Giving Tree

Our class would like to send a huge THANK YOU to the wonderful volunteers at Midway United Methodist Church and Opportunity House.  They came to Shady Brook today to coordinate the Giving Tree.  Each year students visit the Giving Tree and practice giving to others by selecting two gifts for family members or friends.  Students then wrap their gifts and label them with loved ones' names.  It is a great experience for students to learn about the Season of Giving.  We would like to wish everyone at Midway United Methodist, Opportunity House, as well as our family and friends a very Merry Christmas!

Larry the Elf

Larry Elf hides in our classroom and spies on us until the end of the day when he returns to the North Pole.  He can send us an email through Gaggle and we can respond to him with questions.  If you ever touch him he will lose is powers and he will have to go back to the NORTH POLE to get his power back.  Mrs. Wherritt touched him on a accident last year and he couldn't come back for two days!  Today we can`t even find Larry; someone might have touched him.  I think he went to go get his power restored.  

~Kash

We have an Elf, his name is Larry.  This morning he was sleeping in Mrs.Wherritt's file cabinet she screamed so loud when she found him!  Larry has a twin in Mrs. Little's class, her name is Hershey.  One day Larry built a little fort to stay in for the day; it was cute.
Larry likes to spy on us, especially Kash.  Larry left snowman poop on the Kash's desk and he ate it!

~Shauna

 

Latta Plantation

In social studies we have been learning about technology changes over time and slavery.  On Tuesday December 9th we visited Latta Plantation to take a look at how people lived 200 years ago and to learn about slavery.  We enjoyed touring a slave house, the big house, and the outdoor kitchen.  It was also really cool to see the farm animals and barns.  

Life was very different 200 years ago.  Fireplaces were used to heat homes, there were no electric appliances, and clothing items were handmade along with many household tools and gadgets.  It was fascinating to see how people lived back then.  

Bridge Building Fun!

For the last two weeks we have been studying engineering and on November 24 we brought our bridges to life!  We brought them to life by by buying supplies with classroom money. Mrs. Wherritt challenged us to make the safest and strongest bridge but at the lowest cost. Once we got all the supplies, we started to actually bring them to life by building and testing how sturdy and strong they were by taking a plastic car and seeing how many times the car would go over the bridge (stability).  We also used weights to see how many strong our bridges were (strength). Then at the end Mrs. Wherritt made a chart on PowerPoint presentation to compare whose bridge was the strongest.  We had team names so she averaged the bridge’s cost, strength, and stability to get our total score.  

~Kylee

Wherritt’s At Bridges

Our class recently started talking about building bridges.  We used wood as our abutments and paper as our bridges.  We tested the bridge with weights.  At the back table with Mrs. Wherritt we used her fan as wind to test her bridge.  There are four different types of bridges: (1) a suspension, (2) an arch, (3) a beam, (4) and a deep beam bridge.  We had A.L. Brown students come to help us with building our bridges and we tested them by rolling a car across the bridges.  I learned a lot about engineering bridges!

~Jayla

  

"The Strongest Bridge"

  

"Wherritt's Wonderful Bridge"

  

"The Golden Gate Bridge"

  

"The Cool Bridge"

  

"The Frozen Bridge"

How do you get to go to the PBIS Celebration?

Image Credits:  north.aurorak12.org

Many people are going to the PBIS celebration because they follow the Shady Brook promise.  They are safe, respectful, responsible, and a learner.  A few ways you can get to the PBIS celebration include being quiet in the hallways, playing safe on the playground, and being respectful to your classmates. You can also make sure you remember things like how now we put our book bags in the classroom. D on’t talk when the teacher is talking.  You  should make a goal for yourself to get even more points.  For example, you can try to get 70 points.  These are some helpful tips about the PBIS celebration.

~Chloe

PBIS Celebration Fun

Image Credits:  piedmontbgc.org

I got to go to the last PBIS celebration and it was a lot of fun.  I got to go to the celebration because  I got 50 points.  The celebration was a fall festival and there were a lot of games. I even won a lot of prizes and got a sticker.  My favorite game was fishing.  You would throw the fishing line in the water and you would pull it out of the water and something would be on the end of my fishing line.  I got a pack of  pretzels.  I also liked corn hole and the mystery bucket activity.  When you felt what was in the bucket all of them felt gross. There was also a station called “Minute to Win It” where you had to get a cup from the bottom  to the top in 1 minute; it was very hard but I did it!  We had races where you had to dress up in a scarecrow outfit and run down to the cone and back.  I also got to go and try to play a game where you had to get little things in the cup.  I didn’t make it in, but I tried my best.  Then it was time to go.  I was sad that it was time to go but I had a really good time!      

~Mallory

Blackbeard

Image Credits: mrnussbaum.com

Our class is learning about Blackbeard.  Blackbeard was a pirate that lived years ago. Blackbeard traveled around the eastern coast of the United States.  Blackbeard was a creepy old man; he made his men work a lot.  Robert Maynard killed Blackbeard and hung his head on his ship.  We have had a lot of fun learning about Blackbeard; our teacher makes it fun for us!

~Tiara

WSBE

Image Credits:  http://kcsshadybrook.ss3.sharpschool.com/

WSBE is something we do in the morning from 8:00 to 8:15 it is really fun.  We go to the design lab in the morning and we record the announcements or control the iPad that scripts what the announcers say.  Or you can be the backup person for when somebody is absent.  Last but not least, the announcers report everything that is happening at Shady Brook.  It is also fun to watch the announcements with your friends on the carpet and see how you did on the broadcast.  If you are interested in participating in WSBE at the beginning of 4th grade Mrs.Dancy will give you an application that will ask you what you would like to do.  If you turn it in early you will more than likely be the first one on broadcast and get the job that you wanted.  Have fun; I am sure you will have a blast

~Emily

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

Image Credits: www.movies.disney.com

In class we are reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  So far in the book Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan have moved to a professor’s house.  They moved there to avoid the World War II.  While the children were playing hide and seek Lucy hid in a wardrobe.   There were many fur coats in the wardrobe.  Lucy was feeling all of the coats and then she noticed it was open on the back side and the soft fur coats started to feel like branches on a tree.  Lucy opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer inside of the professor’s house she was in a forest.  When she had left it was summer but now it’s winter.  While Lucy was in the wardrobe she met Mr. Tumnus, the faun.  Mr. Tumnus invited Lucy to his house.  He told Lucy about working for the White Witch and about where she was.   He said the land was called “Narnia” and  he was supposed to take any “son of Adam”* or “daughter of Eve”** to her.  Lucy eventually went back to the wardrobe and she came back the way she came in.  She stepped into the wardrobe and pushed her way through the coats.  Lucy told her brothers and sisters about what had happened and how she got to Narnia.  They went over to the wardrobe and went inside and at the back there was wood - no forest or snow, no Mr. Tumnus, just plain old wood.  Since no one believed her she ran back into the wardrobe.  She saw the trees and snow and the forest.  She ran to Mr. Tumnus.  Meanwhile, Edmund had chased after her and had seen that Narnia was real.  While Edmund was there looking for Lucy, he met the White Witch.  He thought he was the queen of Narnia.  She gave him 7 pounds of Turkish Delight but she said he wouldn’t get anymore unless he brought his siblings to Narnia.  Our class thinks that the queen is bad but is just pretending to be nice and that he will eventually bring his brother and sisters.  That’s all we have read in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

~This is blog reporter Chloe signing off!

Footnotes:

*A Human Boy

** A Human Girl

Personal Narratives

We have been writing personal narratives during the throughout the first quarter of this year.  We have focused on adding sensory details to our narratives.  Chase wrote a great narrative about his trip to Carowinds.  Check it out:

Going to Carowinds

Image Credits: www.newyorknewyork.com

One day John John, and my grandma and I went to Carowinds.  It was about a forty-five minute ride. When we got there we had Wendy’s before we went in; it was good.  When we got passed the gate I saw the roller coaster parts for the new roller coaster called “The Fury” it smelled like fear.  When we parked we had to walk a long way.  When we got in the first ride we rode was “The Intimidator”.  It looked like fun.   We got in line and got on and headed up the big hill.  The roller coaster felt like rubber.  When we were going down the big hill I was screaming and laughing.  As we were going down the hill it sounded like a roaring dragon.  And all I could taste was the fresh air.  After it was done I saw my picture it was so funny; John John’s face was flapping.  We rode a lot more rides.  I still can’t get his face out of my head, his lips were flapping in the wind like a dog!    

~Chase

dreambox, Hooray!!

 

Image Credits:  www.dreambox.com

Dreambox is a math program on the iPads and computers that we use during math.  There are different math activities you can chose from.  You can choose from topics such as subtraction, algorithm, or common multiplies as well as many more activities.  You can also collect coins and spend them.  You can buy music you can listen to during sessions, or change your wallpaper, and even change your avatar.  You also can get badges for completing different tasks.  You get a badge for completing a tutorial or getting ten math questions correct in a row.  There are also many other ways to get badges.  Dreambox is very fun, I love it!

-Chloe

Number The Stars

Image Credits:  www.amazon.com

We have been reading Number The Stars by Lois Lowry in literacy.  Number The Stars is a historical fiction book about the Germans and how they persecuted the Jewish people.   In the book Annemarie risks her own life to help her friend, Ellen, who is Jewish.  Both girls are very scared of the German soldiers but are also very brave.  It’s a great book; you should read it!

-Queren

The Lost Colony

Image Credits:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

In class we have been learning about The Lost Colony at Roanoke Island.  We have learned about Native Americans who helped the English men who came to establish a colony in the New World.  The Native Americans tried to help the English men but they didn`t have enough food for them.  They had only planted enough food for themselves and their families.  So the English colonists sent John Smith back to England to go get supplies.  John Smith was gone for three years!  John had a little trouble getting back but he finally made it.  When he got back to Roanoke there was no one there.  He looked everywhere but he couldn`t find anybody.  All he found was a tree that said CROATOAN on it.  And still to this day it is still a mystery.  Where did the colonists go?

-Maria

Class Dojo & Spike’s Paws

Image Credits:  Class Dojo & www.clipartbest.com

This year in 4^th grade we are using Class Dojo instead of our PBIS hole punches.  Class Dojo is where students keep track of points earned in order to go to our PBIS celebration.  We each have to get 50 points in order to go to the celebration.  Mrs. Wherritt’s two students with the highest number of points are Elizabeth and Johnny!  This year our whole school is also competing for Spike’s dog paws so we can get extra recess.  Each class has to get 10 paws and right now Mrs. Little’s class is in the lead with 23 paws.  Mrs. Little and Mrs. Wherritt are in a competition to see who can earn the most paws.  GO MRS. WHERRITT!  

-Kylee