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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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I can't say enough about how much modeling math equations helps the kids!
 
          Learning Division is so interesting, but takes more drawing or creating models to show what is happening. In the picture here, the whole class was working with their Job Partner on a few problems. Each group was given a flat (worth 100 units of Skittles :)), a stick (value: 10 units of Skittles), and a set of 20 single units (representing one Skittle each).
                Then, the kids were given a few problems to demonstrate with their partner. That helps them talk the ideas. It was hard and it is so useful.
         If you are able to have the kids show you, division, please do. It really strengthens their understanding of how the operation works and how it is applied.
 
Please let me know if you would like to be able to check out some of the manipulatives for home practice. You can write in your child's Planner.
Thanks, Ms. Bonzo
 
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Using the Document Camera to Model Math Problems
 
We are getting really into Division and being able to show through a drawing with tally marks or using the Base Ten Blocks is the way to know if a student understands regrouping and remainders. Lilly jumped right up to do a problem I posed. It was great to see her struggle and persevere through the math. She rechecked her work. She talked through her problem-solving. It was a Raise the Roof moment.  :)
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Recess--- Wow the snow was so great!
 
The kids built a snow person and Kylor lent his hat, Michael made the face. It was really fun for them to work together! 
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Using a Rubric to grade Ms. Bonzo's Bar Graph
 
There is a lot going on in this photo.
The kids are talking cooperatively about the criteria list and rubric and grading my work on the whiteboard. They had 10 minutes to discuss the 5 parts and come up with a total score. Then they wrote the score on the board and we compared what they thought as a class.
After time was up, they went through and gave reasons for their scores. It was great analysis practice and what they will do with their own bar graphs tomorrow.
Practicing how to take things apart and decide if they meet or don't meet a proficient standard is a skill we work on a lot.
Plus, it is always fun to grade your teacher. :)
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Clarissssa meeting the rest of the 4th Grade Angelina passing her to Ruby.
 
The class has been so gentle with our class pet and with each other as they learn about my 15-year-old ball python. The snake was relaxed throughout the half-hour of getting to meet each student. It is a wonderful thing to see. We talk about how Clarissssa lives, the original habitat she is from and watched a National Geographic Kids on Pythons ( 5 minutes() that has a great bit on the form and function of a snake's jaw.
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Choose Love Curriculum
 
Ms. M comes in weekly to teach ways to cope, think, share, and be more empathetic and able to function in life. We know kids need to learn how to figure out themselves and the world around them. 
In the picture, the kids are implementing a strategy called CALM. The letters stand for Cooperate, Ask Questions, Listen, and Move on the decision.
The whole school is getting to work with Ms. M each week. This is great mental health education.
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Finishing up Multiplication with a Folktale of Very Smart Math Thinking
 
As the second quarter comes to a close, there is a fabulous tale about multiplication in our literature book. It has to do with the doubling of a product. The kids use the calculators to see into what place value period they can be used for and then they get to experience the math. They are modeling with rice grains! Oh, there was much grumbling and all gained a complete acknowledgment at how the math thinking was real problem-solving!
 
 
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Using the Document Camera in a Writers' Circle to critique the Life of a  Mountain Man Paragraph
 
The kids are getting really good at taking in thoughts and feedback from classmates about their work. Today, using the criteria list to guide the comments, compliments, or questions, the writers listened to help make their paragraph more clear or organized. 
       Here, Brooklyn is listening to Kylor and adding or changing her rough draft. Other students listen and work to make changes as examples are up on the SmatBoard. 
Interactions with this content strengthen and reinforce the importance of cooperation and how we learn together. 
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Moscow Charter School Students really shined brightly in MLKJr. Contest
 
This year's prompt was hard and interesting-- combining the understanding of representation and voting rights, plus the idea of how to include and help create a just world-- Whew!!-- deep topics!
 You can see, we had two 4th graders-- Michael and Efthymis represent for us!!
This, the 38th Annual MLKJr.  The presentation, speakers, and awards were as uplifting as ever!
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Clarissssa gets to meet the 4th Graders--really!!
 
We made it through 11 kids getting to meet her. The kids love holding our class pet, We talked a lot about how to care for her and other questions about snakes in general. 
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Student Morning Meeting Leaders- Trenten and Noah--
 
The 4th Grade has really grown as a class and the next step is for students to lead the Morning Meeting.
In the picture, the students are doing deep focused breathing led by one of the student leaders. This is something that we have done at least once a day all year long. We have talked about the value of breathing--physiologically
it tells our brain we are safe and can think about things.
After that, the kids follow what the leaders have designed for the four parts of the meeting which are the Greeting, Sharing or a Reading, Activity, and Announcements. The whole time is planned out for a thirty-minute meeting.
 
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Growing our Ice Skating Skills at Palouse Ice Rink
 
We have been looking forward to this for many weeks and it was just a wonderful time of practice and fun, support and learning. 
There were 7 total parents, grandparents, or siblings that showed up too which made it more fun! Thank you all for coming!
Before we left, we did a survey and everyone has been to the ice rink so we talked about helping to raise money for a full-size rink. The kids were surprised by the amount!
The other idea we surveyed was the level of skill as an individual ice skater-- how do you rate yourself? The choices were 1,2, or 3 with 1 as low (2 kids), 2 as developing or in progress (10 kids), and 3 as " I only fall when I want to :)) (6 kids). 
 We left wanting more!!--everyone wanted to go again!!
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T Chart of Criteria and Constraints with our Raincatcher Experiment
 
After 3 days of figuring out how to set up and experiment and carry it out, the kids sorted what they learned by making a list in each area. Tomorrow, we will draw conclusions and make some claims and evidence about this part of the Scientific Process.
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Rain-catcher Experiment-- Prediction, Location, and Design
 
After a lot of discussion about how to set up an experiment; we did one that was a great failure and gave us lots to talk about, the kids were able to do the create the right model to collect precipitation for 24 hours. Wow, did their predictions change from yesterday! They have a much better idea of how much could be collected.
They created several design ideas and after discussing the pros and cons of criteria and constraints (the 2  basic principles of engineering anything) for the science experiment, they figured out what would work best. It was all about building consensus too. Seeing this group grow knowledge and talk about what works is so interesting. These 4th Graders are making big progress in listening to each others' ideas and problem-solving together.
 
 P.S. Ice Skating Field trip reminder:  This Friday from 10 - 11 a.m. at the Palouse Ice Rink. Info in the Planners. Please join us if you can!
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Rubik's Cube Mosaic is a great STEAM project!
 
Today, after 3 months of learning about the parts, sequence, and the ability to do math and art with the 3 by 3-inch square cubes, the kids really created a beautiful glass mosaic.
 
 
Check out my blogs from previous years:
2017-2018 School Year 
2016-2017 School Year
2015-2016 School Year
2014-2015 School Year