Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from all of us in 4th grade! Thank you for all the well wishes and generous gifts. Have a wonderful relaxing vacation. To end our December, we've been working on imaginative narratives and all the writing techniques to bring our stories to life. Click to read our Stuck in a Snowglobe stories🔗. Klipfel & Kids will see you next year

Student-Led Conferences

Another year of student-led conferences and another year of one impressed teacher! WOW! In order to make our student-led conferences even possible students and teachers have been hard at work preparing. Our first days back after Thanksgiving break was spent reflecting. We asked ourselves what's been going well? What have the challenges been? What have we learned and where have our strengths been? We completed this not only for each subject matter but also in our competency areas. We made a chart and brainstormed together to get our juices flowing.

After we had a lot of different ideas on our charts, we were ready to begin our own digital portfolios. With filled them with glow and grow areas, showed work samples, and even set two specific measurable goals for the next term. This was by far the most rewarding part for students and myself as we had agreed upon language and clear goals moving forward. Once our portfolios were complete it was time to practice. We all so kindly agreed to be each other's "adults at home" so we could practice presenting.

Finally, students were ready to lead their conference and share their learning. Even with a few slight nerves, students absolutely rocked their conferences. Students were so proud of their work and adults from home were nothing but impressed. As I sat through conferences I was beyond impressed with everything students have learned and shared during our first trimester (and I was there every day with them!) not to mention their ability to speak and present so clearly.

Thank you to all students and adults from home for supporting your child as they SHINED during their first student-led conference! I am looking forward to our second round of student-led conferences in the spring.

What's New with Book Club!?!

Written by Guest Blogger: Kallie

Well in book clubs we get to read a chapter and share as a group. In the beginning, we get to choose what book we want to read for the book club and we vote for the book club.

After each group had their books we started reading. We read a chapter (or the group read more than one chapter because some of them have shorter chapters) then do a slide to write about what we read. We might answer questions or multiple choice questions about what we just read.

My group and I have been reading Homework Machine and some of the other books are Frindle, Mouse and the Motorcycle & Trouble with Chickens, School Story, James and the Giant Peach, and finally, Fantastic Mr. Fox & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Can you tell we love to read!

When we talk about the books we use what we learned from reading and give detailed answers to the questions. Right now we are still on our first book club but we are almost done and I think it's really cool! I can't wait to find out what we read next. Ask us about what we are reading.

Happy Birthday Mickey!

Yesterday, Howe-Manning 4th graders got to experience one magical day! In honor of Mickey Mouse's 93rd birthday, we all headed to Disney (Disney Middleton that is). Students traveled around Disney's magical lands, meeting different characters and reviewing skills across the subject areas. Check out our Disney Map and click on each land to see what we were up to. 

We started our day in Frontierland to practice our geography skills. For Mickey's birthday, Minnie Mouse planned him a spectacular trip around the Northeast Region of the United States. Students used iPads to scan QR codes which led them to letters from Minnie and clues for where she was taking Mickey on their trip.

We headed off to Fantasyland for reading (after a quick spin on the teacups). We practiced the different parts of speech with a digital hunt.  

In the afternoon we headed to Adventureland (aka Math) with Mrs. Weeks, we had so much fun spending $200 to buy Mickey birthday presents. We had to round, add, and even multiply to get as close to spending all $200 as we could.

Students also visited Belle aka Mrs. Deeley in Tomorrowland to design their own ears, become an Imagineer, code an Elsa snowflake and even complete Disney Escape Rooms.

Until tomorrow 4th graders, we might not be at Disney but it is sure to be magical.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.

-Walt Disney

Spy Day

4th graders arrived to school Friday to discover some shocking news...Mango was missing! We met at headquarters to get our briefing from Agent Bryson and get caught up to speed. Check the video out here:

Quickly, 4th graders were transformed into spies and ready to use their fictional story element knowledge, mathematical skills, and problem-solving strategies in order to gather clues and uncover the secret information. 

We started by opening our top-secret mission file which had our first clue, spy notebook, invisible pen, and helpful disguise.

Spies discovered the QR code took them to the spy lab where they hunted for hidden clues. There were codes to crack, puzzle pieces to put together, hidden magnifying glasses to use, and mystery high-tech pictures. Check it out:

    

Head to the full spy lab and give it a try yourself here. 

Correctly solving the different clues and discovering the mystery words granted agents access to the confidential information.

Secret agents safely rescued our beloved Mango. Just another day in the life of a 4th-grade spy. 

Case closed!