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:)).

Chinese Teacher Choo and Ms. Bonzo on the last day of class! She was a great teacher for the 4th grade. — Teacher Choo, our Chinese Teacher from the Confucius Institute from the University of Idaho

Cooperative Learning at MCS — Starting with Newsela.

KidsGive visits in November — KidsGive Bar graph of where the 4th gave money.

Sticky Note Bar graph that shows where the fourth gave money. — We love animals!

Planners are used to reflect on each day-- called TBaA-- Think Back and About. You can see we do a lot of academics! — Planners are used to reflect on each day-- called TBaA-- Think Back and About. You can see we do a lot of academics

Off our our first field trip. We went to the Appaloosa Horse Museum using public transit. The class went on 14 trips for learning this year!

Taking notes is a big part of the trips!

Reviewing notes from a field trip is reinforce concepts and share what others have learned is really important to do.

Latah County Historical Society is an important resource to our class and Docent Gary talked to the kids about the technology in the house. — Latah County Historical Society is an important resource to our class and Docent Gary talked to the kids about the technology in the house

Typical 4th Grade Day-- Working together!

Classes

4th Grade

Posts

Clarissssa loves Social Studies!🐍She needs to move around and stretch-- just like us. :)

While I was working in the classroom yesterday, I let Clarissssa, a 19-year-old ball python, have some exercise time and she headed over to the bookshelves which meant she was ready for school too!

The kids will see her in the tank each day and get to meet her (in person) in January, but when I feed her and clean, I let her explore.

See you all tonight for Open House!

Full Steam Ahead! This is our 2023-2024 MCS Theme

It is here! In one week, we will be on our second day of school together! Yay!

Here is a picture of the Planner that is used to write the Think Back and About or TBaA!! for each day. Also, we were given wonderful pencil pouches from Bridge Bible Fellowship.

We will live in a wonderful community and being back at school is totally part of wonderfulness!

See you soon, Ms. Bonzo

Realistic Fiction Presentations

Abby reading to the class...

Each student read what they had been working on that followed the plotline. Each received feedback about their characters or problem.

This was a good and difficult writing assignment with a lot of revisions and gaining useful communication skills.

A fun way for the kids to experience their last full day of 4th grade!

...The more you play with language, the more fun it is-- kids are super focused in this nonverbal activity...

Group Thinking and Sharing!

ELA in Action-- Charades-- Picture 1 of 3

3 groups as we wrap up the year--excellent storytelling and cooperation!

The Play is about to start!!

Thanks Ms. Fisher for such a professional and fun experience for all the MCS kids!

Docent Sandra Kelly does interesting storytelling about the McConnell Mansion-- a great day of learning!!

🌠StarArt🌃 with Ms. Jones☄🌌

The kids had a treat today as they learned about the galaxies of our universe in the mobile planetarium ---art and science!

Thanks to the city for allowing all the MCS kids the use of this wonderful 'space' too! (Get it!!😉)

Measuring and Converting--Garden Plot Math

The kids have been working together really well. Kyleigh and Katie are great examples of being tuned-in students!

Mini Field Trip yesterday for a Science Connection in Morning Meeting-- It all starts with a Question...How many plots are there in the City's Community Garden?

Hugo and Taya listening to each other about their Realistic Fiction Story.

All the kids have learned so much about how to work with a partner and how that gets them to think more deeply about their own work. It is good to see this growth.