So much competition and fun at the District Track Meet!
They can't wait until next year!
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
MCS Grades 3-5 School Play
The whole night was so fun and the kids loved performing at the terrific UI venue-- Hartung Theater!
Way to Use the Criteria List Wyatt! He has all the tools!
We read The Whipping Boy and have done so much writing. The kids are finishing up this final project by writing about how one of the main characters changes during the story. They have to include a list of things. That means they need to have compound and complex sentences, adjectives, and adverbs, cite pages and give details that help the reader flow with what happened to either Prince Horace or Jemmy.
Bob the Pinata was a great Social Studies and Math Lesson
Samirah wanted to help us celebrate and today the kids took over 50 swings to get this very full llama to open. Then, like on Halloween, the kids shared the candy equally. This idea reinforced cooperation. The dividend was about 374 pieces of candy divided by 17 kids 22 pieces per kid! They were allowed to eat three at school. Check the backpacks because that is where the rest are!
Thanks Samirah and Family for the sweet end of our year!
Reading while waiting for public transit to get back to school after visiting the Moscow Public Library!
The kids got to search for books and materials. They were given a great tour of the organization of the library (upstairs) and the way books are processed (downstairs).
They brought their library cards too! They were so excited to check out two books each.
After lunch on the library steps, we went to Friendship Square for some recess.
Thank you to Ms. Snow for helping to get this field trip planned!
Making their own protractor
Today the kids were given directions to measure green and yellow paper-- 4"x1", use a 'brad' to create the vertex, cut arrow points at the ends, and highlight the edges so that they could go outside and notice the angles of the climbing play structure and the geodome. Before we went outside, they showed all the angles of 90,180,270,45, and 315 with their green and gold protractor.
They were put into 2 separate groups and each came back and did a sketch of their structure and noted which angles they found the most and least and other observations.
They were surprised that one structure had one type of angle and the other a majority of another. Hope you see them using it around your homes!
Particial Quotient Practice with a Partner
Here Grayson and Declan are looking at the structure of the division problem and how math facts can be used to figure out the solution. Figurative language helps to remember lots of elements of this strategy.
We discussed how differently they all work and how to check the math with arrays. We discussed remainders and what they mean. It was good practice.
McConnell Mansion History Lessons
The kids learned about the life and times of the people who built and lived in the house and how the Latah Historical Society creates this space for learning and activities.
Our docent, Sandra Kelly, was an interesting storyteller and reminded the kids about the research that she does to learn more so that she can share all the things she learns.
The kids were amazed by the technology of the time and how the house and its things are artifacts of meaning.
Our future representatives - Mayor Clover and the City Councilmembers
After visiting the McConnell Mansion led by our Docent Sandra Kelly, we ate lunch at the 1912 Great Room (Thanks Jenny Kostroff!) because it was pouring rain. We went to the 3rd Street Gallery in City Hall and viewed the installation there called Restoration. I knocked on her door and City Clerk, Laurie Hopkins, talked about her job and then let the kids into the chamber. It was a good conversation about the building and what government does.
Then, we walked to Friendship Square and the kids got to play there.
Once back in our classroom, we talked about why this field trip went so well. They said it was because they did what they were supposed to do-- school thinking and doing! Yay!
Thanks to the parents and grandparents that joined us!
JT Van Leuven and Bees
This UI Biologist came and talked about how bacteria and viruses are part of the insect population and he has bees that he studies. The kids who are already familiar with pollination got to go more in-depth with what happens with microscopic life.
Thanks to Melissa Snow for helping us get him in as a speaker!
Thanks to Melissa Snow for helping us get him in as a speaker!
This is a great example of kids' work!
Creating a Topic Sentence for The Whipping Boy Project Paragraphs that go through individual creation, cooperative analysis, and whole-group reflection.
The sentences that you see on the board are collaborative work. The formula for a strong topic sentence needed to be applied-- strong subject and specific focus. Then we went over what worked and what the other sentences were doing, whether they summarized or added particular facts from the story.
We are on our final project. It will include a few paragraphs, Pointillism, a math model, and two selected similies from the novel that we read in Literature Circle.
For this whole story reading, the kids were put into three groups for our Literature Circle. Some read with me, some with Ms. Buehler and Ms. VanGuten. The kids learned to watch the plot's events through the lens of the conflict between the two main characters. They learned that each character grew and changed in the story. They loved discussing with each other.
Literature Circles are a wonderful shared class experience!
MCS Talent Show organized by the Middle School ASB Thanks to Mr. Collins and Sunjay for hosting- the corny jokes were appreciated!
The 4th Grade participated with great fun! Almost all of the class participated! Each group put a lot of practice into their 'talents' before today's performance-- and you could tell! T
Here Deakin and Wyatt shared an entertaining skit with Wyatt telling jokes and being a very expressive and able MC for the two, and Deakin providing comedic support and showing his ability to stay focused by throwing up and catching a baseball over 35 times with the audience counting.
These two students had worked out how to perform together which is at the heart of learning how to cooperate. They both listened to each other and spoke honestly and with empathy to each other. I am proud of how they helped each other do so well!
Imagination, Rubberbands, and Upsidedown stools
I created a game to show the kids how easy it is to create fun games. I keep all the rubber bands that come from our newspapers-- and brought in about 3 inches worth. I told them I have 5 times that amount at home. Then, the kids were divided into partner teams with 2 rubber bands each. They shoot as many times as they can in 30 seconds. If they landed their rubberband in the outer ring, 1 point, and the inner ring for 2.
They said they liked the fast pace and cooperation!!
4th Graders know how to sort the recyclable plastic film
During the morning when our jobs are getting done, Liam and Benja checked in the collection boxes and made sure that there wasn't 'hopeful' recycling material there. They know that crinkly plastic is not acceptable and made sure that all the material that is weighed and sent to Trex is the right stuff!! Yay for 4th graders being so responsible!!
It's only Thursday and with this drop-off of plastic film, Lila and Heidi have hauled 67 pounds this week!
Check out my blogs from previous years: