Sunshine State Books Introduced

Mrs. Smay, the school librarian, introduced the books that make up this year's  Sunshine State Readers Contest last Monday. Students are encouraged to read a minimum of 3 books which allows them to vote for their favorites.  Many in our class have already read several.  Three students have read all or most of the 15 or so books.

R. J. Palacio Creator of "Wonder" Visits Shorecrest

No more wondering about the author of "Wonder" the first novel we're studying this year.  R. J. Palacio spoke to  our fourth and fifth graders on Thursday.  She started by telling us about her career  as a graphic designer and book illustrator.   Most of her talk was about how she was inspired to write "Wonder."  As a full time working mother she explained how she would write from midnight to 3 AM most nights for a year and a half to produce the first manuscript.  The author answered questions for 25 minutes and later signed copies many students had ordered in advance.  

Hidden Circuits

Students had to wire up a box with three hidden circuits which were tested on each other.  

Raisins Teach Data Analysis

Channing (above) and Louise (below) working with their box of raisins as part of a lesson in determining data landmarks such as: maximum, minimum, range, median, mode and mean.  Students first had to guess how many raisins were in a box.  Next they counted the top layer and then estimated how many layers before multiplying those two numbers together.  Then they actually counted the raisins and compared their estimate with the reality.  All students then shared their numbers and we processed this data to determine the minimums, medians etc.

Museum Day

This is a great way to see St. Pete's  wonderful mix of museums and many in Tampa -- for free on Saturday if you're a Pinellas County resident!!  Enjoy!!  It's all part of Smithsonian Magazine's museum day. 

I'll be going to the Tampa Bay History Center on Saturday.   Later I'll be at the USF's all about honey event 3-5 at their botanical garden. 

Sept. 29 - Free Museum Day. ArtsAlive. 

Various museums, galleries, performing arts locations throughout the city open their doors to the public for a Free Day at their venues. www.stpete.org/artsalive or 727-893-7465.
 2012 - Participants:
Creative Clay, 1124 Central Ave. www.creativeclay.org   or 727-825-0515.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson Museum, 2240 9th Ave. S. www.woodsonmuseum.org   or 727-323-1104.
Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S. www.flholocaustmuseum.org   or 727-820-0100.
Great Explorations Children's Museum, 1925 4th St. N. www.greatex.org   or 727-821-8992.
Morean Arts Center Galleries, 719 Central Ave. www.moreanartscenter.org   or 727-822-7872.
Morean Art Center for Clay, 420 22nd St. S. www.moreanartcenter.org   or 727-821-7162.
Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Dr. N.E. www.fine-arts.org   or 727-896-2667.
Pier Aquarium, 800 2nd Ave. N.E. www.pieraquarium.org   or 727-895-7437.
St. Petersburg Museum of History, 335 2nd Ave. N.E. www.spmoh.org   or 727-894-1052.
*The Dali Museum, 1 Dali Blvd. www.thedali.org   or 727-823-3767.
*free admission for Pinellas County residents only*

*Chihuly Collection, 400 Beach Dr. www.chihulycollectionstpete.com 
*free to Florida residents only
Special events happening on Saturday:
Florida Craftsmen Gallery, 501 Central Ave. www.floridacraftsmen.net   or 727- 821-7391. Fine contemporary crafts by Florida artists. Offering a gift shop discount: 10% off  with a minimum purchase of $25.00. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. only.
Continue the artistic experience by visiting galleries throughout the city.
Downtown Arts Association store location listing, www.stpetearts.com 
Ride the St. Petersburg Trolley Downtown Looper and the  
Central Avenue Shuttle routes to most locations,
 www.loopertrolley.com  

Calculators

Mario using a calculator to complete his math lesson.  Our second math unit is about using numbers, place value and organizing data. 

Lost My Voice.....Sebastian Filled In

Sebastian continued reading from the class novel "Wonder" while I gave my voice a rest last week. He read the book over the summer and has excellent oral reading skills.   Thanks

International Peace Day Rock Ceremony

"Mapping" History of US

Here we are updating our study guides for the textbook, History of US.  The routine is as follows:

we read and discuss (and frequently act out)  each chapter together in class, table partners help each other take notes on key elements, then there's a general discussion about what we learned.

The study guide pages include: the chapter title,  the student's personal reactions/feelings and key words explained.  Soon students will be asked to write the theme of each chapter in one sentence.   In addition,  students identify who the chapter was about, and their distinct perspectives or points of view.  Then they jot down the problems or conflicts mentioned in the chapter, and the solutions or resolutions of those conflicts, if any.   

All this is known as "mapping" the chapter.   Any questions? 

Sidewalk Supervisors

 Making sure the job's done right.  The new high, dry and shaded picnic lunch area for the lower Lower Division will be ready soon. 

Peace Rocks!

Our peace rocks are all ready for Friday's International Peace Day ceremony creating a rock garden. 

A special thanks to Rachel who brought in extra rocks.  

Learning from a Really Wet and Thunder-Filled Day

As storms rumbled through with slanting hard rain, we tracked the cells with Bay News 9 radars.

Connecting to our science unit on electricity, we watched a Brainpop about thunderstorms while we were in one. 

During a lull in the storms, we managed to find a dry path to our music lesson. 

Improving our Lunch Experience

The entire Fourth Grade met this morning to help improve the lunchtime atmosphere for everyone.  Here's the poster students generated about how they thought lunch should look, sound, and feel like.  

Numbers Everywhere

For example, this Kleenex box.  Students are hunting for many more examples to share tomorrow.

We Re-invent the Lighbulb

Today's Science investigation was a bit of a Thomas Edison moment.  We got a tiny nichochrome wire to glow, just like what happens in a lightbulb.  Again, ask a 4th grader to explain.

History of US: Jamestown, Virginia

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We're studying Jamestown, the first English speaking colony in America.  Check out the Jamestown links on the list to the right.  We will be viewing all these sites in class, and I hope students can share them with folks at home. 

Miracle Fruit: Confusing Taste Buds

Oliver shared miracle fruit berry he brought in for snack. This odd fruit has amazing properties. After eating it, sour things taste sweet, and sweet things taste sour. (?) Turned out these lemon slices were tasting sweet. First, Oliver peeled the berry and chewed the pulpy seed, coating his taste buds.  Then he ate the lemon slices as if they were oranges.  

The other day he was eating oranges that after the miracle berry treatment, tasted sour.  We learned from Wikipedia that the fruit is originally from West Africa.  Farmers are growing it in the Miami area.  Some cancer patients find it helpful when taking bad tasting medicines. 

Using Our Templates to Draw Congruent Polygons

Channing and Shaherzad practicing this week.  Ask a Fourth Grader to explain. 

Sebastian the Coin Collector

He even has a three cent nickel. 

Mac's in the Band

He shows off his shiny saxophone.  We also talked about Adolph Sax, the Belgian inventor of this great instrument.

What Did We Do Before Post-Its?

Thoughts about the books they are reading are written on post-its, and then shared by Leah and Brenna during class today.

On post-its, students keep track of characters, setting, interesting sentences and their reactions in general at the end of each chapter, if not before. 

Caitlyn and Abby talk about their books using their post-it notes to jog their memories. 

International Peace Day Rock Garden

Friday, September 21st, is The International Day of Peace. The Lower Division community will gather on that morning at 8:15. Families are welcome to join us in the courtyard.

Ms. Diaz Leroy is teaching the children (K-4) a special song about peace. Mrs. Rowe will have an exhibit of children's art on display in the breezeways. Ms. Deegan's class will share writings about peace. We will play music while, as a community, we build a rock garden.  Ms. Pierce will then lead us in a "Peace" closing song.

Parents, we need your help with the rock garden. Please have your child find a rock that will fit in the palm of his/her hand. Have your child decorate the rock, keeping the purpose in mind. We suggest acrylic paints, permanent markers, colored pencils, or any combination of those. Mrs. Rowe has agreed to varnish the rocks if they are turned in by Tuesday, 9/18.

Please consider joining us for a peaceful start to the day.

Sue Rowe

Shorecrest Preparatory School

K-4 Art Teacher

Tadpoles Turning into......Frogs or Toads?

Not sure yet.  Some have gained their legs and lost tails.  But hard to see those tiny feet.

Getting Ready for Band

Shannon demonstrates her trumpet prior to taking her first band class after school on Monday. Julia, Oliver and possibly others from our class will be making music together. 

Exploring Geometry with a Compass

Drawing concentric circles, inscribed figures, congruent lines, some of the important things we've been doing  with a compass.  (from top: Brenna, Mac and Kyle)

Reading Workshop: Turn and Talk, Stop and Jot

Students discussing our first class read aloud novel Wonder.  Students arrived from third grade ready to turn and talk about various aspects of the book.  Reading Workshop skills include: establishing good eye contact, taking turns, listening carefully and extending the conversations.  

These are "read yourself awake" prompts to help students jot down thoughts as they process their reading. These are written on post-it notes to be later shared with reading partners.  

Talk About a Page Turner

Sometimes you can't stop reading a good book even to go to lunch.  In Ronan's case it was the novel Holes.  And yes he did manage to grab a bite. 

Flying Planet

Morning Meeting greeting sometimes include tossing the earth pillow to each other as we say hello.  Then each student identifies where in the world his or her right thumb has landed. 

Tadpoles

Tadpoles emerged from a clogged drainage pipe next to our new playground equipment.  Students could stay high and dry while observing them.  

Later I brought a few into the classroom for closer examination.   Are they toads to be or frogs?  We don't know what happens to the rest if the drainage system gets cleared.  We may have saved a few.

Fourth Grade Pioneers: Flash Drives

Here's the class fresh from a two day orientation with Mrs. Baralt on the use of flash drives which will be used to hold their writings, projects and technology studies.  This is the first fourth grade to have this privilege.  The flash drives go back and forth from classroom to the computer lab.  They will be used to hold data in both locations.