10/13/11

This blog will SOON be moving to my classroom page on the NEW Okoboji Community School District website.  For the next few days, I will post my blog both here and on that new site.  Starting next week, everything here will be officially moved to my classroom page!  I still have a homework section, weekly Joke/Trivia section, and basically all the information that you are used to seeing here.  You should have received some information in the US mail earlier this week about joining the classroom page(s) for your child's/children's teacher(s).  Let me know if there is anything I can help you with in this transition!  Click here for Mrs. Duvall's Classroom Fusion Page

What a great day in 4th grade!

Math - We took a test over some of the basic math facts.  Students are currently working on different strategies to help them learn the multiplication combinations that they are struggling with.  For example, if 11x11 is a tricky fact for me, I might think to myself, "Well, 11x10=110 and then I just need to add one more group of 11 to that, so the answer is 121."  We have also talked a lot about factors, multiples, and products, so see if your student can tell you what each of those is!

Science - We have a few groups left to share nutrition projects, and we are also just beginning our unit on digestion.  We will talk about the route that food takes through our body when we eat it, and what each part of the digestive system does to help the process of digestion.

Social Studies - We are beginning our inquiry unit on why people move and travel places.  This unit will include lots of research on US states and lots of new vocabulary as well.  This is our year-long unit on US states and regions.

Language Arts - We are wrapping up our "Journeys" unit, and next week we will move on to "American Stories."  Students will also be starting a new small group book next week.  Some students will have a new small group reading teacher next week, while most will keep their current small group reading teacher for another book.

Reminders:
* October 17-21 - Character Counts Week - note to come home tomorrow with Friday papers
* October 17-21 - Food Drive for Upper DesMoines - bring in canned and boxed goods!
* October 26 - story map book report due
* October 27 - Pioneer Parents Fall Festival at 6:00
* October 28 - No School - Teacher Inservice

Have a wonderful evening!!

10/7/11 - PiONEer Spirit!

(Yes, the football players were refusing to smile for our picture today.  They thought they should look "tough!")  

We've got spirit, yes we do!  We've got spirit, how about you?  We had another 100% participation day for spirit day today!  For showing such great school spirit, and since it is homecoming week, I gave each student a maroon and white Okoboji Pioneer bracelet to match their spirit gear!  Let's not just have school spirit this week, but all year long!

Homework:
* Math - page 15 in packets
* Science - Final draft of nutrition paragraphs due Tuesday
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Story map book report due October 26
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading - None
* Word Journeys - None
* Music Reports due Monday

Reminders:
* Music reports due Monday
* October 26- Story Map book report due
* October 27 - End of 1st Quarter
* October 27 - OES Pioneer Parents Fall Festival @ 6:00
* October 28 - No School - Teacher In-service

Have a fabulous weekend!!

10/6/11 - Our Pioneer Pride Shines Bright!

100% our class wore yellow today!  I'm so proud that we are showing our school spirit!  Of course, students have also found that we like to give treats to those participating in our Pioneer Pride days, making it just a bit easier to remember what color to wear each day!  :)

Homework:
* Math - page 13
* Science - None
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Story map book report due October 26
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading - None
* Word Journeys - study for test tomorrow

Reminders:

* Wear maroon and white tomorrow for spirit day!

* OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30 tomorrow!

Enjoy your evening!  See you tomorrow in maroon and white!

10/5/11 - The Grass is Greener on the Pioneer Side!

We had another day of 100% participation in our school spirit day!! 

Tomorrow, the theme is Shining Bright with Pioneer Pride!  Wear YELLOW!

Homework:
* Math - page 9 and 10 in packet, as well as the Multiplying by 0 and 1 worksheet in the multiplication packet.
* Science - rough draft paragraphs due tomorrow
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Story Map book report due October 26
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading - Chapter 8 summary
* Word Journeys - 10 sentences due tomorrow

Reminders:
* Wear YELLOW tomorrow!
* October 7 - Wear maroon and white for spirit day!
* October 7 - Homecoming parade at 2:30

Have a wonderful evening!

10/4/11 - We're Red Hot with PiONEer Pride!

We had 100% participation for Red Day today!  Good job 4th graders!  Way to show your school spirit!  Tomorrow's theme is: The grass is greener on the Pioneer side!  Wear GREEN!

Homework:
* Math - None
* Science - None
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Story map book report due October 26
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading - Chapter 8 summary
* Word Journeys - 10 sentences due Thursday

Reminders:
* Wear green tomorrow
* Answer the new joke on here by Friday!
* October 5 (tomorrow) - Walk to School Day
* October 6 - Wear yellow
* October 7 - Wear maroon and white!
* October 7 - OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30

Have a GREAT evening!  See you tomorrow in green!  I'm walking to school tomorrow...are you?

10/3/11 - Orange You Glad to be a PiONEer?

Happy Monday, and Happy Homecoming Week!  We had lots of kids show their school spirit today by wearing ORANGE!  Tomorrow is: We're red hot with PiONEer pride!  Wear RED!

We had a busy day with our curriculum work as well!

In math, we are getting into our multiplication unit and working with arrays.  Today, each student received a number, and their job is to come up with all of the arrays that go with that number in order to find all of the factors (eg; for the number 8, the arrays would represent 1x8, 8x1, 2x4, 4x2, and therefore the factors of 8 are 1, 2, 4 and 8).  We will continue this project tomorrow and learn some new vocabulary as well!

In Science, we are wrapping up our nutrition unit this week!  We are finishing up our food posters and will present them to the class on Friday.  I will try to take some pictures of our final products and post them here on the blog.  We are also writing a paragraph this week to go with our nutrition unit.  We did some sentence work today and filled out our paragraph hands, a graphic organizer to help us organize our thoughts before we begin writing paragraphs.

In Language Arts, last week we read a story about the Titanic.  This week we are going to do some more research on the who, what, when, why/how of the Titanic and then we are going to make Glogs with our information!  A Glog is an on-line, interactive poster.  When we are finished making them, I will post links to them on this site! 

We are not having Social Studies this week in order to fit in the rest of our Science projects and our Titanic Glogsters for Language Arts.

Homework:
* The only homework I assigned is in Science: paragraph hands - due tomorrow!

Reminders:
* Wear RED tomorrow!
* Answer the new joke on here by Friday!
* October 5 - Walk to School Day
* October 7 - OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30

Have a GREAT evening!  Go out and support the Pioneer football team tonight if you get a chance!

School Spirit Days for Homecoming Week!

Don't forget to wear ORANGE tomorrow to show your school spirit!

Since this week is OHS Homecoming week, we decided we would like to show our school spirit at the elementary, too! We will be wearing a different color each day this week.

* Monday - Orange you glad to be a Pioneer (wear ORANGE)
* Tuesday - We're red hot with Pioneer pride (wear RED)
* Wednesday - The grass is greener on the Pioneer side (wear GREEN)
* Thursday - Pioneers shine bright (wear YELLOW)
* Friday - Spirit day (wear MAROON and WHITE)

I am posting a new joke to the blog tonight!

See you tomorrow!

9/28/11

Happy Wednesday!

Wednesdays are always a little wacky around here with a different schedule than other days of the week.  On top of that, we had our popcorn party for the students who turned their book report in on time!  I thought that these 4th graders did a very nice job on their popcorn bag book reports.  Our October book report will be to fill out a story map, and it will be due Wednesday, October 26.

Homework:
* Math - None
* Science -Study for test
* Social Studies - Study for test
* Language Arts - page 102 questions 1-5
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Group - chapter 6 worksheet and vocab word
* Word Journeys - Study for test Friday

Reminders:
* October 3-7 - OHS Homecoming Week
* October 5 - Walk to School Day
* October 7 - Walk to School Rain Date
* October 7 - OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30
* October 27 - Pioneer Parents Fall Festival
* October 27 - End of 1st Quarter

Have a wonderful evening!

9/27/11

It is Terrific Tuesday in 4th Grade!

We are gearing up for 2 big unit tests at the end of this week!  Our Science Nutrition test will most likely be this Friday, as well as our Social Studies Map test.  We will do plenty of review in class, and students will have study guides for both tests.  I told the students they should be studying a little bit each evening this week instead of waiting until Thursday night!  I am confident that the students will do well on both tests!

We are also nearing the end of our first math unit, which included place value, addition and subtraction strategies.  At the end of this week, we will dive into multiplication!!

Homework:
* Math - None
* Science - Meal Time Day 2 worksheet
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Class - Chapter 6 worksheet and vocab word
* Word Journeys - study for your next test!

Reminders:

* September 28 - Popcorn bag book report due.  This is TOMORROW!

* October 5 - Walk to School Day
* October 7 - Walk to School Rain Date
* October 7 - OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30

See you all tomorrow for Wacky Wednesday!!

9/26/11

What a Marvelous Monday!  LOTS of learning took place today, and excellent behavior helped us out a lot!

Homework for tonight:
* Math - finish anything from pages 67 and 68 which you have not finished yet
* Science - None
* Social Studies - Begin studying for the map unit test which will be Friday.  Students have a study guide to use in their white Social Studies packets
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report due THIS Wednesday, September 28
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Class - None
* Word Journeys - Study for your next test!

Reminders:
* September 28 - Popcorn bag book reports due.  There will be a popcorn party for every one who turns in a QUALITY book report ON TIME!
* October 5 - Walk to School Day
* October 7 - Walk to School rain date
* October 7 - OHS Homecoming Parade at 2:30

Enjoy the beautiful weather this evening!  See you tomorrow!  :)

9/23/11

Wow!  What a difference a new day makes!  My 4th graders are back to "wonderful!"  We had a MUCH better day today, so I hope we are back on track!

We spent a large portion of our morning finishing up our science nutrition research.  Hopefully we will get to work on creating our posters next week!

This afternoon, after Word Journeys and guided reading, our class enjoyed our class reward for filling our marble jar!  We watched a Bill Nye the Science Guy video to go with our nutrition unit, while enjoying our snacks and drinks!  We had a little fun, but were still able to learn more about what we are studying!

There should not be any homework for tonight unless students are still working on their popcorn bag book report, or unless they received an assignment from their guided reading teacher!

Students have a lot of papers in their mailboxes to take home tonight.  Be looking for these papers to come home with your student!

Reminders:
* October 5 - Walk to School Day (your student should bring a note home tonight with more details)

Have a FABULOUS weekend!  It sounds like the weather is supposed to be pretty nice!

9/22/11

Wow!  This week is flying by!

Unfortunately, today has not been a great day in 4th grade.  We accomplished lots of learning, but the students are really struggling with talking when they should not be.  Mr. Olsen had to take 5 minutes of their recess away for how loud the students were in the lunchroom, and I had to take an additional 5 minutes of recess away for their behavior in PE, as well as all of the talking in class when I needed them to be listening.  I told the students that, for me to accomplish my job and do it well, they need to do their job (following the rules) well, also.  Hopefully, losing 10 minutes of recess gave them time to think about how they can do better tomorrow.  I am looking forward to a better day tomorrow.  I know I have great students in my class, and I know what great behavior they have shown me in the past, so I hope we can get back to that point!

Homework for tonight:
* Math - None
* Science - None
* Social Studies - None
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report - 9/28
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Group - chapter 5 worksheet and chapter 5 vocab. word
* Mrs. Duvall's Word Journeys Group - 10 sentences due Monday

Reminders:
* Bring a snack and a drink tomorrow (Friday) for our class reward for filling our marble jar
* Book orders are due tomorrow (Friday)
* October 5 - Walk to School Day

Have a wonderful evening, and I look forward to having a day of excellent behavior tomorrow!

9/21/11

Happy Wednesday!

Here are some brief updates about what we are studying in each subject this week!

Math: We continue on with place value, addition and subtraction strategies, and practicing our multiplication facts!  If you notice your student do his/her addition and/or subtraction problems in a different way than how they would "traditionally" be done, don't panic!  Our Investigations math series pushes students to think outside the box a little bit, which in turn gives students a better understanding of numbers and math concepts (we call that "number sense").  We have NOT thrown the traditional way of adding and subtracting out the window, we are just trying new ways of thinking, also!

Science: We are getting ready to start our nutrition research!  Students will be using netbooks to research the food groups/healthy living.  Once we have completed the research, the students will demonstrate their learning by creating a new model/way of representing the food pyramid!  I am looking forward to all of the creative ideas my students come up with!

Social Studies: This week we have worked REALLY hard on locating places on maps using latitude and longitude!  See if your student can tell you the difference between the two!  It is kind of a tricky concept, and we will continue to practice with it.  Next week, we will study the different map types and the purpose(s) for each type.

Language Arts: Earlier in the week, the students had some opportunity to do some creative writing with a story starter that I put on the board.  "One morning, I woke up and saw a dinosaur in my backyard!"  We had so much fun being creative writers, and we definitely enjoyed sharing our crazy stories with the class!  We continue to work on getting familiar with our 7 comprehension strategies (sensory imaging, schema, inferring, questioning, determining importance, fix-up strategies, and synthesizing).  We are also still on our unit titled "Journeys."

Homework for tonight:
* Math - page 61
* Science - None
* Social Studies - Maryland map
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report due September 28 (1 week from today)
* Word Journeys - study new words


Reminders:
* Book orders are due THIS Friday, September 23
* Bring a snack and a drink THIS Friday, September 23
* Popcorn bag book reports are due a week from today, Wednesday, September 28
*October 5 - Walk to School Day - more info to come
* Answer the joke on this blog by Friday for a treat!  If I don't have your answer by Friday morning when the bell rings, I will not accept it!

Have a wonderful evening!  See you tomorrow!

9/20/11

It was a HAPPY day in our class room today!  We finally filled our marble jar all the way to the top!  We get to put marbles in the jar for good class behavior, so this is something for the students to be PROUD of!  A note is coming home with your student tonight explaining the class reward that our class voted for.  I gave them three options, and the one with the most votes was to watch a Bill Nye the Science Guy video, and the students may bring a drink and a snack to enjoy during the video.  Students should bring their drink and snacks THIS Friday, September 23.  I am not going to be too picky about what students bring, but I told them NO energy drinks (ie: Monster, Rip, etc), and snacks do not need to be huge.  Great job on this accomplishment, 4th Graders!

Homework for tonight:
* Math - pages 53 and 54 in packets
* Social Studies - Delaware map
* Science - None
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report due Wednesday, September 28 (1 week from tomorrow)
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Group - Chapter 4 picture with main idea and 3 details
* Word Journeys - Study new words

Reminders:
* Bring a snack and a drink THIS Friday, September 23
* Book orders due this Friday, September 23
* September 28 - Popcorn bag book report due
* October 5 - Walk to School Day (more info to come) 

Enjoy your evening!  See you for Wacky Wednesday tomorrow!!

9/16/11

Happy Friday!  We've completed our first full week of school, and we accomplished lots of learning!

In Math, we continue to work on addition and subtraction strategies.  We are learning that there are many ways to solve a problem, and the students are getting really good at using more mental math!

During Science class, we are still studying nutrition.  We have read some informational pages from www.choosemyplate.gov to learn a lot about healthy eating habits.  If any of you parents are interested, visit the Choose My Plate website.  There is so much information there!

In Social Studies, we have just finished up being cartographers, or map-makers!  Each student designed his/her own island.  The students used the Fab 4 Map Features to help them develop their maps.  Ask your child if he/she can list the Fab 4 Map Features for you!

In Language Arts and Guided Reading, our theme unit is "Journeys."  During both class periods, students are engaged in stories in which the main character(s) are on some type of journey.  In Whole Group Language Arts, we are also learning about some "tools" to help students with reading comprehension.

Reminders:
* No School Monday, September 19 - Teacher in-service
* Popcorn bag book report due Wednesday, September 28
* Walk to School Day - October 5 (rain date October 7) - more info to come

Homework:
* Math - None
* Science - None
* Social Studies - New Jersey map due Tuesday
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Group - chapter 4 worksheet and chapter 4 vocabulary word

** Just a little note about homework - MANY of the 4th graders are using their time at school very wisely, so don't be surprised if they don't have a lot of homework to bring home at night!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!!

9/15/11

This week sure is flying by!

I am really enjoying this group of 4th graders!  They are such hard workers and great learners!

Reminders:
* No school on Monday, September 19 due to teacher in-service
* I am sending a book order home today!  Please have them turned in by Friday, September 23 and make checks payable to Scholastic
* Popcorn bag book reports due Wednesday, September 28.
* Walk to School Day is October 5 (rain date is October 7) - more information to come

Homework for tonight:
* Math - page 35 and 36 in math packets
* Science - None
* Social Studies - Pennsylvania map due tomorrow
* Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report
* Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Group - None
* Word Journeys - Test tomorrow, so study your words tonight.

Specials Day 3 tomorrow - Music and PE.

Have a great evening!

9/14/11

Happy Wednesday!

It's been a great day in 4th grade, and I have really been impressed with the TRRFCC behavior of the students in my class!  We are getting SO CLOSE to getting our marble jar completely filled!

Reminders:
*No school Monday, September 19 due to teacher in-service
*Popcorn bag book reports due Wednesday, September 28
*It is supposed to be pretty chilly tomorrow morning!  Make sure you wear the appropriate clothing/gear to stay warm!
*Answer the joke on this blog before Friday for a special treat!
*Parents - always look for work and other miscellaneous papers to come home with your child each FRIDAY (or the last day of school for the week)!

Homework:
*Math - None
*Science - 5 Related Word Sentences
*Social Studies - None
*Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report
*Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Class - Chapter 3 worksheet in packet
*Word Journeys - 10 sentences - due Thursday (for most, but not all, groups)

Have a fabulous evening!  :)

9/13/11

What a GREAT day in 4th grade!

This morning in Math, we played a fun game called "Close to 1,000."  Ask your student to see if he/she can explain the game to you!  It was a great game for practicing our addition skills!

In Social Studies, we are making our own maps - we are being cartographers!  The students will design their own island and make a map to represent it.  Their map must have a title, scale, compass rose, and a key/legend which includes at least 5 symbols.  The students can get as creative as they want with this!  The map must be colored and each student should write 2 questions about their map on the back for another student to answer tomorrow!

In Science, we are continuing on with our Nutrition unit.  Go to www.myplate.gov to see the replacement model for the food pyramid.  We are also studying "My Plate" as part of our unit this year!

Many of you have either finished your book report or are in the process of working on your popcorn bag, which is great!  Don't forget that popcorn bag book reports are due Wednesday, September 28.  We will have a popcorn party that day for all students who finished their book report on time and did QUALITY work!

My class is also in the process of filling a jar with marbles to earn a class reward.  Every time the class is caught doing something outstanding, I add marbles to the jar.  On the other hand, I take marbles away when the class is not following directions or expectations.  Once we get the jar filled, we will vote on a class reward!  We are getting SO CLOSE!

Two students have answered the joke on the Jokes/Trivia page on this blog, and they got it correct!  I will not post their answers because I don't want to give it away, but head over to the jokes page and post your answer!  There will be treats on Friday for anyone who tries!

Have a wonderful evening!  See you for Wacky Wednesday tomorrow!  :)

9/12/11

We spent some time today talking about what September 11 means to our nation since the tragedies that took place 10 years ago.  It is such an important part of the history of our nation.  This year's students were either not born yet, or just babies when the 9/11 events occurred, so many of them only know what they've been told.  They were able to see how emotional this topic was for me, as well as many Americans who were old enough to remember that tragic day 10 years ago.  To show our patriotism for our country, we made a red, white and blue unity chain (paper chain) in which all of us wrote a sentence on a link telling why we are proud to be Americans.  Each student also decorated a paper quilt square displaying their patriotism.  Come visit the 4th grade hallway to see our class quilt!


Homework for tonight:
*Math - page 30
*Science - NONE
*Social Studies - NONE
*Language Arts - Popcorn bag book report due September 28
*Mrs. Duvall's Guided Reading Class - Chapter 2 worksheet and Chapter 2 vocabulary word
*Word Journeys - Study new words (students should have a list to bring home with them this evening)


Reminders:
*No school Monday, September 19 - Teacher In-service
*Visit the joke/trivia page on this blog for a new joke!


Have a GREAT evening!  Enjoy this warm weather while it lasts!

9/9/11

Please remember to bring your picture order form tomorrow, and come to school with your best SMILES!  :)

9/6/11

We have had a FABULOUS start to the school year in 4th grade!  I have been VERY impressed with the behavior of my class!  They follow the classroom and school rules, and they do their best on their school work!  I can tell we are going to have a GREAT year!

I have updated the "Important Dates" page, as well as the "Homework" page.  I hope to be better at updating this blog more often now that we are back into the swing of things!  I usually do my best to update daily.

Reminders:
*Our special tomorrow is Media Center (we will start keyboarding next week in place of media center).
*OES Picture Day is this Friday!  Bring in order forms as soon as possible!

Welcome to My Class!

I want to welcome you to 4th grade and to my homeroom! My name is Mrs. Duvall and I will be your homeroom teacher this year! I am excited to teach you lots of new stuff, and I hope we have fun learning together!

This blog will be used frequently in our classroom, by both the students and by me, so I recommend that you put this site in your "Favorites" list and check it daily (or at least weekly). Visit any of the pages on the top of this screen for more specific information on each area. Feel free to ask questions, post comments, or share ideas on any page within this blog. Your positive comments/questions/ideas will not appear on the page until I have approved them, this way I can make sure all comments on the page are appropriate to be viewed by our 4th graders.

I hope this tool will keep parents informed about what's going on in our classroom, and will keep students excited about what they are doing in the classroom each day!  Although this blog is a very quick and convenient way to communicate, I always welcome face-to-face conversations or communication by phone or email as well!

I am SO EXCITED for a new school year and the chance to get to know my new students!  The following video that I have attached is a reminder to all of you that you should be Proud to be a PiONEer!  I know I am!

Proud to Be ONE!