As a reward for AMAZING classroom behavior, our students will be enjoying an electronics and game day.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 28, students may bring in any board game or electronic toy (Nintendo DS, camera, etc.) to play.  We will have time before and during lunch to play and relax.

Please make sure your son or daughter is clear with what you think is appropriate to bring to school.  I ask that all video games are school appropriate and are free of violence.  I have reminded the class this is a great opportunity for them to showcase their responsibility to you!  They are very excited to play!  Thank you for your continued support this year!

Sincerely,

Mr. Bowen

This is Megan, Jada and Ingrid with our thoughts about Chapters 11 and 12 of Shiloh.

1.Is Judd all evil or is there a better side to him? What makes you think that?

We think there’s not a better side to Judd because Judd was really mad that Marty and his family were making friends with the dog and giving him love. Because he didn’t give Shiloh love like the Prestons are.

2. Explain how Judd feels when he finds out that Marty has his dog all along? 

We think he probably feels angry and like he can’t trust the Prestons family.

3.What do you think Marty will do once Shiloh is healed and must go back to Judd?

We think Marty will try to get Judd to sell Shiloh to him.

Why do you think Judd makes Marty work so hard?

We think he makes Marty work so hard because when he was a kid he got treated poorly so he takes all his anger out on people and his dog.

What do you think finally causes Judd to honor his agreement with Marty?

We think it was Marty’s ability to keep working and not complain about his work, and being able to keep his word and not tell the game warden about Judd shooting the doe.

How did you feel at the end of the book? Were your feelings anything like Marty’s?

We felt overjoyed for Marty and his family because he almost didn’t get to keep Shiloh, Because Judd said to have a legal agreement you needed a witness.

Bye this is the last time we do this for Shiloh

Below is a screen shot of our conference schedule for next week.  This post will be posted as the top post in my blog for the next week so it is always visible.  All other updates will be below this post.  Thank you, and I look forward to seeing all of you next week!

Here’s a look into what’s happening in 4th grade right now!  In writing, we have been working faithfully on finishing our essays.  The students have chosen great topics of what they want to tell others, and they have found outside sources of information to go with mini-stories of their own that highlight their main idea.  We are close to finishing these and will be moving into a unit on writing Fiction soon!

In reading, the students are beginning a unit on inferring from a book.  We read an awesome book entitled Hurricane, where students made inferences about two boys in the book and what they were experiencing during a hurricane.  As students think about inferences, they are using this idea to help them understand:  Authors give clues about what is happening in a book, and it is our job to use the clues to infer what is really happening.

Math is really exciting around this time of year because students are overcoming their fears of long division and fractions!  There are numerous ways to solve a long division problem.  Some of them are methods you might not be familiar with, but no fear, Mr. Gort and myself have created videos to help you understand how to do these types of problems.  Check out the two instructional videos below!

Mr. Gort’s explanation of the Area Model of Division.  <——  Click on the link.

In addition to long division, we are working VERY hard toward improving our number sense by practicing multiplication facts and working with fractions on number lines.  See if your son or daughter can tell you what fraction is shown on the number line below!

Finally, our students are working with Mrs. Huizenga in Social Studies.  They have been studying the movement of people across the United States.  Yesterday, they began talking about people immigrating to the United States and the various reasons behind people coming and going.  We call these push and pull factors.

I hope this posting finds you all well, and I look forward to meeting with all of you next week Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday during your conference time.

Take Care!

Hi, Quinn, Ashley and Makiah here and we would like to tell you about chapters 13 and 14 of Shiloh, so here goes.

 Is making a deal with the right thing to do? Why do you think so?

We think no because Judd doesn’t seem like the man to keep his word. Also we think a little bit of yes because Marty wants to keep Shiloh really, really bad.

Do you predict that Judd will honor his agreement with Marty? Why?

Quinn: I think no because, Judd really likes his hunting dogs.

Ashley: I think yes because, maybe Judd has a nicer side to him.

Makiah: I think no because Judd wants to kill Shiloh for running away and to make Marty mad.

When reading and writing stories, authors add a Problem and then build a Rising Action until the Climax of the story hits. Describe what you think is the main problem in this story.

We think the main problem of the story is when Judd finds out that  they’ve had Shiloh the whole time because, Marty had to keep it a secret and then BAM Judd finds out.

Is Judd all evil or is there a better side to him? What makes him think that?

We think that Judd has a little bit of a soft side because when he saw Shiloh with all the bandages and the shaved spot being his ear he yelled at Marty and his family, “What did you do to him?”

Explain how Judd feels when he finds out that Marty has had his dog all along? 

We think that Judd felt very, very angry when he finds out that they had Shiloh all along and they had kept lying to hi all that time.  And he was confused why they didn’t give him back to Judd because Dad said when they found Shiloh they would give him back right away.

What do you think Marty will do once Shiloh is healed and must go back to Judd?

We think that Marty will probably  cry and tell them not to bring Shiloh back to Judd because he became so attached to Shiloh and he doesn’t trust Judd either.

List the things below into categories from most important to least important.

#1 Following the law

#2 being 100% honest.

#3 Obeying your parents.

#4 Doing what you feel is right.

We organized them like this:

#1 being 100% honest.

#2 following the law

#3 doing what you feel is right.

#4 Obeying your parents.

It was very hard because we couldn’t agree so we had a debate! Here is what all three of us thought

Ingrid:”I voted for #2 because,it kind of goes with all the other ones,and it is even more important than all of them because your doing every thing right”

Megan: “I agree with Ingrid for #2.

Jada: I disagreed with both Ingrid and Megan because I think that #4 should have been first.  In Marty’s case the dog would be dead, but by Marty disobeying the law, he saved the dog’s life.

Question 2 : Describe how you think Marty’s dad feels when he finds out Marty was lying.

We think that Marty’s dad was pretty mad at Marty for lying to him about Shiloh. We also think he was proud at Marty for doing what he thought was right. Hiding Shiloh from every body, especially Judd, to keep Shiloh safe.  Here is what everybody in our group thought the answer should be:

Jada:I’d feel kind of mad at Marty for keeping it a secret. I’d be also glad at him too for doing what he feels is right. So I basically think he is felling a mix of emotions.

Megan: I was not so sure what to write…I think it was a mix of everything.

Ingrid: I think that Marty’s dad was not sure what to think. It might have been that his dad was a mix of proud,(because Marty did what he felt was right) and mad (because Marty lied and hid the dog or Shiloh from him).

Typed by Jada