Let's Say Thanks !

The cooperation and generosity of multiple organizations has made it possible to send millions of postcard messages to troops overseas currently serving in our military and they are submitted through this Web site: Let's Say Thanks.

Xerox has also partnered with Give2TheTroops, the Boys and Girls Clubs, print shops and corporations that have all greatly contributed to the success of "Let’s Say Thanks".

Your teachers encourage you to take a minute to "say thanks" to a soldier overseas during this holiday break! It's easy, fun, and more importantly, will mean a lot to someone far from home who is currently out there working to protect our country and our world.

Thank you to Emily K's mom who told us about this site so that we can pass it along to everyone in Four Corners. If you are able to send a card, come back to the blog and leave us a comment here telling us about it.

We hope you are enjoying your holiday break!

Winter Break Challenge

Earn behavior bucks over the winter break! Sign on to compass odyssey and practice your reading skills. For each completed activity, you will receive 10 behavior bucks. Click on the "backpack" icon to check your progress.

Here is the link:

https://odyssey.duvalschools.org

(Your password is the same one you use to sign into the school computers.)

Elf Me

Go to the following links to see your teachers as ELVES!

See if you can figure out how to make an "ELF yourself" video starring your friends and family. Then come back and leave a comment with a link to your video.

We look forward to seeing what you can do!

Hip Hop (with a special guest)
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/uKmd4gzjct6ntM9NEfqc">

Elf Hoedown
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/1i8YhCAa47lxEhI9m5jM

Santa's Elves
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/1i8YhCAa47lxEhI9m5jM

Seasons of Giving

The Four Corners is proud of the incredible response from our families toward our Season of Giving Project during this holiday season. Because of your generosity, BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry)will be receiving over 100 food items to offer to families in need in our local area.

BEAM was founded in 1985 by local area churches to help folks in the need of basic necessities of life. The beaches communities- Mayport/Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, and Ponte Vedra- are the primary areas that BEAM works to support. Churches, schools, clubs, businesses and locals regularly donate food, dollars, and volunteer support to BEAM every year.

Thank you to each family for your incredible contributions toward this worthy cause.

Happy Holidays!
Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Lopez-Sinclair, Mr. Pinchot, and Ms. Launey

Poet Research Projects

Use the sites below to research the poet you will be writing your report on:







Dr. Suess:



1. http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm



2. http://www.highlands.k12.fl.us/~aph/Poetry%20Month/Poetry/LehmanD%20Poetry_files/Page304.htm



3. http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/readacross/seuss



4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3523393.stm







Shel Silverstein:



1. http://www.readingrockets.org/calendar/poetry/silverstein



2. http://www.shelsilverstein.com/html/home.html



3. http://www.kidsreads.com/features/0204-silverstein-author.asp







Jack Prelutsky:



1. http://jackprelutsky.com/



2. http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm



3. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/prelutsky







Walter Dean Myers



1. http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/



2. http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr/mtai/wdmyers.html



3. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/myersw







Bruce Lansky



1. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=2919



2. http://www.gigglepoetry.com/autobiography/autobio.html



3. http://www.todayswriting.com/article60.html







Arnold Adoff



1. http://www.arnoldadoff.com/



2. http://files.wla.org/conferences/wla2000/specialevents/aatext.html



3. http://www.orrt.org/adoff/







Edward Lear



1. http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/about.html


2. http://www.poemsforchildren.org/Edward-Lear-for-children.htm


3. http://www.skoletorget.no/abb/eng/lear/pdf/bio.pdf





Jane Yolen


1. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/yolen


2. http://janeyolen.com/


3. http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofhs/chnotime.html





Nikki Giovanni


1. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/giovanni


2. http://www.nikki-giovanni.com/index.shtml


3. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95580685





Nikki Grimes



1. http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/grimes



2. http://www.nikkigrimes.com/



3. http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,1844630,00.html



Paul Janeczko



1. http://www.paulbjaneczko.com/



2. http://edebutts.tripod.com/id29.html



3. http://www.candlewick.com/authill.asp?b=author&m=bio&id=2178&pix=n



Sharon Creech



1. http://www.sharoncreech.com/



2. http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2010/04/poetry-makers-sharon-creech.html



3. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=1811



Robert Frost



1. http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/biography



2. http://www.classbrain.com/artbiographies/publish/robert_frost.shtml



3. http://www.frostfriends.org/places.html

St. Augustine Highlights

Enjoy the show! Leave a comment by sharing your favorite part of the trolley tour and your favorite part of the tour of the fort (Castillo de San Marcos).

Love,
Mrs. Phillips

Readers to Leaders!

It is our intention that every fourth grade child read 1,000,000 words this school year. To do this your child should read for at least 20 minutes each night. The books or book equivalents that he reads MUST be within his independent reading range. Your child must read from a variety of authors and various genres.



First Nine Weeks: If your child logged at least 5 chapter books by the end of the first nine weeks, he earned recognition at our Student Recognition Ceremony. All readers participated in our Super Slime Reading “Slip”off. Students meeting their goal participated in a popcorn party.

Goal 2: If your child has logged a total of 10 chapter books by the end of the second nine weeks, he will be recognized at our Student Recognition Ceremony and awarded participation in our Book BINGO Bonanza.

Goal 3: If your child has logged a total of 15 chapter books by the third nine weeks, he will be recognized at our Student Recognition Ceremony and be awarded participation in our Kiss a Pig Picnic with the Principal.

Goal 4: If your child has logged a total of 25 chapter books by the end of the year (teacher read books count as 5), he will be recognized at our Student Recognition Ceremony and if our entire student population has met their reading goals the Principal will spend lunch as a Duct Tape Reading Diva.

Happy reading! How many books do you have on the chart? Will we being seeing YOU at the the Book Bingo Bonanza??

Conservation of Mass Lab

During science, our class has studied various physical properties of matter. One of our labs focused on measuring mass and students used a pan balance to find the mass of several objects including a linking cube which has a mass of 3.6 grams.

Another lab was designed to give students some experience in measuring volume using both a ruler and displacement (water in a graduated cylinder). Students found that the volume of a linking cube is 5 cubic cm.

During math, our work has been with fractions, decimals, and percents. Students have worked on reading all the representations correctly, equating all three, and determining the amounts based on visual and actual models.

As a culminating activity, students were asked to build a structure using exactly 50 linking cubes. Many of these completed structures are shown in the above slideshow. After creating a 50 cube structure, the mass of the completed structure was determined and compared to the original mass of 50 individual cubes. Each student also found the fraction, decimal, and percent equivalents for each color used in their structure. Through this experience, the students learned that the mass of 50 individual linking cubes is the same as the mass of all 50 cubes connected together in an arrangement- supporting the Law of the Conservation of Mass. This law, also known as principle of mass/matter conservation, is that the mass of a closed system (in the sense of a completely isolated system) will remain constant over time. Mass cannot be created or destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, and changed into different types of particles (or in this case, designs). The students really enjoyed themselves as they participated in this particular learning experience.

Happy Sciencing and Mathematizing,
Mr. Pinchot and Mrs. Phillips

"It Was Just A Little White Table..."

VETERANS DAY
November 11th

Veterans Day is a day set aside to honor and thank all men and women who are serving or have served in military, whether during war time or during a time of peace. We tell them how much we appreciate that they served so that we can continue to live with freedoms few other countries have.

To honor this day and teach our students about Veterans Day, I read America’s White Table and reenacted the setting of the table to all 88 students in the 4-Corners.


America’s White Table
By Margot Theis Raven
Illustrated by Mike Benny

Margot Theis Raven’s prose tell the story of a fictional 10-year-old girl, Katie, whose uncle is coming for dinner on Veteran’s Day. Katie’s mother explains the importance of the ceremonial table, and its special significance to Uncle John. He served in Vietnam and lost his friend, Mike, there after the two were taken as prisoners of war (POW’s). Uncle John and his friend eventually gained their freedom; but Mike’s injuries were too severe and he didn’t survive. Katie puts the story in book format as a promise to Uncle Mike and others that she will never forget the gift of freedom that veterans have given her.
To emphasize "It was just a little white table..." The author uses this phrase at the beginning of almost every page in the story.

Here are some excerpts from the story and the scene that was reenacted:

“We use a small table, girls,” she explained first, “to show one soldier’s lonely battle against many. We cover it with a white cloth to honor a soldier’s pure heart when he answers his country’s call to duty.
We place a lemon slice and grains of salt on a plate to show a captive soldier’s bitter fate and the tears of families waiting for loved ones to return,” she continued.
We push an empty chair to the table for the missing soldiers who are not here.”




"But I didn't know what I -- a ten-year-old-girl -- could ever put on the table that was as important as each veteran's gift of freedom to me."


"And that's when I knew what I could put on the table:
My promise to put the words from my heart into a little book
about America's White Table."


"Remember us, please....
we are real people like your Uncle John and Mike
who left families and friends, homes and dreams of our own
to protect your birthright of liberty from disappearing
as easily as sunlight from a glass."

My hope is that all of our students will “remember” the significance of Veterans Day and will look at this day of honor differently than they ever did before. Please ask them what they learned by experiencing this great piece of literature and from our in-depth sharing and discussion.

Can you name all five branches of the United States Military?
All these different branches help keep us safe and protect our freedoms every day. During times of war, they help defend. During times of peace, they help keep the peace. During times of trouble (like earthquakes, famines, etc), they provide help to the people of the area affected.

Cultivating Reading Skills on the Computer!

This year the county has supplied us with several different websites that students can go to from home to enhance their learning.

1.Compass Odyssey:

https://odyssey.duvalschools.org/childu/index.html?SSL=1

This is a wonderful web based learning program that motivates today’s students to engage, think & learn. The lessons are creative and will keep students interested and receptive to learning. The best part about this program is that teachers can assign individual lessons depending on what each student needs. After a student finishes a lesson, the teacher can view the work that they have done. The students also have immediate access to the progress report that is located in the "backpack" icon. Log-in and Passwords are the same ones they use to log in to the school computers and can be found in their planners.


2. Destination Sucess:

https://success.duvalschools.org/

Destination Success contains and entire collection of software for Reading and Math. To access the collection, once logged in, you have to click the Explorer link in the upper left corner of the screen. That will open a screen you can scroll down with different software selections. The software range from Kindergarten to the 12th grade. Therefore, an explore map is needed to find the content you want your child to work on. Teachers can also assign different assignments to the students based on individual needs.Log-in and Passwords are the same ones they use to log in to the school computers and can be found in their planners.


3. FCAT explorer

http://www.fcatexplorer.com/

Practice Makes Progress! That’s why the Florida Department of Education built FCAT Explorer—to provide practice for helping your child make real progress on the skills needed in the classroom, on the FCAT, and in life.

FUN, EFFECTIVE, AND FREE: FCAT Explorer is a set of free, Web-based practice programs. The content is built from the Sunshine State Standards that are tested on the FCAT. Kids can practice by themselves because the programs give them corrective feedback and learning guidance. Log-in and Password located in the planner.

Behavior Buck Challenge:

Here is your chance to give your teacher some feedback about these websites. Try each one out this week. Then come back and leave a comment. List the website in order of most favorite to least favorite (1 being your most favorite and 3 being your least favorite). Tell what skill you worked on at each site and what you liked and didn't like about it .

For Example:

1. FCAT Explorer: I worked on comparing and contrasting. I liked that it felt like I was playing a video game while I was learning. I didn't like that it took a long time to load in between each game.

You will earn 30 behavior bucks for doing this challenge. Happy Learning! I can't wait to hear back about what you think!

Grouping Fractions According to Landmarks

After creating 40 fraction cards in class, we organized them into groups based on connections we made about them after analyzing relationships between numerators and their denominators. By doing this, we were able to make many generalizations about fractions.

#1- Fractions that have "0" as a numerator equal 0. (Zero parts are named, or shaded.)

#2- Fractions that have a numerator which is exactly one-half of its denominator equal 1/2. 2 is half of 4, so 2/4 = 1/2.

We also added to this observation by saying that since the numerator is half the denominator, IF WE DOUBLE THE NUMERATOR IT WILL EQUAL THE DENOMINATOR.

#3- Fractions that have a numerator equal to its denominator equal 1 whole. If 8 out of 8 parts are shaded, the whole is shaded, therefore, 8/8 = 1 whole.
Those first three groupings were easy to make, as you can imagine. When placing fractions BETWEEN LANDMARKS, though, our generalizations became more advanced!

Here we have two fractions that fall BETWEEN 0 and 1/2. In this case, the numerators are "less than half" of the denominators BUT "greater than zero".

For example, with 2/6, half of 6 is 3, but fewer than 3 parts (only 2) are shaded; therefore, the fraction is LESS than 1/2.

Here we have three fractions that fall BETWEEN 1/2 and 1 whole. In this case, the numerators are "more than half" but "less than equal to" to denominator.

For example, half of 8 is 4, therefor 4/8 = 1/2.

If I have the fraction 5/8, since 5 is more than 4 (half the denominator), then the fraction is greater than 1/2.

We are now beginning to explore decimal and percent equivalents for fractions in class- new, powerful strategies to add to our tool belts when we compare fractions! Math is FUN when there are multiple ways to solve problems and justify our reasonings!

What do you think about fractions, decimals, and percents? Leave a comment!

Love,

Mrs. Phillips

Hallway Exhibit

A Hallway Exhibit of Our Students’ Lives

Take a stroll down the hall of The 4-Corners Team, and you will find hanging 87 beautiful essays that the students wrote about themselves. Remember those three items that students brought to class in a paper bag that represented them in some way? Our students have been working diligently for several weeks on an elaborated and detailed five paragraph essay that depicts their lives. First, students shared their three items with the class, so we could get to know each other better. They told us why these items are important to them and what each represented. Then they got to work crafting their essays, spending weeks revising, editing, and finally publishing. Just today, they added their final touch by illustrating their head and body and attaching the head to the top of their writing and the body to the bottom of their writing. They composed truly interesting and engaging essays. See what I mean by the following few examples. Please leave us a comment and give us your feedback. Students write for an audience, and you are part of their audience!

Science Scoop: What Can Change a Marble's Speed?

Gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the center of the larger mass (which is always Earth since we are always on this planet). All matter (anything that has mass and takes up space) has gravity though- a pencil, a piece of bread, a paper clip...... We just don't feel the effects of gravity on these smaller objects around us (and our own gravitational pull) because the Earth's pull is SO much stronger than everything else.

In our lab on changing a marble's speed, we learned that gravity is one of the forces acting on the marble, which is why it rolled down our ruler ramps when we released it for each of our trials. We also learned that friction was another force acting on the marble, which helped the marble slow down and eventually come to a complete stop after it rolled down the ramp and across the floor.

In addition to learning about gravity and friction, we talked about unbalanced forces in this lab. Forces were UNBALANCED while the marble was rolling down the ramp and across the floor. Any time there is movement with an object, forces are not balanced.

In this Tug of War example, forces are NOT balanced. The group on the left is pulling with more force than the group on the right (the group is moving in the direction of the greater force).

When forces are BALANCED, on the other hand, there is NO movement. We can also say "The NET force is ZERO". Forces are ALWAYS acting on objects (gravity is one that we can never escape here on Earth), but when all are "balanced", there is no movement and the net force is zero. The computer in front of you has a net force of zero- the table (desk) is pushing up on the computer with a force equal to the force of gravity pulling the computer down toward the center of Earth. (Thank goodness, right?) :-)

In this Tug of War example, if both groups of people are pulling in opposite directions with the same amount of force, the rope will NOT move.

We also learned that if two force are working together in the same direction, we add them together. Person 1 + person 2 + person 3 (all on the left) are working together to pull back to the left. If we add their individual pulling forces together, we would get their combined total force.

If two forces are working in opposite directions (against each other), we subtract them. If we could measure the force that the left group is using to pull the rope in their direction and that the right group is using to pull the ropes in the opposite direction, we could subtract those forces to find the NET FORCE (like the "net change" we learned to find in 3rd Grade).

For Behavior Bucks, leave a comment offering two new examples- one for BALANCED forces and one for UNBALANCED forces.

Mrs. Phillips :-)

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin will always have a place in my heart, because he started the first public library (...and you know how much I LOVE to read!). But he is famous for many other things as well. He was an inventor, printer, author, and he played a part helping America become independent from Great Britain.

Ben has been a popular topic around the 4 Corners lately. Recently, a non-fiction article on one of our reading tests featured the famous man. Then, last week a very talented storyteller, Jim Weiss, came to our school and gave a riveting retelling of the events leading up to the writing of The Declaration of Independence. Mr.Franklin was a key player in Jim's retelling as well.

Watch part of the animated story of Ben below!

25 Book Campaign

25 Book Campaign

Students are required to read 25 books for the 4th grade school year. We break this down into the four 9- week grading periods and require each student to read 5 books on their own and write a 1-2 sentence main idea summary of each chapter of each book. This would give them 20 books for the year.

The remaining 5 books that are required will be read by their English Language Arts teacher throughout the year(Lopez-Sinclair and Launey) and each “read aloud” will be discussed and summarized together as a class. Writing a 1-2 sentence main idea summary for each paragraph is crucial in helping the reader comprehend what they read. It is a wonderful way to track their reading and go back and reread their previous summary to see where they left off before they begin to read again. When we model reading with our students, we stop after each paragraph and talk about what we just read. We do this again after each chapter. This is a beneficial strategy to build great comprehension! Happy Reading!

3 is a Magic Number

What a fun Schoolhouse Rock video- one of my personal favorites! If you need practice in saying your multiples of 3 quickly (and learning factor pairs which include 3 as a factor), this is a fun and easy way to learn! October is dedicated to mastering the "3's times tables" in our classroom! Make sure you meet that goal this month!

Enjoy!
Love, Mrs. Phillips

Ben's Dream by, Chris Van Allsburg

We are currently studying the author, Chris Van Allsburg, in our E.L.A. classes. We are really enjoying his mysterious, fantasy books. Last week, we read Mr. Allsburg's third book, Ben's Dream. In this book, the landmarks that Ben and Margaret have been studying in geography class come to life for them! By the end of the book we were wondering (just as we had in his first two books), was it real....or was it all just a dream?

THE Ben's Dream CHALLENGE

In the book, Ben visits 10 famous landmarks. Your task, if you choose to accept it (or would like to recieve 50 Behavior Bucks), is to answer the following three questions about each landmark:

1. Where is the landmark located?

2. What is special about this landmark?

3. Why was it built?

You have until next Monday, October 18th, to finish the challenge and turn in your answers. Click below for a list of the landmarks and websites to help you with your research.

Ben's Dream WEB Sites

Good luck on this Site Seeing Adventure!

Sunshine Math Kick-Off

Today was an exciting day for our students as we attended a special assembly to kick off Math Superstars and were met by two super-sweet Jaguars Cheerleaders, Lauren and Kaleigh. The purpose of the assembly was to inform students on how this math enrichment program will run this year. Permission slips with specific details went home today for students and parents to read together. There are two roles students can take in this program. They can either choose to be a "Mathlete" and complete the extra enrichment math homework during the 18-week program, or they can choose to be a "Cheerleader", like Lauren and Kaleigh, and continually encourage their Mathlete friends to continue participating and putting forth 100% effort. Incentives for Mathletes are invitations to eat outside at the school Pavilion every six weeks as long as they participated in at least of 5 of the 6 weeks. Drawings for prizes (such as autographed posters of The ROAR that Lauren and Kaleigh brought with them today) will be among the items given as prizes at these luncheons! Our awesome PTA will oversee this program again this year by offering various incentives and grading weekly papers. At the end of the 18-week program, every Mathlete who participated in at least 15 of the 18 weeks will be eligible to take a written test to determine a "Top 10" group of Mathletes for the grade level. These ten students will compete in a Math Brawl until the Top 3 Winners are determined. The First Place Winner will go on to compete at the Duval County district competition. We, the teachers at 4 Corners, certainly hope that many of our awesome mathematicians will sign up for this very cool enrichment math program, which starts next week!
Love, Mrs. Phillips

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold To The Highest Bidder!

Everyone loves what money can buy! Our students are no exception. Each day, students are “caught doing the right thing”, and they are rewarded with Behavior Bucks! These bucks can be earned by participating in class, giving an exceptional response, exceeding the standard, showing improvement in a specific area, doing something extraordinary, helping someone in need, etc. We love to build great character and strong students by catching our students doing what is right. Every other Wednesday, the 4-Corners' teachers hold a huge auction where our students get to bid for items of their choice. All students who have earned an “A” in Conduct the week of the Auction and the week before the Auction are able to participate. Students have an “A” if they have two or less infractions for the week. The Auction is an anticipated event and is a highlight in the lives of our 4-Corners students. Our Auction is made possible by the generous donations from our parents. Our students love candy, books, toys, movies, stuffed animals, jewelry, art supplies, music, etc. Anything at all is appreciated by our students, so please keep donating. When your child donates, Behavior Bucks are given in return to say “thanks” for giving. Check out our Auction in action!

Auction from Dorry Lopez on Vimeo.

Vote for Mrs. KK! Only 2 Days Left!!

Our own Media Specialist, KK Cherney, has been nominated for the Alferd Williams Literacy Award for her hard work inspiring us to love reading! This award is a huge honor and no one deserves it more than our KK!
To vote for Mrs. KK and learn more about Alferd Williams please visit http://www.scholastic.com/literacyaward/ . You can visit and vote until September 30th when the voting closes. Let's help make our Mrs. KK feel as special as she makes us feel everyday! VOTE FOR KK!

Cultivating our Reading Strategies!

During Independent Reading, we have been spending lot of time practicing ACTIVE READING STRATEGIES. These strategies help to keep us engaged in the text and cause us to think while we read. We are learning that reading isn't just knowing the words on the page, it is thinking deeply about those words. So far we have focused on three reading strategies. Last week as I walked around during Reader's Workshop, and I asked the students to share their thinking with me. I wanted to know how they were using these strategies.

1. The first strategy we learned is QUESTIONING. Asking questions while you read is important because it helps readers set a purpose for reading. It also helps hold our attention and and keeps us focused.

The student below was reading a non-fiction book about the Aztecs. He showed that he was thinking about what he was learning by questioning the effects of strangers entering the Aztec city. What a deep thinker!

2. The second strategy we learned is PREDICTING. To use this strategy you must stop while you are reading and use clues to guess what is going to happen next.

The student below is reading Ralph S.Mouse by Beverly Cleary. She told me that one of the main characters, Brad, had broken Ralph's (the little mouse) motercycle. She was thinking that he might buy him a new one. She is one strategic reader!

3. The third strategy we have learned is CLARIFYING. It means to go back and reread. This is a very important strategy to practice because it helps us clear up any confusion we may have as we read. As you Clarify, you may have to reread a word, a paragraph, or a couple of pages to make sense of something that confuses you.

The student below was reading Masterpiece, by Elise Broach. This book is one of our Battle of the Books Titles!

She was clarifying an event in the story that she had read previously. This strategy may help her once the Battle of the Books comes around because she will certainly understand what she has read!

Next week we will practice our summarizing strategy. Keep up the good work! And remember, you aren't READING if you aren't THINKING!

Elementary "My Dear"

Read-Think-Explain

Our students are learning how to respond to a test question in an essay format which they will have to apply on the Reading FCAT. This is an example of a 2-Point Short Response. Our goal is to answer this type of question in approximately five minutes. Students are to use the key words from the question and restate the question in a topic sentence. They are to answer the question and support it with details from the text. Here is a student example of a Short Response Read-Think-Explain that earned full credit, 2 points.

Why did Dad keep putting things in the wrong places? Use information and details from the story to explain your answer.

Dad kept putting things in the wrong places because he was so exhausted from waking up in the middle of the night to take care of his newborn baby daughter. As he shuffled around the house in his slippers, he tried to pick up the messes of Grandma Ana and his young son, but he was so tired that he would misplace things. For example, he put toy police cars in the refrigerator along with laundry detergent. Dad put the milk in the laundry room. Dad's sleep was disturbed by the newborn baby crying and wanting milk in the middle of the night. Dad was lacking in sleep.

Another Example:

How does the narrator MOST LIKELY feel about growing up? Use details and information from the poem to explain your answer.

The narrator most likely feels like she might miss some things about her younger days. In the text, she questions if the squirrel was glad to be up so high or if he wished he were closer to the ground. This made her think about herself growing up and leaving something behind and possibly missing something that she once enjoyed when she was younger and smaller. The narrator thinks that growing up might cause her to miss her youth.

Changing Pitch and Volume

Follow the prompts for changing pitch and volume. Leave a comment to tell us how you did it (if you are successful) and earn some Behavior Bucks!



Since this activity box is very small, you can CLICK HERE to go to another website that has this activiy on a full page. Just remember to come back to the blog to leave your comment when you are finished exploring so that you can earn Behavior Bucks!

Florida Geography Projects

Florida Geography Projects are being assigned on Monday, September 13th and will be due on Friday, October 1st. The purpose is to have a fun and meaningul way to culminate all that we are studying in our first 6 weeks of Social Studies (DOSS) about Florida's Geography. Each student has a guideline with all of the expectations for this "at-home" project. The above slideshow highlights a few examples of projects that have been completed by Chets Creek 4th Graders in the past. They are provided simply to give you ideas on how you might proceed, however, we encourage creativity and artistic uniqueness on this assignment. This project will count as a test grade in Social Studies for this first nine weeks. Have Fun!
Love,
Mrs. Phillips

The Four Corners Team has Grown!

A whole new crop of students is helping our garden grow this year! We are so lucky that these students joined our Four Corners Team. Check out each of our new student's pictures below to learn some fun facts about them!

This student is a great leader and role model. His favorite subject is Reading!

This student went to New York this summer. He loves playing football.

This student likes riding bikes and playing outside. He is a great basketball player!

This student's favorite subject is Math. He loves the movie Karate Kid.

This student enjoys swimming in his free time. He is also an awesome skateboarder!

This student loves Writing class. You may find her shooting hoops at recess because basketball is one of her hobbies.













This student is very sweet and a good friend. She is a wonderful helper too!










This student loves books! Her favorite subject is Reading. She went tubing down the Ichetucknee River this summer!

This student is a talented basketball and football player. His favorite subject is math!

This student enjoys movie premieres. He also knows a lot about St.Augustine and is an excellent Math student.

This student loves Math. She is also a fabulous dancer, singer, and actress!

This student also visited Ichetucknee this summer. He is an awesome soccer player and loves learning Social Studies!

This student love amusement parks. His favorite subject is Math.

This student is really funny and a good friend. He is a Chets Creek native!

This student is a very hard worker and very considerate of others.

This student loves the Tower of Terror at MGM Studios and her favorite subject is Science.

This student loves to dance and is awesome at jump rope!

This student's favorite movie is Spongebob. He is really good at Madden Football.

This student loves learning about animals, especially reptiles!






Now that you know more about our new classmates, be sure to introduce yourself to any of these students you haven't met yet, and welcome them to the Four Corners Family!

A special thanks goes to our Student Reporters who interviewed our new friends. You did a great job Emily K., Sarah, and Andrew F!