Youth Teaching Youth - Fossils

Hands-On Science

Linda Gillis, of the Utah Museum of Natural History, and four students from Glendale Middle School came and led students from room 207 in observational hands-on activities with fossils. Check out the highlights below.



*Fourth graders remember that fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants or other organisms from the past.

Punctual People

On Time

Mrs. Banco visited classrooms to honor students who have not been late, not once, for the first trimester of the school year. Way to go!

I Am Thankful For...

Room 207's Tree of Thanks

As part of Thanksgiving, Mr. Kelly asked the students of Room 207 to list the things they are thankful for. Check out our Tree of Thanks and the thoughtful comments each student made about what they are grateful for.

Riley Halloween Parade 2009

Happy Halloween (A Day Early)!

Our annual school Halloween parade was held on Friday, October 30. We passed through all of the classrooms in the building and were treated to spirited music (over the intercom) and several interesting costumes. It culminated in a classroom party, where the treats were in abundance. Thanks to all who brought and shared food! See if you can find yourself and identify the different teachers in Mr. Kelly's Halloween iMovie!

American Indian Assembly

October 27, 2009

We were recently treated to a presentation on American Indian culture and introduced to the 5 different tribes (Ute, Paiute, Goshute, Navajo, and Shoshoni) that inhabited the land now known as Utah; that included dance, music, and apparel. Highlights from the presentation are in the video clip that follows.

Line of Symmetry Podcast

Watch & Discuss!

This is a podcast that I recently made for a state math and technology program.

Red Butte Gardens Field Trip

Check out the plants and animals we were able to see on our field trip to Red Butte Gardens!

UMFA - Fall Visit

American Indian Exhibit

Today's field trip to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts gave students the opportunity to observe American Indian art. Docents took small groups of students on personalized tours of the museum. This is our first of two trips. We'll return in the Spring, when they'll have a new exhibit (Egyptian themed). Mr. Kelly wants to know: "What was your favorite piece of art at the museum?" Leave me a comment. Look for mine in the video. Hint: It has something to do with New Zealand and the Maoris.

Congruent Figures

Watch & Discuss!

Do you remember our lesson on congruency? Watch the vidcast and see if you can pick out the congruent figures!

Reminders!

Field Trips & School Pictures

On Monday we will receive a visit from a Utah Museum of Fine Arts representative. They will come in and prep us for our visit to the museum on Tuesday, October 6. This is part of our 4th grade Art education curriculum. The Tuesday field trip will take 2 hours out of our regular morning schedule, and we will be back in the building by noon for lunch. We do make a second trip to the museum in the Spring.

School pictures are scheduled for Wednesday, October 7. Please have your packet filled out and returned by this date.

Thursday, October 8, we will be headed to Red Butte Gardens. We are currently studying Utah environments/habitats (desert, wetland, and forest) and look forward to providing students with this learning experience with plants natural to Utah.

*Please make sure your student is here at school on time, especially the days we have field trips scheduled.

Introducing Ms. Pat

Google Earth Measuring Tool Lesson

Pat Lambrose works in the Instructional Technology Department for the Salt Lake City School District. She has been my mentor, for implementing technology into my teaching (eMINTS), over the past 3 years. I respect her and appreciate her knowledge and assistance.

Today Ms. Pat taught the students of Room 207 to use the measurement tool on Google Earth. This tool allows you to measure distances or paths, with variable increments (e. g. feet, miles, meters, kilometers). Students measured our school field virtually to find out wether or not we actually ran a mile for P. E. this past Monday. It turns out that 4 laps around our field is a little over a mile! We'll have to let Becky know! We also found the field's perimeter and area.

Remember Ms. Pat's challenge 4th graders: Demonstrate to a friend or someone at home how the measurement tool on Google Earth works!

Save Fred!

Class Team Building Activity


We're now into our 6th week of school and recently changed desks and partners in Room 207! Mr. Kelly wants students to learn to communicate, cooperate, and work well with others, so we participated in the Save Fred activity today. Check out the video below!

Primary and Secondary Colors

End of the Week Art Lesson

My wife, Sarah ("Mrs. Kelly" to my class), a former elementary school teacher and art aficionado, is kind enough to come in every so often and teach art to my class each year. Today's lesson was on primary and secondary colors. Students were taught how primary colors are mixed to make secondary colors. So I ask my students to ponder the following questions:

• Do you remember which two colors mixed make green?
• What color is created when red and yellow are mixed?
• What is the remaining secondary color?

This also means that my two youngest children tag along.

Kate

Isaac

Here the students are mixing their colors.

The result, a color wheel that accurately represents both the primary and secondary colors. Nice work Room 207!

Commutative and Identity Properties of Multiplication

Helpful Hints for Homework or Review!

Visit From a Community Gardner

Learning About Plants


My friend and neighbor, Gina, who runs a community garden came in and spoke to our 4th grade students about plants that are "native" to Utah. She also demonstrated the difference water makes in a plant's growth, showing a sunflower that received constant water all summer and another that only received what the rain provided. We appreciate her willingness to share her knowledge of plants and appreciate the gift (a soft dwarf sumac tree) which I've already planted in our class garden box.


This is our class garden box (number 12). We currently have beets, peas, some flowers, and a tree planted there.
The plant in the middle is our soft dwarf sumac tree.

Patterns of 8 Lesson

Expressions Math Board

Missed out on today's Math lesson or having trouble remembering your patterns of 8 in both multiplication and division? Watch the following vidcasts and catch up with your classmates!

Part 1 - This is how we use Math Boards to visually develop the concept of multiplication by circling (in this case) groups of 8, keeping a running total, and writing equations to represent our work.

Part 2 - Do you understand the inverse relationship between multiplication and division? If you know your factors and the product for any given multiplication equation, then you can form a division fact from it.

How to Sign Up to Follow Our Blog

Get Involved!

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Quadrilaterals Vidcast

My First Vidcast

Hopefully there will be many more of these to come, this was my first attempt at passing on math content via a vidcast.

Students remember, we've covered the material here, this is provided as review.

Parents, take this opportunity to ask your child questions after viewing this vidcast. "What does congruent mean?" "What is a right angle?" "What does parallel mean?"

Site Launch

Here We Go!

I recently attended the State Technology Conference (UCET) and decided that starting a blog would be an excellent way to connect with parents and students at home. I plan to publish, on a weekly basis, a content subject that we've studied. As parents or students you'll be able to check the site, talk about it as a family, comment, or review what we've learned to check for understanding. I hope that you'll subscribe as a follower so that you can receive each update or put us on you favorite's list and check back often.

Thanks for the support of this site and your child's education.

~Mr. Kelly