A word about the progress reports....

Homework was a bit of a mess this time. As in, students are not as diligent as they have been in earlier quarters with getting it handed in. Frankly, I was a bit stunned too. I have a high school student check and chart the homework. I am going to have to keep a closer eye on it. They were all doing so well, I just figured....well, I was wrong. 

The good news is: we begin again tomorrow. I give two homework grades per quarter and I just begin again after the first one goes out. So students can earn a 100% for the next round and normally, when I see an effort to turn it around, I will bump up the first grade or allow them to do some makeup. Also, I will drop the lowest non-test grade before report cards come home in March. Also, homework counts for substantially less when there are more grades. So, basically, it's not the end the world, but students need to correct the downward slide and get homework completed and handed in. And I will monitor it a little closer from now on, too. 

Another note: If your child is missing work, it was NOT calculated on the progress report, meaning, it did not count against them. But on student's report cards it will be counted as a "0" and therefore, count against students average. Please, please, please make sure they get late work handed in or made up.

 

Book Report: A word about the upcoming book report and project due on March 12: The format for the auto/biography review is posted under "Pages" in the blog. Please follow these instructions, add vocabulary from the year and make sure students add some type of critical analysis of their person and what they learned. And always check spelling and punctuation. 

 

Project: the "Epic" poem that is due should follow the same basic format as the narrative poem students wrote in class over the last couple weeks. It should include facts from the life of the person's autobiography and give a basic walk through of their life's journey. It should be at least 5 stanzas, but no more than 10 with between 5-8 lines each stanza, again, effort and creativity, spelling and punctuation and vocabulary are what I really look for. The portrait can be any type of artistic of the person student's read about.

Week of 2/25

Hello Everyone! I thought I had escaped the dreaded flu of 2013 until last week.  Yuck! I am sorry I was out all week, although I certainly did catch up on sleep! It was a rough week for me but I think I’m ready to roar back and have some wonderful learning take place in 4^th grade Language Arts!

NEWS FLASH! Please check out the crazy 4B and their wonderful Moustache Valentine's party pictures under "Pages"! That is one nutty crew, love them!

We have fallen behind on Black History Month and therefore, as with most years, we will run into March. In fact, we will without a doubt run into mid to late March J I have many areas of the curriculum I cover using Black artists, poets, musicians, history and narratives, so even though we are not technically in Black history past next week, we will be exploring more in class. We will look at voice in writing, we will work some with figurative language, we will write persuasive essays and letters, and research more about the history and experience of African Americans.  Our culminating event will be a wax museum the week of March  18^th (I will firm up the date as we get a little closer, but students will dress up as a famous Black American and give a short biography of themselves, including a famous quote. There will be no makeup, just clothing and props, as a way of representing one’s character.) This event will be in class during your student’s regular Language Arts class.

Classes will not have vocabulary this week, although we will learn new words and phrases, such as Emancipation Proclamation, abolitionist, Jim Crow laws, the Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance, civil rights, etc… I will test on these phrases and words at the end of the unit.  I will make sure students have a list of what I expect them to know. Students will take notes in their composition books.

The third Book Report is Due March 12. It is a auto/biography. I have posted the format on a blog page, please look at it and follow. The project is an epic poem about your person's life and a portrait. The epic poem is just a poem that follows the famous person's journey through life. It should incorporate at least 7-12 facts about their life. Please use vocabulary from this year!

This is the last week I will collect money for EOG test prep books. They are $16.00 and I very strenuously recommend students buy one. I would also like to thank all of the generous parents who donated extra money to students who cannot cover this right now. Thanks very much.

Talent Show is going to be awesome this year! Keep this date for your calendar: March 15. Tickets go on sale this week!$5 for adults, $3 for students! Dinner will be available. Don’t miss this yearly extravaganza. 

International Festival was rescheduled for tomorrow. This is another wonderful event for students.

4^th grade Social Club meets this Wednesday, until 4:00. I require a note each time,  be sure and send a note soon. I can really only handle around 30 students and I know everyone wants to come, but I must maintain a safe environment.

Progress Reports go home this Wednesday. Once again, be sure and take the number with a grain of salt, especially this round. Normally, I am in class to make sure students get all their work in before progress reports and report cards. Since I was out last week, this safety net has fallen by the wayside. Many students having missing work. I will continue to take the work and adjust the grades as work come in, with the exception of homework, which I do not accept late. Do keep in mind; I dock student’s points for late assignments, so it is always best to get work in on time. Also, as more and more grades are added to the book, low (and high) numbers become less and less meaningful.  I usually drop the lowest classroom or participation grade per quarter before report cards come out.

Week of Feb. 11

Hello and happy Sunday to one and all!

This week we will wrap up Out of the Dust, complete our narrative poem and research paper on the the 1930's. Plus we will enjoy our Valentine Party on Thursday afternoon. Big week! If you haven't already, please go to this website and sign up to bring in a treat for the party.
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B054DADAC2FA64-valentine/7566098

Also this week after school are Talent Show auditions. If you have a student trying out, please know what day they are auditioning and be at school to pick them up by 3:45. These auditions are closed, meaning no one may come and watch. We will have a CD player, a mic and an amp and a keyboard available for our talent! This is an awesome and amazing experience for everyone involved. mark your calendar and save the date: March 15. Talent Show tickets go on sale soon! We will have concessions, dinner will be available for purchase.

Students in 4B and 4C will  have an opportunity to make up to 15 additional points on the Out of the Dust quiz we took last week. Even though we had a period of time students were able to use the book to find answers, some students grades were not reflective of their understanding of the text. Therefore, I will allow students who scored low to take the test home (or in class) and correct answers for an improved grade.

Please check with your student about their homework grade. Many students have been slacking off a bit :)

Our theme for the PTO basket auction is :Sports! Please send in an item for the basket asap! Anything from tickets, to sports paraphernalia, to gift cards to bats and balls are terrific! Support your favorite teams, college and pro, by sending in an item with their logo!

The first meeting of the 4th grade Social Club was awesome! The next meeting will be on Feb. 27th.

Week of Feb. 4

Announcing the Fourth Grade Social Club!

In an effort to allow the children more time to get to know each other, I will host a game day once a month after school. This will be the last Wednesday of the month. Students may bring board games, hand-held and electronic devices (students must be responsible for these, although I will keep them in the closet in my classroom during the day). Or other small gaming devices.  I have chess, checkers, connect-four, play-doh, scrabble flash and puzzles, as well as other educational games.

The club is open to all students who have not had discipline referrals to the office this quarter, although I must limit the number to 30 students at this time. The club will run from 3:15-3:55. I will walk students to the carpool lane at 3:55 for pickup. Please do not be late getting your student. It may affect whether or not they are allowed to participate in the future. Students must bring a note from their parent that they are able to stay after school each time. 

I look forward to spending a little free time with the students.  And a special thanks to Mrs. Jenkins for taking my carpool duty on these days!                                                   

                                 Mrs. Berner

Superbowl Sunday is here! Go Forty-Niners! I hope it's a good game and the best team wins.

We will continue to work on "Out of the Dust", our 1930's research project and for 4B and C, our narrative poem this week. Due to the awards ceremony on Friday, 4B and 4C were not able to take their vocab tests. We will take it tomorrow and all students who need to take this test should be ready on Monday. This includes students who were absent last week and I told they could take the test on Tuesday during study hall. No vocab this week, so we can get caught up.

We will make applesauce on Monday and/or Tuesday, depending on how the vocab test goes.

This week I will give all students a pre-EOG test that is based on the Common Core standards. No one knows exactly how this test will look, as it is brand new for this year. I will score them as soon as I can and get the results  to you all. It will probably be a week or so. I will also begin collecting money for the EOG test booklet I plan to order. The cost is $16. I strongly urge all parents to buy this book.   The test is new this year, and more challenging, and extra practice will benefit everyone.

Talent Show auditions are next week!

Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Adams have decided to go another way with discipline and will no longer be using the "chips" system. Please check with them for more details about their classroom expectations. I will continue to use this system and reward students at the end of the quarter with something special.

Week of Jan 28

I hope everyone stayed safe and warm! I must apologize for Friday's dismissal. The intercom was off in my room (I must have hit the wrong button) and I didn't realize we were dismissing earlier than the planned 12:30 until Mr. Gahagan came to my room looking for students! So, if you were anxiously wondering where your student was, and they were with me, well...we were rearranging furniture and having lunch! I wish I'd known because my ride back to Raleigh that day was treacherous and scary, and very sloooow (it took me over an hour to get home). No fun, hopefully, we'll have a much less eventful week:)

Two Neuse Charter School students lost their mother last week after a long battle with cancer. This is very sad news for all and the family is in need of our support. This week, NCS will be collecting donations for the family. They are in need of monetary donations, food, and or donations (in lieu of flowers) for funeral expenses. If you would like to donate towards the funeral, the check will need to be made out to Parrish and Underwood Funeral Homes. Please put in the memo line the mother's name (Tracy Hausler Tataranowicz). Gift cards are another great way to donate. There will be boxes for food donations and the Booster Mailbox in the front office Monday morning. No monetary donation is too small...Please feel free to drop in to bring dry or can goods or gift cards to Food Lion or any items that you may feel necessary to support. And please take a moment to offer a prayer for the family, I'm sure they would appreciate it. Thanks.

In class this week, we will ramp up our reading of "Out of the Dust" and begin a new research project. Our next research paper will focus on the 1930’s. Students will select one of the following topics and research and write a 5 paragraph research paper. We will follow the same pattern for this paper as we did the last one. Students will create a list of researchable questions about their topic. They will narrow the questions down to 3 solid options. Then they will turn the questions into topic sentences (one for each paragraph of research). I will borrow the Ipads for 1 day and students will find the answers to their questions as well as one fun-fact with which to open their paper. We will practice saying the same thing 3 times in 3 different ways. (Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em.  Tell ‘em .Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.) In an effort to maximize our learning experience, I will only allow 2 students to do the same topic in a class. Each student should select 3 topics they are interested in, if there’s a conflict, we’ll draw from a hat.

GREAT DEPRESSION

THE NEW DEAL

POLITICS

FAMOUS PEOPLE

ART

 ARCHITECTURE

 FADS

FASHION

LITERATURE

POETRY

WOMEN IN THE THIRTIES

BLACK AMERICA IN THE THIRTIES

DUST  BOWL

 MUSIC

RADIO

 SCIENCE

 TECHNOLOGY

THEATER

FILM/MOVIES

We will also make homemade applesauce in class! Please send in an apple or two (or three) this week,  classes will enjoy making a batch of applesauce! 

Vocab words this week:

Spelling/Vocabulary 4A

From “Out of the Dust”

Week of Jan. 28

parched

squirreled

stupor

fidgety

loiter

lurking

astounded

aghast

forsaken

glower

rogue

enticed

scoundrels

rapscallions

bleary

 

Spelling/Vocabulary 4B

From “Out of the Dust”

Week of Jan. 28

squirreled

stupor

loitering

loping

astounded

aghast

succulent

forsaken

conjuror

glower

parched

rogue

enticed

scoundrels

rapscallions

bleary

Spelling/Vocabulary 4C

From “Out of the Dust”

Week of Jan. 28

squirreled

stupor

biding

loitering

parched

lurking

aghast

succulent

forsaken

conjuror

glower

resplendent

rogue

enticed

scoundrels

rapscallions

bleary

Awards Ceremony is this Friday, Feb. 1

Money

Also, remember to send in $8 for the play that will be coming to Neuse Charter on Feb. 13th! This is exciting cultural opportunity for students. The letter that was sent home:

On February 13, the 4^th and 5^th grade student s will have the pleasure of watching a theater production by Touring Theater of North Carolina, called Birds of a Feather.  The show takes children on a multi‐cultural ride through the ages and around the world.  Highlighted with rhymes, rhythms, songs and dances, this original collection of fabulous fables offers glimpses of European, Chinese, Mayan, Indian, and American cultures while demonstrating that while manners and expression vary, human follies and foibles remain the same. 

Also, please look for an order form for a Common Core EOG workbook to come home soon. I recommend everyone buy on of these books, as the test is much more comprehensive and challenging this year. I very much encourage donating a couple extra bucks with your order for those students who cannot swing the cost of this right now. Students will be allowed to complete for homework, although I encourage every student to read, read, read. It is the absolute best thing you can to for success in school, and not just Language Arts!

We will begin Black History Month lessons a week late, and they will probably run into March. The end of January kind of snuck up on me!

Keep practicing for Talent Show auditions, Feb. 11-14th! Show us what you got Neuse Charter School!

 

Week of Jan. 22

My property in Boone on a snowy day.

 IMPORTANT NOTICE: Neuse Charter will release students at 12:00 on Friday, Jan. 25, due to inclement weather concerns. Please be sure to pick up your student on time!!



I hope everyone had a wonderful little mini-vacation. My family and I were in Boone, enjoying the beautiful snowy mountains! I took some really nice pictures, and since we didn't get much snow here, I thought I'd share!

This week we continue learning about the 1930's in the United States. I plan to play a little of the music from the time and show some artwork. Students really seemed to enjoy tying history to their reading and writing. I know I always did, I guess that's why I studied both English and History! Most students will begin writing a narrative historical poem using a mixture of fact and imagination in the next week. We will begin reading 'Out of the Dust" (finally:) this week as well.

I was pleased with our first foray into research and writing an informative essay. Most students understood the format and what we were doing. It was a decent start :) There is much work to be done, however, and we will continue to fine-tune our skills throughout the next few months. I expect everyone to be able to write a short informational essay with no problem before they graduate to 5th grade.

Talent Show auditions are Feb 11-14 after school. Please be advised, this is a quality show, and we want to show the world how much talent we have at Neuse Charter. It is not a time to be silly or unprepared. If you want to be on stage, come prepared with about 2 minutes of the act you want to share. Creativity counts! Talent Show is on March 15, tickets will go on sale in February.

The new quarter begins tomorrow, the 3rd quarter already!!! 4th grade will have some changes to our schedule. The order of classes will change for some, not homerooms. 4B will now have Math 2nd period (from 10:15-11:30) and Language Arts at the end of the day (1:55-3:10). This means 4B will have less time in Language Arts daily. I will probably utilize homeroom and our study hall for additional instructional time.

 Many students in 4A (and some in the other classes too) are not completing homework. It is essential to read everyday. The EOG tests will be more strenuous this year and students will need to be much more fluent readers than many currently are. The only way to become a good reader is to read. It is really that simple. In 4A, I will be focusing much more on reading fluency and using the textbook in class.

Report cards go home this week. Please remember, report cards are based on more than vocab tests and homework. I try very hard to make sure report cards are a reflection of all the language arts, including group work, participation, writing and completing and handing in work. This quarter, I decided to drop the lowest classroom grade for each student. This did not include any tests or assessments, nor did I drop a homework grade. I think we did some very difficult work this quarter and students earned a bit of a break, so kudos to the hard-workers in 4th grade!. :) I was unable to post all my grades until Friday, which means I was unable to send home notice if your student earned a "D" or "F" in class. I will tomorrow, so look for agendas if you are concerned. Awards are Feb.1.

Mrs. Harris (Delaney) has created a wonderful sight for 4th (and 5th )grade classroom needs. Here is the link:
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/4090849A8A92FA13-4thgrade
Thank you very much, Mrs. Harris!

Also, I could use some help grading Words Their Way assessments and filling out cards for all of 4th grade students fro MAPP binders. I must assess each student twice a year and fill out a progress chart for them. It is tedious and boring. I figure if several parents and I break it up, thus spreading out the work, it will go quicker and less painfully. If you can lend a hand, please e-mail me. This can be done at home, and obviously, counts towards volunteer hours!

Week of Jan. 14

I hope everyone got outside on Sunday and enjoyed the wonderful weather. My husband and I took a long walk around the lake near our house. Gotta love North Carolina in January!

This week we begin reading "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse. I will teach the history of the Stock Market crash of 1929, the Great Depression, the dust-bowl and the migration west of many farmers during the 1930"s. We are in full swing of the weather unit and studying literature and informational texts. "Out of the Dust" is a historical novel with many of the events in the book based on facts. It is a sad book that takes place in hard times, although it does have a hopeful ending. The book is written in poetic form and we will read it aloud in class.

As it is a 4 day week, we will not have vocab this week.The quarter ends on Thursday. Make sure you check with your student and their agenda for any missing work. Many students have been telling me they do not have their agenda with them lately. I will post absent work in agendas, but I will not send home a class grade before report cards unless your student has either a "D" or "F". Makeup work loses at least 5 points, more if it is later than 2 weeks overdue.

Reading homework is due this week. Also, keep in mind the 3rd book report is either a biography or autobiography. Correction: The project is an epic or narrative poem about the person featured in the auto/biography and a portrait.. This can be a lot of fun! Costumes encouraged! This project can either be live or on video.

Report cards go home next week, Jan 25, awards is the following week on Friday, Feb. 1.

Talent Show auditions will be in about 2 weeks (I will post the date asap), this year, for the first time, 4th graders are allowed to audition! If you child wants to show off their skills, make sure they start rehearsing now. The show is competitive and we don't have space for everyone who auditions, so make sure your child has a polished act to share!

New Info: Talent Show Auditions are Feb.11-14. Sign up sheets will be posted soon!

Link for the American Experience video we watched in class today about the Dust Bowl:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/