, and to all a good year!

This is exactly how I remember the first day of school, minus the butler and the rich dad!