Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Ms. Strum's 4th grade class!

A Penguin Christmas

At our school tonight, we had our Christmas program. This program was presented by the 1st graders and the 4th and 5th grade Show Choir. The program was called "A Penguin Christmas". The whole program was GREAT! Our music teacher, Mrs. Williams, does a FANTASTIC job getting everything organized and making sure that everyone knows their parts! Please take a look at the pictures below and see what a great program everyone presented!

As you can tell, it was a GREAT presentation of "A Penguin Christmas". Our PTA programs are always the best! A HUGE Thank You to Mrs. Williams and the 1st grade teachers for all their hard work! It was a great show!

Pronouns

Today Miss Gibson taught us a lesson on PRONOUNS! Miss Gibson reviewed with us that a noun is a person, place, thing, or animal. She reviewed this with us because we must know what a noun is to understand the concept of pronouns. Miss Gibson taught us that PRONOUNS are words that replace nouns! She had several sentences written on chart paper where we had to identify the noun and then replace it with the correct pronoun using the circle map of pronouns provided! Miss Gibson then had us work with a partner and write a paragraph using pronouns. The students then shared their paragraphs with the class. The rest of the class had to list the pronouns that they heard throughout the paragraph!

Kerronta and LaQuisha sharing their paragraph with the class!

Keatan and Jamiee reading their paragraph.

Ja'Ray, Daijana, and Jalyn sharing their paragraph with the class!

Cienoshia, Georgia, and Andrew showing their paragraph to the class!

We did a great job on our Pronoun paragraphs. Ms. Strum and Miss Gibson were so impressed. After the Christmas holidays, Ms. Strum is going to teach us more about specific pronouns!

Winter Dance

Kirston and Jamiee sporting their moves!

Take a look at Jame'ica!

Go Dorien Go!

Dekawana sporting her moves!

Gattistown School Night

We were very fortunate tonight to have Gattistown have our school to their establishment! We were able to have fun, food, and fellowship! What more could you ask for.... A great time was had by all! Our parents brought us to Gattistown so that we were able to eat and play games with our school friends! While we played games, our parents were able to talk to adults. Take a look at the pictures to see what a great time was had by all!

Mrs. Land and Jayden

James having a great time playing video games!

Brandy playing games!

Food and Fellowship!

Mrs. Grigsby and Taylor

More food and fellowship!

Teachers after a hard day at work having food and fellowship!

Thank you so much to Gattistown for allowing our school to come and enjoy such a wonderful time! A special thanks to ALL the parents who brought their children. It was a memorable evening!

Reading is Fundamental

Today we were so very fortunate to have Reading is Fundamental! This is where we are able to receive a book of our choice. We were so excited that we took a while to choose the book that we wanted! Each student in our school gets to pick out their own book!

Checking out the books!

We are trying to decide what book to choose!

Mrs. Armstrong helping us pick "just the right book"!

Look at all the books!

As you can tell, we were super excited to receive a book! Thank you so much to the Junior League for supporting and allowing us to have this privilege! A special thanks to Mrs. Land for organizing and getting this together! Thank you to everyone who made this possible!

Figurative Language

Today Miss Gibson told us that she would begin teaching us about Figurative Language! Miss Gibson told us that figurative language consists of similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperboles. Miss Gibson told us that we would learn about these over the next couple of days!
Miss Gibson told us that a simile compares two things using like or as, a metaphor compares two things NOT using like or as, personification is giving human qualities to something that is NOT human, and a hyperbole is an exaggeration. Miss Gibson had the poem, "Summer Grass", written on chart paper. She called us up and had us identify the figurative language throughout the poem. Once we finished this activity, Miss Gibson paired us with a partner. Miss Gibson told us that we were going to make a double bubble map on personification and hyperbole. She showed us an example of what it would look like. Miss Gibson then told us that around the correct bubble, we would write examples of each figurative language. Where the bubbles connected, the students would write WHY personification and hyperbole are used!

Armand pointing out the figurative language found in the poem to Miss Gibson.

Andrew and Mary working together to complete their double-bubble map!

Jalyn, Daijana, and Makayla hard at work!

Jamiee and Dorien hard at work!

We had a great lesson on figurative language! As you can see in the pictures above, we understand the difference between personification and hyperbole. This was a great way for us to show what we learned about figurative language!

Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms

Ms. Strum tells us that we are THE BEST CLASS and we are!!! We are so very fortunate to have a student from a local college who is studying to become a teacher. She is working with our class for the next month! Her name is Miss Gibson. Ms. Strum is so excited that Miss Gibson is teaching us fun and exciting lessons.

Miss Gibson working with Ja'Ray!

Makyla and LaQuisha working together!

Miss Gibson taught us today about Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms. Miss Gibson told us that antonyms are words that are the opposite, synonyms are words that mean the same, and homonyms are words that sound the same. Miss Gibson had a great activity planned for us that taught us more about synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. We were given words on orange, green, and pink paper. The words on the orange paper were antonyms, and the words on the green paper were synonyms. We had to write the antonyms on orange paper and the synonyms on green paper and match them with the words in pink. Miss Gibson paired us with a partner to complete the assignment!

Miss Gibson working with Daijana and Jalyn.

Darlyn hard at work!

This was such a fun and different activity for us to complete. It was a great way for us to apply what we have learned about synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms. We can't wait to see what other exciting lessons Miss Gibson has planned for us!

Watch DOGS

We are so very fortunate to have at our school a great support of Watch DOGS! Watch DOGS stands for Dads of Great Students! Today we were very fortunate to have them come and speak to our class! We had the best speaker. Mr. Kidd came and spoke to our class about the importance of doing our best in school, being respectful to others, and getting a good education.

Mr. Kidd speaking to our class!

Mr. Kidd told us that our job is to come to school and do our best. We are to do our work that Ms. Strum has for us. Mr. Kidd also told us that we are to complete us to do our homework each and every night. The homework that Ms. Strum gives us helps reinforce what we have already learned.

We are listening to every word!

Mr. Kidd also told us that it is very important to be respectful to all teachers and adults. He told us this because he wanted us to know that all teachers and adults are there to HELP us! Our teachers only want what is best for us!

Thanks so much to Mr. Kidd!

As you can tell, we were so very fortunate to have Mr. Kidd come and speak to our class. He talked to us about some very important information. We are so thankful to have Mr. Kidd come and speak to us. Please come and see us again Mr. Kidd!

Harvest Festival

Today our school had its annual Harvest Festival. We had a great time! At the festival, there are lots of games and activities for us to play. We had a cupcake walk, obstacle course, face painting, space jump, basketball shoot, musical chairs, and lots of other fun games.

Playing "The Cake Walk".

Daijana, Keosha, Makyla, and Dorien having a relaxing time!

LaQuisha, Mary, and Georgia taking it all in!

Dekawana, Georgia, and Daijana bundled up to have fun in the cold!

Dorien and William enjoying their concessions!

Mary, Keatan, and Andrew enjoying their snacks!

Mary, LaQuisha, and Makyla having a great time on the Obstacle Course!

We are still playing "The Cake Walk".

Our Class with the Fire Department

As you can tell, we had a FANTASTIC Harvest Festival. We played all day! It was fun for everyone! Thanks to Mrs. Dixon and her committee for organizing such a GREAT day for all! :)

Career Day with Ethan Houston

Ethan Houston, WAPT 16 Meteorologist

Today we had Career Day at our school! This is where different people with different careers come and tell us about their career. We were fortunate to have Ethan Houston from WAPT 16 come and tell us about his job. He is a meteorologist on WAPT 16. Mr. Houston is on the news from 4:30 to 7:00 in the morning. He told us that if you choose a career in TV then their life is around us! Mr. Houston told us that he is from Ohio.

Ethan Houston sharing about his job and as you can see we are very interested!

Mr. Houston told us that meteor means things that fall from the sky. Mr. Ethan Houston taught us about several tools that he uses that help him do his job. A thermometer is used to check temperature. It allows air to flow through it. A satellite is used to check clouds. Satellites give off three different images. The satellites give off visual, infrared, and water images. The cooler the cloud is, the higher up they are. A radar is used to let us know if it is raining outside. Radars also show if there is any snow or ice. The tool that he uses to tell if it is windy is called an anemometer. A barometer is the tool used to determine when the pressure is changing.

We have enjoyed learning about the weather and about what it is

like being a meteorologist!

Mr. Houston showed us a very interesting video on tornadoes. It showed us some tornadoes that have hit right here where we live. The video also told us how tornadoes were formed and how they effect people. Mr. Ethan Houston told us that our state is #1 in Tornado deaths and #12 in the nation due to the # of tornadoes in the state! He also told us the WORST tornado that he has experienced was the tornado that hit Yazoo City in Spring 2010!

We had a great time learning about what a meteorologist does!

We are acting out the 1st stage of the water cycle~evaporation!

Mr. Houston told us that we are drinking and using the same water that the dinosaurs drank. He told us that the water goes through something called The Water Cycle. He taught us a hands-on way of remembering this. It is in three phases: the 1st phase is evaporation (We wiggled our hands and fingers up.), the 2nd phase is condensation (We clap for a cloud in the air.), and the 3rd phase is precipitation (We wiggled our hands and fingers down.). This cycle repeats itself again and again.

Question and Answer Time :)

A special thank you to Mr. Ethan Houston and WAPT 16 for coming and sharing with us what a meteorologist does! We learned about a meteorologist and what they do! Thank you so much for coming and spending your morning with us!