December 20th

Thanks so much to everyone for the special treats! And a BIG thank you to our room mom, Casie Patterson for always keeping us organized with wonderful parties and activities. We had a wonderful holiday party today, thank you moms and dad  :) for coming in to help with our celebration, and everyone who is sending in things for our hot chocolate tomorrow! Yum! If you were not here, you can be expecting a couple of beautiful decorations to come home tomorrow!
 Reading-Still in the middle of Winn-Dixie, we will finish after the break. I told the kids if they continued logging AND commenting on Reading Rewards for at least 80 minutes a week, they would earn two homework passes when they come back. :) Writing-We are finished with our 2013 calendars. We hope you enjoy the poems and the beautiful illustrations all year long. Math-We just finished our unit on geometry and after the break we start Unit 5 in investigations, a detailed letter about the unit will come home after the holidays.  Content-The French and Indian war has been the topic and when we come back, we will look at more causes of the Revolutionary War and we will be doing a Glogster project in class and at home. Directions will come home. Technology-If your child has not explained NearPod to you, make sure he/she does. We have been using it with our math number talks and just started using it with Social Studies. What an awesome learning tool!

I have added pictures to our private class album, if you forgot the password, just let me know. Don't forget to upload pictures you have taken!!  :)

Have a wonderful, safe holiday and enjoy those babies!

  our calendar for other important dates.

November 30th

You're Invited!

Our class will be memorizing and performing holiday poetry for you on Wednesday, December the 19th from 8:30 to about 9:10. This will be a very informal time just to be together and celebrate the season! If you cannot attend please make sure someone comes to watch your child. It can be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or a neighbor. Let me know if you cannot find anyone to attend and I should be able to help. The children will be acting out winter poetry and will need to dress up/bring props to “show” their poem. Poems need to be memorized by December 14th.

I can't believe November is over and we are heading into December!   I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got lots of rest and good family time. Here is what we are diving into this month.  Reading-We are reading Because of Winn Dixie together as a class and continuing to study elements of fiction and using our Nooks to learn how to write summaries as we read each chapter. Writing-We are learning about adjectives and next will be adverbs and how to use them to spice up our writing.. Math-We just finished our big unit on multiplication and division of bigger numbers. I just added a video explaining the strategies we are using for multiplication and division in class, click on this link and scroll down to see our strategies explained  We are starting a unit on measurement that will take us to the holidays. Computation will continue to be practiced daily.  Content-We are finishing up our study of the first settlements of our nation and now we are learning about the 13 colonies. The kids will have notes and study guides in their social studies folders and I will also be posting resources that will help them study on Edmodo. Tech News-The latest news on Overdrive (our check out app for e-books on the Nook) is that SSC has started our own e-books library! We will be able to use Overdrive with SSC e-books very soon! It will have books hand chosen for the kids by our librarian, Mrs. Owens. Look for more information to come home soon. As far as the public library, the kids can still check out books from home under your supervision. Remember that this opens up the ENTIRE public library to your children, so keep close tabs on what they are checking out if you are allowing this from home.

*Check our calendar for other important dates.
  Sites: Since this is also the season for lots of colds and coughing, we watched a video and took a quiz on Health Safety. All of the kids did great! A hard copy will not come home in signed papers but you can see the video and the quiz they took on this link.

Links for extra practice:

• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Measurement  (under construction, I am adding links)
• Computation
• 13 Colonies

November 8th

We had a GREAT time in Huntsville, I can't thank our chaperones enough! They helped us get through the day safely and made our trip run smoothly! Don't forget to add your photos to our class album! Classroom happenings: Reading-We finished our study of allegory, the author's deeper meaning or "theme" and anthropomorphism, when animals speak in stories and usually teach us a lesson. We are looking closely at features of fiction writing. We have just finished reading City of Ember and many of the kids want to read the second book during their independent reading time. We get to watch the movie tomorrow! Writing-Soon we will re-publish our memory writing that we did at the beginning of the year on kidblog. The kids did a wonderful job drafting, editing, revising and publishing their Veteran's Day pieces. And we have just finished our 1st person narratives on our Explorers and have made Vokis from our writing. The kids had a great time making the Vokis. See our Vokis here!  Math-Multiplication and division with bigger numbers! Right now in multiplication, we are just splitting apart one of the factors to solve the problem. (see example here), our Big Array, Small Array game helped us with that strategy. Very soon we will learn how to split apart both factors without leaving out any of the "parts". For division, most of the kids are using the "multiply up" strategy. Content-We have just started our study of the very first American settlements. Ask your child to tell you about Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth. Next we will be studying the 1st 13 colonies and then begin our study of the Causes of the Revolutionary War.  Technology-Check out our Vokis on the link above, don't forget to make comments on your child's kidblog, if you have forgotten the log in,, just let me know. Continue talking about digital citizenship and online safety! *Check our calendar for other important dates.

Links of the month: I added our "Parents in the Know" Daily newspaper link to the top of this blog.
Social Studies Links on Jamestown, 13 Colonies, Causes of the Revolution
Math Links for multiplication and division
Reading: Show your child where to get ideas for what to read next.
Writing: Let your child try this "friendly letter generator"

October 5th

Classroom happenings: Reading-We are finishing up our study of the different genres in reading. To culminate, the kids are making posters of their favorite genres to be displayed in the halls. We just finished a read aloud book called Flying Solo, by Ralph Fletcher, ask the kids what they would do if I did not show up for work one day! Our new read aloud is The City of Ember. by Jeanne DuPrau, an exciting book about when mankind is about to come to an end and a group of scientists decide to build and populate a city deep underground. Continue to make sure your child is "sticking with a book" and reading on his/her just right level. We should now all be logging on Reading Rewards each night. If you have not seen it, ask your child to "show you around" the site. How fun to be able to share our books and reviews with each other and the rest of world.  Writing-We are publishing our favorite piece from our memory writing, the kids have done a wonderful job! We will also put these on our blogs. We will be doing lots of writing on our blogs. We have talked about revising and editing before we click the publish button. This is a great opportunity for you to log on, read some of your child's writing, praise them for the good things, and give helpful suggestions for anything they need to work on. To log on, have your child shoe you how to get to our blogs, choose "guest" from the drop down menu, and use the password "constantine". You are welcome to make positive comments on any of our blogs, just type your name first so we will know who you are!  Math-We have just begun our study of  multiplication. We should be very close to fluent with all tables 1-12 and we are starting to multiply bigger numbers, division with bigger numbers starts soon too. Content-We enjoyed sharing our solar system projects last week and have started  our study of electricity this week. We investigated magnets and we are about to start learning about light bulbs and how to create a circuit of electricity and light our bulb with only a battery, a wire, and a bulb. Don't give any hints! The kids will have a great time investigating! :)

 *Check our calendar for important dates.

  Technology: We have learned to use many new sites already, remember, a list of the sites and our usernames and passwords are behind the important papers tab in our BEE Book. Feel free to make a copy to keep at home.

• Lab Lessons - Here is where we go to get our assignments when we are in the computer lab. The kids do not always get to finish the "extra" assignments, so they are welcome to go here at home.
• Here are video tutorials/scavenger hunts for the websites we have learned to use so far, in case you or your child need a refresher. Please continue to have conversations about online safety.
• We will start using Edmodo more! The kids should be a member of 3 groups, Math, Reading and Writing, and Social Science. Please use the parent join code and make your own Edmodo account. You can see the parent code when your child logs in on the right at the bottom of the screen.
• We finally all have Nooks, yay! We are a pilot class so I would not be surprised if there are more glitches during the year. But I can say that it is definitely helping our kids be problem solvers! I am proud of our class for being leaders in technology. Thank you for all of your help! If you're having difficulties with the Nook that we haven't figured out yet, feel free to go by Barnes and Noble and ask their Nook experts. If you solve a problem, or discover a neat trick, please add it to our Nook tricks and troubleshooting form. The kids can add to this form too. If we get lots of good ideas, we will publish it to help teachers and classrooms next year.

August 29th

Thank you parents for everyone who was able to take the time to come to Parent Night! If you were not able to come, you can click here and scroll down to "parent night", I will also be adding the 4th grade power point that we did as a group to this link.

We are officially underway and already learning lots! Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-We are practicing making connections as we read in order to help us understand what we're reading. Talk to your kids about your connections. Make sure your child is "sticking with a book" and reading on his/her just right level.   Writing-We have been working on collecting ideas for writing in our binders and adding detail to our writing pieces. Sticking to a topic will continue to be a focus. Next week we will begin collecting memories to put into a memory book. We will explore different ways to write about these memories. Please help the kids send in memories as often as possible starting next week. They will be glued into a book so if you do not want to part with original pictures, just print a copy and send that in. No bigger than about a 4x6.  Math-We have just begun our study collecting and interpreting data. We are also reviewing multiplication facts 1-12. It is IMPERATIVE that your child be fluent with these facts, meaning they can answer any fact in 3 seconds, in order to be successful with division.   Content-We have taken flight in our study of the history of flight and space! Technology-The kids will be using LOTS of technology this year. Remember to read the Nook policies carefully and sign and return the forms by Friday. The have already started  using Spelling City to practice their spelling words, they will have their their very own web pages, save files, embed html code, creat slide shows, use online editing software to work with photos, build their "wild selves", and yes, they will do the old fasioned keyboarding practice on Dance Mat Typing, and that's just the beginning! Blogging and E-Pals are coming up soon, Edmodo is a wonderful new school site will be using as well. Don't worry, your kids will show you how to do it all!*Check our calendar for other important dates. Site of the month: United Streaming(username-tanyaconstantine, password-united): http://www.unitedstreaming.com/ - A great site to learn more about just about anything that your child wants to study. Your child can search other topics. Just be careful that they stay with grade level videos if they search on their own. If you type in Magic School Bus in the search area, your child can watch ANY Magic School Bus video that he/she wants to.

Great First Day

Meet last year's class...New Class Picture coming soon!!!

Hi Parents!!!

We had a WONDERFUL 1^st day of school in Fourth grade!  The students were very polite and respectful to one another, and I was amazed at their abilities and interests.  We each had the opportunity to share a bit about ourselves and learn about our new friends.  We have a sweet and bright group of students!!!  I look forward to an exciting and enriching year! 

THANK YOU to all who sent in the necessary supplies required for a successful year.  It was nice meeting those of you who came to Meet the Teacher!  I can assure you that all of the supplies will be used responsibly.  Please send in a healthy snack each day with your child.  They may also keep a disposable water bottle at their desk.

Students will be bringing home their agenda each night.  Please sign the agenda EVERY night.  This is my way to communicate with you, and know that you are getting homework assignments.  Even if nothing is written, still sign. Also please go over the "BEE Book rules" with your child, they are behind the important papers tab. There is a homework link on our website that we will start updating next week if you need to make sure your child got everything written down.

I still need the two online forms and the emergency dismissal, PG, and Edmodo permission forms from some parents. Please get these turned in as soon as possible. They are on the Welcome link of our website.

Again, thank you for all of your supportive notes, treats, supplies, etc.  If you need to contact me, send an e-mail to tconstantine@hoover.k12.al.us.  I look forward to seeing you at our Parent Meeting on August 28^th at 5:30.  It should not last long.  This is going to be an excellent year!! J

Sincerely,

Tanya ConstantineJ

Summer

Happy Summer

Not goodbye!

Words will never be able to express how special YOU and your children will always be to me. The sweet children that joined our class this year fit right in with our wonderful kids and at the risk of sounding corny, it really felt like a family, all of us working together. To know that many of you entrusted me with your children  for a 2nd year is an honor I will never forget. Thank you all for a wonderful year, and thanks to many of you for a wonderful 2 years! I hope everyone has a restful, safe summer. Best of luck to our children at Brock's Gap, and let me know if I can ever help!! Keep in touch!  :)   P.S. Many of the kids want to come help set up the classroom again this summer and then come over and swim and have pizza. (It will be MUCH easier than last year, yay!!) So I will send an email out around the end of July to give an exact date. If any of the children do community service, this can count.

March 26th, 2012

Hope everyone had a nice, restful Spring Break! Here is what we are working on:  Reading-Practicing for the ARMT! Writing-Practicing for the ARMT and working on publishing a non fiction piece using many of the nonfiction features we have been learning about. Math-Practicing for the ARMT and we are starting a new unit on multiplying and dividing bigger numbers.  A parent letter will come home soon.  Content-We are finishing up the solar system and beginning our study of The Constitution of the United States!  *Check our calendar for other important dates.
  Site of the month:
Our Lab Lessons site (March Post) has extra practice for fractions, decimals, probability and data. All things that will be on the Math ARMT.

February 23

Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-We just finished a unit on mysteries, we studied the components of a mystery and everyone read a mystery book with a partner or group, filled out a case file, and created a project to share their books. They did a wonderful job! Now we are starting our study of the non-fiction genre. Writing-Shortly after we started our reading unit, we began working on writing our own mysteries. We started by reading many "leads" in different mystery books and then we tried one of Chris Van Allsburg's Myteries of Harris Burdick's  mysteries each day. Everyone decided on a mystery they wanted to write, started with a strong lead and a graphic organizer with the components of a mystery, and before we knew it, we had all written our own mysteries.  Math-We are continuing to learn about fractions and decimals and how to add, subtract and make them equivalent. Content-We finished our study of the American Revolution and are now learning about space exploration and our solar system.

 *Check our calendar for other important dates.

February 27^th-Black History month facebook page due.

March 2^nd Planet Brochure Due

March 5^th-Moon Chart due

  Sites of the month:
Fractions and Decimals: http://tconstantine.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/Favorite+Links#Math-Fractions

Solar System: http://tconstantine.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/Favorite+Links#Science-Solar System

What we're doing in the computer lab: http://constantinelablessons.blogspot.com/

Spirit Night

SSC Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A


When: 5:00-8:00 p.m. Tues. March 6

Where: Chick-Fil-A inside the Riverchase Galleria

Why: For fun, good food, and catching up with SSC friends

During the hours of 5:00-8:00 p.m.-10% of the proceeds will go to SSC Care and Needs Fund

*The classroom with the most participation will win a free ice-cream party

I will also send home flyers…this is a great event for us at SSC!

January 26th

First of all, it is with a heavy heart that  I would like to say good-bye to Jacob and Saray from our class. We will miss them both and we wish them the best. We read a book called Flying Solo earlier in the year where a class had "rock rituals" to say good bye to friends that left and we wanted to do the same. So today we had our first rock ritual for Jacob and we will have one Monday for Saray. Ask the kids to explain the rock ritual to you!

We also have a new student joining our class! Her name is Alexis. The kids are doing a wonderful job making her feel welcome.

Reminder** Send in one yellow and one red pocket folder with brads tomorrow.

Thank you for trusting me!! Our class has officially revolted today and the war is over. Just to fill you in, all of the kids were handed 10 starbursts on Monday but we also told them Mr. Lawry was not sure about giving candy to the kids with the nutrition laws so he wanted to speak with us. We had a "hall meeting" with all of the fourth graders where he told us that he had some rules to go with the starbursts:
You owe 1 starburst for using the bathroom
You owe 2 starbursts if you do not bring homework
You owe 1 starburst for tallking in the hall
They went from being happy about getting the starburts, to not so sure with all of the rules attached to them. Each day the rules got more "intolerable", Mr. Lawry added rules like giving starbursts for driking water, sharpening pencils, getting out of your desk, eating snack and eating lunch!! Lunch was the straw!  :)  The kids began writing petitions, making signs, having secret meetings with friends from other classes and the neat part is they used all of these terms and initiated these things on their own! It all came to a head today right before lunch when many of the fourth grade students stormed the halls, heading towards Mr. Lawry's office to rebel. The kids did an awesome job relating everything to the events that lead up to the Revolutionary War. 21/22 kids in our class did not like the rules and called themselves patriots, we had one loyalist who stuck to his guns. Two of the other classes were mostly loyalists, wanting to do exactly what Mr. Lawry wanted. We had one student say, "these rules are intolerable!" I think our class came as close as possible today to feeling just like the colonists did!

January 19th

Our classroom happenings: Reading-We just finished exploring changes in character with our class shared book Because of Winn Dixie and the kids are now in Mystery Detective Clubs! They will  explore mysteries as they meet in Detective Book clubs and discuss clues and suspects with the other members of their group.  We will also make predictions during reading and confirm and adjust predictions as a skill to sharpen our comprehension.  We are learning what a red herring is and will be on the lookout for them as we read our mystery books.   Writing-We joined Ms. Crowley's class in a snowman exchange by drawing a creative picture of a snowman, writing a detailed description of our snowman, and then giving just our writing piece to a buddy in Ms. Crowley's class to see how close he/she could come to our drawing. Her class did the same thing with us and our finished pieces and drawings are hanging in the halls.  Math-We have begun a unit on fractions while continuing to practice computation and our multiplication facts.  Content-This week we will finish our unit on land forms, share our glogs and we'll begin studying the American Revolution next week.  Technology-We are now glog experts! We made glogs on the causes of the American Revolution and our land form glogs will be posted soon!!  :)    *Check our calendar for other important dates.