Wednesday

February 23, by Aileen

Today Mr.Kootman said he was proud of us because we only had two kids missing their home work! First, we did review in our math book to prepare us for the test on Monday. If you have heard of the classic card game ‘War’ or ‘High card wins’ then you’ll know what I’m talking about. The whole class got to play war during math time but this wasn’t the regular card game, it was decimal war.

After math we took the spelling test witch was very hard. Next, we all went out for a refreshing and delightful recess. When recess was over we all almost ran through the door like little puppies rushing to get food! To prepare us for comprehension and language arts test, Island of the Blue Dolphins we did handing off. This is where we sit on our desks and discuss our story. After handing off we did the comprehension and language arts test. It took at least a few minutes to finish, because the page we had for home work we didn’t have the page!

Since we were working so quietly, Mr.Kootman did auctions. Most kids started acting like all sorts of monkeys! Next, we walked to lunch but, when we were in the lunch room it was so loud. After that craziness in lunch, we had a calm read aloud of A Week In The Woods. We were almost finished with the book but we had to stop to get other work done. When that was over, we started making our final draft Island of the Blue Dolphins. Then we estimated on how much marbles we had in the jar. It was like Mr.Kootman did all the math though because we didn’t really get it. We all looked like we had no idea what he was doing because it wasn’t a fourth grade standard. There were about 100 marbles! Finally, we all went out to HOT time when it was actually cold!

February 22 and a half, by Torrian

Today it was so cold I was sneezing icicles. I could have sworn people were having sword fights with them. We are reading Island of the Blue Dolphins in our Open court book. It is pretty interesting. In yoga, Isaiah sprained his thumb. He was being clumsy and fell of the stage.

We are reading A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements for our chapter book after lunch. We also got cool Chinese New Year bookmarks with dragons on them because it was Chinese New Year. It means it is the year of the pig. Even though it is warmer now, I think people are still sneezing icicles. Perhaps tomorrow will be warmer and our icicles will melt.

Monday

February 22, by Mikey C.

Can you believe we got 2 new students to fill in Nick S. and Angel’s spots? The student’s names are, Sabrina and Victoria.

This morning we did mixed review and quick review pages 369 and 370 like we always do. Some people are veterans at math and some people still have trouble with it.
We are learning how to compare and order decimals. Comparing and ordering decimals is when you choose the highest decimal. Next, we took a short math test on converting improper fractions to a mixed number. A lot of people got A+’s. Then, we did our math packets on word problems.

Once that was done, we read Island Of The blue Dolphins. This story is about a girl that gets left alone because her family was getting pursued by their enemies. She was very sad because the island was deserted and she wanted to talk to someone. Luckily there was a canoe with dry food to eat and a canoe to go back home. The canoe had a leak the next day. She used fiber from her skirt to cover the hole. Then, she woke up and had to turn around because there was a hole. “Aw man!”

When that was over Mr.Kootman was telling us how to do a summary for our state test in March. He wanted us to find something that has summaries on or in it. “Mr.Kootman really wants us to pass huh!”

Afterwards we had lunch. A lot of people jump rope now, but nobody does double Dutch. Also, 4th graders beat the 6th graders finally at flag football. Isn’t that cool?
Finally, Mr.Kootman read us a Week in the Woods. In Week in the Woods Marc is trying to make a fire signal to find Mr.Maxwell. Mr.Maxwell kept yelling at Marc because he heard him. Now you can tell that today was entertaining. I hope everybody had a great teacher like Mr.Kootman.

Friday

February 20, by Jake

Today we got not one new student, but two! In math we did some easy problems in our math packet and page 322 in our math book! We worked on turning fractions in to decimals. At about 11:30 we went into a new unit called “Survival” and a new story called Island of the Blue Dolphins (dolphins are blue anyway.) Well, in yoga, we didn’t have an instructor because Ms.Moore was pregnant and Mrs. Swanlund went on a field trip with her class. I didn’t feel like doing yoga today.

In our chapter book, A Week in the Woods, Mark is trying to find Mr. Maxwell but it was dark at night and he can’t see the moon or stars! So he has a flash light on and now he says to himself that he is not going to find Mr. Maxwell!!(We’re now in a chapter called “Here”) The next chapter is called “Camp." Today was a pretty wacky day!

The Ides of February, by Evan

Today the entire fourth grade got held in again during lunch so we only got 5 minutes for recess! At the beginning of the day we had a quick review in math. Next we learned about mixed numbers, if the numerator is higher than the denominator it is called an improper fraction, and you have to put whole numbers in.

Then in reading we finally read Susan La Flesch Picotte today, on a Wednesday! The story is about a doctor who gets caught up in a storm and finds a child and gets him to safety. Susan La Flesch Picotte was the first female Native-American doctor.

After lunch, we did a quick write on “how to stop a disease from spreading” Soon after, we did social studies. In that we learned about California’s early history and the explorers who settled here.

Tuesday

February 13, by Isaiah

WE DON’T HAVE SCHOOL ON THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND NEXT MONDAY!!!!!! The first thing we did when we got in the room is we put our stuff away and did the math assignment on the board. After that we checked it and we put them in our backpacks. Then we went into math mode and learned related fractions and decimals. Those are where if I say 5 it could be 5.0 is 5.

We did not read a book but we did do a clues chart and we did do our vocabulary. For some reason, we did our spelling between 12:00-12:30. We usually do them after we are done with our morning work. We also did not do science. I thought it was cool. In social studies we learned about special people such as James Cook, Frances Drake, Gaspar De Portola, and Juan Bautitsta de Anza. After lunch (we had chicken fajitas and corn dogs) we read A Week in the Woods. Chapter seventeen is called “Tracks”. After that we went out for P.E. then finally we went to the line and we went to the bus or people walked home.

February 12, by Jeffrey

Today we had a shocking fire drill. The siren was so loud it hurt people’s ears.Mr. Kootman was proud of the class because we had a nice quiet line. After that, we did make a model for division in math. It is a way to see and help you and divide. Then we went to yoga where we listened to a different tape that Mr. Kootman and Mrs. Swanlund made. When that was over we went out to recess.

After recess, we read A Week In The Woods. The “Field Trip Begins” was the name of the chapter. Mark gets sent home by a teacher for having a pocket knife. After that we did social studies. We were going to go out for P.E. but we couldn’t because people were talking and waking around.

At the end of the day we got our progress report, which had our trimester grades on it. Mr. Kootman was saying that if you got a two out of 4 on it you got a 50%. So if you got that your grades were bad . We’re supposed to show them to our parents so they can sign an orange slip. So that was our February 12, 2007!

Wednesday

January 31, by Dannie

We are lucky it doesn’t rain a lot around here because we don’t have as much fun playing inside as we do outside. The first thing we did on this rainy day when we came in to the classroom was fractions on page 315 in math. After we finished, we switched papers to check them. Sometimes when we are quiet we get classroom money and get marbles in the jar. Next we took our open court books out so we could read The New Doctor which is 21 pages long! Afterwards, we made a huge class flow chart. This helped us review for our comprehension test on Friday.

Then it was time for recess, where I played on the black top. When it was raining it looked like everyone was melting. After recess, we finished our flow charts and then shared them. The pizza at lunch was extra hot. After lunch we listened to A Week in the Woods while Mr. Kootman read out loud. After that, we watched Jannely’s trip to Mexico. She made this while she was on vacation. Finally, we did our social studies book to learn about the native American Indians in California.