How to Disagree

We have been very busy learning all sorts of important strategies and routines for working independently in the classroom. There are 4 different stations students will be working on during our guided math group time: fun facts, challenges, problem solving, and technology. Over the course of the next week, I'll be posting information about each of the different stations and what you can do at home. But here are some quick summaries of the different stations:

• Fun facts is designed to help the students become more confident and fluent with their facts so computation becomes easier. This is an individualized station where students work on their own personal level.
• Challenges like the broken calculator and challenge 24 get us thinking about numbers in different ways.
• Problem solving is our most challenging station. These multi-step problems require us to use many different math and thinking skills. Our goal is not necessarily to get these problems correct; the goal is to try a variety of strategies.
• Technology is another individualized station where students work on our fourth grade skills at their person level. While we will be using Study Island, our biggest focus will be a website and app called Front Row.

Now you may be wondering, what in the world does this have to do with the post title, How to Disagree? In addition to learning these important math routines, we've also been learning what it takes to be a good teammate. Our second word of the week is respectful, and while it's easy to be respectful when you're having fun and agreeing with others, disagreements are a different story. 

While I could take the time about how to disagree, I thought Kid President said it really well. After we watched his take on disagreeing, we talked about each step and added them to our wall of learning. Hopefully this year we can learn to disagree and still treat people well. Check out what Kid President has to say!

Free Bear

It was a very exciting day in 4th grade because we got to experience our first Free Bear! What is Free Bear you ask? Well, every cycle day 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, from 12:10 - 12:40, all of 4th grade attends a clinic. The clinics are interventions to provide extra support and enrichment to push students' thinking. But on Day 6.... on this wonderful day, students who've earned it by following the Code of Conduct and getting their work done get to choose the activity they'd like to experience. Choices include:

• dodgeball
• nature walk
• computers
• movie
• sidewalk chalk
• legos
• board games
• Challenge 24 
• drawing
• yoga
• puzzles

While we didn't get to see any animals on our nature walk today (a group of about 50 makes being quiet a bit challenging!), we did get a chance to check out a really cool plant that we call a Touch Me Not. We realized that the plants at Bear Creek have very unique ways of spreading their seeds. The cattails go from looking like giant corn dogs to GIANT Q-tips. Touch Me Nots are very unique as well. Their seeds grow in pods. The pods grow bigger and bigger until..... well, you just need to check out our slow-motion video below to see what happens! It was a great day to be a 4th grader at Bear Creek. We can't wait for the next Day 6!

Brave

This year, my homeroom will be focusing on a different word each week during our class meeting. As we thought about which words we wanted to focus on, it seemed like there would be no better word than the word brave to start off the year. We all need to be brave when we start a new school year, and we all need to be brave as we meet new groups of people. There's a lot of things we want to be brave about. Check out our slideshow below to see how we all hope to be brave at home, at school, or in the future!

Great First Day

We had a great first day in the Bair's Den! Team Kit Kat (4A) stayed in their morning classes all day because we attended several stations to help us learn about Bear Creek, and boy.... was there A LOT to learn!

First we got our homework folders because we had tons of paperwork to take home. Families, please check your child's homework folder for your contact paper and medical form. These should be filled out and returned as soon as possible.

After getting all of those papers situated, we went up and learned about the cafeteria (so many choices, so many things to remember) and recess. We even got to play a little bit on the playground! After our small break we headed down to check out the science lab and learned about all the different things we can do during Bear Time. We'll have reading clinics, band and orchestra will meet during that time, and on Day 6 we have Free Bear! Ask your child to tell you all about this. In the afternoon we had another session to learn about the walking path and how to act while out there.

Probably the most fun we had was a team building activity to learn each other's names. We stood in a circle, picked a person, said their name, and threw a bean bag at them (gently!). Once everybody had a chance to throw to somebody, we tried it again. Then we did it a little faster. And then it got crazy because Mrs. Bair kept adding in more and more bean bags!!! We didn't quite understand how this was a team building activity because we only really learned one person's name, and to be quite honest, things got really silly. Kids described their feelings as frustrated, tiring, fun, nerve wracking, crazy, confused, excited, and emotional. Whoa..... that doesn't sound like team building!

So we started to talk and think about what was easy and what was hard about the activity and how it relates to our class. When there was only one beanbag, it was really easy, but the more that was happening the harder it got. In reflecting on this lesson, our classmates came up with these ideas about how this activity relates to what happens in the class:

• It's okay to make mistakes. Sometimes there's a lot happening at one time, and you're going to make a mistake. You just have to keep going.
• You have to focus on yourself. If you followed your own pattern in the game, it was easier not to mess up, but if you worried about everybody else things got messed up.
• You have to think about how your actions affect other people. If you threw the bean bag too high or didn't say somebody's name, your action messed somebody else up and that could mess up the whole game.
• Sometimes you have to think about other people's perspectives or opinions. Just because you like something doesn't mean it's fun for everybody.

Pretty cool, huh? Sometimes it's not just about learning math and reading at Bear Creek. :)

Open House

It was great to see so many of my Bair's Den friends this afternoon at our Open House. I was so excited to meet all of you, and I'm pretty proud of how many names I got right! Don't worry if you couldn't make it - we have many seats left, and we are all ready for everybody to come in and get comfortable.

One job today was to finish the prompt, "I am excited for 4th grade because...." Check out everybody's answers!

I agree with all of those things, and there are even more great things you'll learn about Bear Creek.

Many families asked, "What do we need for Monday?" Honestly, you don't need anything. Our team has all of the supplies you will need. You just have to bring a backpack, your smiling face, a healthy snack since we eat lunch so late, and sneakers since we have Phys Ed the first day of school. What if you want to bring some of your own supplies? Pencils and pencil boxes, special homework folders, and magnetic locker decorations are fine. We ask you not to bring large 3 ring binders or Trapper Keepers because we really don't have enough room for them. If you did get one, it would be a great tool to help your child stay organized at home.

I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing everybody next week!

Welcome to the Bair's Den!

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 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 and the community portal 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. Here is the special schedule (as of this post) that we will follow:

• Day 1 ~ Phys Ed / Health
• Day 2 ~ Library
• Day 3 ~ Technology
• Day 4 ~ Phys Ed / Health
• Day 5 ~ Music
• Day 6 ~ Art

As you can see, we will have Phys Ed on our first day, so please be sure to wear or bring sneakers. We also eat a very late lunch (12:40 - 1:25) so we have a snack time each morning. As of right now, I am not aware of any food allergies in our classroom, but I will notify everybody if and when I become aware of any. A piece of fruit (apple, banana), goldfish, and pretzels are all all great snack ideas to start the year.

I'm hoping that all of you will be able to come and join me on Thursday, August 25 from 2:00 - 3:30 PM for our Open House. Come and see the school, visit the classroom, make your name tag, and meet some new friends.

I cannot wait for our new year together to begin!

End of Year Survey

Students, click the link below to take our survey!

End of Year Survey