Wednesday

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in.
We have a pretty groovy day. We were able to have a very lively first round of gold mining this morning, with much claim jumping and some great examples of sportsmanship. The kids and I will have a great time as we work through the game in these coming weeks.
A friendly reminder that Friday brings an intense science exam. The kids have been diligent working in their biome books, so they are a great resource for studying with. Biome books are due in class Friday.

The kids are responsible for the following tonight:

- reading log (due Friday)
- math 20.1
- keep working with biome books
- work with alter ego writings if necessary

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Tuesday

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in. The kids are responsible for the following tonight:

- math pretest
- nature log entry
- reading log
- continue with biome study guide

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Monday & the week

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in. These next 9 days leading up to spring break will have us concentrating on the Gold Rush and finishing up our biome studies. We will begin our Gold Rush simulation tomorrow, and will continue working with our By the Great Horn Spoon literature study. As a result of these studies, the kids will be working with several short-term projects that will occupy their homework time. We will be stepping away from our reading text for these next two weeks, as we are actually ahead of schedule with our studies there. Friday is a big day for the kids, as they will be engaging with their land biomes quiz. The quiz will cover all of the land biomes that we have studied over this past month. This is the largest, most comprehensive science test the kids will work with this year. The kids will need to bring their completed biome study guides to school on Friday. Notes are expected to be completed, and illustrations are expected to be fully colored. The table of contents and vocabulary should be properly filled in, and the cover, a design of the kids' choosing, should represent the contents of the book. None of this is new information for the kids. With this, the kids are responsible for the following tonight:

- reading log (due Friday)
- math 19.5
- continue studying and working with biome study guide

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Thursday, the Big Spin and MIX & MATCH DAY

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in. We were fortunate enough to have Captain Gilbert from the Aptos / La Selva fire department visit the fourth grade today. The kids got some great safety information that will follow them home on Monday in their Blue Folders. In the meantime, make sure that you have changed the batteries in your fire detectors within the past six months.

Tomorrow is a spirit day at Rio. It's a mix and match day, which apparently means the kids are supposed to be as fashionably uncoordinated as possible.

Tomorrow is also the student achievement and recognition assembly. We'll be honoring students that have demonstrated academic and personal excellence. From our awesome classroom, we'll be honoring Joshua Mitchener and Megan Eldredge for their outstanding efforts with reading / literature, and Sachi Land and Trevor Foley for their embodiment of the school's motto of "kind hearts and open minds".

Tonight, the kids are responsible for the following:

- reading log
- math 19.4
- study spelling words
- complete "What Do You Know" in the By the Great Horn Spoon packet (page 11)

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Wednesday and beyond

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in.
The math odds were in our favor today, and the kids really seem to be grasping the connection between relating decimals to fractions, and vice versa. Hopefully this trend continues, as we will be exploring the two areas of math heavily as the year winds down.
We are just venturing into the Gold Rush, and the kids already have gold fever. Apparently several of them are coordinating efforts to get up to the gold country ASAP!
Tomorrow we are fortunate enough to have a local fire fighter visit us to go over issues of fire safety and prevention.

Tonight, the kids are responsible for the following:

- reading log
- math 19.3
- practice spelling words for Friday

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Tuesday

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in. For this short day, I have only a short message.

The kids are responsible for the following tonight:

- reading log
- nature log entry
- math 19.2
- reading practice book pages 327 - 328
- if necessary, complete descriptive sentences for your alter ego.

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant

Monday

Howdy all, and thanks for checking in. Now that the report card fallout has subsided, we are full steam ahead with our final trimester together. We are beginning our exploration of the Gold Rush tomorrow. We'll begin reading By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman, and then get into a very fun Gold Rush mining simulation next week. We will be wrapping up our work with land biomes this week. We have just two left to look at and work through. With that, the kids will have a full week to complete their biome packets and study for their closed-book exam on Friday, March 26. We'll have an ample amount of time to write this grading period, and Tuesday brings a unique subject matter for the kids to engage with. Ideally, we'd like to turn the efforts into books for the May 1st Book Faire @ the Capitola Mall. We'll see how things go.

For tonight, the kids are responsible for the following:

- reading log
- math 19.1
- reading practice book pages 331 - 332

Respectfully, Mr. Bryant