Daily 5

The Daily 5 is what our class does in the morning to learn writing, reading, and spelling.  It helps us get good grades on our report cards.  In Working With Words, we can sometimes play games with a partner.  That's the best!  It also tightens friendships with them.  Sometimes games get the best of Will and I, so we brag and we don't even know we do.  Boggle helps you make new words using random letters.  In Read to Someone, we do plays.  In Read to Self, we just read.  In Working on Writing, we get better in writing.  In Listen to Reading, we listen to stories.

By: Grant

RAK'd!

The 4th grade is doing a Lent project called RAK.  First, we pair up with eachother and do something for a staff member.  RAK stands for random act of kindness.  Most people are giving teachers candy or helping them straighten up their classrooms.  That is the 4th grade Lent project!

Written by: Jack and Leah

Pope Benedict XVI Retires

This year, Pope Benedict XVI is leaving because of his health and his age.  By Easter, the cardinals will pick a new pope.  He will be retiring in Vatican City, Italy on February 28th.  We wonder if we will see him again in one of our churches.

Written By: Matthew and Ricky

Figurative Language

The whole class is learning about figurative language this week.  We are learning about it with Mrs. H and Mrs. H.  The types of figurative language are: onomatopeia, simile, idiom, metaphor, alliteration, personification, and hyperbole.  We learn these so our writing sounds good, and so the reader is experiencing what the character is doing, feeling, and smelling.  We are learning this by both Mrs. H's teaching us, watching videos off of Pinterest (rap songs).

Written By: Brennen and Sophie

The Land of Lit Circles

In our class, we have this thing called Lit Circle where we get jobs that we do after or during we read our assigned chapters.  We do Lit Circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We have lit circle groups where each group reads a different novel.  It is like a book club.  The five jobs are Discussion Director, Summarizer, Word Wizard, Connector, and Comic Relief.  They are all really fun!

The Summarizer writes a summary about what you read.  You have to start with First, then Next, then Last.  The Connector writes down all of our connections we have with the text.  At our meetings, the Connector asks other people in our group what their connections are.  Then there is the Word Wizard.  The Word Wizard has the job of finding 3 words that are challenging in the book.  He/she also has to guess then find the definitions of all 3 words.  The Disscussion Director has to make up 4 questions about the reading and answer them.  If the Discussion Director wants to bring snacks for the group, they can.  The Comic Relief draws a comic strip that shows a scene from the book.

All the 4th graders have to do all of the jobs one time each novel.  That is all there is to Lit Circle!

Written By:  Ethan and Elizabeth