Cabarrus County Fire & Life Safety Bowl

On March 3rd our fire bowl team attended the Cabarrus County Fire and Life Safety Bowl at Connect Christian Church.  Our team is made up of 5 fourth graders.  We have 1 captain, 1 alternate, and 3 regular team members.  When we got there they gave us a T-shirt.  After that you go sit down at a table.  Once the actual bowl starts you go into the classrooms around the gym and you compete against other schools.  This year we did double elimination which means that you have 2 chances to stay in the bowl.  Once you get eliminated they have a game truck that you can go in.  For lunch they have pizza and soft drinks.  At the end, the teams who were eliminated got a participants medal and the top 3 teams go to Best in State.

~Kylee

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss &
Read Across America Week

Dr.Seuss was born on March 2nd, 1904.  He was a very famous writer.  He wrote books like Cat in the Hat and the sequel, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back.  On Tuesday Emily's mom, Mrs. Karmanocky, came to our classroom and read Oh The Places You'll Go.  Mrs. Burgess also came and read Bag Head, it was a fun story.  On Wednesday Mrs. Snipes came and she read Bartholomew and the 500 Hats and on Thursday Officer Lafferty came to read Puff the Magic Dragon.  He also talked about what he did as a police officer.  Afterwards we got to listen to Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter, Paul, and Mary.  On Thursday we also had Book Character Day so we had to dress up like our favorite book character and bring the book to school with us.  We went to the gym at the end of the day to show our costumes to the other 4th grade classes.  Read Across America week was very fun; I hope we do it again!

~Chloe & Kylee

Fractions!

Image Source:  http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org

Fourth grade began studying fractions in January.  We have had a blast learning how to compare, order, add, subtract, and multiply fractions.  Miss Jayla has given you a brief lesson on how to multiply fractions:

Over the past few weeks we've been learning how to multiply fractions.  When you multiply fractions the denominator stays the same.  You multiply the numerator by the number that your multiplying with.  What answer you get it might be an IMPROPER FRACTION!  When you get an improper fraction you divide the numerator with the denominator.  You have to know how many times the numerator goes into the denominator.  You subtract the answer with the numerator.  If you get 0 your answer will be how many times you multiplied the denominator.  If your answer has a remainder then you still have your whole number and you use your remainder as your new numerator and your denominator stays the same.

~Jayla

1st Semester Awards

The 1st semester has come to a close and we have a lot to celebrate in 4th grade!  The following students were recognized for their hard work at the November and February awards ceremonies!  Keep up the fantastic work kiddos!

1st Quarter Awards, November 2014:

Highest Class Dojo Points:  Elizabeth J. (139 points) & Johnny H. (136 points)
Character Ed Awards:  Maria F. (Friendship) & Johnny H. (Respect)*
Perseverance with Division:  Jayla M.
Mastery of Informational Texts:  Chase T.
Detailed Personal Narrative "Trapped":  Emily K.
Principal's Award for Academic Perseverance & Growth:  Chloe H.

2nd Quarter Awards, February 2015:

Highest Class Dojo Points:  Jayla M. (183 points) & Johnny H. (176 points)
Character Ed Awards:  Chloe H. (Responsible), Mallory W. (Caring), & Jayla M. (Honest)*
Excellence in Perimeter:  Chris W.
Mastery of Inferencing:  Kylee S.
Persuasive Writing "Why Shelter Dogs Should be Rescued":  Noah C.
Principal's Award for Academic Perseverance & Growth:  Elizabeth J.

*Students were selected for these awards by a peer vote.

January PBIS Celebration

Image Credits:  http://frozen.disney.com/

On Thursday January 15th we had our second PBIS celebration.  Fourth grade had to earn 100 points to go!  In the Shady Brook Cinema we watched Frozen!  Frozen is a movie about two sisters; one has magical powers.  Elsa has the powers and Anna is her sister.  Anna gets struck by Elsa's powers and luckily the troll can cure her.  After around 20 years, Elsa becomes a queen at her Coronation.  She accidentally gives away her secret because Anna wanted to get married.  Then she runs off and makes a magic ice palace.  Anna goes after her and meets a boy named Kristoff and his reindeer Sven.  While looking for Elsa, Anna and Kristoff meet a joyful snowman, Olaf.  Olaf helps them on their journey.  They find Elsa and she strikes Anna with her powers.  Kristoff took Anna to the trolls and Grand Pappy troll can't remove the ice.  The only way to remove it is with true love.  Anna goes back to Prince Hans and actually lied about loving Anna.  Olaf rescues Anna and brings her to Kristoff.  Then Anna sees Elsa and Hans.  Hans was trying to kill Elsa.  Anna ran over to Hans and tried to protect Elsa.  Then she turned into ice!  Elsa is heartbroken.  She cries and then Anna turns back into a human.  Elsa melts everything and then the kingdom and village is happy!
~Chloe Helton

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.