Welcome to Room 19 News

Here is what has been happening in Mr. Pond's class:

Reading:

In the beginning of the year the class read and did work on Forth Grade Rats, by Jerry Spinelli. It was a very interesting and funny book about the actions of Suds and Joey. Joey, the actual rat, helped Suds, the kid who still wants to be in third grade, learn to be a rat.

We are now reading Be Perfect In Three Days. The main character, Milo, finds a book in the library and it tells him how to be perfect. The directions are all silly. The first direction is to wear a necklace of broccoli to school!

We are also reading A Taste of Blackberries while part of the class is at Reading For Success. So far we read that Jamie and his friend, the main characters of the story, can't go in anyone's yard without permission. But Jamie and his friend get to go into their neighbor's yard to scrape Japanese beetles off her grapevines. During this, Jamie angered a bee's nest and was stung and died. Jamie died from a bee sting because he was allergic to them.

Accelerated Reader:

The class is also doing Accelerated Reader, or A.R. for short. We have to get at least 5 points a month and 50 points by the end of the year. With that, we have to read and take an A.R. quiz on 2 books each month.

Art:

In Art, which we have on Mondays, we are making pictures with colors using our imagination.

We must get 10 good behavior points to do a special project in clay, wood, or wire.That is represented by a star. We are only allowed to get one star per class. We have 2 stars so far! We get an X for bad behavior and if we get 3 or more X's per class we get an X for the day's class.

Gym:

In Gym, we are doing the Fitness Testing for 4-6 weeks. Our class already did the mile run and curl-ups. The testing also includes sit and reach box and other strength activities.

Music:

In Music, we are doing Band, recorders, and learning about composers. Our composer's name for this month is Johannes Brahms.

In Band, the instruments that the 4th and 5th graders are learning to play are: Flute, Saxophone, Clarinet, Trombone, French Horn, and Percussion Set. For strings, the 4th and 5th grade instruments are Chello, Bass, Violin, and Viola.

Library:

In Library, which we go to on Thursdays, we have to take a quiz that Mrs. Pelligrino gives us. When we finish our work we get to look for A.R. books for our tests. We have been talking about the Nutmeg Awards that is only for Connecticut. There are ten nominees that the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades can read and vote for.