Reading & Rec Center

Thank you for encouraging your kids to read as we participate in our Reading Challenge. Reading slips will be available in the classroom or at the office. To celebrate reading, West Grand Elementary School will be hosting a Family Literacy Night on Tuesday, April 17. We will begin at 5:00pm in the library and end at 7:00pm. Any student who participates will receive double minutes for the reading challenge. The Scholastic Book Fair will also be open on that night. Come and celebrate reading with us!

Students who earned 22 or more CSAP/TCAP tickets will be going to the Fraser Rec Center on April 18. Please watch the Buckaroo News for additional information.

Book Talk: Ancient Pompeii

Check out more information about Pompeii and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius: Ancient Pompeii

Book Talk: Titanic

Here are some links to explore and learn about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

National Geographic Explorer: Titanic
RMS Titanic Photos
Titanic Timeline
KidsKonnect: Titanic

Louisiana Purchase

Explore the Louisiana Territory with Lewis and Clark!

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/west/

Book Talk Extensions

Today, Maya gave two book talks that sparked some conversation and interest in more background information. The books she read were Live Free or Die which was a biography of Harriet Tubman and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which was a story of a young German boy and a Jewish boy who lived in a Nazi prison camp. Below are several links to explore these topics a bit further. I will try to add more as I find them.

The Underground Railroad
The Holocaust
Children of the Holocaust
KidsConnect: The Holocaust

Ancient Greek Olympics

As we draw nearer to our Olympic Opening Ceremonies (both in Kremmling and in London), take a few minutes to learn about the history of the Olympic Games.

BBB Primary History: The Olympic Games
Ancient Olympic Athletes
The Ancient Olympic Games
Official Olympic Site

Online Library

A fantastic new website has come across my computer screen. We Give Books provides an online library for students and also donates one book to different literacy foundations for every book that is read online. Click here for more information. I have created a class account so students can help give books to kids who need them. Our username is Ainslie4, and our password is buckaroo. Students may browse all books or check out some of the nonfiction books I've added to our library. Please continue to add your favorite books to our library so others can find them as well.

Happy reading!

Happy December!

Below is a copy of the newsletter that was sent home today and December's homework calendar.

I do have updated information about the last day before break. Thursday morning between 9:00 and 10:00, our class will be baking some yummy Greek holiday cookies. (These are the recipes I'm looking at: Greek Butter Cookies, Kourambiathes) At 10:00 we will be meeting with Mrs. Crosby's 5th grade class to share some poetry. The elementary school will be traveling to the high school at 1:15 to watch a movie. We will have our winter party at the end of the day (around 3:00 if all goes according to plan). If you would like to help with our baking adventure or our class party, please let me know. We would love to have you.

As I have been doing research for our door decorating, I've come across some fantastic sites about Greece, both ancient and present day. These links have been added to the reading and writing page on this site. Enjoy!

More Exciting Sites to Explore

Science Links
Flabby Physics: Use science to win this game
Denver Zoo: Check out the animals in our own zoo
San Diego Zoo: Learn about all kinds of zoo animals
Math Links
Math Duck: This site has practice games for a variety of math topics
Language Links
Magnetic Poetry: Rearrange "magnets" to create your own sentences and poetry
Art Links
Origami Club: What creations can you make?

4th Grade Study Tools

The activities on EZ School not only reinforce concepts we cover in class, but they will also help students prepare for CSAP.

http://www.ezschool.com/Grade4Tools.html

Student News

One of our goals in 4th grade is to help students develop a larger world view. One of the tools we use to achieve this goal is Scholastic News. Every other week, our class receives a new edition of the news magazine. As wonderful as Scholastic News is, there are several other news sources appropriate for students. In addition to current event stories, many of these sites offer enrichment and review activities that focus on a wide variety of skills.

4Kids.org is a weekly newspaper feature and web site produced at the University of Kansas by a team of teachers and students.
TimeForKids has a little bit of everything. There are news stories that range from world new to sports and entertainment. There is also a section called Kid Reporters where students are the reporters. (Check out this section to learn about Rick Riordan's newest book The Son of Neptune.) There is also a Homework Helper section where students (or parents) can get academic support.
ScholasticNews takes students further into topics brought up in the classroom magazine. Articles are written at appropriate reading level for students. There are also several links for students to explore.

Fact Monster

I just came across a fantastic website that I want to share with you. FactMonster.com is an online bank of information. Students could spend hours learning and exploring on this site. I have linked to several pages that connect with content we are covering in class that may offer some enrichment opportunities. Enjoy!

FactMonster: National Parks
FactMonster: Fifty States
FactMonster: Math Flash Cards
FactMonster: Greek and Roman Mythology
FactMonster: Astronomy and Space Exploration
FactMonster: Research Skills

Wonderopolis

Do you ever just wonder about things? This is a great site that is based around wondering...about anything. Wonderopolis is a wonderful site to encourage your student to wonder and explore.
http://wonderopolis.org/