Merry New Year

Yes, I know, it's Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…

But what do you say when it's between the two holidays?

May our Lord and Savior continue to bless you!

See you in January, 2011.

Psalm 103:1 & 2

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
   all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits—

Happy Birthday to Jesus Week

How awesome of our God to send us the one and only present we need…Jesus, our Savior and King!

Last week was interesting…
• Miss Pamperin knew she was going to Juneau, for a family funeral.
• I was supposed to sub for her on Friday.
• Strep throat put me on the couch for two days.

This week…
• We will have some classes and some homework.
• This is Miss Pamperin's last week. The kids will miss her, as will I.
• A practice or two will take place for our Christmas service.
• As I write this on Monday morning, there's a STORM coming!

God's Blessings to you and your family this Christmas!

Matthew 1:20-21

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

 

Here are the photos from round 2 of bridge building!!!
Each group improved by leaps and bounds!

The bridge that held math books was designed and constructed by
Blake, Ashley, and Logan. Congratulations!

It held 27 books. Cool!

Pictures from the First Round of Bridge Building!

Last full week before Christmas

This past week:

• If you ask your child what he or she remembers from this past week, I'd wager it was building bridges.
• Teams planned and then made their first bridge, and then Miss Pamperin tested all of them. The most successful one held up 9 math books. However, there was one, that when extended, couldn't even hold up its own weight.
• Otherwise:
• practice for the Christmas service continued
• tests were taken
• memory work learned

This coming week:

• On Monday, we start rehearsing as a school-body for the Christmas service.
• The students will work on their bridge designs and test them again.

God bless you as you prepare your heart for Christmas.

Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Another Week of God's Grace

What's the news of the past week?

• Subject wise:
• Science - We started a new chapter on Force & Motion.
• Social Studies - The "tour" of the southern states continued.
• Also, a day was spent learning about the Underground Railroad.

• Phy. Ed - We played several kinds of tag.
• Art - A continuation of learning about complimentary colors.

• It was good to see some 4th graders at New London's Christmas parade and the live nativity.

This coming week…

• Miss Pamperin has all of the classes from now until Christmas.
• Emanuel's School Christmas service is a little over two weeks away.
• We've been learning recitations and songs.

• This feels like "test" week:
• Tuesday - Science Unit B Chapter 2
• Wednesday - Social Studies Chapter 6
• Thursday - Spelling Week 11
• Friday - Math

• In enrichment, the 4th graders are going to attempt to build a newspaper bridge!

God Bless your Advent season.

John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Odds and Ends…

Last Week…
• In science we finished the "matter" chapter.
• In social studies, the first chapter about the southern states was finished.
• We made Thanksgiving cards or signs.
• We worked on our juggling skills in the commons.

This Week…
• The new science chapter is on force and motion.
• The new topic in social studies is the history of the southeast and gulf states.
• Art class will have the 4th graders working with complimentary colors.
• We'll be working on the next church song, as well as on our parts for the Christmas service.

God bless your week.

Thanksgiving Week

What took place this past week?
† The fourth graders learned lots about the states of matter by working on a webquest with Miss Pamperin. Much of their time was spent at the BBC site called Bitesize.
† In P.E. they were learning and/or practicing turning a jumprope and to jump into the turning rope. They all looked like they were having fun.
† If your child has been juggling around the house, that would be my fault. We spent several days learning from The Jim Show. He calls it, Learning to Juggle in 3 Easy Steps. They really worked hard!


This coming week…
† All-School worship will be on Wednesday morning.
† It's a short week. Class gets out on Wednesday at 11:40.
† Emanuel has Thanksgiving worship services on Wednesday, November 24 at 7:00 PM and at 9:30 AM.

1 Chronicles 29:13

Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

What's up?

• The fourth graders researched what immigrants experienced at Ellis Island.
• Check out the student work page of the classroom website to see their oral presentations.
• The movies went on in QuickTime format.
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe turned out to be a musical. Because of time constraints, there were parts of the book that either were changed or dropped entirely. It gave us a chance to compare the book to the live performance.
• The last story that the children wrote had an animal as the main character. Their stories were delightful to hear. It's the one chance that the students get to sit on the "teacher stool" in front of the room.

This coming week:
• The fourth graders will be working on a webquest in conjunction with the "matter" chapter in the science book.
• Art class will have a project teaching the warm and cool colors.
• Enrichment will find the students learning to juggle. (At least that's the plan as this blog is being written.)
• We will be starting to learn sections for Christmas program very soon.
• Miss Ladwig gets to teach math this week.  :)

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Odds and Ends…Sunday, November 7

This past week:
1. We finished the "A" unit of our science book, which was life science. Miss Pamperin started the "B" unit, which is physical science.
2. In conjunction with studying the Northeast region of the United States, we started working on an Ellis Island webquest. Each group of students has had to research what it was like traveling to the United States in the early 1900's and what it was like to come through Ellis Island as an immigrant from Europe.
3. The fourth graders wrote and orally presented a fictional story that stressed the three main story elements (character, setting, and plot). The main character had to be an animal, and that animal had to have a problem that needed solving.
4. We worked on memorizing songs for church and grandparents' day.

This coming week:
1. On Tuesday we are headed to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh. The book was read to them earlier this school year. I hope to have time to compare the book and the play.
2. The Ellis Island projects will be presented live on Thursday.
3. Wednesday is a 1:35 dismissal.
4. Friday's mission presentation will be via Skype. We will have the opportunity to hear straight from the missionary in Taiwan.
5. We are looking forward to Friday's activities.

May the LORD bless your week.

Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

October 25-26

For a short week, it seemed pretty busy…
• Parent/Teachers conferences are a highlight.
• Teachers' Convention at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in Milwaukee. There are always new ideas to incorporate into my classroom.
• Miss Pamperin started teaching music. She was teaching the class to sing intervals.

This coming week…
• The fourth graders will be starting several new projects this week. One in reading and one in social studies.
• Miss Pamperin will be teaching science starting on Tuesday.
• Professor Ohm, Miss Pamperin's college supervisor, will be here this week.
• We'll be getting ready to sing in church on November 8 and November 14.
• We will also be getting ready for Grandparents' Day.

God's blessings.

Oct. 18 to 22

A summary of the past week:
1. The 4th graders finished a writing project that described the feeling and actions before, during, and after some sort of competition.
2. In social studies we learned about the New England states, and also a bit about the Middle Atlantic states.
3. They are working on a John 3:16 poster.
4. Little by little we're getting our digital storytelling done. The last recordings will be finished this coming week. How these will be displayed, I don't know quite yet.
5. The biggest change this week: Miss Pamperin's becoming part of our classroom. Mostly, she has been observing, but she also started some teacher duties.


This very short week upcoming week:
1. Parent/teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday after school, and Wednesday during the morning.
2. There's a science test on Tuesday. The 4th graders knew about this early last week. Our science book is divided into four major units. This is the last chapter in the first unit.... Where has the time gone?!?
3. While there is NO spelling this week. The words for week 7 are on the spelling page of the class webpage. Also, Week 7 words were "opened up" in Spelling City.

God bless your week.

Matthew 7:24-27

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Notes from October 11-15…

The week went by quickly; at least it did for the teacher!
Things we did this past week…
1. In our afternoon devotions we continued our study of Martin Luther and what it means to be Lutheran.
2. We saw pictures of Lutherland from Miss Ladwig's trip to Germany.
     * Specifically, we saw pictures of Wittenburg, the Castle Church where Luther posted the 95 Theses, the Wartburg, Mrs. Cotta's house (Ask your child who Mrs. Cotta was.), and Luther's grave in the floor of the church.
3. We learned a little about the Mission Project for 2nd quarter, which is Taiwan. Then we wrote two questions that the missionary there will answer "live" via Skype during our mission presentation in November.
4. Thanks to the parents that provided pond water. While we didn't find tons and tons of pond organisms, we did find quite the variety of God's creatures in the water. Some of them were big enough to see without a hand lens, but not big enough to identify even with the magnifying glasses!
5. We continued working on our digital storytelling project with the photos from Mosquito Hill. We learned how to add speech bubbles and transitions, and also how to change the color of the text and the speech bubble background.
6. The pepper in our decomposition is doing what it's supposed to be doing…decomposing. The first thing that the 4th graders noticed was the smell.


Up and coming for October 18-22…
1. We welcome Miss Pamperin. She will be with us until Christmas.
2. On Monday, Miss Pamperin will observe. On Tuesday, she starts teaching selected subjects.
3. Hopefully, we can finish up the digital storytelling. We'll need to find a somewhat quiet environment so that each team can add their voices to the project.
4. We will start learning our worship song for November 8.
5. The end of this past week we started a writing project on our actions and feelings before, during, and after some sort of competition. That will get finished this week.

God's blessings!

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."    Joshua 24:15

October 4-8

The run-down of this past week:
• In Christ Light we learned about the first miracle that Jesus did.
• We started a decomposition investigation in science. Our container has foil, plastic, a cracker, a carrot, and a yellow pepper. The students predicted when each item would show decomposition. They are encouraged to look each day at the container.
• For social studies we started studying the northeastern region of the US.
• We have started a digital storytelling project in our enrichment time. The students are in groups of two. Each group has four photos from our Mosquito Hill trip. The project will continue this coming week.


This coming week…
• They will learn how to use Keynote (Mac version of PowerPoint) for the digital storytelling. Each group will manipulate photos, use speech bubbles, and learn to add their voices to Keynote. The goal is to be done on Thursday, so that we can present the finished Keynotes on Friday. That might be a little too ambitious! But that's the plan, anyway.
• We're going to play with pond water on Wednesday through a collaborative website. (http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/bucketproj/)
• Miss Pamperin comes on October 18, so we'll be working on a project to welcome her.

God Bless.

Sept. 27 - Oct. 1

What went on in 4th grade this past week???
1. We started taking our Terra Nova Standardized tests.
2. We finished the Book of Ruth during our afternoon devotions.
3. In PE we improved our manipulative skills by using playground balls.
4. We had several Spanish classes. They did very well and found out that learning a foreign language can be fun!
5. We practiced our church song with Miss Schmidt's class several times.


On the agenda for October 4 - 8…
1. We will finish the Terra Nova testing on Wednesday.
2. Our afternoon devotions will be a study for Martin Luther and what it means to be Lutheran.
3. It wasn't planned this way, but Thursday will be test day… spelling, math, and social studies.
4. Our enrichment time will be spent in "digital storytelling". We'll be using the photos taken at Mosquito Hill to create a story. I've never attempted digital storytelling with 4th graders before, so this will be an adventure for all of us!

May the LORD bless your week.

Sept. 20-24

What happened this past week?

1. In art class we learned an easy way to draw anything made with a box, like presents, Kleenex boxes, desks.... We also found out how to draw cylinder type things.

2. We had our first Spanish class during our Enrichment class. Some of the 4th graders groaned when I said we were having Spanish. But from their reactions, I'd say that they all enjoyed it.

3. We've worked on memorizing our church song for worship on Sunday, October 3.

4. The field trip to Mosquito Hill Nature Center was windy. But we all learned new things about Mosquito Hill and God's creation that we didn't know before.

What's coming in the next 5 days of school…

1. Standardized testing starts this week. We will start on Monday, September 27, by filling in their names on the computer-read answer form. There will be testing spread out over the next two weeks. If possible, it would be great if students didn't miss any school time during testing. Tests can be made-up later, but it's more convenient to have all of the students tested at the same time.

2. Our afternoon devotion time is a mini Bible study each day. Since school began we've been reading the book of Ruth. We will finish with Ruth this week. What a wonderful God we have to include Ruth in the family of Jesus. What a wonderful reminder to us, to be like Ruth and completely trust in God.

3. We sing at the 9 am service on Sunday, October 3.

4. Have a blessed week.

Sept. 13-17 What did we do this week?

For me, the week went by extremely fast. It was the closest thing we've had yet to a full week. I suppose the upcoming week isn't exactly a full week either, since we'll be on a field trip to Mosquito Hill Nature Center on Friday.

Highlights from this past week:
• Our first art class of the year was an exercise in following directions. They all heard the same directions (draw 3 lines that go from the edge of the paper to the other; draw 5 circles; draw 2 curved lines; fill in 3 of the circles; etc). While they all had the same directions, their creations are all unique! Our art classes have a lot to do with learning; they are not usually "just projects".

• We started learning our song that we will sing in church on Sunday, October 3, at the 9:00 service.

•We had our first spelling test of the year. It did not go well. Please encourage your children to study the spelling words at home.

• On Friday, we investigated how to make an earthworm move. We all had fun. When I get "Photo Galleries" to work properly, you'll be able to check out the pictures of our investigation.

•••• Next week ••••

• Things to look forward to:
• Continuing our afternoon devotion, which is a study of the book of Ruth and how we can apply it to our lives.

• Learning about drawing techniques.

• Going to MHNC --- We go rain or shine!

Sept. 7-10

What did we do this week?
• The fourth graders went to the computer lab and did their first KidsBlog entry.
• We had our first assignment in English class.
• PE had us playing with hula hoops. That was fun, and I should have had the camera there to record the activity.
• We started writing letters to Miss Pamperin, who will be the student teacher in our room. She will be coming the middle of October.
• Please check out the Student Work page on the class webpage. After the students read Mirette on the Highwire in reading class, they created three group drawings of the story. They also wrote, revised, practiced, and recorded comments about the story. It's been embedded to our student work page from a website called, VoiceThread. 

What's up for the coming week?
• It will be closer to a full 5-day week. Wednesday is a 1:35 dismissal.
• Monday will be our first art class. Our art classes are usually about learning and not just about doing a project.
• This coming week (Sept. 13-17) will also be our first spelling class of the school year. You can find the words on the spelling link off of the 4th grade homepage.

First Week

The first week of school is done. Everything from my viewpoint went pretty well. With the Lord's guidance, may all of our actions through the rest of the year go well also.

1st Day of School

I'll admit that the first day of every new school year brings a nervous stomach and a dry mouth. Some of the students came in with a few "nerves" of their own. As we got into our day, my nerves dissipated; I'm pretty sure most of the students' nervousness went away as well. At the end of the day I had several children tell me that the day went by quickly. I like to hear that!

Tomorrow, we'll all be back to tackle the second day! There are always a "ton" of directions/procedures/rules that we go through on day one. It always surprises me that the students remember so many of them the next day!

God's blessings!

School starts....

In a few short days the students will be returning. I look forward to teaching a new group of students. May the Lord guide us through this year.

Meetings

We've had meeting each morning this week. Today we're learning about incorporating a blog into the classroom website.

New iMac

I told myself that I really didn't need a new computer…but there were things that the old iMac just didn't want to do. So I bought a new iMac. Less than two days later I get an email from Apple introducing their new TurboCharged iMac! Great, I thought! I didn't even have my new computer yet, and it was already obsolete! The next email from Apple said that because my computer had yet to be shipped, that it would be automatically upgraded. That was a welcomed relief! I also brought the new Magic Trackpad. The computer is still in the process of being setup, so I haven't tried the trackpad yet. But I do like the Magic mouse that came with the iMac. It takes some getting used to, but I like it so far.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

July

What happened to the month of July? It's nearly over.

Ah, Summer Vacation

My first attempt at blogging :)
It seems that July is just flying by. There are still so many summer projects that need completing. I suppose that I should multi-task…like watch the Cubs game, which I am doing, and clean the living room at the same time. But I think I'll just watch the game. I suppose that watching the ball game and exploring blogs is multi-tasking. But it doesn't feel like I'm getting much done!