In the Loop With Fifth Grade

Wow! Where did the first term go? It is so hard to believe that the school year is one third over. The fifth grade is just finishing up the unit on Mysteries. Everyone worked hard to learn the elements of a good mystery. Now each student is busy writing a mysterious masterpiece. Some are writing ghost stories and some are creating great detective stories. In mid November, each student will be presenting a mystery commercial advertising a book store and a "Mystery of the Month." Many students will be writing "original" songs to go with their presentations.

Spending time with our kindergarten buddies is one of our favorite activities. We have written colorful similes together, read books, made leaf booklets and had a wonderful time getting to know one another. In the next couple of months we will be creating jazzy giant turkeys and writing a book together.

All of the class is looking forward to our Veteran's Day Program coming up on Tuesday, November 11. The kids have been working very hard at rehearsals. Everyone who watches the program should be quite impressed.

In the Loop With Fourth Grade

The fourth grade class has had a terrific first term. They are just finishing up their library research project. To begin, each student was able to look at over 200 library books to help them select a research topic. The kids picked a wide variety of subjects from Mexico to mummies and Tasmanian Devils to black holes. Reading and research followed, and the students did a great job taking notes to prepare for writing a report.

Now, most kids have finished their rough drafts and are getting ready to revise their writing and then publish a mini book! For the final project in the unit the students will be interviewed by a classmate and have a chance to share all the amazing information that has been learned. While watching each other's presentations the students should learn quite a few new and interesting facts. Then we will be off on our next classroom adventure. In fact, it will be a unit on the genres of adventure and adventure/survival!