Mrs. Kertamus's 4th Grade Happenings

Last Week Pics! Super FUN :)

2016-06-29T09:35:00.002-07:00

Parents: here are some last-minute additions to the awesome class blog. I've truly enjoyed sharing so many fun memories with your kids! They are fabulous individuals, and I'm going to miss them... good luck to everyone next year, may it be as awesome as this year! Enjoy the pics!

:) Mrs. K Signing Off!

Amazing Turtle Art :)

... and the cute turtle art continues!

GeoCities! Kiddos had to make 3-D cities! Look: it's

Pet-Ville!

Jaxon & Jarrett made "Kertamus-Ville" LOL - LOVE IT!

More fun with Geo Cities!

... even MORE fun!

Hailey & Jennica are all smiles :)

Gabe, Owen & Sam worked hard :)

Field Trip pics to Natural History Museum!

There was a lot to explore, but we loved the fossils!

amazing chalk art!

2016-06-06T13:28:00.003-07:00

This last Friday, students got to learn about famous painters - then apply that artist's picture to a chalk rendering on our very own Daybreak sidewalks! :)

Here are some pictures of the beginnings!

Jarrett, Jaxon, and Dalyn's painting

Jennica, Autumn, Blakely & Hailey's painting

Max & Kari

Clark, Gabe, & Sarah's painting

Bella and Jarrett's painting!

Raegan, Kayden T, and Audri's painting

Owen, Jack, & Colton's Painting!

Simon, Natalie, & Ella's painting

Lucy, Devyn & Kennedy's painting

Dance Informance Pic!

2016-05-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Parents, if you weren't able to come to the performance, here are a few cute pics of the kiddos from their dance class!

Art/Fun Run Pics

2016-05-23T18:38:00.002-07:00

Hello Parents, here are some fun pics! The first one is from the Fun Run Celebration Night. Kiddos did some fun art with me on the theme of "flying away in Spring"... super cute stuff!

Next, we have the beautiful flowers from the kids... the room smelled awesome! Thank you so much!

Hailey & Sarah post-Fun Run

Kiddos chillin' after the 'Run

More kiddos chillin'!

We had ourselves an amazing day!

I'm so thankful for our awesome kids!

Art from last week!

2016-04-28T14:54:00.001-07:00

Parents,

Here are some cute art pics from last week - Mrs. Christensen has been doing a great multiple-week art lesson teaching perspective. Enjoy! ;)

There's also a picture of Jarrett, who took FIRST PLACE in Math Olympiads overall! Way to go, Jarrett!

Thank you for all you do parents, and enjoy your last week off-track!

Mrs. K :)

Jennica, Blakely, Bella, & Kari share some perspective

Sam, Jarrett, Clark, Gabe, and Jaxon having fun!

Autumn, Max, & Colton having fun!

Trista & Natalie enjoying their art time

Congratulations Jarrett! Way to be a math whiz!!!

Updates for April!

2016-04-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

A quick apology - I usually update the class blog more often, but, given that I am in my masters program, the time has become more limited! I will try to update as often as possible so that you can see into our classroom a little more often ;)

Here are some fun updates of what we have been doing and learning about in our class.... I think you will agree that we are enjoying our learning!

First, we had a little fun with our "pet rocks"... after learning about the 3 types of rocks (ask your kids, they should be able to tell you all about how they are created!), they got to make a new friend :)

Kennedy & Jocelynn's pets

Jaxon and Dalyn have some new buddies!

Clarke & Devyn made some new friends, too!

Look at those smiles!

We love our new friends!

So cool, our new pets!

Sarah & Hailey are all smiles with their bFFs

Hurray for our rocks!

NEXT: Kids had a ton of fun during soil learning about the 3 types in the soil profile, as well as what lives in the soil. We got to examine our own samples, then used our magnifying glasses to examine each student's sample. We had SO many gross yet fun things in there! And, the kiddos learned that not all soil is the same, and that decaying matter lends to the soil color!

Jaxon, examining his sample

Clarke & Sam are watching the centipedes in their soil!

Using our magnifying glasses to check the samples!

These boys are hard at work to check for living things!

Jennica checking out her soil sample :)

Hailey & Sarah writing their observations on their samples

Kari's having a great time!

Simon carefully examining his sample

Spring Break!!!

2016-03-23T13:21:00.001-07:00

Dear Parents,

Happy Spring Break! Just a friendly reminder that there will be NO SCHOOL on Friday, the 25th, or Monday, the 28th. We will resume class on Tuesday, the 29th. Hurray for Spring!

Also: please note that tomorrow is like a Friday, with early-out time being @ 1:25.

Have a happy and safe time with your child... I look forward to seeing your kids on Tuesday!

Mrs. K :)

Happy Spring!

2016-03-20T13:41:00.002-07:00

Today is officially the first day of Spring! I'm going to post some fabulous pictures... your kids are amazing with art!

This art lesson, taught by Somer Christensen (our amazing room mother!) was on pop art... and the kids made some great pictures!

On St. Patrick's Day, we used lucky charms cereal to graph... and we also made fractions out of our food! This was seriously fun - AND magically delicious! We love math, and we love to have fun doing it!

Jocelynn counts her lucky charms

Autumn stops & smiles while graphing!

Sam & Ella are having fun!

Blakely & Jennica are counting charms!

Hailey, busy at work!

Raegan is debating how to start :)

Jason gives a big thumbs up for fun!

Devyn counts, counts, counts the yumminess!

parent/teacher conferences!

2016-03-08T08:10:00.002-08:00

Parents,

Don't forget - parent/teacher conferences are Thursday and Friday, the 10th & 11th (this week!). I'm excited to see all of you again and to work on goals that your student might have for the rest of this term.

Also, tonight is Zupas night (the 8th)... hopefully I will see you all there!

We have so much fun in our classroom - here are some pictures of art that we have recently completed.

Have a great day!

Mrs. K :)

It's been awhile... updates!

2016-02-17T13:35:00.001-08:00

Dear Parents,

It has been awhile since I have blogged. I have some updates and some fun pictures! I will be posting more things later - I thought it would be great to post pics of great student work so that kiddos can see themselves on the class blog. We have so much fun each day!

Wahoo! We have a second class tarantula! Ellie is a Chilean Rosehair... not sure on age or gender, as it was a present, but she's gorgeous (hard to see but she's actually slightly pink!)... and as you can see, I can handle her! The kids enjoyed looking at her!

The class Valentine's Day party was phenomenal! Here we have Devyn with one of the winning V-day boxes (winners get a candy bar, wahoo!) Very retro, Devyn, way to go!!!

These are the other 5 winners of the V-day box contest... check them out! So cute!

Class Valentine's Day Party Pics 2016! Thanks to all the awesome parents who came in to help, it was much appreciated (as evidenced by the smiles all around the room!)

So You Want to Build a Snowman?

2016-01-12T09:43:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we decided to make snowmen as part of our object lesson for writing. Kids had to work in teams to problem solve how to get the snow to pack, what methods worked the best, etc. In addition to having fun and problem solving, we were able to then go back to the classroom and brainstorm ideas for our informative essay on "How to Build a Snowman". Hurray! The kiddos and I had tons o' fun! Here are a few pics!

Pics!

2016-01-08T10:21:00.001-08:00

We have had an amazing first week back! Here are some pictures from when Grant Weyman, Channel 5 Meteorologist, came to visit us! Enjoy!

Grinch Day!

2015-12-22T19:06:00.002-08:00

Parents - here are the amazingly awesome pictures from Grinch Day - I took a bunch! I'm also throwing in some pictures of the party and perhaps some of the writing we did...

Please take a moment to enjoy these fun pictures :) We had such a good time! I feel indeed thankful to have all of your children in my classroom this year... have a fun & festive holiday season :)

I hope that we all can enjoy the festive holiday season, keep safe, and have great times together :) Thanks for allowing me to be apart of your child's life... I love what I do, and I love the chance to help your child learn! I am a lucky person indeed!

Autumn & Rylee havin' a good time at the party!

Look at the snowman! So cute!

We took building snowmen/people to new heights!

Hot cocoa, anyone? Hot cocoa all around!

The Grinch stopped by... to share the love!

We loved having our green guest!

Some more of the green guy with our great kids!

Rylee, thanks for sharing your dad! What fun!

We are tough & cool when the Grinch is near!

Christmas version of Headband!

Christmas traditions writing by Bella - very fabulous!

Colton's amazing art on the traditions!

Trista loves to serve others! Way to go!

Blakeley enjoys "Elf".. so do I!

Reagan's working on her traditions writing...

PJ Day from the 21st... ready to enjoy class!

Some of us fell asleep... others were superheroes!

Snowman-making!

Bead ornament-making @ the class party :)

Thanksgiving Week fun!

2015-11-30T17:46:00.005-08:00

Parents, this time last week we started doing some really fun things... including, calculating how much Thanksgiving dinner would cost a family and visitors!!! Check out some of the fun we had doing our amazing calculations! (One kid, and I quote, said, "Oh my gosh. It's like $330 for dinner. I'm officially broke!"

Thanksgiving!

2015-11-25T08:56:00.001-08:00

Dear Parents,

This time of year helps me reflect on how awesome life is. It's amazing! I'm so thankful to have your support, and that you allow me to teach your children each day. It's an awesome gift! Thanks for letting me work with them daily.

I hope that you and yours have a fabulous holiday together - eat lots of turkey, have lots of fun, and drive safely!

Pictures to follow soon... today, kids are calculating the cost of what it would take to purchase Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 12 (or larger!)... stay tuned!

Mrs. K :)

Parent & Teacher Conferences!

2015-11-18T13:32:00.002-08:00

Parents, just a quick reminder about parent/teacher conference... please try to come on time :) I will also try to stay on time!

I'm also trying to have kids collect box tops... so please keep those coming in if you can. I use the money to buy new class books, art supplies, rewards, etc.

Tonight for math homework, kids should do 30 minutes on TTM. Remember: there is a TTM teacher available for your student at night!

Here are some pictures from art class this past Friday with Mrs. Christensen... we love our room mom! Thanks for doing some beautiful leaf art with our kids!

Morticia!

2015-11-13T10:10:00.001-08:00

Here's another rockin' picture! She came out of her burrow, but only comes out at night and first thing in the morning :)
I will also post some art pictures from our art class today!

:)

Welcome Back!

2015-11-09T21:36:00.002-08:00

Why hello there! It's been quite awhile since we've chatted. I'm super excited to start back to school and keep moving in our learning journey!

A few notes: we have parent/teacher conference coming up next week, so make sure you check out Skyward and sign up! Also, book orders will come home the week we come back, and they are due in a week or so.

Our little class tarantula, Morticia, has molted her exoskeleton! This means that she is growing... hurray! She's going to stay at my house through the rest of the winter until it's warm enough in the classroom to bring her back, but here are a few pictures!!!

Remember to send in your child's reading calendar minutes for the off-track by Wednesday, the 11th. Thanks! See you soon!

Morticia has molted! Here's her exoskeleton! She burrowed in her tunnel and molted in it, so it's a little crunched-up looking. She's growing!

Only got her front legs when she popped out for a second, but she enjoys living in her burrow and seldom comes out (only to eat at night usually).

Halloween Fun!

2015-10-09T11:04:00.002-07:00

Today, Somer came in and did an AWESOME graveyard-artist lesson! The kids got to make spooky graveyards! She also gave them each a yummy treat bag :) A HUGE thank you to Somer Christensen, our fabulous room mom, who helped make this entire week of fun activities possible.

Halloween Relay Racing!

2015-10-08T21:03:00.001-07:00

What a fun activity! Today, the kids did some pumpkin-bowling, along with some mummy-making and apple-tasting. What a great day! Thanks to Mrs. Sharma for this wonderfully fun activity!

Gumdrops & Skeletons, Oh My!

2015-10-07T21:44:00.002-07:00

Here are some fun pics from the activity today... gumdrop houses & skeleton dancing! Thanks to Kendra Greensides for our fun Halloween-inspired activity today :)

Rocket Fun!

2015-10-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Today, we had Mrs. Barlow come in and help kids design & build rockets ... they also learned a little about how air pressure works! They had so much fun building the rockets... hurray!

2015-10-06T12:37:00.001-07:00

Hi parents! These are just a few of the fun & crazy hair dos from today! We love spirit days!

Posts

2015-10-05T21:25:00.002-07:00

2015-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

... and here we have today's fun project, based on the book "The Spider & The Fly: A Cautionary Tale" as read by Somer Christensen... the kids made spiderweb dreamcatchers! Thanks Somer, the kids loved it!