Mr. Boyer's Classroom

SuperKids - November

2009-11-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

It's the end of the month before taking a few days off for Thanksgiving break. This also marks the end of the SuperKids term for the month of November. Our celebration for this month gave us the opportunity to lay back, relax, and watch a movie. The fifth grade gathered in Mr. Boyer's classroom in front of the large screen Promethean Board to watch the movie "Horton Hears a Who". It was nice to have an afternoon to enjoy the rewards from our good behavior through the month of November. Congratulations to this month's SuperKids award winners: Gavin, Cassie, Aaron, Nathan, Logan , Brayden, Lex, Joss, Emily, Ajay, and George.

SuperKids - October

2009-11-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday, the 5th graders had their SuperKids celebration for the month of October. Each class had about 12 students who earned the right to participate in the afternoon's activities. This SuperKids celebration was a Halloween Cookie Decorating Contest. Students were given the opportunity to decorate their Halloween cookie in any way that they wanted, however there were categories in which their classmates would judge their creations.

Awards were:
Best in Show
Best Halloween Cookie
Most Yummy
Most Creative
Best Use of Candy
Teacher's Choice

Upon finishing their creations and submitting them for the contest, students then got to eat their cookie designs. Before the Halloween parties, all of those who participated in the SuperKids celebration had the opportunity to vote for their favorites in each category.

Halloween is Coming

2009-10-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

A little message to everyone from the 5th grade teachers.

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SuperKids - September

2009-10-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

This month was a long month with a lot of days at school. We really had to work hard to earn the SuperKids goal for the month. We had to have 12 punches on our card as well as not have any Minor Offense Reports or less than two Think Sheets. For all of us who did make this goal, we got to have a Rock Band party. Mr. Boyer brought his Wii and was able to hook it up to the Promethean Board and we took turns playing guitar, rockin' the drums, and belting out some tunes.

Making bread

2009-09-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

This week in reading we read about how different types of ovens bake and cook the food that we eat. We read a piece of technical reading about how to make bread. The text gave us steps on making two different types of bread, golden discs and white bread. After dividing into four groups, two of us made the dough for the golden discs and the other two made dough for the white bread. Mrs. Marshall and Mr. Boyer then took our dough creations home that night and baked it. The next day, we got to sample our bread and make some comparisons between the two kinds.

We made many observations that included the shape, size, texture, smell, and most importantly, the taste. Almost all of us liked the fluffy white bread the best as it was sweet and soft. Only Zane liked the Golden Discs, they were small and very hard on the outside. And some of us thought that they smelled like chicken! Really?

We learned that we have to read directions very carefully so that we don't make the dough too runny and impossible to use.

SuperKids - August

2009-09-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Fifth grade is now officially going into it's fourth week and we are all getting used to the daily routine and the expectations of our classroom. One of the perks of being a 5th grader are the many incentives that go on throughout the classrooms. One of the best are the daily SuperKids cards that we have to get punched if we DIDN'T move our card throughout the day. At the end of the month, if we earn enough punches we get to participate in a SuperKids celebration. This past week, we had our first celebration, a 5th grade kickball game and ice cream sundaes. Even though the ice cream sundaes were awesome, our kickball game had to be cut short and continued the next day during recess because we had a whole school tornado drill. Nevertheless, it was a great time. And the best part of it was, a lot of our class made the SuperKids celebration!
We can't wait until next month's celebration, I have a feeling that it's going to ROCK!!!!

Good Luck at the Middle School

2009-05-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

On May 21, we will say good-bye to another wonderful group of 5th grade students as next year they will move on to the middle school. We at Heusner thank those students for all of their contributions to our building and our classrooms. We all want to wish you the very best of luck in the middle school as well as the rest of your future years. Feel free to come back and visit us anytime.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Starbase Day #1

2009-04-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we finished our first day of our fifth grade field trip, a trip to the Starbase program. The program itself lasts for four days and we will be going once a week until the school year is over. While at Starbase, we learned about Newton's Laws of Motion and did several experiments and investigations with them. Our favorite had to be by far getting to ride on the homemade hovercraft. It was so much fun.

We were also able to take a tour of the Kansas State Aviation School where we were introduced to many different types of planes and helicopters as well as got to see the new full window flight simulator. They didn't have it turned on for us to see but it was big and we got a good idea as to what it might look like.

Upon returning from our tour, our flight teams had the task of rescuing a stranded astronaut named Lt. Eggbert from space and create a craft that was safe for him to land in. We were given a small bag full of supplies and told that we could only use one hand. Our Eggberts didn't fair too well with the landing from the spacecraft that we had made. All four of them cracked and oozed while one of the eggs exploded in the bag.

All in all our first day at Starbase was a lot of fun and we can't wait to get to go back next week!

SuperKids Celebration - February

2009-03-04T06:34:00.000-08:00

February brings us another month of 5th grade SuperKids. This month those who earned the SuperKids party participated in a cookie decorating party. SuperKids got to decorate their own cookies in varies colors and designs.
Look at the photos below and vote for who you would award the following honors:

Most Messy
Most Creative
Most Color
Most Disgusting
Most Yummy

December SuperKids Celebration

2008-12-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday, we celebrated our SuperKids winners before heading home for Christmas break. Our winners were treated to a big screen movie showing of "Horton Hears a Who" and having a snack.

Our winners for the month of December were: Courtney, Easton, JZ, Ashley, Mikeala, Andrew, Justin, Taryn, and Xan. Congratulations everyone! Keep up the fantastic work. You and your other classmates regardless of the award or not are truely SUPERKIDS!

October's SuperKids

2008-11-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

Our 5th graders celebrated their third SuperKids reward party of the year last week. Those who earned the title of "SuperKids" for October, had the opportunity to spend the morning playing board, cards, and trivia games. Some students brought their favorite board game from home to share. Everyone had a good time! Congratulations to the October SuperKids from Mr. Boyer's class: Justin, Cortney, Isaac, Mikaela, Taryn, Ashley, JZ, and Tiffany.

Monsters Invade!

2008-10-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Our classroom has been invaded and taken over momentarily by monsters! Monsters! Can you believe it. We are in the middle of a creative writing project about monsters. We took our pictures and created an inspiration for our stories.

Check out the creatures that our stories are about.

Prickly Pickles

2008-09-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Our classroom has been visited by some new guests this week, a small group of "Prickly Pickles." These creatures have come looking for the cleanest tables in the classroom. When students leave for the day, they Pickles perch themselves high above those tables that they feel are the cleanest at the end of the day. If they are undecided as to which table to choose, they then look at each students' mailboxes and cubbies to make their decisions. Upon their return the next day, students recieve a classroom ticket if their team was one that was chosen.

Periodically throughout the day, Mr. Boyer and Mr. Walters draw tickets out of the container for a classroom reward. With the help of the Prickly Pickles, the students are keeping the room stay clean before leaving for the end of the day. Thank goodness for the Pickles. Our Heroes!!!

2008-2009 Class Photo

2008-08-28T13:54:00.001-07:00

Here is this year's class photo. I told them to give me a "tough, cool" look. This is what I got.

And for a more candid version:

Color in Science

2008-08-28T13:39:00.001-07:00

We've been into science for two weeks now and have already seen some amazing things and made some great discoveries through demonstrations and investigations. Our science experiment for the week was to see how carefully we could follow directions while doing a lab activity. This activity took team work on everyone's part to complete the task. We experimented with different colors of water and learned how to use and read measurements on pippettes. It was a great activity and both classes (Boyer and Rorabaugh) did a fantastic job of working together, encouraging each other, and being very careful with their materials. We hope that we can do a lot of these neat experiments and investigations as the year goes along.

Below is a video of what the water looked like when we mixed it. It was really cool to watch.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=390ba92fcf89374efead

Be Someone's Hero

2008-08-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Our 5th grade theme this year is Superheroes. Our classroom motto is "Be Someone's Hero". Heroes are looked up to and admired by many people. They always try to do what's right, even though there are some challenges or some tough decisions that might be put in front of them. Little kids especially like superheroes. We are now the oldest and biggest students in the school and so we have to show and model for the younger students good behavior and decision making at Heusner. Being a hero doesn't always mean saving the day, sometimes it means that you just do what's right and what's good not only for yourself, but for others as well.

Can you be someone's hero?

Welcome to 5th Grade!

2008-08-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

A new year always brings me a new group of minds to shape and expand and I love seeing all the bright faces as they come in for the first day of school. We will be having a student teacher with us for the first part of the year. His name is Mr. Walters and he is from Arizona.

Being a fifth grader, brings new responsibilities. You are now the role models of the school, those who we can call upon to help make our younger students see our expectations of being a student at Heusner Elementary. I know you will be up for the task!

This year, we will be having Science in my room. Mr. Rorabaugh will be teaching us Social Studies. Mrs. Reedy and Miss Swiercinsky will be a teaching team and will switch for the same subjects.

Here's to a great fifth grade year with a wonderful new set of students!

WHAT GRADE? 5TH GRADE!

Gregor movie still in production

2008-07-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

I know that some of you are anxiously awaiting the release of our animated movie for Gregor the Overlander. It is still being worked on and will be up shortly. My computer decided to die on me and I am in the process of getting a new one. I haven't forgot about it. Please be patient!

5th Grade Honor Night Video

2008-05-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

We'll see how many people actually look at the blog.
Here is a preview of one of the 5th grade videos for tomorrow night's graduation.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ballroom Dancing

2008-04-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today, the whole 5th grade went to perform their ballroom dancing routine for the State Conference of Principals at the Holidome. The students looked very professional in their dress clothes and looked great. They all danced through and around the tables while the guests at the conference at their lunch. Students performed the meranquie and the swing jitterbug in front of about 200 principals from all over the state of Kansas. The performance was followed up with a rousing roar of applause from all the guests.

After the performance, we all went to the park to eat our lunches. It was a beautiful day out with the sun shining and the wind held off long enough for us to enjoy the great outdoors for a day. This Friday, a select group of 5th graders will show off their ballroom dancing skills at the Steifel Theatre for a Salina Concert in front of the whole community. All students worked very hard and did a wonderful job during their performance today. They made Heusner Elementary and all of it's teachers and parents very proud. What a great group of 5th graders!

You can see more pictures by going to http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/359714.4d6f2e1e41a

The Great Egg Roll

2008-04-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, Mr. Boyer's math class took part in a nationwide internet project called the Great Egg Roll. Our task was to roll a 2" plastic egg and then measure to see how far it went in feet and inches. After getting everyone's calculations, we then converted our results to only inches and we had to remember that 1 foot is equal to 12 inches. Our final task was to find the mean number of inches of the whole class.
Our class then wanted to see if the egg would roll farther with something in it. So we decided to wad up one whole sheet of paper and stuff it inside and record our results again. You can go to the following website to see our results.

Great Egg Roll 2008

5th Grade Checklist

2008-03-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

Today we will be sending home with your student, a checklist of things that will be coming up these last few weeks of school. For 5th graders, there are a lot of events and items that your student will be looking forward to or need of importance. Look in your child's bookbag or trapper for this yellow note or you can download it by clicking the link below.

5th Grade Checklist

Freedom Dollars

2008-03-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

For the past two months, our reading group has been collecting the Freedom Dollars from the local newspaper, Salina Journal. The dollars are in part of a story through the paper about the Underground Railroad and who can collect the most dollars through their own "network". Today was the day we turned all of ours in. We turned in a whopping total of 22,693 Freedom Dollars. Mrs. Karlin's brother-in-law (who has been recovering from surgery) spent his recovery time cutting out and collecting for our class. Through his friends at the recycling center, he was able to get several papers to cut from. He brought our class 11,508 from his cutting. Mr. Boyer's OSCAR class is indebted to Mr. who became a member of our Freedom Dollar network and hopefully helped us gather enough to win. To show our gratitude, we gave him a brand new pair of gold plated scissors (since his are probably dull after all that cutting)

If our class gets the most collected, we will earn ourselves a $200 certificate from Scholastic and an ice cream party from Dairy Queen, as well as our picture in the Salina Journal. Good luck to our class and a huge thank you to Mrs. Karlin's brother-in-law for helping us out.

WISH US LUCK!!

No School Reminder!

2008-03-06T20:23:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder to everyone that there will be no school on Friday, Mar 7, because of a teacher inservice/workday. I know you all will miss our classroom dearly and be really disappointed about having a three day weekend. Well, enjoy your time off. Maybe if you're lucky, we will have some nice weather for a change. See you all Monday!!!

Silkworm Excitement!

2008-03-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

Mr. Boyer's OSCAR class has just become the proud parents of 46 little baby silkworms. We are raising silkworms to go along with a book that we are reading called Project Mulberry. You can see a day by day (well almost) account of what is going on from our Wiki site.

http://misterboyer.pbwiki.com/Silkworm+Project

Congratulations to a Heusner Teacher

2008-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Heusner has routinely been noted about all of it's wonderful teachers on staff. So, when a teacher gets publically recognized, it makes us all beam with pride. Mr. Boyer's 5th grade class would like to hand out their congratulations to 4th grade teacher, Mr. Michel. He was awarded the Kansas Horizon Teaching Award, which is given to only a select few 1st year teachers in the state.

If you want to read more about Mr. Michel and the Horizon Award, click here: http://www.salina.com/rdnews/story/3408-teacher-gets-award

Congratulations Mr. Michel, Heusner is honored and proud to have a teacher like you in our building.

I Believe I Can Fly

2008-02-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

State testing is just around the corner. For 6 months our 5th grade classes have learned the material that we need to be successful on the state test. To wish us good luck, the rest of the school held an assembly for all of our Heusner test takers. We have talked about how Michael Jordan set goals for himself in order to become successful. We have done the same thing. Each student has set a personal goal as to what they want to score on their tests. The assembly featured a standing ovation from the younger grades, a sing along with the school mascot, OSCAR, and the presentation of Achievement Awards from last year's tests. The theme song for us this year has been, "I Believe I Can Fly" from the movie Space Jam. After receiving our certificates we were left with a roaring round of applause from students and teachers and the song, "We Will Rock You!"
Good luck to all of our Heusner test takers in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. DO YOUR BEST ON THE TEST! Fly high and reach your goal. We know you can do it!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

2008-02-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

A reminder to everyone that Wednesday, Feb 13 and Thursday, Feb 14 are parent teacher conferences.
Parents: If you have a conference time that will not work for you, please be sure to contact Mr. Boyer or the office to reschedule. We will be discussing things to expect about the upcoming state tests and talking about the student math and reading packets that will be going home over the next few weeks.

Students: Our Valentine's Party will be at 2:45 on Wednesday. And there will be NO SCHOOL for you on Thursday or Friday of this week.
Mr. Boyer's OSCAR Reading Class: A reminder that your book reports are due on Friday, February 29. Please make sure that you are staying on top of what you need to get those completed and turned in.

Weird Science

2008-01-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

Science was fun this past week. We conducted an experiment on our own that dealt with polymers and elasticity. Our main purpose for conducting the experiment was so that we good practice using the steps of the Scientific Method. Our task was to see which was more elastic a Ziploc baggie or a plactic Dixie Cup. After creating our hypothesis about what would happen, we made some startling discoveries. Some students decided to take it a step further and ask themselves, "What would happen if..." Our imaginations went wild. We were again amazed at some of our discoveries. And we learned that some times in Science, things don't always happen like we think they should.

Family Math Night

2008-01-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

Last night was Heusner Elementary's Family Math Night. Students and their parents went from classroom to classroom playing math games together. Each grade level had two games to play. The 5th graders played Factor Bowling and Frog Games. When students had been to three rooms and played three different games, they were eligible to participate in the Math Carnival located in the gym. A good time was all as almost 200 students from grades K-5 participated with their families.

Turtle Drill

2008-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Today our class had what our school calls a "Turtle Drill". This is a drill that helps us practice what to do when something unexpected happens at our school or an unwelcome visitor is in the building. We did a wonderful job of following directions so that everyone would be kept safe. You may want to talk to your child about steps we took to stay safe.

Boyer's Going Green

2007-11-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

This week at Heusner students and staff participated in activities that practiced good energy saving and environmentally friendly habits. the idea came from some 4th grade students who are studying about the environment in Science. We made sure our lights were turned out when we were not in the room, started a classroom recycling box (how many times do we say, "Do we need this paper anymore, can I throw it away?") Friday, classes were asked to wear green clothes to finish off the week. The class with the most green clothing wins an extra recess. Our class wore a total of 52 green items.

4th Grade Program

2007-11-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

It's program time again. This time the program was with the 4th grade classes. It was a program that we were quite familiar with, as we had done the same thing last year. This year's 4th graders changed it just enough to make it interesting. Their theme was the Amazing Race. The program and it's songs brought back many memories of our program with the aliens, hula dancers, cowboys, and the brightly colored spaceship that was built. The 4th graders did a great job and we wish them luck on their evening performance.
FIFTY NIFTY UNITED STATES!

Bully Prevention

2007-10-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today we had a guest in our class, Mrs. Price, from Child Abuse Prevention Services. She taught us about bullying and the effects that bullying has on others. We did some role playing in which some of us had to portray the bully and others got to practice strategies to stop bullying. We then finished up our session by thanking our classmates for doing things for us when they didn't really have to. It was great to hear all the thank yous being given by our classmates to one another. Thank you Mrs. Price for coming to our classroom today.

3rd Grade Program

2007-10-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today our class was treated to a special dress rehearsal performance of the 3rd grade program. Having been 3rd graders ourselves at one point, we were very familiar with the songs. We showed a great deal of respect to the 3rd graders by listening carefully to their speaking parts, modeling good assembly behavior for the younger students, and even though we knew most of the songs, refrained from singing along with them.
We also know that before the year is over, we will have our chance to put on a performance for the whole school and we hope that everyone is as respectful for us as we were today.

Red Ribbon Week

2007-10-23T21:40:00.001-07:00

This week our school is doing things to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is a week that everyone focuses on Drug Awareness and shows their pride for being Drug Free. To celebrate each day, our StuCo has voted on some special way to show your pride with a different theme each day.

Monday - Crazy Hair Day - “Being Drug Free is Hair-Raising!”
Tuesday - Team Logo Day - “Winners are Drug Free and Proud!”
Wednesday - Twin Day - “Let’s support each other being drug free and proud!”
Thursday - Pajama Day - “Drugs are Tired!”
Friday - Heusner Spirit Day - “Heusner School is Drug Free!”

We are proud of our Heusner students and their dedication to Be Drug Free!

O.R.E.O Project

2007-10-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today our class participated in a worldwide internet project. It's called the O.R.E.O Project. The task is to see how many Oreo cookies each student can stack one on top of the other.

The rules were simple:
1. Each student will have 2 attempts to create a cookie stack.
2. Students will place one cookie on the paper plate/table cloth and then add one
cookie at a time to the stack. Their partner will tally cookies as they are stacked.
3. Students may NOT adjust the cookie after they have placed the cookie on the
stack and moved their hand away. Cookies need to be freestanding and NOT
leaning against any kind of support.
4. A tumble has occurred once 3 or more cookies have tumbled on the stack. The
complete stack DOES not need to completely tumble for it to be called a tumble.

Once everyone has completed two attempts, our goal was to find the mean (average), median, mode, and range for our class. Our results were submitted online and added to the results of every other participating classroom throughout the world. We will be able to see how we stack up (pardon the pun) with other classrooms, when final results are tallied and released on October 17.
To see our results and pictures, you can visit our O.R.E.O. Project site at: http://www.usd305.com/heusner/teacher/Boyer/oreo%202007.htm

or see the final results from all participants at the official site: http://www.technospudprojects.com/Projects/OREO2007/oreo2007instructions.htm

ITBS Testing

2007-10-12T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's mid-October and that means it's time for ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills) testing. Students will participate in three days of testing in the areas of reading comprehension, math, language, grammar, science, and social studies. We will be taking these tests on Tuesday, October 16-Thursday October 18. Look for a note in Friday's homework folder that gives a little more detail about what to expect from the upcoming week.

Oh and by the way, Halloween is almost here.

3 Days of School this Week!

2007-10-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that students will only have three days of school this week. They are out on Thursday and Friday due to Teacher Inservice and workday. Wednesday is the end of the first nine weeks.
We will be starting ITBS Testing next week. Look for notes that will be coming home this week.

Football Showdown - Cats vs Hawks

2007-10-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

K-State! KU! K-State! KU! Wildcats! Jayhawks! Purple! Blue!
We heard it all week and today we showed our team spirit with our Kansas State or Kansas gear. This was all a little fun in support of the big inner state rivalry this weekend. The kids and staff all got involved and needless to say, there were a lot of fans for both teams. Although everyone knows where Mr. Boyer's allegiance lies (Go Cats!) there was a lot of good natured fun and teasing about who's team is going to win the game on Saturday. Good luck to both teams! Go State!

Wear Black on Monday!

2007-10-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

On Monday, October 8, Heusner Elementary will be taking it's annual whole school picture. All students are asked to wear black and all staff are needing to wear red. All the students at Heusner will create the form of the letter H with the staff outlining it in red.
Remember to wear your black on Monday!

Book Orders Due!

2007-10-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Our October book orders have been sent home and will need to be returned to school on Monday, October 8 so that we can get them sent off and returned in a timely manner. For the first time, parents can place their orders online by typing in the login and password sent home with your student along with the book order. Or, you can continue to send the orders to school and I will make sure they get put on our classroom order.

Books that might be of some interest:

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Arrow ($.95)
The Dark Pond - Arrow ($2.95)
Igraine the Brave - Arrow ($14.95)
Heroes Don't Run - Tab - ($.95)
Shadow Children Pack - Tab - ($16.95)
*A Living Nightmare - Tab - ($4.95)

*Mr. Boyer's Personal pick

New Year, New Ideas

2007-08-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 5th grade. This is our classroom blog for the new school year. I am very happy to be moving to the 5th grade this year. Keep checking this blog to keep up with the latest happenings and events that happen throughout the year.

Online novel you might enjoy.

2007-01-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, look what I've found. I think you all will like this. It's an online story that updates daily. It's called Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's about young boy and his adventures with his brother and in school and the funny things that he encounters. This novel is a journal that the boy writes in. He made a deal with his mother that if he writes in his JOURNAL, which he hates when people call it a diary, that he can skip one chore on Saturdays. I think 4th graders can relate to some of the things this kid goes through. Check it out, I think you'll like it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Heusner Hot Dancers and Goal Setting

2007-01-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

This week has been quite an entertaining one, we started off in Integrated learning ballroom dancers. We each had a partner to dance with and had a special guest come in and teach us. In a couple of weeks we are going to have a dance off with everyone in the 4th grade. Should be interesting. I like watching that. Last year, Mrs. Hendrix and myself showed the class some of our moves and danced through the gym.
Also, our state tests are coming up just around the corner and we decided to set some goals for ourselves for this year. Having met the Standard of Excellence last year in Math, we have a pretty lofty goal of 89% in Meets Standards and above on the tests this year. Our reading goal is 83%. If we work hard, both goals should be pretty easy to achieve. We can do it, but it will take a whole 4th grade team effort.

Happy Holidays

2006-12-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

It's here! It's here! Christmas break! Half of our 4th grade year is over. We had a very busy day today during our last day before break. We started off our day with a morning sing along in the gym. When we got into the gym, we saw that it was decorated with lights strung across the ceiling and the stage was decorated and lit up. I was invited up to the stage to participate and lead the school along with Mrs. Ogborn, Mr. Michel, and Mrs. Grabner in a schoolwide Christmas macarena. I've got some great moves. I'm not very good at stage diving as we would all find out.
We then went to Mrs. Robben's room and read some Christmas stories with a first grade classroom. During that time, we practiced our technical reading and writing by creating a life saver train because they had just read The Polar Express. After we were finished with that, we read Christmas stories to each other and made hot chocolate. It was fun to share the spirit of the holidays with a younger group.
For lunch, we all (yes, even me) ate in the gym. I sat with all the girls for a little while, and can those girls talk. Whoa! I then moved over to sit with the boys.
In the afternoon, we were treated to a puppet show put on by our specials teachers from the building. I then participated in the Heusner staff adaption of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I had the honor of being the partridge in the pear tree. It was fun. But the narrator read so fast it was hard to keep up. I think she did that on purpose. I worked up a sweat.
Finally, came our Christmas party. Now, our parties aren't anything special. They are actually quite relaxing and enjoyable. I made a classroom CD for each student which included their favorite songs and some music we listen to often in class. We played the class CD, unwrapped gifts and goodie bags and talked with our friends. Now that the day is over, we are all ready for our long awaited winter break. I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hope you are refreshed when we return after the break!

Happy Holidays!

Substitutes and Incredible Reindeer

2006-12-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

This week was very busy. Our classroom had a substitute two days this week. On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to go to a workshop on using blogs in the classroom, which I think we do rather well. I got a lot of great ideas and helpful hints to make blogging more effective in class. It was equally enjoyable knowing that our class was being respectful and working hard for the sub. I just love getting rave reviews from substitutes, it makes me so proud. *Tear* The next day, we had Miss Donahey, a student teacher in our building, as a "sub". I say "sub" because although I was still in and out of class, Miss Donahey wanted to see what it would be like to sub in a classroom, since she will have to start doing it in January.

Last month we performed our Integrated program in front of the whole school, this month it was the second graders turn to perform. Their program had a Christmas theme in which a special group of reindeer superheroes save the day. It was quite comical and it always amazes me how some of those younger kids get in to it. I enjoy watching them perform. My favorite part was the scientist and the newscaster with him. "

"I think that the deadly meteor is going to fall to Earth...TONIGHT!"

Good job second grade, we enjoyed the program.

BRRRRRRRRR!!

2006-12-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

Man, was this week of school a weird one as far as our weather was concerned. At the first of the week, it was nice and warm with temperatures around 70 degress. We enjoyed those beautiful days outside at recess. Thank goodness we did though because two days later, the temperature dropped to about 30 degrees. Cold, cold, cold. So cold in fact, that we decided to stay inside for recess. It was alright though, staying inside is fun, at least for a slight change. We got to get out some of the games in the cabinet and play. I, Mr. Boyer, cleaned house in a nice game of WAR with Pedro and Chase. I think they let me win. They didn't want to hurt my feelings. How nice of them. There was a competitive and VERY LOUD game of Twister, which I eventually had to put a stop to because of the noisiness. Harry Potter UNO was also a hot game to play. Our classroom LEGO set also got a lot of use during our recesses. I think I could possibly play with LEGOs all day long. They are so much fun.
Well, I have a feeling our nice days are gone for a while. We'll just have to get ready to bundle ourselves up in coats and deal with the chill, while out at recess. I don't think we could take having a recess indoors every day. We'd all go crazy.

Aliens Invade the U.S.

2006-11-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

This year our 4th grade program was a little different from years past. The program covered our Social Studies curriculum as we journey through the 50 U.S. states. This year, our program was invaded by aliens who have come to earth looking for a place to inhabit. It was the job of our tour guides from each region to host the aliens and with the help of others, give some facts about each region of the United States.
The aliens came to earth in their "high tech" spaceship complete with lights, sounds, and smoke.
The whole 4th grade worked really hard to make this program a success. After practicing for weeks during Music, P.E., and Integrated times, their hard work paid off the night of the performance. Everyone postively contributed to our show, including we 4th grade teachers who performed a "song and dance" routine. It seemed to be more scary than the aliens.
The aliens were treated to many things throughout the U.S. They were shown the Turkey Buzzard Line Dance and also the Hawaiian puili stick routine, complete with rump shaking hula dancers.

Overall, the program was a great success and we received many rave reviews about the production. My hat goes off to all the hard work our 4th grade students demonstrated to bring the audience a wonderful performance.

Thanks to Jordan C. for the pictures.

Splish Splash

2006-10-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a busy, busy week. We concluded our action packed week with our trip to the YMCA to swim. The class earned the priviledge to go swimming by reading 7 books during the first nine weeks. All three 4th grade classes, over 70 kids, took a dip in the YMCA swimming pool. The Y was having some issues with the family pool, so they let us swim in the lap pool instead, which was twice as big. We were still able to use the water slide though, so it all worked out fine in the end.
Mrs Kinion and myself got in to swim with the kids, while Mrs. Hendrix (who wasn't feeling well at all) corraled the kids back to the pool area.
When Mrs. Kinion and I jumped into the pool, you would have thought that two pieces of playground equipment had got in. We were climbed upon, rode, swung on, splashed, chased, dunked, kicked, and cannonballed. And yes, we loved it. We all swam for almost two whole hours. Before getting out, we posed ourselves for a class picture. See there's the proof, we swam on a school day! Our classes were great. They were polite, respectful, and responsible students, and they were complimented by the lifeguards. It was a great way to reward the kids for doing such a great job and all their hard work when it comes to reading.
I don't know about the kids, but I am absolutely exhausted.
Our next goal, will be 14 books and we'll have our reward when we come back from Christmas break.

A Visit from an Author

2006-10-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today we were visited by author Lisa Campbell Ernst. She has written or illustrated over 25 books for children. She talked to us about what it takes to be an author and all the things that she does to create one of her books. Ms. Ernst showed all uf some slides that showed the process she goes through to complete a book. She even drew us a picture of one of her favorite characters, Baby Bear from the book Goldilocks Returns. Goldilocks Returns was the book that we saw being made from start to published product. Heusner students asked Ms. Ernst some great questions.
"What's your favorite book?" (All of them, they're like her kids.)
"Do you have any kids?" (2 girls, age 8 and 14)
"How do you get ideas for your books?" (Always asks "What would happen if..." and usually a good story could come out of it.) This is when she told us a story about her trip to the store to get toothpaste. She misread the box that said ANTI-CAVITY but she thought it said ANTI-GRAVITY, what if that were actually true?

Lisa Campbell Ernst concluded her visit by signing autographs sor students who wanted some of her books signed. Heusner students really enjoyed the author visit as it was very interesting and exciting. I'd really like to write a book myself someday, so I was interested in the steps to publish a book. Never give up or get discouraged and don't be afraid to make many, many, many corrections and revisions.

Ballet Gran Folklorico de Mexico

2006-10-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, our class had the opportunity to see a unique dance troupe at the Steifel Theater in our hometown. There were several other fourth grade classes throughout the school district also invited to go see the dancers. Since Mexico is part of our 4th grade curriculum, the experience was great for us to get a sense of the Mexican culture. The group told a story through dance and performances which included the Mexican can can and a Mariachi band.
We really enjoyed seeing the dancers, some of the dances they performed were funny. We all especially liked the dance in which the group was hunting a deer. The dancer had the head of a deer with antlers attached to his head and made many motions and movements that made him look just like the animal. Then there were other guys with bows and arrows who chased him around the stage as if hunting him. Quite interesting to say the least.
We would like to thank the Salina Arts Center for sponsoring us and allowing us to go. And a big thanks also go out to Mrs. Vidricksen and Mrs. Hofmeier for recommending this wonderful opprotunity for us.

Welcome!

2005-07-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our classroom weblog. I will be keeping an online journal about some of the things that we do in our classroom. You are always free to comment on anything that you would like. The goal is to eventually have a weblog for each of our students so that they too can keep an online journal. Follow us throughout the school year to see what we are up to!