Making Frindles

We made frindles today!  Be sure to ask your child what a frindle is.

All set to go into the oven! 

Class Goal Celebration

We met our class goal today and filled our token jar! We will celebrate tomorrow with pjs, stuffed animals and a movie.  Please make sure that stuffed animals are small and can fit inside your child's backpack.  Thank you in advance!

More learning fun!

So much learning!

Enjoy some photos of all the learning happening in our classroom! Stay tuned for more!

Carney’s Crew Class News and Updates  

Hi Everyone!

Happy October!  As the weather starts to shift and more sweatshirts and jackets are coming to school, please remember to write your child’s initials inside.  We have already brought quite a bit of belongings to lost and found!

Thank you to everyone who helped out on our field trip to Shelburne Farms.  We lucked out with the weather and had a great day! I appreciate all of your hard work with rain preparation gear.  If you hadn’t packed all of the gear and changes of clothes, we would have been poured on. Isn’t that the way it works?!

Here are some things happening in our classroom:

Math-  This week in math we reviewed estimation strategies and measurement conversions with feet, inches and yards.  We will wrap up unit 1 next week and will take our end of unit assessment on Tuesday, October 16th. Unit 2 will focus on multiplication and geometry.  Students are working on their basic multiplication facts on a daily basis, but any additional practice at home will be helpful!

Writing- This week we started brainstorming small moments and began drafting our personal narratives. Ask your child the difference between a watermelon and seed story. Next week we will start working on descriptive writing and using a story teller’s voice.  

Reading- Literary elements has been the focus during our reading workshop.  We are learning about characters, setting, plot, and theme in literary texts.  Students have been practicing the ‘stop and jot’ strategy and recording their thinking about literary elements while reading independently.  Next week we will dive a little deeper into literary elements and will start learning about character traits. We will also be starting our book groups this week as well!

Science-  To kick off our Force and Motion unit we explored with hot wheels cars!  Students worked in small groups building and exploring with the track and cars.  After their exploration time, they had to make a scientific drawing of their track in their science notebooks and jot down 2-3 things they observed.  The following day we had a scientist meeting and everyone got to share an observation. Next week we will complete a variety of Mystery Science activities to hopefully help clarify some of our observations and wonderings from the hot wheels exploration.   

Upcoming Dates and Other Announcements-  

Picture Retakes- School pictures came home in Friday folders today. If you decide your child needs to retake their pictures, retake day is Friday, October 12th.  

No School- A reminder that there is no school for students on Thursday and Friday, October 18th & 19th.

Book Order- Our book order shipping was delayed, so books should be in early next week.  I apologize for any inconvenience.

Class Blog- Be sure to subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with news and information.

Password Cards- All students have a password folder in their google drive.  Inside the folder is a document with all of their usernames and passwords for programs that we are currently using in the classroom.  We will add to that list as the year goes on. Please refer to it if your child needs help with remembering login information. Please let me know if you need a hard copy of this form.

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email- kari.carney@colchestersd.org and/or school phone- 264-5867.

As I have mentioned before, you have amazing children who are working so hard each day.  I am fortunate to have such a wonderful group of kids this year!

Happy Weekend!

Mrs. Carney

Field Trip Update and Open House Reminder

Dear Families,

The lighthouse 4th grade classrooms were originally planning to hike Mt. Philo on October 4th, but will no longer be able to go.  Mt. Philo overbooked the number of groups attending on that day and unfortunately our group was one of the ones that was told that we could not hike.  We were also told that there are no other dates available to hike this fall.

Since we already have the buses booked for October 4th, we will now be going to Shelburne Farms instead. Students will be able to participate in a variety of activities and also hike on some of the trails. An updated permission slip will be available tomorrow evening at Open House (6:30-7:30), or will be sent home on Friday. The cost for this field trip will be the same.

REMINDER- Open House is TOMORROW- September, 20th from 6:30-7:30.  I hope to see you there!

Please email me with any questions.  Have a great evening!

Mrs. Carney

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday! We have had another fabulous week!  We are continuing to learn about each other and are figuring out our classroom expectations and routines. We are also learning about our brains and have had lots of discussions about growth mindset.  Ask your child to tell you about how making mistakes actually helps your brain grow!

Below you will find some updates on things that are happening in our classroom.

Math- We spent our first week of math doing inspirational math activities.  We learned about having a growth mindset in math and learned how to think about numbers flexibly.  We also discovered that we all see and think about math differently! This week we started our Everyday Math program.  Unit 1 focuses on place value concepts and multidgit addition and subtraction. Students also had a chance to use Prodigy.  Prodigy is an educational online math program that students LOVE! It is aligned to common core and helps students practice math concepts that we are learning in the classroom.  An information sheet on prodigy went home last week in Friday folders. It also had directions of how to link your child’s account to your email for progress updates. If you need another sheet, please email me and let me know.

Reading- This week students explored our classroom library and discussed all of the ways that readers choose books.  Students took a Reading Interest Survey and shared their thoughts on how they feel about reading. In addition, we are practicing how to build our stamina during read to self time.  Over the next few weeks I will be doing one-on-one reading check ins with students to help form reading groups.

Science- We completed our first Mystery Science lesson and explored the question, “Why do scientists know so much?”  We learned the difference between the way an artist draws and a scientist draws and even had a chance to practice drawing like a scientist with flowers outside.  Our first science unit will be on Energy, Force and Motion.

Writing- Students created a Heart Map in their writing notebooks with all of the things that are special and important to them.  We will use our Heart Maps for writing ideas throughout the year. Today we practiced 5 minute free writes and wrote all about our names.    

Writer's Notebooks- Next Monday, students will be personalizing their writer's notebooks.  If you have any pictures, magazines, or stickers, please send them to school with your child by Monday, September 17th.  Keep in mind the pictures will be cut and glued, so please do not send in any special original copies that can't be cut!

Slideshow- Next week, students will be creating google slideshows to share a little about themselves and also to practice speaking in front of the class.  Your child needs to choose FIVE pictures that represent who they are and what they like to do.  These could be pictures of their family, friends, favorite vacation spot, animals, hobbies, etc. Pictures can be emailed to their school email address- lastname.firstinitial@colchestersd.org or to my email address- kari.carney@colchestersd.org. Please email pictures by next Tuesday, September 18th. If you are unable to do this, please email me and let me know!

Field Trip- Lighthouse 4th graders will be taking a field trip to hike Mt. Philo on October 4th. Field trip forms are in Friday folders.

Open House- MBS Open House will be on Thursday, September 20th from 6:30-7:30pm. I hope to see you there!

Book Order- Book orders are due on Friday, September 21st. You can either order online by visiting our class blog and clicking on the book order tab, or by sending in a hard copy order with your child.

Early Release Day- Wednesday, September 26th will be a district wide early release day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:45.

Picture Retake Day- October 12th

Class Blog- Please subscribe to our class blog to stay up to date with news and information.

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email- kari.carney@colchestersd.org and/or school phone- 264-5867.

Phew, I think that is it for updates and reminders! Please know that you have amazing children and they are all working so hard. I am very fortunate to have such a great group of kids in my class this year.  Get outside this weekend and enjoy time with family and friends.

Happy Weekend!

Mrs. Carney

First Week Updates

 

Hi Everyone!

It has been so great getting to know your children these last few days.  We have a fabulous class this year and have so many fun things to look forward to!

This week, we have played several “get to know you” games and have learned about what makes each of us special and unique.  We have reviewed school rules and are working on a booklet of ways that we can be safe, respectful and responsible around the school. It has been a little bit of a zig zag schedule this week with assemblies and getting to know one another.  Next week, we will start to follow our normal schedule a little more.

Please be sure to subscribe to our blog so that you can stay updated with things happening in our classroom.

Upcoming Dates-

School Picture Day- September 11th

Open House- September 20th, 6:30-7:30pm

District Wide Early Release Day- September 26th, 12:45pm

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email- kari.carney@colchestersd.org and/or school phone- 264-5867.

Enjoy the long weekend!  

Mrs. Carney

Great First Day!

Dear Families,

Wow!  What an amazing group of students!  We had such a fabulous day today.  We spent lots of time getting to know each other and we read a book that taught us about pausabilities.  Ask your child what a pausability is. We had an assembly with Mrs. Burke and Mrs. King to remind us of our Malletts Bay School rules- Safe, Respect, and Responsibility. We also started to work on self portraits that we will share with you at Open House in September. 

This is a reminder that we have PE tomorrow, so please send students to school with sneakers and a water bottle.  I will send home a newsletter on Friday with our full Unified Arts schedule and other important information.

I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow!

Mrs. Carney

Recorder Concert Tonight!

Just a reminder that the 4th grade recorder concert is tonight at 7:00pm.  Students should arrive at school no earlier than 6:45pm.  When students arrive, they will meet Ms. Taylor outside of our classroom and she will walk them down to the gym at 7:00. After the concert students should meet you in the lobby. Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment and will not be able to attend this evening. 

Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck everyone! I can't wait to see the video!

Mrs. Carney

SBAC Complete!

Dear Families,

What a busy few weeks it has been!  We finally finished our SBAC testing today and celebrated by watching Harry Potter.  Students have worked so hard to stay focused and put forth their best effort. I am very proud of them!

On Friday, May 11th, we will be going to the Ethan Allen Homestead to participate in the Water Conservation Fair. Students will be bringing home field trip permission slips with more information this afternoon. Please review and email with any questions.

Please be on the lookout for cardboard and other recyclable materials around your home.  After vacation students will be building cardboard arcade games!  I will send out more information on our cardboard carnival after April break.  In addition to cardboard and recyclable materials, please also be on the lookout for shoe boxes. We will be using them to build dioramas for our Regions of the United States unit. You can send in all materials the week of April 30th.

I hope everyone has a safe and restful vacation.  Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine!

Happy Friday!
Mrs. Carney