A Whirlwind First Day

It was so amazing to get to meet all of my new friends today! While lockers were challenging and the building was overwhelming, everybody had a very positive attitude and did a great job. We already have some locker experts, and I think everybody will be able to do their lockers by the end of this week. :)

Each night you should look for your child's agenda and homework folder. There's no folder tonight because we didn't have any papers, but some of you will find your child's back to school paperwork in their backpack. Please make sure to complete and return those forms as soon as possible. Each child also has 10 minutes of reading homework tonight. This can be ANY type of reading: picture books, chapter books, comic books, comic strips, websites, magazines, reading with you or listening to you read, reading you the grocery list as you're shopping! Anything that gets your child reading is what we want them to read. We will talk more about this on Parent Night Wednesday evening.

I hope your child feels like they had a great first day today! I'm looking forward to meeting all of you Wednesday night.

Open House Visit

It was so great to meet our 13 friends who came to visit the classroom during Open House today. I can already tell that we are going to be a wonderful family! Here are the reasons why everybody thinks 4th grade will be amazing:

Here are a couple of notes that may be helpful for the first day of school.

• If you'd like bring a healthy snack (goldfish, pretzels, string cheese, fruit, etc.) to eat during snack time since we do not eat lunch until 12:40!
• You may bring your own pencil box, homework folder, and magnetic / non-permanent decorations for your lockers.
• You do not NEED to bring anything - we have all of the supplies you will need for the year so do not feel as though you need to go out and buy anything.

If you have any questions prior to the first day of school, please feel free to email me. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody on Monday morning!

A Look at the Bair's Den

By now you have had a tour of Bear Creek, and you may have even attended one of the orientation tours here at Bear Creek this summer. But you may still be wondering, "What's it REALLY like to be a  fourth grader in the Bair's Den?" Well, the students who were in my class last year have some answers for you! Check out the video below to get the scoop!

We hope you enjoyed the video! If you have any questions, please leave comments, and I will answer them for you!

Welcome & Special Schedule

Hi everybody, and welcome to The Bair's Den! I am looking forward to having each of you in my class, and I hope you are just as excited as I am to be starting a new adventure at Bear Creek School!

Please check back here every day, and you will be able to find out a little bit more about our classroom, see some pictures (and maybe even a video!), and find out more about what our days will be like in The Bair's Den!

All of our specials will be held from 11:25 - 12:10. Each day I will update our homework page to remind you which special we will have the following day so you can help your child remember their sneakers, recorders or library books if needed.

• Day 1 ~ Library 
• Day 2 ~ Health (students should always wear sneakers for Health)
• Day 3 ~ Music
• Day 4 ~ Art
• Day 5 ~ Phys Ed
• Day 6 ~ Technology

I'm hoping that all of you will be able to come and join me on Wednesday, August 21 from 2:30 - 3:30 for our Open House. Come and see the school, visit the classroom, make your name tag, pick your first book, and meet some new friends.

I cannot wait for our new year together to begin!

Summer Fun

Boy is it ever hot out there! Even with our crazy weather I hope the heat isn't keeping you glued to your TV or video games! There are still plenty of things that you can do to have some fun.

When it finally cools down, this article from Edutopia contains 6 links to different ideas you can use to have fun outside. I agree that the camera scavenger hunt looks like a really fun idea, Citizen Science always has really interesting projects for which you collect and submit meaningful data, and there are so many trails close to Elizabethtown that it makes many of the exploring projects a simple, low cost activity. Something I didn't see listed but has become one of my favorite things to do is Geocaching. With the development of GPS on Smartphones it is easier than ever to get involved in this treasure hunt, and I'm always excited to find my latest cache. Check out Geocaching.com if you want to learn more.

Another popular topic with kids is always FOOD! This next link from Edutopia has a variety of different topics about exploring and growing your own food. There are several farmers' markets in our area (Marietta has one every Sunday morning. Mount Joy also has one each week, but I'm not sure of the day.) where you and your child can meet our local farmers. And even at this late stage in July there are still fruits and veggies you can plant and harvest to enjoy!

I hope your family is able to find some fun activities through these links. If you have any special request, any ideas you'd like to learn more about please let me know and I'll gladly find some links to share!

Looking for Books?

So Mrs. Bair said you were supposed to read every day over the summer. Great. But what are we supposed to read? Earlier in June I shared this post with a couple of different book lists that were good places to start, but this past week I found another amazing book resource!

I follow many different blogs to help me be a better teacher, and the other day I stumbled across this list - the 101 Best Chapter Books to Read (or Hear) Before you Grow Up. I'm going to be honest, if you haven't read some of the books on this list you are probably going to enjoy them even if you ARE a grown up (or least your age says you SHOULD be)! There are books from every genre (type) on this list, and while I haven't read all of them, I've read about half so I'd like to point you to my favorites.

9. Because of Winn-Dixie (realistic fiction)
12. Bridge to Terabithia (realistic fiction)
13. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (fantasy)
14. Caddie Woodlawn (historical fiction)
15. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* (fantasty)
17. Charlotte’s Web (fantasy)
19. The Cricket in Times Square* (fantasy)
28. Freckle Juice (realistic fiction)
30. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Franweiler* (mystery)
35. Harriet the Spy* (realistic fiction)
36. Hatchet (adventure)
37. How to Eat Fried Worms (realistic fiction)
41. Island of the Blue Dolphins (adventure)
51. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles* (fantasy)
54. The Little House on the Prairie series (historical fiction)
57. Magic Tree House (series - historical fiction / fantasy)
62. The Mouse and the Motorcycle (fantasy)
64. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh* (fantasy)
73. Pippi Longstocking (fantasy)
80. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (historical fiction)
82. The Secret Garden (historical fiction)
83. Shiloh*
84. Sideways Stories from Wayside School (fantasy)
85. Strawberry Girl (historical fiction)
94. The Trumpet of the Swan* (fantasy)


I know, I know, that's a lot of favorites! Those titles with the asterisks are the tops of the list, in my opinion. Which of those are my absolute favorites? Hmmmm.... if I had to pick my top five they would probably be....

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
Harriet the Spy
The Cricket in Times Square
Shiloh
The Trumpet of the Swan

But honestly, I could read any of the books on this list over and over and over again. I hope my shortened list and the longer one you'll find by following the link will help you and your child find your new favorite book over the summer! Please leave a comment to share which ones you've decided to read!

What Exactly Can We Do?

If the last image gave you some good ideas for the summer, but you'd like some more specific links or activities to do with your child then I have the post for you! Resources to Prevent Summer Slide is an article by Edutopia, a great educational resource on any topic, that will give you links for things like virtual field trips (I had to giggle at the Hershey Chocolate Factory field trip - can you do that without getting the free chocolate at the end??), things your child can build, and reading, writing and math resources.

Don't limit yourself to worksheets or flashcards when it comes to learning in the summer. Asking your child what he or she would like to learn about or letting the kids come up with possible solutions for problems around the house are great ways to keep your child actively learning throughout the summer months!