Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday!

Here are the winners of the Tallest Tower challenge in STEAM last week with Mrs. Krueger! Way to go Claire, Celia, & Clara! 

We are running low on Flair Pens here in the classroom. If you have any, we'd love to take them! If you'd like to donate some to the classroom, we'd really appreciate it!

We had a BLAST last Wednesday before the long weekend! We participated in the famous NDLC Egg Crack-Off as well as crafted a fun little egg and chick!

We were invited into Mrs. Kocourek's classroom this week to help the third graders celebrate the end of their unit! The fourth graders did an amazing job of listening, complimenting, and giving tips!

Hello parents!!

Just a reminder that the 4th grade concert is Monday, May 23 at 6:30 pm. Please plan to arrive by 6:10 pm that evening. If possible, students should dress in something nice. The students are really working hard to prepare a great concert for you!! Hope to see you there!

Sing-cerly,

Mrs. Krueger

Fang's Reading Club wrapped up on March 29th. If your student has hit a "HOME RUN" and completed the Reading Club assignments they will be sent home with a ticket voucher to the Timber Rattlers game on May 31st. Below are the directions on how to redeem the vouchers. 

Upcoming Events:

Monday, April 25th - Friday, April 29th: Forward Exam Make-Up Days

Monday, April 25th: Unit 7 Math Test (Math Review is due this day as well)

Tuesday, April 26th: Class Colors Day (4th Grade wears BLUE)

Friday, April 29th: Ms. Burris out for the day!

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: Students are off to a great start in their book clubs. Before break, the kiddos were grouped and selected a book to read with their club members. This unit we will be focusing on power and thinking about the question "Who makes the rules?" Students will be encouraged to think of this question in various situations throughout their reading. They will also try to think about power in their 9-10 year old lives. I am very excited for the conversations that the students come up with when their book club meets. 

Math: We've wrapped up Unit 7! This unit took a bit longer with testing happening at the same time, but I believe the students really were able to take advantage of how long we spent on it and really understand fraction and decimal relationships. We spent the week preparing for our Unit 7 Test which will be on Monday. Students received the Math Review packet on Tuesday and were reminded that they have all of the days leading up to the test to complete it.

Writing: We will be diving into our Graphic Novel starting next week. Testing has altered our schedule a bit, but I am excited to once again have a solid amount of time to do this work with students! We will begin our unit by thinking about how the writing process changes when we write graphic novels. We will then draft different potential graphic novel ideas that we could create. The first audience we will be writing for is 1st and 2nd graders!

Have a great weekend and week! 😎

Carly Burris

Weekly Wrap-Up (April 8th & 13th)

Happy Friday! I hope you had a GREAT week!

 ‘Egg’cellent Egg Crack Off

Students at NDLC will be participating in an Egg Crack-off. Please send a hard-boiled egg in a container to school with your child on Wednesday, April 13.  Eggs cannot have paint, crayon, marker, or film on them. Each classroom will have a contest. When two hard boiled eggs are hit only one will crack!  The winner of each classroom will then crack off against the winners from other classes while the rest of the school watches. It’s an “egg-cellent” time for all!  

Environmental Club Update:

Our last day collecting muffin bags will be April 13th. We will be mailing them out soon after. 

Thank you for turning them in and making it a successful environmental project!

-Environmental Club

Upcoming Events:

Monday, April 11th: Forward Exam (Math Session 1)

Tuesday, April 12th: Forward Exam (Math Session 2)

Tuesday, April 12th: Book Fair / Family Night

Wednesday, April 13th:  Easter / Pastel Wear Day

Thursday, April 14th - Monday April 18th: NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, April 19th: Forward Exam (Social Studies)

Wednesday, April 20th: Forward Exam (Science Session 1)

Thursday, April 21st: Forward Exam (Science Session 2)

Friday, April 22nd: Forward Exam (Science Session 3)

Monday, April 25th - Friday, April 29th: Forward Exam Make-Up Days

Tuesday, April 26th: Class Colors Day (4th Grade wears BLUE)

Friday, April 29th: Ms. Burris out for the day!

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: Our ELA Forward exams have come to a close! Woohoo! I can tell the kiddos feel less stressed, which is great! Our next unit is Reading with the Lens of Power & Perspective. In this unit, students will be reading any type of fiction book they'd like in a partnership or a book club. This unit will encourage students to read books and go through life looking at issues of unfairness, what makes some people stronger, and who gets to make the rules. As students progress through this unit, I hope they begin to think about power and perspective in their own lives. For example looking at bullying in different ways, practicing empathy, etc. I am looking forward to the conversations and ideas that come up! In the partnerships and clubs, I am really taking this time as an opportunity to give the students one last push into reading at a higher grade level.

Math: We take the Math Forward Monday the 11th and Tuesday the 12th. We have put a quick pause on our work in our math workbooks/curriculum and have spent a few days practicing the math test samplers from DPI. These problems will require students to think about all they have learned so far throughout the fourth grade year and become familiar with how the test will look when they take the Math Forward. I am hopeful that this work will truly benefit them. 

Writing: This unit has got to be the unit the students are MOST excited about. Narrative Writing in Pictures & Words (aka graphic novels) is our next unit! This unit will be exciting as students incorporate their knowledge of the structure of a narrative story while tuning into their creative side. In the beginning of this unit, we will create graphic novels for 1st and 2nd graders to really show we can demonstrate our understanding of structure. I can't wait for the students to share their writing and drawings with you! I am really looking forward to watching their narrative writing through pictures and words grow throughout the unit. 

Have a great weekend and week! 😎

Carly Burris

Weekly Wrap-Up (April 1st)

 Madison was so much fun yesterday! A very special thank you to Ms. Alvarado, Mr. Bothe, Mr. Hoppe, Mrs. Kreisman, Mrs. Lowe, Ms. Quinn, Mr. Larson, and Ms. Wendel for joining us for the day! It was so helpful to have so many extra adults! Also, THANK YOU to all the parents of all the students for allowing your student to go on this awesome field trip! It was my first time with NDLC visiting the Capitol, and I was so glad I was with this group. Here's some photos:

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, April 3rd: Summer School Registration Begins (I'll be teaching Scrapbooking if any of your kiddos want a little extra time with Ms. Burris this summer! 😁)

Tuesday, April 5th: Crazy Sock Day

Tuesday, April 5th: Forward Exam Begins TDA (Short / Long Written Response)

Wednesday, April 6th: Forward Exam (Reading)

Thursday, April 7th: Forward Exam (Listening/Writing/Language)

Monday, April 11th: Forward Exam (Math Session 1)

Tuesday, April 12th: Forward Exam (Math Session 2)

Tuesday, April 12th: Book Fair / Family Night

Wednesday, April 13th:  Easter / Pastel Wear Day

Thursday, April 14th - Monday April 18th: NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, April 19th: Forward Exam (Social Studies)

Wednesday, April 20th: Forward Exam (Science Session 1)

Thursday, April 21st: Forward Exam (Science Session 2)

Friday, April 22nd: Forward Exam (Science Session 3)

Monday, April 25th - Friday, April 29th: Forward Exam Make-Up Days

Tuesday, April 26th: Class Colors Day (4th Grade wears BLUE)

Friday, April 29th: Ms. Burris out for the day

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: Forward, forward, forward. I have really been working hard with them to read a variety of passages and answer questions. Students have been putting in the hard work and I am confident that they will be successful on the reading portion of the Forward on Wednesday. We will make sure to get some more practice in on Monday and Tuesday, of course!

Math: We are continuing to work at understanding common denominators. It seems as if most students are really getting the hang of identifying the common denominator between two fractions. We've also spent quite a bit of time this week understanding money and how we can represent an amount of money in decimal and fraction form. Some of us are still struggling to identify what each coin is. Next time you go shopping, have your fourth grader identify the change you need!

Writing: I am blown away by how much these fourth graders have improved in their writing of short response and long response. They take their TDA (Text Dependent Analysis) on Tuesday. I feel extremely confident in these kiddos that as long as they apply what I've taught them and take their time, they will do AMAZING.

Enjoy your weekend. Hopefully we start having more consistent Spring weather soon! 🌷

Carly Burris