Here's what's happening this week...

Picture Retakes - Wednesday, Nov. 16th

Book Orders due Friday

Don't forget your instruments for band lessons on Wednesday!

4th Grade Superheros

I am so proud of our 4th grade superheros! Thank you for being such great role models and always following KES!

Recycling Helpers

A big shout out to our 4th grade recycling helpers! You guys rock!

Halloween Word Problems

Today we worked on multiplication as comparison in math. After solving some word problems I asked students to write their own Halloween word problem and solve it. When they finished, they used Google Drawing to create an image that supported their problem. This was a nice extend activity that allowed students to use their creativity and shapes to create a Halloween themed image.

Open House Presentation

Thank you all for coming tonight! Here is the presentation from tonight.

Directions on how to sign up for Remind is included in the presentation!

Grade 4 Open House Presentation

Mrs.Finnerty

Band Rental Options

Since rental night and open house conflict, here are three ways to rental your child's instrument without going to rental night. Instruments will be delivered to Kittredge if you use one of these three ways!  No need to go pick them up!

1. Go to Wood Bros in Allendale and turn in rental form in person!

2. Go online to either:
https://www.gerrysmusicshop.com
https://www.woodbrosmusic.com/Rentals.htm

3. Call -
Gerry's Music 1-800-724-7402
Wood Bros Music 413-447-7478

Remember if you choose one of these options you do not have to go to rental night!

Any questions email Mrs. Gillespie mgillespie@cbrsd.org

Showing Our Learning With Google Drawing

For the past two days we have been reviewing arrays. Students have been working on arrays and equal groups using Google Drawing. While strengthening their math skills students have also been strengthening their computer skills. Students are getting used to the the two finger right click on the Chromebooks track pad and are using the computer shortcuts (ctrl c and ctrl v) to cut and paste! I love seeing their creativity and personality come through in their work!

Sneak Peak At Our Classroom!

I have been working hard this week to set up our classroom for a new school year. I am so pleased with how it looks so far. Everything is almost set, I am just waiting for the custodian to help me with a couple of projects before it's perfect. Here are a few pictures! I am most pleased with the new set up of our library and the new reading nook! I can't wait to see you all in a few weeks!

Mrs. Finnerty

Kai's Journey to Gold Mountain

Read about Kai's experience at Angel Island...

4th Graders Free Admission to National Parks

Today we concluded our immigration unit by using Google Maps to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. This would be a GREAT day trip or overnight this summer! You can enter through New York City or New Jersey (much easier). 4th graders have free admission to ALL national parks so this summer would be a great time to venture out to a National Park around us! https://www.everykidinapark.gov/

Mrs. Finnerty

Library Field Trip

Yesterday we took a walking field trip to the Hinsdale Library! We learned a little bit about how the library is organized and what is available through the library. Students participated in a scavenger hunt around the library. Then we all left with our own library cards! I hope they get a lot of use over the summer!

Good Luck Battle of the Books Contestants!!

Today is the day! Good luck to all our Battle of the Book contestants in grades 3 - 5. We are so proud of you!

Field Trip Information

Field Trip Information

Students will be hiking a portion of Mt. Greylock, ending at the top by the observatory!

On Tuesday, June 7th the fourth grade will be taking a field trip to Mt. Greylock. We will depart Kittredge by 9:00 and will return by 1:30 p.m. Please read the following carefully so your child is prepared for this trip!

Students will need…

• comfortable sneakers or hiking boots (it can be very muddy and wet so please wear old sneakers that you don’t mind getting dirty!) NO FLIP FLOPS
• comfortable hiking clothes (please dress in layers, it may be cool in the morning but HOT in the afternoon!)
• a cold lunch (we will eat lunch at the top!) Please do not pack anything that needs to be refrigerated.
• 2 water bottles (one to keep on the hike and one for after)
• to wear sunscreen (students may bring bug spray)

Students may bring a camera but Kittredge will not take responsibility for any lost, stolen or broken cameras.

I am looking forward to a great day!!

Mrs. Finnerty    

Final State and Capital Quiz

It's time for our final state and capital quiz! The students are prepared and ready to tackle all 50 states! To help prepare of this test I have broken it into two sessions.

Tuesday, May 17th - Students will be responsible for identifying all 50 states on a map.

Friday, May 20th - Students will be responsible for naming the capitals of all 50 states.

We have spent a lot of time preparing for this test in school. Students have many resources to prepare including map apps, Quizlet, and laminated maps.

Please take 15 - 20 minutes each night to review!

Mrs. Finnerty

Upcoming Events

I am still looking for 1 or 2 more parents to join us on our field trip to Mt. Greylock on Tuesday, June 7th. It will be a short, easy hike to the summit. We will leave Kittredge at 9:00 and return by 1:15.

Math PARCC - May 23, May 24, May 31, June 1

Battle of the Books - June 3rd

Spring Concert - Wednesday, June 8th 1:30

Field Day - Thursday, June 9th

Last Day of School - Wednesday, June 15th (full day)

Mrs. Finnerty

New Messaging Tool

Families I need your help! I am always looking for ways to improve communication between school and home. During the last few weeks of school I will be trying out a new messaging tool called Remind. Remind will allow me to send messages and reminders directly to your phone or e-mail. I will use this tool to remind you about

• upcoming tests/quizzes
• district/school events
• field trips
• general school information

Your information is always kept private and I won’t be able to see your phone number. At the end of the year, I will ask for some feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of this tool. Directions on how to sign up for the messages will be sent home Monday. You can also sign up by visiting this site https://www.remind.com/join/mfinner.

Mrs. Finnerty

Battle of the Books

Kittredge is getting ready for Battle of the Books on June 3rd! These 4th graders stayed after school for a half hour just to read and prepare. Now that's determination!

Science Outdoors

What a great day to conduct a Science investigation outdoors!! Today we learned about erosion and deposition using stream tables. This was the perfect investigation to take outside. We learned that clay deposits farther away than sand. Because sand is heavier, it doesn't travel as far.

Using Google Maps to Virtually Visit and Tour Colleges

We had a great time yesterday using Google Maps to virtually visit colleges. It was college/career t-shirt day in the district so it was a great opportunity to talk about what careers students are interested in. From there we searched for colleges near and far that had programs that matched our career choices. Students visited and toured UMASS Amherst, MIT, Berklee College of Music, Oxford University, Penn State, Massachusetts Firefighting Academy and University of Wisconsin just to name a few! I loved the conversations it started and how amazed students were while viewing college campuses!

Historical Fiction Book Clubs

We were so excited to start our Historical Fiction Book Clubs today! Check out the new information under the reading tab to see what we learned today! We began this unit using picture books. The mentor text we are using is Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti. Book clubs are reading, The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, The Harmonica by Tony Johnson or The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida.

Mrs. Finnerty

College/Career T-Shirt Day

As many of you know May 1st is the deadline for seniors to make their final decision for their first year of college! To support our seniors the district is having a college/career t-shirt day on Monday, May 2nd. Wear your favorite college t-shirt, career t-shirt OR your Kittredge Cub t-shirt. Let's support our seniors! Also, it's never too early to talk about college and careers!

Mrs. Finnerty

PARCC ELA Tests

There was a slight change in our PARCC schedule. Testing dates are as follows...

Thursday, April 28th
Friday, April 29th
Monday, May 2nd

If your child seems nervous, reassure them this test will not have any significant impact on them. All they can do to prepare is get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast and pack an extra healthy snack to be eaten before the test!

Mrs. Finnerty

Are you following us on Twitter?

Want to know what we are working on in class? Interested in seeing us connect with other classrooms? Follow us on Twitter @gr4learners! You can also catch our Twitter feed a little ways down on the right hand side of the home page. Our students Tweeters are doing an amazing job! It's great to give the students a voice and a chance to be heard by a broad and potentially global audience! It also teaches students how to interact positively using social media. They are establishing a positive digital footprint that will be necessary for them to secure a job and potentially get into college.

Mrs. Finnerty

Reviewing States and Capitals with Kahoot

We LOVE using Kahoot to review our states and capitals. After today's review I think we will all rock the state and capital quiz this afternoon!

Waiting For the Next Question!

Focused and Ready

View of Student Device

View of Question

Taekwondo Belt Ceremony

For the last 6 weeks the 1st, 3rd and 4th grade students have been participating in Taekwondo in PE. Wednesday, April 6th there will be a ceremony to honor the students' accomplishments. Please join us for the ceremony at 6:00pm in the school gym. Students should arrive at 5:30 to get dressed.

Please return the participation slip that was sent home on Thursday! Let me know if you need another copy.

Mrs. Finnerty

Infographics!!

A few students have spent the last two weeks working on an infographic to support their persuasive writing. Students were shown one example and given a few pieces of advice. Other than that, they were left along to create a visual to support their writing. Students created surveys in Google Forms and shared it with Grades 3 - 5. They used the information they collected to help them with their infographic. After a quick lesson on text boxes and Google Drawing, students set off to create these visual pieces. I loved seeing the students search for images that were labeled for reuse! I'm really proud of what the students produced with little guidance and support!

Colonial Theatre Field Trip

Please return your permission slip for our field trip to the Colonial Theatre next week!

Mrs. Finnerty

Math Test Postponed Until Wednesday, March 30th

Topic 12 Math test has been moved to Wednesday, March 30th!

Mrs. Finnerty

Debate

Today we held our debate about the Boston Massacre. We've been researching and learning about the Boston Massacre from the perspective of the colonists and the perspective of the British soldiers. We crafted our ideas using the following phrases to help us...

I take the position that...

My first reason for this is...

My evidence for this is...

Our debatable idea was "Should the British soldiers be tried for murder?"

Check out these videos as students presented their position and the other side responded with evidence to disprove them. Everyone had a chance to share today! Also check out the students who took the side supporting the British soldiers. They decided on their own to wear red to show their support and appear united! I saw a lot of great work today! 

Our First Tweet

We sent off our first tweet this afternoon! We talked about who were are and what our purpose on Twitter is. Together we crafted our first post and created the hashtag #KittredgeCubLearners. We also found two other classrooms to follow. One classroom mentioned Wonder as one of their favorite books. Hannah was our first student tweeter. We helped Hannah write a tweet to this classroom to share that we are reading Wonder and LOVING IT! You can follow us on Twitter @gr4learners or follow our Twitter feed on the right hand side of this page (just below Follow By E-Mail). We can't wait to see if they respond! 

Mrs. Finnerty

Did you know...

Did you know that if you have read 20 minutes each afternoon/night that we have been in school, you would have read 2,360 minutes!! That doesn't include weekends, holidays or vacations! What if you read an extra 5 minutes each of these days? You would have read an extra 900 minutes!

This was a conversation we had today. When there is no written homework assigned, I often hear "We have no homework tonight!" This is incorrect...we always have 15-20 minutes of reading to do each night. Some nights when there are no tests to study for and no written homework (like tonight) students may be asked to read longer (30 minutes).

The only way to get better at something is to practice. Students should be reading and practicing skills they learned in class. But most importantly, my hope is that students will find a love for reading (if they haven't already) and become life long readers!

Mrs. Finnerty

Surprise Band Concert at Lunch

The Kindergarten, First and Second grades were surprised with a band concert at lunch today! I was so impressed with how well the band played the Chicken Dance. Everyone was up and dancing! What a great way to celebrate Music in the Schools Month! We have such talented students at Kittredge!