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Classroom

4thgradeteach — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:23:21 CDT

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Education Websites

4thgradeteach — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:25:55 CDT

Science

http://edheads.org

Math

http://www.aaamath.com/

http://www.dositey.com/

http://www.funbrain.com/

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

http://www.kidport.com/grade4/Math/NumberSense/G4-M-NS-Mult100.htm

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/tessellation-artist.html

Typing

http://www.freetypinggame.net/play.asp

http://www.typeonline.co.uk/index.html

Snowflakes

http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

Computer Skills

http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/Kiosk/index.html#

Games

http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/logic/

http://www.kidscom.com/games/isg/isg.html

http://www.learn4good.com

Bear Camera

http://www.zoo.org/bearcam/cam.html

Group FAQ

4thgradeteach — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:31:27 CDT

Who am I and what do I do?
I am Anthony Purcell. I taught 4th grade in Kansas from 2006 - 2008. Before that I taught a year of 8th grade Pre-Algebra in Kansas.

Should I be worried about the information that will be shared of my child on this site?
All information that will be given on this site will go through Mr. Purcell first. Personal information of students will not appear on here.

Will my child's picture appear on this site?
I will add pictures to the site, however, if you do not want your child's picture to appear on here, please let me know.

Who has access to change information on this site?
No one except for Mr. Purcell. It is password based, and no one knows the password except him.

Class Mascot

4thgradeteach — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:11:46 CDT

This is Gus, the Emporia State, Gorilla. He originally was given to me when I was in college and my neighbor wanted me to attend Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS. PSU is the only school in the country that has a gorilla as a mascot. Well, I ended up attending Emporia State University in Emporia, KS. ESU and PSU are big rivals. When I graduated, I got Gus an ESU sweatshirt. Since then, he has been cheering for the correct team as well as my class.

Gus attends school each day we are in session. After a student's birthday, he goes home with the student. They share what they did with him as well as take a picture of him with them.

Continue to watch this page, things he has done may appear.

Class Reading

4thgradeteach — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:51:40 CDT

Our class has goals for reading. All reading that is done at home can be turned in for minutes. Please fill out the form and have the students return it each Friday. If we do not have school on Friday, then the minutes are collected on Monday.

The goal for the school year is 100,000 minutes. Will we reach it?

As of April 29, 2008,
we reached our goal of
reading 100,000 minutes!

Our first goal of 10,000 minutes was reached on September 21. The following Friday we had a popcorn party.

Our second goal of 20,000 minutes was reached on October 22. On November 2, we will be having a movie party.

Our third goal of 30,000 minutes was reached on November 9. We had our first auction on that day.

Our fourth goal of 40,000 minutes was reached on December 7. We will have a movie and snacks on December 20.

We reached our goal of 60,000 minutes. So, on February 7 at 10:30 am we will have our second auction of the year. Please send things on that day for our auction. Also, during the week of January 28 we will be having a gum week. I will provide the first piece each day. They may bring another piece for the rest of the day if they wish. I am not to see or hear the gum, if I do, they will need to throw it away.

On February 22, we reached out goal of 70,000. Each student received a book from me from the last Scholastic book order.

On March 24, we reached 80,000 minutes. On Friday, March 28 we will be watching a movie and enjoying lunch in our room. It will be a great time. The students will have a chance to vote on which movie we are watching that day.

On Monday, April 7, we had a family reading night in our room. The room was open for two hours for anyone to come in and read. That night we read 1,690 minutes, and all those minutes counted toward our goal.

Last, if we reach our class goal of 100,000 minutes, we will have a surprise so big that I cannot disclose it at this time. Keep reading to find out!

Month	Minutes read in the month	Total minutes for the year
August	4,323	4,323
September	10,542	14,865
October	13,174	28,039
November	11,354	39,393
December	12,337	51,970
January	10,616	62,586
February	10,050	72,636
March	12,147	84,973
April	(as of 4/29) 13,337	(as of 4/29) 100,000
May

Weekly Announcement

4thgradeteach — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:29:01 CDT

I will include the weekly newsletter here each week.

March 28, 2008
On Monday, April 7, all are invited to attend our reading night. During this night, all that come to our room to read will keep track of how many minutes they read. All minutes that are recorded that night will count toward our class goal of 100,000 minutes and also the school's goal of 1,000,000 minutes of the year. There will be some snacks and drinks to enjoy while reading. The time is 5:30-7:30 pm that evening. Come for just a little while to enjoy snacks and reading with your family. It will be a great evening to dive into a book!

March 6, 2008
Our first round of testing is finished. We finished the Math Assessments today!! I feel that they did fairly well. We will know soon the preliminary results. As a reminder, Reading Assessments are April 1, 2, and 3. The Science Assessments with be April 29 and 30.
This week you will see a yellow sheet of paper in their Thursday packet. This sheet shows how they did the past week. We changed how we keep good behavior. Each day each student starts with 10 magnets. If they misbehave, a magnet comes down. At the end of each day the students tell me how many magnets they have remaining and discuss with me why they lost any that day. This shows how they did during the week. If they have between 8 and 10 on a day, I am not too concerned with their behavior; we all slip up. Less than 8, I start to get concerned. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me. My planning time during the day is 9:30-10:30.
We have one week left before Spring Break. Last week I gave the students the choice if they wanted to have spelling this past week while testing or if they wanted to do two units in one week. They chose the latter. So the schedule for spelling next week is as follows:
Monday – we will review all ten words
Tuesday – we will do all four sentences of Unit 24
sat, possible, heart, real, simple
Wednesday – we will do all four sentences of Unit 25
snow, rain, suddenly, easy, leaves
Thursday – we will have Cloze activity Unit 24 for those that need to take it
Friday – we will have Cloze activity Unit 25 for those that need to take it
I have been very pleased with this class during testing. They have been quiet and very compassionate of everyone around them as they work quietly. I’m confident that they did an excellent job. We will let you know as soon as possible.

February 28, 2008
Sorry about being so long since the last one. Here you go.

We have changed a few things in our classroom. First of all, we have had several students with classroom money that was being stolen. I was getting about 4 or 5 students per week saying that they were missing money. At the beginning of the year I told them that if problems arise from it, then it would be taken away. On Tuesday, all students had to turn their money into me. Unfortunately we will not be having classroom money anymore this year.
Throughout the year I have also been seeing that respect for others around us has decreased. So now we have a light system. When it is a red or yellow light, the student must raise their hand to get out of their seat for anything. This is help reduce the amount of walking around and talking to others disturbing those that are trying to work. Also, we have a new magnet system. Each day everyone starts with 10 magnets. If they talk out of turn, get out of the seat, or disturb others, they will need to remove one of those magnets as a reminder to them. If they get down to 1-3 by the end of the day, they will write a letter to themselves telling themselves what they did wrong that day and how they can fix it. That letter will come home in the following Thursday packet. If throughout the day they have to remove all 10 magnets, which I don't see ever happening, then I will make a phone call home and visit with the parent letting them know what happened that day.
Again, I don't see this lasting very long. We are doing this to just help them realize how often they get out of their seat, or talk when they are to be quiet. This will help with their respect for others around them and hopefully stay with them as they continue in their school career. If you have questions about this, please feel free to email or call me.
As a reminder, this next week, March 4, 5, and 6, we will be testing. This is the State Math Assessment that determines our Annual Yearly Progress (AYP). Please help us in having students get plenty of sleep. If a student is sick, please keep them home, they can make up the assessment the following week. We test from 12:45-2:15. There is no time limit on the assessments, so some students may take that entire time, some may take less. We do have parents set up to bring a healthy snack to enjoy before working each day.
Also, I am looking at having one or two reading evenings in the month of April. This will help us reach our class goal of 100,000 minutes of reading! More about this to come next week!
Have a great weekend and get plenty of rest!

January 31, 2008
Has this been a crazy week or what? On Monday we went to McPherson College to see the theatre production of "Honk". I the kids really enjoyed it. They brought home a paper that they can color. This Friday and Saturday the college will be performing it again. If they bring this sheet colored, they get in free with an adult admission.

On Tuesday, the weather changed. Of course, it is Kansas, so we should be used to it. We have had a gum week all week. I have provided a piece each day, and they were able to bring an extra gum to chew that day as well. They have done a great job not letting me hear it or see it! We may do this again before the end of the year.

We had this day because they reached 60,000 minutes of reading last week. Along with that, they had a read 3,289 minutes in that week alone! Way to go kids! So next Thursday morning we will be having our next auction. Send items with them that day that can be sold in the auction. The more items you send, the less you will have at home.

Tonight, Thursday, we are having the Math Fiesta hosted by the PTO. Please come and enjoy the festivities of food and math. Each grade will have a math activity similar to last year's reading night. I hope to see you there!

Next week is the last week of this trimester. The following week is Parent-Teacher Conferences. Also, that week is Valentine's Day. We will have a party in the afternoon of February 13. We will make boxes for valentine's on Monday the 11th. Please do not send valentines before then. If you need a class list, please let me know and I can send one home for you.

Our class goal for reading is 100,000 minutes. We are more than 3/5 of the way there. Please continue to encourage reading on these cold evenings instead of playing video games or watching tv. Reading helps with imagination and life in general. I have added an article that was in the newspaper recently about reading. I hope you enjoy it.

Have a great start to February and see you tonight or in a couple weeks for conferences!

January 23, 2008
I've really dropped the ball on writing notes on here, sorry about that. Things have been really crazy this month. As you have probably heard, this is my last year at EES. I did tell the class last week. I will be here through May, so no problems there.

Next week the student's box scenes are due on Wednesday. They should have a shoe box which they will use to make a scene of a fairytale of their choosing. It can be a peek box, or just use the box sideways with the scene in it.

If you have questions about anything, feel free to call me at the school. I hope you are having a great winter, even though it is really cold. Conferences are coming up soon.

January 3, 2008
I sent a note home today letting all students know that they need a sack lunch for Friday. We will be going to the middle school to meet the 7th grade class that we talked to during the William Allen White wikis on the internet. We will be leaving EES at 10:00 and return aroudn 11:30 and have a picnic at the gazebo or in our room.

Also, here is the days that the students will be presenting their puppets and biography people to the class.
Monday - Sam, Molly, Klayton, Jeremy C., Nicole
Tuesday - Aaron, Jake, Breckon, Karlie, Daniel
Wednesday - Jacob, Grace, Price, Allison, Jaden
Thursday - Zack, Deja, Marisa, Jeffrey
Friday - Michael, Kole, Danielle, Dylan, Jeremy K.
Then, the following week we will begin our podcasting. I will have the site for you to go to to hear your child's voice talk about their puppet as well as other things going on in the room.

December 20, 2007
I sent home a note in each packet today. Please read it and keep in mind the things that need to be completed over break.

1) Complete the making of their biography puppet
2) Read, Read, Read. . . .keep track of all minutes read. There is a reward for the class that reads the most in December. I feel that our class can win this!!!

Keep an eye on this site over break. I will be providing online questions for a chance to win something. Answers may be found on the internet or in the newspaper. Keep an eye open for these questions.

November 29, 2007
Can you believe that Saturday is December? The year is flying by very quickly. This week we read some biographies. They were given the assignment to find someone to read a biography on. Last year they did a wax museum with their biographies. This year they still need to write a summary of the person’s life, which they will have time to do in class, but they will also need to make a puppet of some kind at home. They need to have their biography read by Friday, December 14. The last week before Winter Break we will be working on writing the summaries in class. Then their puppets will be due the week after Winter Break.

We will be having a winter party on December 21. Please be on the lookout for the details. This month is going to fly by quickly.

Spelling words for the week of December 3 - 7, 2007 are:
road, blue, instead, either, held

November 15, 2007

I had some great feedback on the survey last week. Thanks for taking the time for letting me know how you feel about the website. Those that asked not to recieve a paper copy of the newsletter, here you go.

There will not be any spelling for the week of Thanksgiving since it is only a two day week. Check out the Assignments page today, there will be information about the homework that the students have over Thanksgiving break. It is due on Wednesday, November 28. It is a fun activity that I think both the family and students will enjoy. They heard about it yesterday at school to start looking for a "wonder". Each child also received a paper copy of the assignment given. I will have a few more at school if they need another one. Please help make sure that they have a wonder to write about by November 28.

Also, be on the lookout in the Thursday packet for some book orders. You can even order ONLINE!!!! You can use your credit card, you don't have to send the money with your child and fear it won't make it, and the books come in on the same day as the books that I order. The exact same forms that you get at home are the same things you can look at online. When placing an order with your credit card, it is safe and secure. The link for that is at Scholastic.
Our class user name: masterps4thgrade
Password: bookorder
When you order online, it lets me know who ordered what so that I can send it home when the order comes in.

I was absent on Tuesday to recruit teachers at colleges for next year. While I was gone the students had a reading assignment of reading directions on how to make a turkey. They then had to follow those directions to make the turkeys. I have uploaded pictures to the site for you to see them. They will be bringing them home next week. I was just asked if pictures can be saved off of this site. They are available for you to take and have for your computer, scrap books, etc. Feel free to use these pictures that I place on here.

November 8, 2007

Yesterday we went to Alterra to sing songs of Veteren's Day. Thank you to the parents that came. I believe it was a great concert. I added some pictures from the event.

I hope you enjoy the new website. I feel this will be a quick and easy way for some parents to see what is going on.

Assignments

4thgradeteach — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:32:07 CDT

This page will have assignments that students are to work on at home.
All assignments that show up on here will be given to the students in class first. Then, I will post them on here so parents can double check due dates and the requirements for the assignment.

March 5, 2008
We had a newspaper scavenger hunt today. Here are pictures from the event.

Mystery Reader

4thgradeteach — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:48:55 CST

On Wednesday, December 19 we had members of the high school Varsity Basketball team come and read to the fourth graders. Here are a few of the pictures from the event.

On Wednesday, November 28 we had the opportunity to have Ross Janssen of KWCH Channel 12 in Wichita, KS come. He was our
guest during our weather week in Science and shared some
things about Meteorology. We learned about:
*warm and cold fronts
*high and low pressure
*the jet stream
*weather balloons
and *Doppler radar

Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

They just had to have autographs too.

Thanks for coming Mr. Janssen.
We'll be seeing you around the ol' living room.