Online Presentation from Jane Goodall

Our class was lucky enough to participate in an online class presented by Jane Goodall, the famous primatologist who is known for living with chimpanzees.  Our class learned about how Goodall became interested in animals at a young age. She decided to go to Tanzania in Africa to live in the same area as chimpanzees to observe them and learn about their behaviors. They are the closest relative to humans and we share much of our DNA. She was fascinated to learn that they are able to create and use tools. For example, they are able to use sticks to puncture bee hives and as spoons to scoop out honey. They also use them to stick into trees to fish out termites to eat. This was a wonderful opportunity and we have learned so much!

Spelling Lists March 9-13

Spelling Lists March 9-13

Walker

bicycle      united      biweekly      trilogy      unique      triangle      pentagon      universe      octopus      uniform      October      bilingual

Liscomb

information organization application addition consideration relaxation temptation identification expectation reservation presentation edition starvation memorization quotation purification beautification justification notification examination gratification

Langston

saw     paws      straw      lawn      claw      draw     law      hawk     crawl     dawn      shawl cause      caught      fault      pause      sauce      taught      haul      haunt      vault      cross cloth     frost     song      laugh

Klein

phrase alphabet enough daughter physics dolphin elephant cough nephew tough phantom naughty

orphan laughter trophy rough triumph taught

caught phone fought paragraph

Fast Facts Fluency

We began the year in Math working on our Multiplication Fast Facts. It is important for fourth graders to be automatic with these facts in order to be successful in Math this year. We have spent a lot of time working on strategies for remembering these. We have learned songs from Schoolhouse Rock, finger tricks, patterns, and rhymes to help us. We also played "I Have, Who Has" a game where students must listen to multiplication problems to see if they have a card with the answer.
For example-
"6 times 6 has 3 6s. 6 x  6 = 36"
"6 and 8 went on a date, when they came back they were 48. 6 x 8 = 48"
"I ate and ate and got sick on the floor. 8 x 8 = 64"
"6 and 7 were sad and blue. 6 x 7 = 42"
 The nine trick:

Poetry Workshop

 Every Thursday we do Poetry Workshop during our Writing block. We started by talking about what an Anthology is. We looked at some examples of Poetry anthologies and began to put together our own that we will be adding to throughout the year. The students were given time to design the cover of their anthologies and then we had a Gallery Walk to see each other's work.

Welcome to the Pack!

Mrs. Walker

Room 413

Welcome to the fourth grade at GAB in Room 409. We are Mrs. Walker’s Wolves. I look forward to having you in my classroom this year. We will do many fun and educational things that I hope will make your learning fun!

ABOUT YOUR TEACHER

My name is Mrs.Walker. This is my eleventh year at GAB. I taught 3^rd grade for five years and this is my sixth year teaching 4^th grade. I am excited to meet all of you. I taught a few of your siblings and know many of your faces already. I graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC- GO MOUNTAINEERS! I feel very lucky to be at Grady A. Brown, the #1 school in America!

I am a native of Chapel Hill, NC. Most of my family and friends are in this area. My husband and I live here in Hillsborough with our baby boy, Cole. We have a cat named Missy. I love reading and hope to pass this passion along to all of my students.

Please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment for a conference. My number at school is 732-6138 ext. 45402. You may also e-mail me at sarah.walker@orange.k12.nc.us. Check out our class webpage for more information throughout the year: www.walkerwolves.blogspot.com. 

SNACKS/LUNCH

Snacks will be eaten mid-morning. I am asking that parents send in snacks with their students that are healthy. Some suggested snacks are: granola bars, goldfish crackers, graham crackers, fruit, pretzels, etc. Please do not send in candy bars, sodas, or other items such as this.

***Please refrain from sending in foods that need to be heated in the microwave at lunch due to time constraints.

CORRESPONDENCE/MONEY

Each student will be responsible for having a 2-pocket folder that will go home every night with all communication letters and homework papers.

All lunch, PTA, field trip money, etc. should be placed in an envelope or Ziploc bag that has your child’s name on it, the amount enclosed, and what it is being sent for. If it is lunch money, please write your child’s lunch number as well.

Spelling Procedures

We have started Spelling in our class. I conducted a Spelling Assessment to determine what types of lessons and spelling patterns to start with. You have probably noticed your child coming home with Spelling homework. Here is the schedule of weekly Spelling work:

IN CLASS-

Monday:Students receive their new list for the week. They cut apart these words for Morning Work

Tuesday: Lesson on the spelling pattern. Discuss meaning of words and point out any homonyms, such as weigh and way or slay and sleigh.

Wednesday: Add homonyms to our "Wonderful Word Wall"

Thursday: Edit sentences from last night's homework

Friday: Spelling Test

HOMEWORK-

Monday: Write words in alphabetical order in Student Planner

Tuesday: Sort words on Sort Sheet

Wednesday: Write 10 SMART sentences using 10 different spelling words. Smart sentences should answer 3 or more of these questions- Who? What? (action) Where? When? Why? How?

Example:

Julia had to coax her dog by putting treats all the way to the

Who?      What?               How?

bathroom so she could give him a warm bath.

Where?          Why?

Thursday: Practice Test- 1)Have someone call out the words for you. 2)Rewrite any wrong words correctly and underline or highlight the part you got wrong. 3)Write the word correctly 3 times.

Class Agreement

During the first weeks of school we talked about the values that we need in order to have a perfect 4th grade year. This is the list of things the students came up with in class.
"In this Classroom We...care, share, listen, participate, help, cooperate, get along, work hard, have empathy, have good manners, have each other’s backs, take, care of our things, achieve, have fun, don’t cheat, play fair, are confident, are organized, are punctual, are prepared, are excited, respect each other, motivate ourselves and others, are problem solvers, are CHAMPS!