"Well?" boomed Santa. "Have all the children from Montana been good this year?" (Opening line from the book I read aloud today :0))

Hi there. Happy Monday! Gotta love waking up to that white stuff and slick black ice roads. I am glad everyone made it safe and sound! Hoping Dominic is doing ok, and that Espen took off in a jet plane before the storm hit! Also hoping Avery is snuggled warm in her bed eating a TON of ice cream! :0)

Today was kind of a crazy mixed up day. We had music x 2 today due to Mrs. Waddell having concerts with the little ones this week. Therefore, we will not have it on Wednesday this week. They started watching the Nutcracker in class. Kids always love to study that movie. Mrs. Waddell is always so creative with her lessons!

Then we went to an orchestra concert. It was pretty fun to see one of the kiddos play Do You Want To Build a Snowman on the violin. Wowzers!!! Pretty advanced stuff. Many kids raised their hands when I asked who thought they might want to play an orchestra instrument next year. I know I love listening to Emma play the violin and saxophone both! Which reminds me, I will be gone on Thursday morning to her band concert. I will be back after lunch.

In spelling, we went over their holiday words. It was funny that many kids didn't know who Scrooge was or eggnog. We got them all cleared up though. :0) Kids were given a sheet with some of their spelling words on it. They then decided on a number between 6 and 10 and wrote it beside each word. That was how many words they needed to include in that sentence using that word. We talked about how we can add adjectives to make sentences longer.

We ended the day doing two activities. We graded their Christmas listening activity they did last week. They had to rate their listening skills on a scale from 1 to 4. One being not so good and 4 being got every detail perfect. Then they had to analyze their data and determine overall what kind of a listener they were: Always listen to the teacher, Most of the time listen to the teacher, Some of the time listen to the teacher, or I don't listen to the teacher. Finally, they had to come up with strategies that they could use to become a better listener. Now, they need to show you. They need to show you some of their mistakes as well as their strategies. Please make a big deal about this. Listening is always an issue in the 4th grade. Then sign the grade sheet and they know to bring it back tomorrow. The fun activity sheet may stay home.

Homework tonight is their book report, part one. It is completely different this time. In class, I read a short book called Santa is Coming to Montana to them. We then found some fun action verbs in the sentences. Their assignment tonight is to do the same with their book and write them in their stocking template until it is full. I had each child find three in their book so they knew what they were doing. They need to be ACTION verbs. No am, is, are, was or were. :0) Here is my example. Finally, they need to color the fun stuff on top and write Action Verbs in the top space of the stocking. Again, this is only part one! They do not need to cut it out yet. Thanks.



Have a  great night!
Mrs. Grewell