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Ms. Kathryn Bonzo » About Ms. Bonzo

About Ms. Bonzo

 Welcome to 4th Grade!   Raise the Roof!
 
     A little background: My teaching career started in St. Augustine, Florida, after graduating from the University of South Alabama. Then, my husband and I lived, taught, and traveled overseas for almost a decade in Algeria, Singapore, and the Dominican Republic before coming to Idaho.  We moved here in 1994 with our daughter and have really enjoyed being involved in the community and participating in all kinds of outdoor opportunities. 
 
    I have taught and coached kids from preschool to high school. I graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching majoring in History from the University of in 1999 and have always continued to add to my professional and content knowledge.
 
     A little about the present at MCS: The students in 4th Grade get to integrate what they have learned from K-3. It is a special year developmentally because kids at this age want to be active and make a difference in the world. One way that I like to help grow their curiosity and interests is to take them off campus for field trips and do my best to bring in experts (which are often parents:)).
 
 

Classes

Posts

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Snow Melting Experiment
 
The kids predicted how long it would take their little cup of packed snow that weighed on average about 16 Skittles. We kept the snow amount as 'the' constant and put the cups in a place away from everyone in our 70-degree classroom.
The cups are checked every 1/2 hour. 
They wrote the procedure steps and we talked about how they can set up experiments at home and figure out ways to build scales for measurement and where to put their experiments.
It will be interesting to see the results and their conclusions when we follow up tomorrow. 
 
a
Josilyn and Haylee catch up with drop-offs! This is 21 pounds.
 
The Trex competition is in full swing (lasts until April 15) and we here at MCS are just doing our part to keep plastic out of landfill and waterways. 
All the 4th graders do a fabulous job of taking care of the 8 boxes in the Middle School and Elementary School for collection.
a
Dissecting Owl Pellets-- Mattea, Zoe, and Felicity in the thick of finding cool parts!
 
The kids LOVED finding out what was inside each. They were surprised at the number of remains in each! It was so interesting.
So, if your child brings home an owl pellet that they find, they are easy to sanitize. 😁The kids have the info in their planners!🦉
a
Aubree, Henry, Calvin, Kyleigh, and Taya working together to rake leaves at Good Samaritan this afternoon.🍁
The kids filled up the back of the pick-up in about 45 minutes and that kind of service was super appreciated by the grounds staff.
 
🌞The kids made a big pile too to jump in! We had great weather which was really nice!
a
This is what 2300 pounds or 1 ton plus 300 pounds of baled plastic film looks like! This is 3 bales! 
Every bit we collect makes a difference not loading up landfills or waterways. :) 
I took this picture at the Moscow Recycle Center a few days ago to show what the material looks like before it is hauled to Safeway-- 🙌our helpful partner-- and then the bale is transferred to Trex.
Thanks and keep recycling and reducing plastic consumption!
 
 
 
a
1913 Historic Classroom in the 1912 Center-- A School Day
 
The kids had Poetry, Research, Arithmetic, and Calisthenics, and a visit from Mr. McConnell, plus they worked with nib pens and ink and wrote a letter about their day.
It was so interesting. Thank you to the teachers!!
I thought it would be fun to make the picture look like it was 'back in the day.'😊 
a
Spirit Week was so fun with great participation!
 
The kids really showed so much spirit together! Today in Morning Meeting they described themselves (with ELA flair) by stating, "I am dramatically (adverb)____sweet_________ (adjective)! That was my statement since I was Witch Candy.🤭 
Here, they are posed in that description!
 
Conferences will be interesting. We have spent time reviewing and reflecting on work over the quarter that they will share with you.
See you Monday and Tuesday!
Thank you, Ms. Bonzo🦉
a
Collecting Native Plant Seeds in the Garden at the Appaloosa Museum
 
Calvin and Aubree are Fieldtrip partners and were working together to collect all kinds of seeds that they will be able to plant at their homes. That way we increase the flowers for the pollinators and regrow vegetation that is part of the Palouse area.
The field trip was great and thanks to Lauren McCleary who taught the kids art and collection techniques!
a
Adjectives to describe Clarissssa's shedded skin
 
Here Ayden and Auria greet and share what they think the skin looked like or felt like. We collected 22 different adjectives and then using a T Chart sorted the adjectives into Factual or Opinion. That way the kids used a language arts activity and then got to think in a scientific way to sort the words.
There were some great descriptions-- damp, diamondy, thin, strange, and lightweight.
a
Jesper and Kyleigh testing the affect of the shape of paper on how it falls to the ground
 
The whole class worked with their job partner to follow the steps in the experiment, collect the data, and analyze their results. They did a good job following the procedure and working together. 
The reflection was fun-- 1 hour to prepare for the experiment and the experiment only took about 7-10 minutes! 
a
Recess Science with a Grass Spider
As we work through the Scientific Method or Process-- we started with a question. What kind of spider is this? (Step 1) Felicity brought this little critter over and we wondered about it and what we knew. (Step 2) Everyone had some experience with spiders and some information. I used my handheld mobile computer to look up images.
This was a great start to thinking about the steps in science and how everyday types of discoveries or things we share can be the start of deeper, and more systematic thinking.
a
Bring A Playful Attitude to New Things
In Morning Meeting, I challenged the kids with a fun task-- to balance an object with their partner and move with it. They had a great time talking together which is the cooperation that is needed when you do anything, especially something new. 
We circled up after everyone had been finding many new ways to balance the ball or item and discussed that they persevered and had fun at the same time. I asked them to take that attitude into all the work we do at school. 
It did give them pause and a moment to consider this new idea.
a
Latah Library Field Trip
 
We headed to the Public Transit Bus ready to take notes and check out books. The tour was terrific as usual and the kids learned a lot about how items are processed and what other types of things are available at the library.
They did great and we had time to play at Friendship Square!
 
 
a
Doing the Math Practice Standard #1-- Problem Solving and Persevering!
 
The kids at the board, Jesper, Sarah, Katie, and Zoe all showed good thinking and learning. They are getting to communicate Math which is a lot of talking and reading.
 
🦉
a
Fantastic Performers from the Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble!
Festival Dance did it again bringing a suburb group to our community.
 
The kids learned so much about the language of dance on this first field trip!
Our second field trip is next Friday to the Latah Library. Details were sent on Sept. 2 by email and the kids will have info in their Planners when they come home to you tomorrow. Hope you can meet us there!
 
Thanks, Ms. Bonzo🦉
Check out my blogs from previous years:
2017-2018 School Year 
2016-2017 School Year
2015-2016 School Year
2014-2015 School Year