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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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Terrific Update! 39 lbs dropped off this morning and the tally that we are over TWO TONS of plastic material for this school year!
These two students, Karissa and Heidi, had the job this week of collecting and weighing what comes into our 9 boxes here at school. And, the large white bag was dropped at my house! 😊Thank you!
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We prepped for days by reading, talking, watching relevant videos, and making graphic organizers to capture all the notes for our field trip to the Appaloosa Horse Museum.
This picture is when the kids are learning about the traits of an appaloosa horse. This field trip is to see the importance of the horse to the Nez Perce Tribe and understand the life of indigenous people.
 
It was so fun to have so many family members attend with us and all three of the student from UI!
 
 
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Candy Corn Periods!
 
Today we did so much reviewing of Place Value Periods using the model of candy corn. The kids really need practice saying and understanding large numbers. Today, I gave each kid a little sticker and they wrote 3 numbers on it. The numbers are in the 100s, 10s, and 1s place. They represent a period. Then they said this number with the people that I picked. Together they said the large number together that was how many candy corn pieces were in their Trick or Treat Bag.😁 We had some large numbers. 
Be sure to get tell them the number they are wearing and have them use those digits for the three periods of millions, thousands, and ones. They persevered! It was very good practice working together and being able to understand the concept that you can find models for math all over the place!
 
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4th Grade Bathroom Brigade speaks to K-3 Classes and shares a song to help encourage responsible behavior.
 
          You see the kids presenting to the second-grade class.
Part of growing up is showing how responsible you are becoming. The kids decided to help other schoolmates think about "their actions and behaviors today", as stated in MCS School Pledge.
 
The 4th-grade kids are cooperating by sharing how to tell this important information to each class.  They worked together to make sure they present a clear message. They have really wanted to make sure that everyone feels included and can do the "right thing because it is the right thing to do for myself and others".
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Raking Leaves at Good Samaritan
 
In an hour the three groups of kids did a lot of work! It rained and snowed some, but since the kids aren't made of sugar, they didn't melt!
They really enjoyed the hour of work and felt proud to be able to help out. It was a good first outing!
Always great to have parents come too!
 
 
 
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Writers' Workshop Revision with a Partner  
 
Looking over the Personal Narrative is really interesting as you can tell by the way Lila and Heidi are so deeply engaged. 
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Gifts of Plastic!
      When I am out around town now, people see me and give me plastic! The program is growing! Yay for Moscow! This 7 lb. bag was given to me by someone at a meeting last night!   This is terrific! Keep spreading the word.
      Right now our school, for this school year has collected over 3600 pounds!
Thanks Ms. Ivers for taking the picture!
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University of Idaho Student, Ms. Hobbs leads a Writers' Circle on Friday
 
    Being part of education at the next level is so meaningful to me and the kids get to know university students as they move through their education program. This year, we have three students, all at different levels. The kids love working with these students and I enjoy mentoring them as they get ready for their own classrooms. Some will be Teacher Interns in the area; others will go back to their hometowns.
 
     Right away, I get them interacting with the kids right away and Ms.Hobbs worked with half of the kids while I worked with the others. Writing and Math take a lot of revision. (She was so appreciative because of the Covid restrictions, this is her first opportunity in the classroom in 18 months!)
 
     In the Writers' Circle, each student gets to read their material. This was the first revision of the Personal Narrative. Their classmates give feedback with compliments, suggestions, and questions based on the criteria used for creating the assignment. The kids learn how critical feedback feels and really helps them in the communication of their ideas. 
 
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Exchanging Personal Narrative Details
 
I love this picture of Clover and Langston so much because the way they are treating each other and their work show so much engagement and care. 
The kids are learning how to cooperate and that means thinking together and listening to what someone else has created. The next step is to offer critical feedback to help them know if the work meets the criteria for what we are doing. 
All these steps are a process. On this day, they were sharing the flow or chronology of their piece and making sure the problem and turning point are clear.
The class is heavy into the revision of this writing and soon hopes to be in the final stages. Be sure to ask your child about what life experience they picked to turn into their personal narrative assignment.
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 Bosworth Family Helps get Plastic Film Recycled!!
Monday morning!! October 4, 2021
And, right now, our school has tallied 3,770 pounds. This amount total is from Mid-May to the end of September!
These kids are a wonderful example of how once information is understood and what they can do to be part of the changes for our planet, they will wholeheartedly participate! Thank you to the whole family!!
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Following the Story Arc for a Personal Narrative
 
In the Writers' Workshop, the kids are learning the parts of storytelling. That means learning how to introduce the characters, setting, and first 'plot point'. They move through the statting the problem, sharing the turning point, and then explaining how things were resolved. 
There are many connections they are making and nonfiction storytelling is sooo interesting! We loved hearing Wyatt tell how his family got Olive!
 
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Creating Large Numbers in Place Value Review!
 
Eliza and Liam and all their classmates wrote a 6 digit number in the units of Skittles to demonstrate their knowledge. 
Each student led the classmates in a 'Call and Response' of the number. That way we had lots of practice of knowing when to say the 'Period' name. 
It was a very good day with a lot of participation!
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Newspapers In Education (NIE) Program
 
    We are lucky to have a community that sees the benefit from supporting reading by giving funds to sponsor classes to receive newspapers! Our class gets one paper a week for the whole year. We did the math this morning and the kids learned that it is about $740 dollars for us to get this gift!
    What a fabulous resource and it really supports our content. One of the ways we use the material is to go through the comics and sort the facts and cultural points that are being made--so many great learning connections! Each kid takes the paper home to family members too.😊
 
👏Thank you to the MPDaily News and our anonymous sponsor!
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Taking a Narrative Apart 
 
Character, Plot, and Events are the foundation for stories whether fiction or nonfiction. The kids had a chance to talk about their reading after we reviewed what we did with the start of our class reading of Charlotte's Web today.
It is hard to believe that book will be 70 years old next year!
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Emily creates the model with Base 10 drawings to demonstrate subtraction with REGROUPING.
 
The kids are creating the pictures for the math as it helps them explain what is happening. Several kids were chosen to come to the board to write what they did and explain the concept that we were remembering. They could check with the traditional algorithm.
The work was gooooooood practice!
Check out my blogs from previous years:
2017-2018 School Year 
2016-2017 School Year
2015-2016 School Year
2014-2015 School Year