I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe our mini vacation has come and gone. Our holiday week was a short one. On Monday we officially concluded our fiction unit by working in groups at different character stations. On Tuesday students brought in their Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing projects. The project was optional but so many kids chose to take part. We had a lot of fun playing the board games that students created based on the book. The abundance of creativity was so awesome! Make sure to look at some photos of our game day below. On Wednesday we did some Thanksgiving activities and went to the Turkey Bowl. It was great cheering on the 7th and 8th graders and celebrating Kennedy School spirit. This week was also Gratitude Week. We reflected on all the things we are grateful for. I, for one, am so thankful for my students this year. They are a special group of kids in that they are kind to each other and greet each day with a positive attitude. I feel lucky to be their teacher :)

The kids got a lot of practice typing this week, as we spent a whole lot of time on the Chromebooks. We did our character trait project in reading. The students typed up essays based on a character in a fiction book of their choice. They then created word clouds using the website www.wordclouds.com. They turned out really neat and I'm looking forward to hanging them up in the hallway. I had my homeroom in the afternoons this week, and we typed up our personal narratives. Our focus for this writing was strong beginnings for stories and showing rather than telling what's happening in the story. In comparison to their summer writings, the students have shown great improvement in both areas!

Below are a few pictures from the Harvest Festival that the school held on Thursday. There are also some pictures of my homeroom learning from some fifth graders. Miss Bougas, the 5th grade teacher, is a good friend of mine and invited us in to her classroom so that her students could present some writing strategies to us. They did a great job!

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Tommy and Shane. Tommy is such a nice kid. I have been looking forward to being his teacher for years now, since I was his older brother Daniel's teacher for two years. Tommy is always smiling and kind to his classmates; it must run in the family! Shane worked really hard on his personal narrative this week. He really tried to incorporate more details into his writing and took all my feedback seriously. Nice job boys!

It was a three day week for students...and I have zero pictures! I totally dropped the ball this week in the photography department. That's okay though. We spent Monday revising and reflecting on our fiction tests that we took last week. Students received their tests back with a score based on their revisions in their Friday folders. They're expected to review my feedback and bring them back in signed by a parent/guardian. On Wednesday we finished Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and students were given an optional project due in a few weeks. There are a few choices of what they can do for the project; many students in the past have chosen to create a board game based on the book. Again, it is completely optional and worth up to three extra homework stars. On Wednesday I also introduced our culminating assignment for the fiction unit, which we started on Thursday. For this assignment students are writing an essay based on a character in a fiction book of their choice. They will then create a visual to represent their character using a program called Wordle. I've used the program before and I can't wait for the students to experiment with it.

Our Bucket Fillers of the week were Lydia and Laura. Both girls rocked the fiction test. They both worked really hard when we took the test, and then reviewed my feedback carefully to revise them and make them even stronger. I'm so proud of them!

What a week! Between our field trip on Monday and Heritage Week, it was very eventful. I had an awesome time on our field trip to the Tsongas Industrial History Center. Unfortunately we had to split into two groups, so I didn't get to spend much time with Mrs. O'Keefe's homeroom. For that reason, just about all my pictures from the field trip are of my homeroom. Our group's guide was named Hugh and he was great. We got to participate in an engineering challenge, ride on a trolley, and explore mills. I was so proud of my students. They were engaged, polite, and well-behaved. I can't wait to take them on more field trips! For Heritage Week, we decorated flags, shared about our cultures, and enjoyed food from different countries such as Brazil and Italy. Eleanor's mom came in to my homeroom to share pictures and stories about Scotland. One of the days, students were invited to dress up to represent their heritage. I wore a shirt with a big shamrock on it to represent Ireland. Check out the photo below of Ariana D. and Jessica. They look fabulous!

We took our first reading test on Thursday and Friday of this week. Our fiction unit isn't over, we still have about a week and a half left. But the test will give me an idea of where students are in the unit and what I need to reteach.

Our Bucket Fillers of the week were April and Isadora. It was April's birthday on the day of our field trip! I'm so glad her mom got to be one of the chaperones and spend the day with her. April worked really hard on her test this week, I was impressed. Isadora also has done a great job in our fiction unit. She has mastered character traits! Nice job ladies :)