First week in 4th grade!

To say we had a great week would be an understatement....this class dug right in this week and we had a FANTASTIC week! 

Day 1- 

We all were extremely nervous for the FIRST day of school so we read and analyzed the "What If" poem by Shel Silverstein.

Next, we created our own "What If" poem. 

The next day we begin discussing the important skills you need to be a 21st century learner, the process of F.A.I.L and having a growth mindset. We all decided one important aspect of all these would be being able to cooperatively collaborate with your teammates. 

I gave students 6 cups and a rubber band with 4 strings tied around it. 

The task: only using the yarn, stack your cups like the figure below: 

The students were eager to start

Finally, after multiple attempts and failing, each group was able to stack all the cups successfully! After each group was finished we all worked as a team to come up with our team guidelines for the year. 

We also discussed the land bridge theory and continents. I told students artifacts helped scientists come up with this theory of how the Land Bridge Theory came about and this started a whole list of WONDERS.....

The next day Holden brought in two artifacts from home that he had found in St. Thomas and wanted to know if we knew what they were. Everyone was puzzled and curious so we tweeted Wonderopolis to see if they could help us. 

Within a few hours the Wonderopolis team went to work and we had tons of responses on what these may be. Here are a few responses we received, the students were in awe that their wonderings went OUTSIDE the classroom and people all over were commenting back. 

 Later on in the week we kicked off our "Choose Kind" PBL unit with discussing the word KINDNESS, making kindness keychains, and starting the novel, Wonder. 

Look for updates on the book and student reviews on the blog. Also, updates on our PBL coming soon! 

On Friday, we looked at various memoirs (including a memoir Ms. Gidaro wrote)and wrote down all of the characteristics that made up a memoir.We will be writing our very own memoirs next week in class. 

Later on that day our class and Mrs. Johnson's class experienced F.A.I.L like no other. Here is what happened: 

We were discussing Process Skills and how we were going to make "Elephant Toothpaste" discussing quantitative and quantitative observations. We had all the materials we needed (Dawn, Hydrogen Peroxide, and Yeast) and were ready to go! 

The entire classes eagerly watched as I poured the ingredients carefully into the water bottle. Last year when we did the same experiment the ingredients exploded out of the bottle; well this year they just sat there in the bottle, boring and still. The students were still great sports and when I squeezed the bottle to make some come out they loved it, however this isn't the "Explosion" Mrs. Johnson and I were wanting. 

We aren't sure what happened??? We discussed afterwards what the problem may be and ways we could fix it. Could it be the yeast was expired? The water wasn't warm enough when we mixed the yeast and this caused it to settle instead of exploding? We also discussed how this happens ALL the time in life and it is perfectly FINE! F.A.I.L ing is fine because we will learn from this experiment that went wrong and try again on Monday. 

Any other ideas on what may have went wrong and what we need to change when we do the experiment again on Monday? 

Thank you for a GREAT start this week and allowing me to teach and love your beautiful, curious, and humble children! We are starting off great and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds! 

-Mrs. Gault 

All About Mrs. Gault and Supply List for Room 406

ALL ABOUT MRS. GAULT

 I am so blessed to be at an AMAZING school like Oakland Elementary! This is my 4th year teaching at Oakland and I have  enjoyed every moment! I attended the University of South Carolina where I received a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and I will begin my Master's Degree in General Education this Fall at Anderson University. I grew up and went to school in the Boiling Springs community. I married the love of my life in December 2012 and we reside in the Boiling Springs area. On September 16, 2013 we added a NEW and BEAUTIFUL addition to our family; a beautiful baby girl named Harper Klae. Harper is the most precious gift we've ever been given. God chose to entrust this precious, hilarious, independent, rough-and-tumble girl into our care and it has been the best blessing ever.  I love EVERYTHING about my job, especially the wonderful fourth graders I get to spend time and work with each day! 

A Few FACTS About Mrs. Gault:

* She loves her family more than anything! 

 
* She LOVES football, especially the GAMECOCKS!!! 

* She loves to read, especially at the beach during summer! 

* Her favorite food is chocolate chip pizza from Pizza Inn..YUM!!

* Her favorite snack is ANYTHING sour...especially Sour Patch Kids...YUM!!! 

*She enjoys reading books by Patricia Polacco to her 4th graders and books by 
Jodi Picoult to herself.

What are you reading right now?? 

At this moment, I am curled up on the couch reading Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. I have read a lot over the summer in between Harper's naps, what have you read over the summer? Also, is there anything interesting you want to share on the blog that you have done over the summer? Comment below if so and we will share in class. 

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” 
― Dr. Seuss 

Supply List for Our Room (406) 

Please have the following items when coming to school on the first day. If you have any questions please contact me at (Brandy.Gault@Spartanburg2.k12.SC.US)







2 plastic pocket folders (hole-punched)




Multiple packs of #2 pencils




1 package colored pencils




Pencil pouch




Several packs of notebook paper – wide ruled




4 white glue sticks 




1 ½” Three ring binder with dividers (6 dividers)




10 clear sheet protectors




3 marble covered composition notebook with sewn in pages




2 Highlighters




1 package of dry erase markers




1 package of washable markers 




2 packs of sticky notes




3 packs of index cards




1 container of Clorox Wipes




Optional: Kleenex, Hand Sanitizer,and small treats/prizes 









Please arrange your child’s binder in the following way: 

(I will pass out labels for binder at Meet the Teacher)






1st – a clear sheet protector labeled Newsletter




2nd- plastic two pocket folder labeled Take Home Folder




3rd- another clear sheet protector labeled Homework




4th – a divider labeled: Morning Work




5th – a divider labeled: Social Studies or (SS) followed by 2 sheet protectors and 20




pieces of notebook paper




6th– a divider labeled: Reading followed by two sheet protectors




and 20 pieces of notebook paper




7th – a divider labeled ELA followed by a sheet protector and




20 pieces of notebook paper




*Pencils, glue, colored pencils, and scissors in pencil pouch*





**Place extra dividers and sheet protectors in the back of binder**




Homework already?!?!?! :) No worries...the teacher is even doing this homework! 

First impressions are important, so be sure to start planning for our “Things I Treasure” project.  Brainstorm a list of people, activities, places and things that you love!   Now decide how you want to display your treasures on a map you will be given. at "Meet the Teacher;" it looks just like this.  





You will use drawings, pictures, and/or words and put them right on the map.  This will be due on the 2nd day of school.  It’s how you will introduce yourself to our class. I can't wait to see what everyone "treasures" the most! 
**Also don't forget the EXTRA CREDIT opportunity that was given to each student at the beginning of summer, these must be turned in the first week of school to be counted** 

Marble Maze Challenge "How Slow Can You Go?"

When students arrived Monday they were faced with a new challenge: Who can make the slowest marble maze???

They were told to brainstorm ways they could do this and to research the Laws of Motion to see if these could help them when creating their mazes. 

Newton's Laws of Motion: 

1. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

2. The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.

3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

After investing what these laws meant and how they could apply them to their own mazes, I had students construct blue prints of the mazes so they would know what materials they would need to bring from home. 

Next, the students constructed marble mazes out of plastic equipment so they could get the idea of what materials from home they may have similar to this, they really enjoyed this! 

These were the winners from the first marble maze challenge with materials already supplied....we will see who wins the next challenge with materials brought in from home. 

Today we started building with the items brought from home, the students had a lot of great ideas so I can't wait to see the final products. The final Marble Maze race will be on May 27th. 

Book Reviews in Book Clubs

Bridge To Terabithia
By: Aaron Williams
I like Bridge To Teribithia because Jess Aarons is determined to get up early every morning and run. Also because that he has a dream he wants to beat Wayne Pettis, another reason I like this book is because there is a new girl in school and she is getting picked on so on the bus Jess Aarons sits beside her and talks to her. On the bus Jess Aarons said I have to run an errand for my mom. Then close to Christmas Jess said to Leslie meet me at the castle stronghold on Christmas eve afternoon. At the stronghold Jess gave Leslie a puppy. Then later In the book Leslie dies and then Jess starts to run past the old perkins place and through Washington and milsburg. Starts running even faster when he sees his dads pickup truck.  I would recommend this book to everyone.