A Christmas Surprise!

Today the fourth graders got a special surprise!  Mrs. Garrett Burke, the man behind the California state quarter design, stopped by our school and gave every student a "Quarterama" book as well as a National Park quarters collector folder!  We skyped with him in early November!

What an amazing surprise! 

He went to a Catholic School in suburban Philadelphia and said he was really impressed with the students during our skype session and choose our 4th graders to continue their learning about the topic!

Here he is with the students and their new books!

Thanks so much Mr. Burke!

Tweeting with Bishop Vann!

Today our class sent a tweet to Bishop Kevin Vann and asked him if he would be interested in Skyping with our class.

He wrote us back!  

We are hoping to connect with him sometime in 2014!

We even replied to him and told him that we would be happy to show him how to Skype and that he is welcome to come to visit room 15 anytime!

Follow Room 15 on Twitter @room15sbs!

Notes from Room 15: 12/16-12/20

THIS WEEK:

• Tuesday: Mass 8:30am
• Wednesday: Late Start at 8:50am
• Friday: Christmas Concert 10:30am
• Friday: 12:30pm Dismissal

TEST SCHEDULE: 

Wednesday: 12/18 A Very Important Day Comprehension Test

Thursday: 12/19 Social Studies Quiz (Chapter 4, Lesson 1)

Have a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2014!

Notes from Room 15: 11/18-11/22

THIS WEEK:

• Tuesday: No Mass (We will attend on Thursday) and Book Fair Visit 1:00pm
• Wednesday: Late Start at 8:50am
• Thursday: Blue Shirt Day, Presentation Sisters Feast Day Mass at 8:30am
• Friday: Book Fair Visit at 10:30am, Meet the Masters Art Project
• FRIDAY IS THE LAST DAY OF FIRST TRIMESTER

TEST SCHEDULE: 

Tuesday 11/19: Tomas and the Library Lady Vocabulary Test

Wednesday 11/20: Grammar Test: Nouns (Common, Proper, Plural)

Thursday: Tomas and the Library Lady Comprehension Test, Science Quiz (Lesson 5.1)

Friday: Spelling Week 10, Religion Ch. 6

NEXT WEEK:

• Tuesday 11/26: Mass at 8:30am
• Wednesday 11/27: 12:30pm Dismissal
• Thursday 11/28-Monday 12/2: NO SCHOOL- THANKSGIVING BREAK
  

Skyping with Alex's Lemonade Stand

Today we had the privilege of Skyping with the mother of Alex Scott of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.  She spoke with the students about the power of philanthropy.  

Alex's mom, Liz Scott, shared her daughter Alex's story about how, at 4 years old, she decided to have a lemonade stand to raise money for children suffering with cancer.  (She herself was suffering with cancer and lost her battle at the age of 8.)

The students asked some great questions and hopefully were inspired to take action to help others!

For more information about Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, please visit their website by clicking below:

ALEX'S LEMONADE STAND FOUNDATION

Thanks to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation!

Notes from Room 15: 11/12-11/15

THIS WEEK:

• Wednesday: Walk Through California 8:30am-11:00am

TEST SCHEDULE:

  Friday 11/15:

•   Math Test: Chapter 3
• Religion Chapter 5 Test

NEXT WEEK:

• Scholastic Book Fair all week
•  Wednesday: Late Start 8:50am
• Thursday: 8:30am Presentation Mass
• Friday: End of First Trimester 

Skype Lesson: California State Quarter

Today we had the opportunity to Skype with Garrett Burke, the designer of the California state quarter!  

He has written a book called Quarterama which details the meaning behind each design on every state quarter. Last week, Mr. Burke SO generously dropped off a copy of his book along with a signed certificate with an actual CA state quarter on it!  

His book is available to purchase and would be a GREAT book to keep out in your family or living room.  It is FULL of amazing information about each state's quarter as well as his journey to being chosen to design California's quarter. You can also purchase a state quarter folder to start collecting them!  

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE BOOK AND COLLECTOR'S FOLDER!

 

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE QUARTERAMA WEBSITE!

 
Thanks to Mr. Garrett Burke for an awesome learning experience!

Notes from Room 15: 11/4-11/8

THIS WEEK:

• Tuesday: Sacred Heart Vocations Retreat Field Trip
• Friday: NO SCHOOL- Teacher Technology Inservice at Mater Dei (Mrs. Pickett and I were chosen to be presenters about using QR Codes in the Classroom!  Please keep us in your prayers for a successful presentation!)

TEST SCHEDULE:

  Wednesday 11/6:

•   Math Quiz: Division (Chapter 3: Lesson 4)\
• By the Shores of Silver Lake Test

 Thursday 10/24:

•   Spelling Test: Week 9
• Social Studies Test: Chapter 3

NEXT WEEK:

• Monday 11/11: NO SCHOOL- Veteran's Day
• Wednesday 11/13: Walk Through CA at 8:30-11:00am (Please come watch if you can!)
• Wednesday 11/13: 4th Grade Special Hot Lunch to celebrate the Walk Through!

Quad Blogging 11/1

**This post is intended for the students in Room 15.  Parents, this will be done in class today.**

We are blogging with St. Christopher's Primary Catholic School in the United Kingdom!

Quad Blogging Week 1

1. Go to this link:   http://blog.st-christophers.stockport.sch.uk/?cat=28

Read and comment on three student’s blogs. Remember to give 1 praise and at least 1 question.

2. Go to this link:  http://blog.st-christophers.stockport.sch.uk/?p=3018

Leave a question for the school.

Lattice Multiplication

In Math we are working on multi-digit multiplication.  I have shown the students four ways to solve these types of problems.  Today they were introduced to Lattice Multiplication and many of the students really loved it.

Here is a video for your, and their, reference:

Notes from Room 15: 10/21-10/25

THIS WEEK:

• Tuesday 10/22: Family Mass 8:30am and Rosary at 2:00pm
• Friday10/25: Fast Food Friday

TEST SCHEDULE:

 Tuesday 10/22:

•   Science Test: Chapter 9

 Thursday 10/24:

•   Titanic Vocabulary Quiz

 Friday 10/25:

• Religion: Faith First Chapter 3
• Spelling Week 7 (Word lists can be found on Spellingcity.com)

NEXT WEEK:

• 12:30pm Dismissal all week for Parent/Teacher Conferences

Notes from Room 15: 10/15-10/18

THIS WEEK:

• Wednesday 10/16: Late Start Morning
• Thursday 10/17: Morning Assembly
• Friday10/18: Traveling Scientist: Magnets

TEST SCHEDULE:

 Wednesday 10/16:

• Akiak Test

 Friday 10/18:

• Religion: Faith First Chapter2
• Spelling Week 6 (Word lists can be found on Spellingcity.com)
• Grammar Quiz: Subjects and Predicates

**NEXT TUES IS THE SCIENCE TEST ON CHAPTER 9!**

Iditarod Skyping!

This morning we Skyped with an amazing husband and wife team that run the Squid Acres Kennel in Alaska.  They are competitors in the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race as well as the Yukon Quest.

Please check out their website HERE to learn more about them!

Thanks Paige and Cody!

Notes from Room 15: 10/7-10/11

THIS WEEK:

• 12:30pm Dismissal on Friday
• Parish Festival Friday-Sunday
• NO SCHOOL Monday, 10/14
• Make-up Pictures Tuesday 10/15

TEST SCHEDULE:

 Wednesday 10/9:

• Math Retest Factors and Multiples
• Science Quiz

 Friday 10/11:

• Religion: Faith First Chapter 1
• Spelling Week 5 (Word lists can be found on Spellingcity.com)
• Reading Vocabulary Quiz (Akiak)

Class Dojo Grade Update!

I have decided to enter the Responsible Behavior grade monthly instead of weekly.  Instead of students trying to reach 4 points per day, the grade will be based of the percentage of positive Dojo points they have for the month.  I have already entered September's grade and deleted the previous weekly grades.

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Notes from Room 15: 9/30-10/4

THIS WEEK:

• ITBS Testing will take place before recess each morning.
• We will not attend Mass this week due to ITBS testing.
• Our first Meet the Masters lecture is on Wednesday.
• 12:30pm Dismissal on Friday
  

TEST SCHEDULE:

 Tuesday 9/30:

• Math Test (Chapter 2: Estimation, Factors, and Multiples)
  

Friday 10/4:

• Family Life (Lessons 9-10)
• Spelling Week 4 (Word lists can be found on Spellingcity.com)

Global Read Aloud 2013

On Monday our class will participate in the 2013 Global Read Aloud.  This year's selection for our grade level is Out of My Mind by: Sharon Draper.  I will be reading this book to the class and the students will be connecting with other students who are also hearing the book read to them through Edmodo and Skype.

Please visit the Global Read Aloud Website for more information by clicking HERE.

**Your child is more than welcome to download a copy of the book to their e-reader or buy a copy of the book to follow along, but it IS NOT mandatory!**

We love FUDGE!

Tomorrow we will be wrapping up our novel study of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.  It's been a lot of fun getting to know Peter, Fudge, and the rest of the Hatcher family.

Judy Blume has written more books about these characters.  If you think your child enjoyed this book, please check out the other books in the series by clicking below!

Judy Blume's Fudge Stories 

This would be a great way to earn those AR points this trimester!

September Book Order!

Tomorrow is the last day to order for the September Scholastic Book Order!

You may pre-order the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and get it the day it is released!  (Nov. 5th)

You can shop and submit your order online or return the printed order form with payment directly to me. No matter how you order, every purchase you make earns FREE Books and educational supplies for our classroom.

Ordering online is fast and easy:

•  REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the Class Activation Code:HQD7B
•  CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks
•  SUBMIT the order to me bySept. 25th
•  EARN FREE Books for our classroom too!

Stay Connected!

There are many ways to stay connected to Room 15!  

Follow us on Twitter!  @room15sbs

Follow us on Instagram!  @room15sbs

Get text message reminders from Remind101!  You can easily subscribe to this service by texting @mrsedmi to (714) 462-8734.

And don't forget to check Sycamore for the most up-to-date look at your child's grades!

If you have any questions about any of these, please let me know!

Notes from Room 15: 9/23-9/27

Wednesday 9/25:

• Science Quiz (Chapter 9 Lesson 2)

Friday 9/27:

• Family Life (Lessons 7-8)
• Spelling 
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Chapters 7-10)

CHAPTER 2 MATH TEST WEEK!

(Most likely Tues or Wed!)

O.R.E.O. Project 2013

The last two days have been extra exciting because we used Oreo cookies to study math and art!

During math time on Thursday, the students predicted how high they could stack an Oreo tower.  Then they got two attempts.  Congrats to Mallory who had the high stack of 36!!

The students then added, subtracted, compared numbers, and we all averaged each attempt.  On the second attempt the class average was 23.5!  Impressive!

This was all part of a Global Learning Project called The O.R.E.O. Project which has been happening for ten years!  Read more about the project HERE!  Students all over North America participated!

On Friday the students used the cream filling as their medium for an art sculpture activity.  Mrs. Mueke (one of the Sprouts teachers) judged the sculptures.  Below you will see the top three!

Thanks to all of the parents who brought in Oreos!

 Scraping out the filling!

First Place: Dolphin

Second Place:  Mickey Mouse

Third Place: The Trinity

QR Code Generator

Today in class we talked about generating QR codes to add to the social studies tribe posters.  

Here is the link to QR code generator website:

www.go.qr.me

Use the URL tab and copy and paste the web address into the box.

Once the code has been made, copy that image and put it onto a document.

Genius Hour started today!

Mrs. Pickett and I are very excited to be incorporating Genius Hour into our schedule this year!

If you've never heard of Genius Hour, here are is a video about it!

Friday Letter Notebooks

Today your child wrote for the first time in their Friday Letter Notebook.  They should've written about a few things we did this week at school.

They will bring it home today and hopefully share it with you.  Please respond to them, in letter format, and have them return the notebook to school on Monday and they will get a sticker for the cover.

By the end of the year they, and you, will have a special notebook full of communication with each other and some wonderful memories of 4th grade!

Thanks for your support!

Student Owned E-Reader Agreement

I passed out the agreement forms today to any child who plans on bringing their own e-reader to school.  If you need another copy, please click the link below!

STUDENT E-READER FORM

Edmodo

This year we will be using Edmodo.

Please click on the link below to create your account:

EDMODO

Welcome to Room 15!

Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year at St. Bonaventure School and the Room 15 blog!

I am blessed to be teaching 4th Grade again this year and working with all of the 4th Grade students and their families.

This blog will be updated often with news and reminders of the happenings at SBS and in Room 15. Please check it on a regular basis!  (You can subscribe to get e-mail alerts each time the blog is updated by typing in your e-mail address in the box to the right.)

Parents, I will be using Remind101 to text important updates and messages throughout the year. You can easily subscribe to this service by texting @mrsedmi to (714) 462-8734.

Important Dates:

School begins on Monday, August 26th. All days this week are Early Dismissal at 12:30 PM.

Wed. 8/28- 4th Grade Parent Orientation at 6:30pm
Fri. 8/30- No School

Mon. 9/2- No School/Labor Day Holiday 
Thurs. 9/5- School Pictures
Fri. 9/6- Early Dismissal

Don't forget to pick up all the supplies you need!

Click below for the list:

4TH GRADE SUPPLY LIST

I enjoyed many fun filled days with my husband (who is also a teacher), and my two sons, Zachary and Ian!  Each day was a new adventure!

 We enjoyed the San Diego Zoo Safari Park!

Zachary made slime at home!

 We visited Disneyland many times!

 My husband and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary!

 We attended MANY Angels games!

Sometimes we just acted silly!

 The boys especially enjoyed the Reptile Zoo at Prehistoric Pets!

Ian was intrigued by everything!

We celebrated 4th of July watching our neighborhood parade!

We even fit in a little California history by visiting Calico Ghost town!

I hope you had a fantastic and restful Summer!
I can't wait to hear all about it!

Mrs. Edmisten