4 Gaines

Earth Day

This morning we went into Mrs. Zeman and Miss Davis' kindergarten classroom to work with the kindergarteners and make Earth Day bracelets. Each color of the beads represented a different part of our earth. After that, the kindergarteners and fourth graders read to each other!

 

April 3, 2012

The technology at St. Francis never ceases to amaze me. The school has recently aquired a group of iPads that the fourth grade has had the chance to try out over the past two weeks. Students have been able to research their states for their Nifty Fifty state project as well as practice math skills and states and capitals skills with the new apps! 

Nifty Fifty State Project

Dear Parents,

As you may have heard from your student, we are beginning our “Nifty Fifty” States project. One component of the project involves making a 3-D map of each student’s state. In order to participate in this part of the project, students will need to bring in a few things to school.

• An old tee shirt or smock to wear over our uniforms while making the 3-D maps at school (This WILL get dirty and may not wash out!) Please bring your smock by Tuesday, April 17th. 
• “Artifacts” (stickers, small figurines, small clay models) to glue onto our maps. Tom Thumb in Evanston, Michael’s, or Jo Ann Fabrics are great stores to check out. If you cannot find ready-made artifacts that you like for the projects, feel free to buy some modeling clay and make your own ahead of time! Please have your artifacts by Monday, April 23rd. 

We appreciate your help in preparing for this fun activity. Please feel free to call or email with any questions.

Sincerely, Miss Gazda and Miss Gaines

 

3rd Quarter Science Grade

Dear fourth grade families,

We wanted to make you aware that there will be no 3rd Quarter Science grade reflected on the upcoming report cards. As you may remember, we switch between Social Studies units and Science units over the course of the year. Because of our extended Midwest Unit that included the history of Chicago in Social Studies and with the beginning of our "Nifty Fifty" state project, we did not teach Science this past quarter. 

We will end the year with our last Science unit, "Food Chains and Webs" so you will see a grade reflected in the final 4th quarter report cards.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Miss Gazda and Miss Gaines

States and Capitals Quiz #8 UPDATE

There is a mistake with the most recent list posted for this Tuesday's states and capitals quiz. We forgot to add the following states to the list posted:

Olympia, Washington

Salem, Oregon

Sacramento, California

Juneau, Alaska

Honolulu, Hawaii

These states are on the printed list sent home with the students last Monday and they will be tested on Tuesday's quiz. Sorry for the confusion!

 

States and Capitals 8

On Tuesday, March 13, we will have our sixth states and capitals quiz. If you have any questions feel free to email me.

Here are the states and capitals for this week:

Carson City, Nevada

Boise, Idaho

Helena, Montana

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Salt Lake City, Utah

Denver, Colorado

Phoenix, Arizona

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Austin, Texas

St. Paul, Minnesota

Madison, Wisconsin

Springfield, Illinois

Indianapolis, Indiana

Lansing, Michigan

Columbus, Ohio

Bismarck, North Dakota

Pierre, South Dakota

Lincoln, Nebraska

Topeka, Kansas

Des Moines, Iowa

Jefferson City, Missouri

Nashville, Tennessee

Frankfort, Kentucky

Columbia, South Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Charleston, West Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Little Rock, Arkansas

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jackson, Mississippi

Montgomery, Alabama

Tallahassee, Florida

Atlanta, Georgia

Hartford, Connecticut

Providence, Rhode Island

Boston, Massachusetts,

Montpelier, Vermont

Concord, New Hampshire

Augusta, Maine

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Annapolis, Maryland

Trenton, New Jersey

Albany, New York

Dover, Delaware

March 9, 2012

Happy March Everyone!

The past two weeks have been quite eventful! Thank you for making sure your kids were prepared for Terra Novas with proper sleep, breakfast, and fruit breaks! It is always a long week but we believe it was successful!

We are within the middle of our Chicago Unit and this week we spent the week talking about the Great Chicago Fire. Each year the interest level increses and I stumbled across this website which gave us a virtual timeline of the events that happened during those fateful hours in 1871. The classes have asked us to post the website on the blog since there is a lot more to check out than what we looked at! Here is the link to the Great Chicago Fire timeline and videos: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/maps/index.html

The original link that will give you more information about Chicago and it's history is: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/index.html

Yesterday, we took a fantastic field trip to the Willis (Sears) Tower...I don't think I'll ever get used to it being called The Willis Tower! A special thank you to Mrs. Gorman and Mrs. Kraemer for tagging along with us! 

March Happenings

Wednesday 7th- Box Top Dress Down / Early dismissal

Thursday 8th- Field trip to the Willis Tower Skydeck

Wednesday 14th- Parent/Teacher conferences, noon dismissal

Thursday 15th- Parent/Teacher conferences, noon dismissal

Friday 16th- NO SCHOOL

Tuesday 20th- Field trip to the Irish American Heritage Center to see play about Chicago

Friday 23rd- Historical book report due

States and Capitals 7

We will be taking a one week break from our States and Capitals quizzes due to Terra Nova testing. Therefore, our next quiz will be WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7. We have given the study guide to students so that they can continue to practice and study over the next two weeks. 

 

Here are the states and capitals for this week:

Phoenix, Arizona

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Austin, Texas

St. Paul, Minnesota

Madison, Wisconsin

Springfield, Illinois

Indianapolis, Indiana

Lansing, Michigan

Columbus, Ohio

Bismarck, North Dakota

Pierre, South Dakota

Lincoln, Nebraska

Topeka, Kansas

Des Moines, Iowa

Jefferson City, Missouri

Nashville, Tennessee

Frankfort, Kentucky

Columbia, South Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Charleston, West Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Little Rock, Arkansas

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jackson, Mississippi

Montgomery, Alabama

Tallahassee, Florida

Atlanta, Georgia

Hartford, Connecticut

Providence, Rhode Island

Boston, Massachusetts,

Montpelier, Vermont

Concord, New Hampshire

Augusta, Maine

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Annapolis, Maryland

Trenton, New Jersey

Albany, New York

Dover, Delaware

 

States and Capitals 6

On Tuesday, February 21, we will have our sixth states and capitals quiz. If you have any questions feel free to email me.

Here are the states and capitals for this week:

St. Paul, Minnesota

Madison, Wisconsin

Springfield, Illinois

Indianapolis, Indiana

Lansing, Michigan

Columbus, Ohio

Bismarck, North Dakota

Pierre, South Dakota

Lincoln, Nebraska

Topeka, Kansas

Des Moines, Iowa

Jefferson City, Missouri

Nashville, Tennessee

Frankfort, Kentucky

Columbia, South Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina

Charleston, West Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Little Rock, Arkansas

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jackson, Mississippi

Montgomery, Alabama

Tallahassee, Florida

Atlanta, Georgia

Hartford, Connecticut

Providence, Rhode Island

Boston, Massachusetts,

Montpelier, Vermont

Concord, New Hampshire

Augusta, Maine

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Annapolis, Maryland

Trenton, New Jersey

Albany, New York

Dover, Delaware