February is here and the class was very excited to hear that Punxatawney fill predicted an early spring on Friday! This week we performed for the entire school as we prepared for our first evening performance at Genet School. We also enjoyed traveling to Columbia High School on Thursday for the district-wide choral festival! Here is a look at what we are learning: A message from Miss Almon, our student teacher : We have continued reading, “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.” Students are loving the book so far and have great enthusiasm about the story and our main character, Edward. In our classroom, we are mapping Edward’s journey and making predictions of what will happen next. The class continues to show great effort in class discussions, activities, and comprehension questions regarding the book. This week we finished writing our letters to the author of the book, Kate DiCamillo, and will be sending them in the mail. Students did a wonderful job with this assignment and we hope to hear back from her during the weeks to come. In Math we began Topic 9 : adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. We also learned how to simplify fractions. This week we will be working on adding and subtracting mixed numbers and improper fractions. Students will have a test the week before break. In Social Studies, we are learning about New Netherland and colonial life in NY during the 1600s. This week we will be doing an opinion writing piece on whether or not students would've like to live during colonial times. On February 1st we switched seats. We also took some time to set some goals for our class. Here are some things we are going to be focusing on in the coming weeks. Once the goals are reached, the sticky notes will be removed, and a prize will be revealed! There is a lot of excitement! Important Dates:
2/1-2/9 SOUPerBowl Begins - canned soup collection for CoNSERNS-U 2/9 - Half Day for Students 2/14 - Valentine's Day Party 2/19-2/23 - Winter Recess - No School I hope you're having a great weekend! -Mrs. Kusche Here is a look at our week in 4th grade: This week we began reading, “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” by Kate DiCamillo. We are enjoying the book so far and students do not want to put it down! We have been documenting Edward’s adventure thus far and we are eager to find out what will happen to him along his miraculous journey. On Thursday, we started writing letters to Kate DiCamillo to tell her our thoughts and predictions about the book. The class came up with great questions to ask her in our letters and we are hoping in the next few weeks we will hear back from her. I am very impressed with the students' work and enthusiasm about the book and we are excited to continue reading. This week we took some time to learn about Kindness 101 and focused on the word empathy. We learned about how to show empathy to others and reflected on ways we've shown empathy to others in the past. We will also be reading a book called "The Invisible Boy" to understand how it feels when others are not empathetic. We will continue to integrate other Kindness 101 lessons. We also continued to share our "All About Me" slideshows in class. The kids are doing a wonderful job presenting their projects to their peers. We continue to learn about fractions while we study Topic 8 in math. Students will have a test on Tuesday 1/30. A review sheet will be coming home tonight and it will not be due until Tuesday. I typically do not give homework on Friday, but I wanted students to have more than one night to review the concepts form Topic 8. Please take the weekend to review any concepts found on this review sheet. We wrapped up our study of European explorers this week with an open-book quiz. Next week, we will begin learning about colonial life. Some exciting this happened on GMTV this week: Gracie was part of our Student Spotlight this week on GMTV. We talked about her wonderful accomplishments at her recent gymnastics meet in Utica. She was named one of the 100 top gymnasts in the US. Congrats to Gracie! Also, GMTV will be featured in this week's edition of the East Greenbush Schools "Let's Learn Together" podcast. Special thanks to Charlotte for helping explain what we do each day in the studio during her interview with Mr. Adam. More good news... This week we had a character education assembly on Thursday where Emilia was recognized as a "Student of Character" for showing responsibility . Way to go, Emilia! We has some local law enforcement officers speak at our assembly about what it means to be a good citizen. Rebekah even helped to ask the officers some of the questions about citizenship. Thank you for filling all of the slots for our Valentine's Day party. Your support is appreciated. Lots of exciting things to look forward to for next week! Important Dates:
1/30 - Green Meadow 4th & 5th Concert at Genet 7pm (In school concert at 2:00) 2/1 - Choral Festival Field Trip 10-11:15 at Columbia High School 2/1- SOUPerBowl Begins - canned soup collection for CoNSERNS-U 2/9 - Half Day for Students 2/14 - Valentine's Day Party 2/19-2/23 - Winter Recess - No School Have a great weekend! -Mrs. Kusche With the holiday and the snow day it was a very short week. Here is a look at what we did this week! We were very excited to welcome our new student teacher. We created a welcome book for Miss Almon so she could get to know us all a little better. Miss Almon also made a wonderful slideshow for us so we could learn all about her too! This week we started presenting our "All About Me" Google slides. Students are working on using technology for presentations and working on public speaking skills. They did a wonderful job sharing and answering questions from their peers once they were done presenting. We will finish our presentations this week! This week we are beginning our next chapter book. It's one of my favorites "The Miraculous journey of Edward Tulane". Students learned all about the author Kate DiCamillo on Friday. They also worked in collaborative groups to work on their author study. In Math, we have dived into the world of fractions! Students are learning to add, subtract, and compare fractions, laying a strong foundation for more complex mathematical concepts to come. As a reminder, students should refer to their math classwork for homework help. The homework questions are very similar to those we complete in class together. In Social Studies this week we worked on researching the paths of European explorers who came to New York. This unit helps students understand the cultural, political, and geographical changes brought about by these explorers. The students have been incredibly enthusiastic while creating explorer passports with facts about these explorers. Students will be given a quiz this week where they will be able to use their notes and materials from class. My substitute Mrs. Gill and Miss Almon did a great job covering for me while I was out for eye surgery on Thursday and Friday. Thank you for all of your kind words and well wishes. Important Dates: 1/30 - Green Meadow 4th & 5th Concert at Genet 7pm 2/1 - Choral Festival 10am at CHS 2/9 - Half Day for Students 2/19-2/23 - Winter Recess - No School I hope you had a wonderful weekend! -Mrs. Kusche Dear Families, Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that we are approaching the halfway point of the school year already. Here is a look at what we worked on this week: Math: This week we wrapped up Topic 7: factors and multiples. The kids did a great job on their topic tests. These will be coming home in folders today. Next week we will be starting our study of fractions. We did a review of the basics of fractions today in class. ELA: We did a lot of reading and writing about Dr. Martin Luther King this week in class. We also worked on a collaborative poster for our door. It turned out great! Students wrote about dreams they have for our world and our future. We also read a Native American Folktale that teaches "Why Crow is Poor" while we practiced theme. Students are enjoying reading texts from a variety of genres in ELA. We wrapped our Native American study by acting out the Iroquois Confederacy. Students were given jobs and problems to solve related to their clan. They did a great job reporting out on the solutions to these problems at the podium. We are now studying European explorers who arrived in New York. Students have started making passports to document our study of each explorer. Just a few reminders about outdoor gear. It's helpful if all of your child's snow items are labeled. We've had a few items go missing. Also, my rule is "if there's snow on the ground, then you need boots on your feet!". We even have a little chant that we do to remember. When students don't have boots it makes our classroom floor very muddy and wet. Thank you for your help with this! We are pleased to welcome a new member to our classroom community. Over the next few weeks, we will be joined by our new student teacher, Miss Almon, who will be assisting in our classroom as part of her teacher training.
This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn from a fresh perspective and for the student teacher to gain valuable experience. I am confident that her presence will enrich our classroom environment and contribute positively to our students' learning experience. The student teacher will be under my direct supervision at all times and will work closely with me to plan and deliver lessons. They will also have the chance to lead some lessons, with my guidance and support. I look forward to this new addition to our classroom community and I am excited about the opportunities for learning that this partnership will bring. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Look for Miss Almon's welcome letter in folders on Tuesday. Important Dates: 1/15 - No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 1/16 - Green Meadow PTO meeting 6:30 1/30 - Green Meadow 4th & 5th Concert at Genet 7pm 2/1 - Choral Festival 10am at CHS 2/9 - Half Day for Students 2/19-2/23 - Winter Recess - No School Have a wonderful long weekend! -Mrs. Kusche We had a wonderful holiday week packed with lots of fun. Our week started off with a special visit from Santa and his elves. He delivered candy canes and posed for a quick picture. This week we made Native American wampum belts out of Ditalini pasta. It was a lot of fun! Ask your child to tell you how wampum was used and the meaning of Hiawatha's belt . As part of our unit on Native American history, our students have made their very own longhouses! They have understood the importance of these structures in the Native American communities and have put their creativity to work to construct intricate models. I couldn't be prouder of their efforts! Thank you to all of our volunteers. These projects will be on display in the library for the next few months. I was proud of all of the teamwork I saw from the groups. Thursday was our Kindergarten Holiday Shop. The 4th graders had a great time helping their Kindergarten buddies shop for their parents. When they finished choosing the perfect gift, they were wrapped, labeled. Students then worked on holiday cards and read books together. They didn't want their time with their buddies to end. We had a special surprise this morning. The Columbia High School band (directed by Mr. Kusche) surprised us with a special hallway concert. We enjoyed listening to the wonderful music, singing along, and seeing lots of familiar faces. We even took a selfie! As we approach the end of the year, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for your continued support. Your involvement makes a significant difference in your child's educational journey. I wish you and your family a happy holiday season and New Year. Coming back in the New Year, I have more exciting projects and learning opportunities planned for my students. I can't wait to dive into those with them! Stay safe and enjoy your holidays! Best wishes, Mrs. Kusche Upcoming Dates: 12/25-1/1 - Holiday Break 1/2 - Back to School! 1/15 - No School 1/16 - Miss Almon joins us! 1/16 - Green Meadow PTO Meeting 6:30 1/30 - Green Meadow 4th & 5th Grade Concert 7pm at Genet School Thank you for making time to meet with me these past two week for our parent teacher conferences. It was great having those valuable conversations about your child's progress and learning journey. Thank you for your time and your commitment to your child's education. .In our Math lessons this week, we have been focusing on long division. It's a challenging concept but the students have been showing a lot of determination. We are using various strategies to solve long division problems and I'm proud of the progress they've made so far. Reinforcement at home, even in the form of simple practice problems, can be beneficial. Our class has just wrapped up reading Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, a heartwarming story about a boy and his dog. The kids found it to be a wonderful and thought-provoking read. We also watched the movie. This allowed our students to compare and contrast the two. Student have been hard at work this week preparing for our upcoming Native American longhouse project. They've met and brainstormed with their groups and are ready to go for Monday. A few reminders: Please remember to bring in all of the materials that your child signed up for on Monday. Just a reminder that your sticks need to be freshly cut so that they are able to be bent to create the frame of our structure. Volunteers - please come with a screwdriver (for poking holes in the shoe boxes, glue guns & glue sticks if you have them. Please make sure all of your things are labeled so we can return them to you. You can click on the slideshow below for a brief overview of how the longhouses will be constructed. There are still a few items left on our holiday party sign up. Your help is greatly appreciated. Next week is Green Meadow holiday spirit week. Take a look at the calendar below. We have lots of wonderful things planned for next week, too. I'll be sure to send pictures of our activities.
Upcoming Dates: 12/18 - Longhouse day - remember materials 12/19 - Deck the Halls Door Judging 12/21 - Last day to purchase Make a Wish stars - Kindergarten Holiday shop - we still could use some gift bags, tissue paper, and tags! Thank you 12/22 - Hot cocoa & Cookie Movie Party 12/25-1/1 - Holiday Break Last Friday, we snuck down to our Kindergarten buddy's classroom for our first Random Act of Kindness as a class. We left them sweet notes and candy canes for when they returned from lunch. We plan to do other RAKs as a class this holiday season to spread kindness throughout our school. There are still a few items left on our holiday party sign up. Thank you for your help! On Friday, students met with their longhouse project partners. Each student was paired with a student from each of the 4th grade classroom. We began to discuss the project, the materials that we will need, and how we will prepare in the days leading up to the project. Please sign and return the project form by Tuesday, December 12. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the project. Thursday was our first parent-teacher conference day. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. I enjoyed discussing your child's progress. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you on Wednesday, December 13th. We wrapped up Topic 5 this week and tested on Friday. Tests will be returned next week. Starting Tuesday, we will be learning long division. Please remind your child that this topic can be very overwhelming at first but with repeated practice their confidence will grow each day. We will have a short quiz on this before holiday break. - Students go outside during lunch everyday, weather permitting. Please make sure your child has a warm coat, hat, and gloves. Thank you for your help with this!
Upcoming Dates... 12/13 - Half Day - Parent Conferences 12/18 - 12/22 - Holiday Spirit Week 12/18 - Longhouse Project - Sign up to volunteer here! 12/21 - Kindergarten Holiday Shop 12/22 - Hot cocoa and Cookie Movie Party Have a great weekend! -Mrs. Kusche I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! December is here. We had a great time at our ice cream sundae party before break. Our class placed in the top three classes who brought in the most cans for our canned food drive! Here is a look at what we are learning about... ELA - We started a new book. The Newbery Award wining book Shiloh is one of my favorites to read each year. The students really connect with the main character who is an animal lover. We will be working on a number of reading comprehension skills and writer's responses as we read. Writing - This week we are going to be starting to work on opinion writing. Students will be voicing their opinion on articles we read in class. Math - We are starting division! Topic 5 starts off slowly with some division using our zero strategy. Eventually we will be getting in to long division. Keep working on those facts! Social Studies - We are starting a new unit in S.S. this week. Native American groups that lived in New York State. This is a very exciting topic and the kids will be learning all about the way of life of the Iroquois.
Happy December! The holidays are upon us which means so is our Random Acts of Kindness project. This project means so much to me. This is my ninth year doing this project with my students. I'm glad to see that many students have already started planning their RAK. Be sure to check out our blog. Thank you for your support with this project. If you have any questions, please let me know! Our 4th graders will be hosting a Kindergarten holiday shop at the end of the month. This gives Kindergarteners a chance to shop for their parents for the holidays. Our 4th graders will be taking the Kindergarteners through our shop to help them choose the perfect gift then help them wrap it too! To make the wrapping process easier for our students, we are hoping for some gift bag donations. If you would like to donate gift bags, tissue paper, or gift tags, please send them in by Monday, December 18th. All holiday shop items are donated by our staff. It's such a special event that we are thrilled to do again this year. Our holiday hot cocoa and cookie movie party will be on Friday, December 22nd. If you would like to sign up to send in an item and/or $5 towards our hot cocoa, please use the sign up link above. Thank you for your help! We ended the week with a little surprise. Mrs. Kusche invited Mr. Koch to the classroom so the kids could meet Auggie - a Beagle therapy dog. This was so special since we are reading the book Shiloh - a story about an abused Beagle. The kids have LOVED this story so far and we are anxiously waiting to see if Marty, the main character, can save Shiloh from his abusive owner. We loved seeing Auggie today! Thank you for letting us feed him so many treats, Mr. Koch! A few reminders... - Students go outside during lunch everyday, weather permitting. Please make sure your child has a warm coat, hat, and gloves. Thank you for your help with this! 12/1 - Report Cards will be sent digitally 12/7 - Half Day - Parent Conferences 12/13 - Half Day - Parent Conferences 12/18 - 12/22 - Holiday Spirit Week 12/18 - Longhouse Project - Sign up to volunteer here! 12/22 - Hot cocoa and Cookie Movie Party Enjoy your weekend!
- Mrs. Kusche We kicked off our week by meeting our new Kindergarten buddies. This year our students have teamed up with kids from Mrs. Tarbox's Kindergarten class. We have some exciting projects coming up this year and this month we worked on making Thanksgiving cards for residents of a local nursing home and first responders. Next month the fourth graders will host a Kindergarten Holiday shop which gives the Kindergarteners a chance to shop for their families. Thank you for your participation in our Green Meadow canned food drive. Our Student Council collected 1,333 cans in one week! All cans were brought to CoNSERNS-U on Wednesday, just in time for Thanksgiving. Mrs. Kusche's class won 3rd place and earned an invitation to a make your own sundae ice cream party. Here is a look at what we've been working on this week: In math our focus was 2-digit multiplication using standard algorithm. We used a strategy called "clean the house, make mama happy" in order to remember to erase our regrouped numbers and add a zero. We had lots of smiles with this. After Thanksgiving we will be starting division! We will be wrapping up our "I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies" this week. The kids have LOVED this realistic fiction book. In ELA we've also worked on homophones and figurative language. We even pulled out some idiom dictionaries to illustrate different examples. In writing, we are putting the finishing touches on our name research projects. Please look for these at conference time. They kids did a wonderful job! We will be wrapping up our first science unit on Earth's Surfaces. Students will use their (amazing) notes to work on a final project. Congrats to Nate, our Kahoot winner this week. After Thanksgiving we will switch back to Social Studies and learn about Native Americans who lived in NY. 7th grade students from Goff Middle School visited our classroom today to share their explorer projects that they have been working on. The students were captivated as the middle schoolers read to them. Afterwards, they had a chance to ask questions about life at the middle school. We even had a chance to see some of Mrs. Kusche's former students. We are approaching the end of our first marking period. Report cards will be available the week of December 4th. I'm looking forward to discussing your child's progress at our Parent Conferences. Click here to check your sign up! This week we had a college student from The College of Saint Rose complete some observation hours in our classroom. I'm excited to announce that I will be hosting Miss Jenna Almon as a student teaching starting in mid-January. Miss Almon has spent a lot of time in our building over the last few years as a TA substitute and volunteer. She is eager to get started. She is also a Green Meadow alumni! I look forward to her time in our classroom. Upcoming Dates: 11/21 - End of Marking Period 11/22 - 11/24 - No School - Thanksgiving Break 12/7 - 1/2 Day - Parent Conferences 12/13 - 1/2 Day - Parent Conferences 12/25-1//1 - Holiday Break I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! - Mrs. Kusche Today we honored our Veterans at our school assembly. Today, our school had the honor of hosting a Veterans Day assembly. We were privileged to welcome over 40 brave men and women who have served our country. It was a truly heartwarming and inspiring event, as we expressed our deepest gratitude for their sacrifices and dedication. The students were able to learn about the importance of Veterans Day and the significance of honoring those who have served. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the veterans who attended the assembly. We are thrilled to share that during last night's Board of Education meeting, it was announced that the Green Meadow access road will now be known as "Veterans Way." This decision was made as a tribute to our veterans and to recognize their immense contributions. The new road name will serve as a daily reminder of the bravery and sacrifices made by the men and women who have served our country. Here is a look at what we are learning... Our class has been diving into the fascinating world of rocks, erosion, and weathering. Through hands-on activities and experiments, we have been learning about the different types of rocks, how erosion shapes our landscapes, and the various processes of weathering. It has been an exciting journey of discovery. We have successfully completed Topic 4, which focused on two-digit multiplication. Our students have shown tremendous growth and progress in their understanding of this important mathematical concept. I am proud of their hard work and determination. As we move forward, we will continue to build upon this foundation.. This week, we embarked on an exciting journey to discover the origins of our first names. Students conducted research and wrote essays about the history and meaning behind their names. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to learn more about their own identities and cultural backgrounds. I was impressed by the level of enthusiasm and effort they put into this project. Starting next week, our class will begin a special program called "Kindergarten Buddies." This initiative pairs our students with kindergarteners, allowing them to become mentors and role models for the younger students. This will not only foster a sense of responsibility and leadership in our students but also create a supportive learning environment for our kindergarteners. We are thrilled to embark on this inter-grade collaboration and look forward to the positive experiences it will bring. In honor of Veterans Day, there will be no school on Friday, November 10th. We hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and takes this opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the sacrifices made by our veterans. As the weather gets colder, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor activities. We go outside every day!
Important Dates 11/10 - No School - Veterans Day 11/13 - Last day for the canned food drive! 11/14 - School Picture Retakes 11/14 - Green Meadow PTO Meeting @6:30 11/21 - End of Marking Period 11/22-11/24 - No School - Thanksgiving Break |