Winter Party 2013

Have a wonderful winter break! See you in 2014!

Toys for Tots Drive

The primary goal of the Toys for Tots drive is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them into becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens. This year, the organization is in need of your assistance. Through this Friday, December 6th, we are collecting new, unwrapped toys to be donated to Toys for Tots. Thank you for helping make someone else's holiday season a bit brighter.

Classroom News

And So it Begins... Indoor Recess Season

 

Classroom News

 

Jefferson City 2013

We had an excellent day in Jefferson City. The kids were very attentive and asked great questions during all of the tours. We were able to visit the Capitol, The Supreme Court, and The Governor's Mansion. Thankfully, we were even able to make last minute arrangements to eat inside due to the brisk temperatures. All in all it was a fantastic day and we appreciate the opportunity to attend this annual trip to the state capital.

Classroom News!

Pie in the Face

Our McTeacher Night fundraiser was a great success and the kids especially enjoyed the opporunity to put cash towards a PB staff member getting a pie in their face. Well, today was the day. Thanks kids, thanks a lot! ;)

 

Two Hour Late Start Reminder

Just a quick reminder that we will have a two hour delay of classes this Tuesday to allow for teachers to have professional development. This year, the focus of our PD is the implementation of Writer's Workshop. School will begin at 10:40 and our special will be library.

Fall Party 2013

Thank you for a fun filled as well educational fall party. The kids had so much fun. You can view pictures from our party by visiting the link above. Enjoy!

Email Issues

If you have attempted to reach me by email within the last few days, there is a strong possibility that I have not received your email if you are email. We are experiencing problems with our server and some emails are not being delivered or received as they should be. We have been assured that this should be resolved within the next couple of days. In the meantime, if you have attempted to email me and did not receive a response, but contact me by phone or send a note with your child.

Persuasive Techniques

As we embark on a new writing adventure, the fourth graders are developing a better understanding of how advertisers use persuasive techniques in advertising and written text. Today we used the iPads to explore a PBS website that the kids really enjoyed however some of the activities were not compatible with the iPad. I promised to get this website to them so here you go!

http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/advertisingtricks/

Classroom News!

PodCasts of Realistic Fiction Published Work

I have enjoyed meeting with many parents so far and looking forward the last few remaining conferences today. I promised the kiddos that I would post a blog update with links to their stories so they can listen to them at home. I hope you enjoyed listening to their work as they are proud to call themselves AUTHORS!

Mason
Bryce
Mia
Cole
Kamara
Lauren
Mike
Olivia
Sheldon
Tate
Alayna
Alexis
Logan
Cayden
Corbin
Emma
Cooper
Jake
Addy

Everyday Math Online

This year, we have an exciting new addition to our math program that helps link home and school learning. Your child now has direct access to tools we are using in the classroom as well as interactive online games. Each student has been assigned a user name and password that you will receive during your parent teacher conference. You can access the website www.everydaymathonline.com and after entering your child's information, you will have access. It will open up to unit 1 lesson 1, but you can change the settings to unit 4 which is our next unit. Please visit the site once a week if possible and prompt them to practice the skills we are learning in class. Thank you for your support and please let me know if you have any problem accessing your child's account. Thanks!

Classroom News

Art Museum

Today was a great day! We enjoyed the pleasant weather today at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. I was with only half of the class so unfortunately I do not have pictures of everyone this time around. Enjoy!

Classroom News!

Classroom News

Roller Coasters: Demonstration of Force and Motion

Today we held our roller coaster inspections and demonstrations. Each group built a roller coaster to demonstrate force, change in speed, gravity, inertia, potential energy, kinetic energy, and passenger safety. As you can see from the pictures, the kids had a lot of fun and use their creativity to build some pretty awesome roller coasters. I think they have a future in the theme park industry! Unfortunately, a few of our members from a couple of our construction crews had to leave early. However they were key members of the design and development!

 

Audio Books

This year we will work on developing our comprehension as readers, but also our reading fluency. This allows kids to practice the way they sound as they read by connecting words into phrases and sentences. One way do this is modeling how fluent readers read. I wanted to share with you a resource that is FREE to you and might be something your child would be interested in trying.

The link below is to the Mid-Continent Public Library’s Database for digital and online books. Books can be “loaned” out to your electronic device for a period of time and will be automatically removed at the end of the check out time. Listening to text can be very effective in improving reading fluency, but following along with the text would be even better! While some of the newer titles are not yet available on Overdrive, there are lots of titles on the fourth grade reading level for your child to explore. Many of these titles would also be available at the Mid-Continent or even our school library.

If you child chooses to try this out, they are welcome to bring their MP3 player or iPod to school along with the actual book. They can listen and follow along with the text by listening through their personal headphones. While this is NOT a requirement for our reader’s workshop at all, I am only sharing this to you if you would like to try something different! If you do try this at home, please keep me updated on how it goes!

http://mcpl.lib.overdrive.com/B6F739DD-5C91-4AE9-AE28-74ACC423561B/10/50/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=11018115s&SortBy=colldate&SortOrder=desc&Page=1

We need your help!

Classroom News!

Science Buddies!

Today we helped our kindergarten friends from Mrs. Kirn's class perform an experiment while practicing our own science skills. The kindergartners predicted which side of the penny, heads or tails, would hold the most drops of water. We are looking forward to more experiments this year with our friends.

We are SCIENTISTS!!!

Our video has been updated to feature all our scientists.

We had a few friends missing from the original!

Enjoy!

 

 

Twiehaus Trailer

I shared this during curriculum night and embedded it into my presentation I posted on our blog. The kids enjoy watching it so much that I wanted them to have easy access!  Enjoy!



**Please note this is an "unlisted" video and is not searchable on YouTube.

Classroom News!

We are REAL Scientists!

Classroom News

Apples, Apples, Apples!!! Scientists at work!

Which apple will lose the most water over a four day period? Peeled, chopped, or whole?

Classroom News!

Curriculum Night

We have an excellent turnout last night for Curriculum Night. Thank you for coming and learning more about our classroom and our expectations of learning for this school year. I also understand that your evenings get very full and some were unable to attend due to other important events. I will try to include everything I presented for you to view at your own leisure. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarification. I will send some forms and handouts that were given with your child as well.

Curriculum Night Presentation 2013
After clicking on the link, click on "Present Online" to view the Prezi. You can advance slides by clicking on the arrows at the bottom of each slide.

One more thing... before I post any more picture to the blog, it did not occur to me that while I have your permission to post pictures of your child, I did not think about how the pictures could be transferable. Please keep the privacy of other students in mind when sharing pictures with others.Thank you!

Classroom News

Our Class!

Mrs. Twiehaus' Class
2013-2014