Skyping with Richard Paul Evans

A4b Loves Richard Paul Evans!

On March 6, 2013 the ladies of Academy 4b were fortunate enough to be able to Skype with the amazing author of the Michael Vey series, Richard Paul Evans.  Who is Michael Vey you ask?  

To everyone at Meridian High School, Michael Vey seems like an ordinary 14-year-old–he likes waffles and video games, hates homework and gets bullied at school. But Michael is anything but ordinary. He was born with special electrical powers.  - Taken from the website michaelvey.com

If you haven't read the first two books in this seven book series you need get started before book three comes out in September 2013.  

Mr. Evans was so gracious.  What we thought would be barely 10 minute experience turned out to last 35 minutes.  The only reason the girls didn't ask any more questions is that they were already late to their next class.  

It was so much fun talking to an author of a book you love.  Not only did Mr. Evans answer the many, many questions the girls had, but he even shared some information about his third book in the series that is due to be released in September.  At one point he told the girls they now knew more than his publisher.  The girls thought that was awesome and cheered loudly.

I can't say enough about what a wonderful experience my students and I had.  One student said, "It was so nice to talk to a famous person that actually listened to us and cared what we had to say." I completely agree. 

A screenshot of Richard Paul Evans 

The ladies of A4b 

Please visit Richard Paul Evan's facebook page or his website to learn more about all of his books.

Website - http://www.richardpaulevans.com/

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/RPEfans

World Read Aloud Day

March 6 was World Read Aloud Day.  This is the second year my students and I have participated in this great event.  We took the entire day off from regular classes and were read to.  This year I had 12 "secret readers" volunteer to come into the classroom and read aloud one of their favorite books.  Each secret reader explained to my 4th grade girls their connection with the the book or poem they were about to read.  Some readers brought their favorite book when in fourth grade.  Some readers brought a book by their favorite author.  We even had a few fables read so there was some learning involved.  The girls absolutely loved it.  To end the day the fourth grade girls read their favorite picture book aloud to their first grade buddies.  It was a fun filled day for all, especially the "secret readers" aka parents.

Reading an excerpt from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

 

Reading an excpert from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

 

Reading Smile! by Leigh Hodgkinson

 

Reading her favorite poem by Shel Silverstein

Click here to learn more about World Read Aloud Day and suggestions for ways to participate next year.

Snow Day!

On Friday, A4b had their first indoor snow day! In Chicago we often have cold weather, however we have nearly broken a record for lack of snow.  It has been 325 days since we have had 1 inch of snow. Remembering the amazing post Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics wrote about her snow day in Florida I thought why not!

Here is how our day went.

Using the ingredients for Mixed-Up Snowman Snacks I found at Gourmet Mom on-the-go the girls created snowman scenes.

Using these ingredients...

A4b created this!

After both creating and eating our Mixed-Up Snowman the girls moved onto creating with homemade clay. Using a recipe found at Spoonful.com the girls had a blast making everything they could think of.

Snowflakes!

Snowmen and Igloos!

Create your best Mrs. Cat!

(Mrs. Cat is my lovely little grey kitty.)

We ended our morning by making snowmen! Since there is no snow to be found we used newspapers.



 

 

 

Newspaper Snowman!

The girls had a blast.  Thank you Tara for such a great idea.  I will definitely make this a tradition.

January Currently

January Currently

I am linking up with Farley's Currently for the first time!  I love reading about what all of you have been doing and have decided to get in on the fun.  That being said I really do need to get grading the historical fiction book reports the girls turned in on December 7 and the animal power points they completed right before break.  Wish me luck! 

 

I guess that is why I chose the word perspective as my OLW.  Will it really matter if all the power points or the hisorical fiction books reports are graded before Monday?  Not really, but I will do my best.

 

~Julie

Week Two

As I am beginning my second week of school I figured it was about time to show how lovely my classroom looks.  It is not large.  The girls call it cozy.

This is the door that greets the girls each day.  Their pictures are their name tags and they love looking at themselves. :)  Also on the bottom of the door is a poster that I had made using a poster I found on Pinterest.  We use it similar to a class constitution.

A4b is going to tweet this year!  Follow us @SHSAcademy4b

This is the view of my classroom looking south.

The girls' desks are in groups of 5 until we have our first math test.  After each math test I change the seating arrangement.

This is our class library.  I am working to properly sort each book into the correct genre.  It is a long and tedious job.

The top of this bulletin board is math.  Items will be added as we progress through each unit.  The bottom is full of reminders of usernames and passwords for several websites we use. 

This is our writing bulletin board.  As we work on a trait I will add information below as a reminder to the girls. 

Also I love the quote above the board.

Fairness is everyone getting what he or she needs.

This is how I take bus attendance every day.  The girls are responsible for moving their magnet to yes or no first thing in the morning.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour of A4b!

Julie :)

It's Meet the Teacher Day!

I spent today meeting 19 of my 20 girls and their parents.  It is always so exciting, and a little nerve-wracking meeting my new students.  I know that the girls were just as excited and nervous to meet me as I was to meet them.

Each one of my girls found her desk, located her locker, and then colored a stick girl that I use for grouping.  The last thing to do before each student leaves is to take their "First Day" picture.  I cut out each picture and glue it on a camera name tag.  Putting a face to a name is not only helpful to me, but also to my colleagues.  Of course the girls love seeing their pictures hanging on the door.

The day was great!  Unfortunately, there were two things that put a damper on the greatness.  The first was the heat.  It was so hot in my classroom.  I do not get much of a breeze because the windows face a courtyard.  I do have four fans in the classroom so at least there is air movement.  Tomorrow is going to be another hot one so I am planning a little extra time on the playground.  The second downer was when I bent down to pick up a book and managed to slam my head into the corner of a bookshelf. I have a large bump right between my eyes, and a bit of a headache.  Now, it was bad enough that I hit my head, but somehow I managed to hit the shelf at the exact same time one of my students along with her family walked in the room. Holding back tears, I made it through my little spiel before I sprinted down the stairs to the school nurse for an icepack. I am just hoping that the bump will get smaller and not bruise before tomorrow.

I can't wait to show off my adorable classroom to everyone tomorrow!

Julie

The Classroom

I worked in my classroom for three full days last week.  This week we have faculty meetings so I have only been able to put in a few minutes here and there.  Needless to say there is a lot to work to do and not enough time to do it.  Will  my room get finished?  Of course!  Will I cut some corners so I don't have to be in the hot classroom until 6:00pm? Of course!  Here are a few pictures of what my classroom looked like upon my arrival on Tuesday.

This is a view from the north side of the classroom. 

The classroom is basically a rectangle, long and narrow.

Another view from the front of the classroom, looking east.

This is the view from the hallway.

Off to work!  Hopefully I will get the classroom looking cute today so I can focus on getting my plans finished for Tuesday which is Meet the Teacher Day!

Julie :)