Well students, it's time to shine! You have been working so hard to run laps on our track each day we go outside for recess. Our official Mile Run with Coach Rhodin will take place this week during normal PE time (12:40-1:25). Miss Fisher's homeroom tests tomorrow: Wednesday, Nov. 14th and Mr. Gray's homeroom will test Friday, Nov. 16th.

We know you are ready to do your best! Please remember to wear layered clothing in case you get hot while running and comfortable shoes/sneakers. You also should plan to bring yourself a bottled water for that day. We are so excited! Please remember to tell your parents they are welcome to come and cheer for you!

Student "Mock Election"

Students,

Today we will see what it's like to "vote" for our President! Click here to submit your vote.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dC1ZZVE0a2l2LTJpdnp6VzRrRFE0TUE6MQ

On the real Election Day tomorrow, we will find out who the majority of students selected to be our President.

Class Thanksgiving Feast

On Tuesday, November 20, we would like to invite you and our homerooms to enjoy a class feast following Thanksgiving traditions. We are asking that you send in at least one family favorite prepared dish to share with the class. We will also need volunteers to help set up and clean up for the feast. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are able to help and what you can bring! (Don’t forget to send in a serving spoon as well!) In previous years, we’ve had items such as mashed potatoes, casseroles, macaroni & cheese, stuffing, fried chicken, turkey, corn breads, desserts, etc.

Please return the bottom portion of the letter stapled into your child's planner about the feast and let us know if you are able to join/ bring in something! Thank you.

Fall Festival

We still need volunteers for the Fall Festival Saturday, Nov. 3rd!! The Festival takes place from 11:00-3:00 here at N.B.E.  We are looking for parents to help supervise our booth throughout the day. Please let us know ASAP if you are able to help! We also need cakes donated for the Cake Walk if you cannot make it. Please let us know if you are available! Thank you.

Titanic Project for Mr. Gray's class

In reading we are finishing up our Titanic unit of study. The students have finished reading the story in our reading textbooks and completed a vocabulary quiz. On friday we bagan our Titanic Brochure project!

Students have two options to choose from in creating their Brochure.
Option 1: Create a brochure using accurate information found from the internet, textbook, or other source. In option one the students are to pretend that the Titanic has not yet set sail. Use info about the ship, food, entertainment, etc... to persuade your reader to buy a ticket and take the trip of a lifetime!

Option 2: Create a brochure using accurate information found from the internet, textbook, or other source. In option two students are to pretend that the wreckage of the Titanic is now in a museum. Use info about the ship, wreckage, passengers, etc...to persuade your reader to come and buy a ticket and visit your museum!

This is a creative assignement where the students will be required to use accurate information about the Titanic and organize their Brochures in a non-fiction format using non-fiction text features(headings, captions, pictures, maps, graphs, etc).

Here are some links for some great websites on the Titanic.

• http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0411/articles/mainarticle.html  
• http://www.titanic-nautical.com/titanic-facts.html  
• http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-sank-titanic-videos   

Welcome Fall Season and the month of October :)

First off, thank you to everyone for such a great turn out at Open House! We truly appreciate your support. Students have been very busy over the past few weeks...In Math, we've finished our unit on place value and representing numbers through the millions. Students had an introduction to decimals and are now reviewing basic multiplication facts. We've discussed various strategies for solving unknown facts. Students who are having trouble with facts should have flash cards and study EACH night. In the next few weeks, we will be moving into multiplication of 2 and 3 digit numbers. Strategies for solving basic facts will be applied to these more complex problems. We will also be looking at a variety of word problems involving multiplication.

In Science, we are studying Space including star patterns and moon phases. Students will be recording phases of the moon at home for the month of October and turning it in for extra credit. There are many videos, vocabulary activities and science games found online at pearsonsuccessnet. The students can log on using their first and last name and the password: mathis1. These resources are excellent in helping them to better understand the science concepts we are studying. Another reminder is that the Science textbook and Math textbook plus additional resources are available on the Pearson website. Students can review this material at ANY time! We took our first Science tests before progress reports and several students had difficulty. The tests will always be open book and students must remember to "dive back into the text" for details. This is a very important FCAT skill and students really need practice with remembering to do this! This also applies to studies in Reading.

We have officially finished benchmark testing until December. Results are available if you are interested in setting up a conference. Overall, the math scores are dramatically lower than the Reading scores because the test included overall Math skills for 4th grade. Several of the skills have not yet been taught so do not worry! Some of the new skills students will need to master this year include understanding of: decimals, percents, fractions, finding the area and multiplication/ division with larger numbers. Please be sure to check in periodically with your child on what we are studying in math to help them gain this understanding and to support what is being taught in the classroom.

October 30th is the Book Character parade in honor of Halloween. Students can dress up like their favorite characters from books of their choice. Costumes must be appropriate for school and students must have the book to go with their costume. We will have a parade around school that morning.

Another reminder is that our Fall Festival will be coming up in November. We will need volunteers to help with decorating the booth and operating it during the Festival. Please let us know if you are interested!  Thank you :)