Tok School's Fantastic 4th Graders

Weekly Greetings, To start with, I would like to remind you that this is a short week for the students as Thursday and Friday will be teacher in-service days. I have modified my schedule to fit in the most important areas to cover in only three days. The student will still have homework Monday and Tuesday, but there will not be a Spelling test this week. It will still be important to practice the words being sent home, as next week will have some review words on the test. Furthermore, a number of the words are included in the weekly reading selection. In addition, I will be sending home book order forms if you would like to purchase any books for your child. The quickest way for me to get the books to Tok is to place a phone order. So, if you could send in cash, or a check made out to me, then I can call the order in and use a credit card to move the process along faster. Please return your order by February 5, and then hopefully the books will be here by the middle of the month. ...

Weekly Greetings! It is hard to believe that we are half way through January already! Our second week back after the break started with an assembly to recognized students with perfect attendance and honor roll. In the fourth grade, we had two perfect attendance students (pictured in the first picture), and four students on honor roll. To conclude our look at what makes a good leader in Social Studies, we focused on Martin Luther King, Jr.  and the impacted he made in this world. The students then considered ways they may be able to make an impact to help others in the world. Each student made a poster for our Inspiration Wall that started with "I have a dream, that one day..." Many of the boys want to serve in the military, in addition to a number of other worthy dreams expressed.   Another project the class worked on this week was their entry for the US Fish and Wildlife Migratory Bird calendar contest. Tim Lorenzini from the Tetlin Refuge came to class t...

Weekly Greetings! We had a great week starting back after the break. The students seemed eager to get back to work, and we pushed hard through the week's material due to the four-day week. We continued with the organisms science unit by reviewing and looking at plants. The students observed characteristics of four different seeds, and each group planted the seeds to watch the changes as they grow. We will conclude the unit this week, and also have a visit from Tim Lorenzini from the Telin Refuge. In Social Studies, small groups worked together to generate thoughts and answers about what a good leader is. They rotated through three stations with different questions, and then we went through everyone's thoughts on the subject. On Monday, we will finish the discussion and look at Martin Luther King, Jr. as he worked to make change. On Wednesday, the class attended the Homecoming assembly and enjoyed watching the competitions and games for the older classes. T...

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a pleasant break, and that the students are ready to be back to school. As we return, we will have a four-day week with an early release on Thursday. I think it will help ease us all back into the school routine again. The last week of school before Christmas was really busy, with many special activities. To highlight just a few, the students read some traditional stories to compare and contrast different fairy tale versions. The Gingerbread Man and The Ninjabread Man were the main two; of course we had to make gingerbread cookies after the lesson to eat at our party that Friday.  There were also a few gifts to complete in the classroom and in the art room. On Tuesday night, the students preformed with excellence at the Christmas Concert! Many hours of practice paid off, and everyone enjoyed the evening. We did press on with math and science assignments during the week between all the special a...