Tok School's Fantastic 4th Graders

Weekly Greetings, The fall field trip to Deadman Lake turned out to be a lot of fun last Wednesday, and much thanks to Mary and Sara from the Tetlin Refuge who were great guides. They did a wonderful job pointing out and explaining characteristics of the boreal forest ecosystem as we walked the trails there. We also saw some waterfowl, in addition to migrating swans and geese while there. The students also enjoyed investigating the water organisms living on the edge of the lake. After exploring the trails and the water's edge, we had a picnic lunch and the students fed the friendly gray jays that surrounded the table area. Before heading back to Tok, we got a group picture with Mary and Sara. The next morning we participated in an AK Teach online webcast visit with the Scientists in Action Program through the Denver Museum of Natural History.  In the presentation, it was explained that everyone needs freshwater to live, but it is limited

 Weekly Greetings! The beautiful fall weather just keeps on staying! Hopefully, we will have a clear day for our field trip to Deadman Lake on Wednesday. I still need some permission slips returned, and will be sending another copy with those students with their homework. Please look for it and return it by Tuesday. If students cannot go, I will have to make a plan and leave work for them to do for the day. Some students are asking to bring electronics on the trip, and don't think it is a good idea for a couple of reasons. First, I cannot be monitoring what they are doing on the electronics, as I will be driving. In addition, we will be in two vans and a Tetlin Refuge staff person will be drive one so I will not be able to monitor that van. There will be aides in both vans, but with such a large group it is hard to  monitor what is on the electronics in the back of the van.The trip will be over an hour each way, and I would feel better if they brought a CD for music to be playe

  Weekly Greetings! I hope you have had a successful fall harvest, and that the four-day weekend was productive. Our three-day week flew by before the long weekend, and I realized that I did not taken many pictures of students doing activities last week! The only picture I got was when the class was doing a silly song one morning for a movement break, and I tried to capture how funny it was in the picture to follow. You really had to be there, I guess... Every day we do an Action Based Learning song before we move into the Reading and Language morning block. Currently the walls in the classroom are covered with things the students have made to reinforce some of the social skills we worked on to start the year. The "Commitment Wall" will remain as a reminder all year. The class also made a small poster to share what makes them special on another wall in the room. The  students "Six Keys" books are completed too, and will remain in the room

Weekly Greetings! The fall colors are in full swing, and we are already going into our fourth week of school! This will be a very short week with only three days of school, as Thursday and Friday are the scheduled hunting days in September. There will also be an early release on Wednesday at 1:45pm for teacher staff meetings. In addition, please remember to send in any book order forms and payments to me by Wednesday, so I can call the order in to Scholastic and have it here by the end of the month. Since last week and this week have been cut short, and there was make up MAP testing for some of the class last Friday, I am continuing with the same spelling words for this week. The test will be on Wednesday and I am expecting everyone to be getting a 100% with a few extra days practice. A couple highlights from last week are the completion of our Healthy Habits unit by making a healthy potato and vegetable soup with Mrs. Rita Abel. After harvesting the potatoes the week before, the

 Weekly Greetings! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend and the beautiful fall weather we have been having! This will be a short week, as there are only four days.  I will send home three days of enrichment homework, as the students continue to settle back into a school routine, and continue each week from now on. The homework will not be graded, but the students can earn prizes for returning the weekly assignments, and an additional prize if they do all the assigned work during the whole month. A spelling list and math facts practice will be included. In addition, there will a Reading Log each Monday to be returned on Friday. The students that have been reading regularly can participate in a "Seasonal Readers" incentive party per season. For example, the fall party would be the first week of December. The winter party will be the first week of March, and the spring party at the end of the year. In this week's homework bag you will also find information