Chet's Creek First Day of School

from the Duval County Schools Website)
Students and Staff are "Cultivating a Community of Excellence" at Chets Creek Elementary
The theme this year at Chets Creek Elementary is "Cultivating a Community of Excellence!" and to kickoff 2010-2011, students were welcomed back with a variety of exciting and interactive activities.

Farming and gardening decorations were on display throughout the building, and outside were tractors with real farmers. Twenty-five farm animals were on school grounds for the students to see with an animal guide, and the watermelon wagon drove around campus to pass out juicy slices to all the kids.

Students visited the cold crop planting center to learn about harvesting food, and the Beekeeper association made a special appearance with self-contained beehives for the students to observe.
Farmers spent time in classrooms reading to the students, and then everyone had the chance to learn about what is in one of their favorite meals during the farmers’ "Everything on a Cheeseburger Comes from the Farm" assembly. At the end of the day, the farmers prepped a plot of land for Chets Creek Elementary to start a school garden.

For more pictures from opening day, visit the flickr photostream of Chets Creek Elementary's Instructional Technology Coach Melanie Holtsman.

Kazoos

This week our class had fun making straw kazoos in science class. The class had a blast trying to make sounds from a homemade instrument. We took drinking straws and cut out flaps which would vibrate as children blew through the straw. The class discovered that the pitch of the sound could be changed by changing the length of the kazoo. The longer the straw the lower the pitch. Ask Mrs. Phillips how her kazoo turned out. Enjoy watching Heather play her kazoo.

In mathematics, we are currently working in a short unit called "Numeration". Focuses are to represent numbers in various forms up to the millions place (7-digit numbers). Below is a basic 4-digit number example:

Standard Form: 2,345

Word Form: Two thousand, three hundred forty-five

Expanded Form: 2,000 + 300 + 40 +5

We are also rearranging digits to make numbers to fit rules:

Example:

digits: 6 5 0 1

Largest number you can make with these digits: 6,510
Second largest number you can make with these digits: 6,501

Smallest number you can make with these digits: 0156

Third smallest number you can make with these digits: _______

(If you are a student wanting to earn Behavior Bucks, figure this problem out and leave the correct answer as a COMMENT with your first name and last initial!-NO last names please!) Click the "Comment" link at the end of this blog post to leave your comment.

The link below offers extra support (worksheets) for students to use in practicing and developing these skills to build a deeper conceptual understanding of "place value". Thank you to Nathan's mom for sharing this wonderful site with me: superteacher.com!

Check it out! Here is the link to take you straight to the place value practice sheets:

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/place-value.html (Answer keys are provided too!!)

Love,
Mrs. Phillips

4-Corners' Orientation

Thank you parents and students for coming to our Fourth Grade Orientation. It was so great to see familiar faces from last year and also to meet our new learners and their families. We welcome you to our 4-Corners team and are looking forward to spending an exciting and productive year with you. Here are some important reminders from Orientation:

• We must know how your child is getting home each day.
• The best way to contact us is by email.
• Students need their supplies on Monday, August 23.
• We need all forms filled out and returned by Monday or Tuesday (Aug, 23 or Aug. 24).
• Please join PTA for $5.00. They do incredible things for our school.
• Please send in $5.00 for Weekly Reader to support our nonfiction learning.
• Please support our class by volunteering in or out of the classroom. We need your help!
• Make sure your child comes to school on time and remains at school until dismissal.
• Please stay informed via our Newsletter, our Blog, the Connection, the Monthly Calendar, and the Student Planner.

Thank you for being a part of our team and giving us your support!

Welcome Back Students and Parents!

We are so excited to start a brand new year teaching 4th grade here at The Chets Creek Farm! This year, we will be cultivating a community of excellence as we sow our seeds and nurture a new crop of 4th grade students. We hope that you had a fun-filled summer and are ready to start working in the fields of learning. Farming is hard work, but we are going to harvest bountiful crops! So get ready to plant those seeds, grow like a beanstalk, and produce remarkable results!