Class Goal

We met our class goal and will be celebrating with pjs and a movie tomorrow afternoon after our Red Ribbon Week presentation from Officer Melon.  We will be watching either Dolphin Tale or LEGO Batman, as those were the top two choices.  Please let me know if you have a problem with either of these movies. 

Updates

Dear Families,

Happy weekend!  I hope you had a chance to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Here are some things that are happening in our classroom:

Math- We have started unit 2 in math with a focus on multiplication and geometry.  We have been learning about factors, multiples, and prime and composite numbers.  Unit 1 math tests were suppose to go home Friday, but we left them in mailboxes.  Please keep an eye out for them to come home on Monday.

Writing- Students have been so busy writing personal narratives.  We have discussed the difference between watermelon and seed stories and have been focusing our writing on a small moment.  Students have worked hard to use the “show don’t tell” strategy which includes using the 5 senses to make the reader feel like they are there experiencing the moment.  We have also learned about adding dialogue and speaker tags to our writing.  Next week we will practice hooks/leads and strong endings.  

Reading- We have been discussing literary elements with a focus on characters, character traits, setting, plot, problem and solution.  We also finished our read aloud, Frindle. Next week we will learn about theme, and then go back and examine our characters a little deeper.  

Genius Hour- We spent a few genius hour blocks learning about online coding using the programs, Scratch and Hour of Code.  Students loved the opportunity to write their own codes and create games.  

Friday, we started making our monster bots!  Students had to use a battery, a motor, and two wires to make a circuit.  Once they were able to connect their circuit and make their motor work, they had to draw and label their circuit in their genius hour notebook.  They also had to draw and label their decorating plan for their monsterbot and include a list of materials.  We will continue with our monster bots this week.     

Picture Re-takes- Picture re-takes will be October 24th

Monster Mash- The MBS Monster Mash will be Friday, October 27th.  Please check out the MBS homepage for more details.

Field Trip- Our field trip to the Flynn Theater will be November 15th.  Permission slips are due by the end of this week. Extra copies went home Friday for those students who needed one.  

Book Orders- Online book ordering is always open, please just send me an email when you place your order.  There are directions on how to order on the Book Order page above.  Please email with any questions.  

Please don’t hesitate to email or call with any questions.  Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Carney  

Class Goal

We met our class goal today by filling our fish bowl to the top with tokens!  Everyone has worked so hard to be safe, respectful, and responsible both inside and outside the classroom to help earn tokens.  Yesterday, the class earned 25 tokens in PE!  Mrs. Eastman gave us a HUGE compliment on how cooperative and respectful everyone was.

We will be celebrating tomorrow with electronic day.  Your child may bring in an electronic from home to use for the last part of our day.  If you do not want your child to bring in a device from home, we will have chromebooks available in the classroom to use.  Please remind your child that the games and/or music from their personal devices need to be school appropriate.

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!

Weekly Updates

Hi All!

We survived our first full week of school even with the hot, sticky weather.  So many great things have been happening in our classroom.

Math- We have reviewed place value and have worked on rounding numbers through the hundred thousands.  Next week we will review estimation strategies and then move to mulitdigit addition and subtraction.  We will also start our math skills time.

Students logged into their Dreambox and Xtra-math accounts this week. They have login names and pin numbers for both of these.  We are working to complete password cards in their google drive so they will have access to their passwords both at school and at home.  

Writing- Students created their own heart maps in their writer's notebooks to represent people, places, and things that are special to them. We have practiced building our writing stamina by choosing topics from our heart maps and free writing about those topics.  Next week we will start to personalize our writer's notebooks and jump into our narrative writing unit.  If you could send your child to school with a few pictures for their writer's notebooks by next Thursday, that would be helpful!  Please make sure they can cut and glue these pictures.

Reading- Over the last few weeks, we have been working to establish our reader's workshop expectations and routines.  Students have practiced choosing just right spaces to work, just right books, and have practiced building their reading stamina. Next week, we will start to discuss literary elements.

Mystery Skype- Earlier in the week we had the chance to practice a mystery skype with our 5th grade Tech Kid friends.  We each picked a state (which ended up being the same! ) and had to ask each other “narrowing” questions until we were able to make a guess about which state it could be.  Next week we will start to mystery skype with other classes around the United States!

Genius Hour- Lighthouse 4th grade started our Friday Genius Hour time with a spaghetti tower design challenge.  Last week students got into groups of 3 and had to build the tallest freestanding tower out of spaghetti that could support a marshmallow in only 18 minutes.  This week, students had a chance to plan, sketch and then build their towers.  We had WAY more success this week and discussed the importance of trial and error, sharing ideas, and planning.  

Book Orders- Please check out the book order tab above if you are interested in placing an order.  Book orders are due this Friday, September 22nd. There are directions to follow on the page!  Please email with any questions.   

Open House- Please join us for open house at MBS next Thursday, September 21st from 6:30-7:30.

Please don’t hesitate to email or call with any questions.  Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Carney  

Picture day TOMORROW!

REMINDER that picture day is tomorrow, September 14th!

Carney’s Crew Class News and 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.  Yesterday, we learned about our brains and how mistakes actually help our brains grow! 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 class blog on the right side of this page! Use the tabs above to see our daily schedule, unified arts schedule and other helpful information.  Be sure to check the blog often to stay up to date with things happening in our classroom.

Upcoming Dates-

School Picture Day- September 14th

Open House- September 21st, 6:30-7:30pm

District Wide Early Release Day- September 27th, 12:45pm

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email- kari.carney@colchestersd.org and/or school phone- 264-6909.

Enjoy the long weekend!  

Mrs. Carney

Cardboard Carnival Tomorrow

Hi All!

Just a reminder that our Cardboard Carnival will be tomorrow afternoon from 1:50-2:50 in the lighthouse 4th grade classrooms.  We would love to see you and show off all of our hard work!

Other reminders and upcoming dates-

Fly Up Day- On Friday, June 9th, students will find out their 5th grade teachers and will get to spend an hour in their new classrooms.

Final Math Assessment- We will have our unit 8 math test next Tuesday, June 6th.

Shelburne Museum- Our Shelburne Museum field trip is on Tuesday, June 13th.  The entire fourth grade will be going.  Permission slips went home on Tuesday of this week and are due next Friday, June 9th.  We need chaperones, so please consider helping out!

Bayside Day- Our Bayside field day will be on Wednesday, June 14th.  Permission slips went home this week and are due back by next Friday, June 9th.

BBQ- Our end of year BBQ will be on Thursday, June 15th at 12:05.  Information on the BBQ went home this week.  There was more information on the paper if you are going to join us and eat!

Last day of school- Friday, June 16th @12:45

Hope to see you tomorrow at the Cardboard Carnival!
-Mrs. Carney