Lewis & Clark Poetry Contest

    Last month we did a Lewis and Clark Coetry Contest. We had four local winners for the 4th grade class in Menno. They were Jaxen, Haylee, Zachariah, and Addisyn. . Their poetry will move on to the next level and if they win at that level they will be invited to a celebration held in Parkston. Below you can find all of the poems of our local winners except for Zachariah's because we could not locate his poem

This poem was written by Addisyn.

Blue

Blue feels like a soft breeze through your hair.

Blue looks like the bright blue sky above you.

Blue smells like the ocean water.

Blue tastes like the clouds.

Blue sounds like the whistling of a chirping bird.

This poem was written by Haylee.

Tate’s Date

There once was a boy named Tate,

Who had to get a date.

It did not last long,

Because he wanted to play Hong Kong.

Now he does not have a mate.

This poem was written by Jaxen.

School

Sack Lunches

Creative Crafts

Hard Work

Often Here

Obey Teachers

Loads Of Fun

**Blog Post Written By Addisyn

On March 20th Ellyana brought her 7 week old Saint Bernard puppies to school. There is six of them. Their mom and dad’s names are Nytro and Piper. Nytro is going to be four on the 26th and Piper is one. The puppies names are Boomer, Thunder, Star, Patch, Snow, and Cujo. There are four boys and two girls. They are going to sell all of the puppies. Boomer, Thunder, and Star are already sold. Boomer is going to Hartford, SD. Thunder is going to Connecticut. Star is  going to Watertown, SD.

In the picture there is the Menno fourth grade class  and the puppies from left to right are Patch, Boomer, Cujo, Snow, Star, and Thunder.

**Story written by: Ellyana

Classroom Economy

This year we have been trying out a classroom economy system in 4th grade and the students LOVE it!  I even have students from previous years ask my why we didn't do this when they were in my class.  This classroom economy system is in place to encourage responsible and appropriate behavior.  Students can earn classroom money and be able to spend it at our class store. The can earn money in a variety of ways like having assignment books assigned daily, doing classroom jobs, getting 100% on a test, or caught being good to name a few. They also have to pay fines for rule infractions, not completing homework, and other ways. We also have disasters where the entire class pays a fine for misbehavior. (This was my husband's idea.  It is kind of like a natural disaster where everyone is affected. If my husband has his way they would probably be paying taxes!) 

Along with learning consequences for their actions students are learning to be responsible for maintaining a checkbook, depositing payments, paying bills (rent on their desk), and paying fines. This project has allowed a lot of creative thinking in my classroom.  The students get to give suggestions for things to buy in the classroom store.  Food is always a hit, but they love different coupons that I make.  

Here are some of the favorite coupons:

• Our Tunes Pass- They get to play music for the entire class during work time.
• My Tunes Pass- They get to listen to thier own music while they work.
• Extra PE
• Make my own Kahoot Pass
• Get 100% on an assignment that they didn't do very well on. 
• Sit by a friend
• Lunch in the classroom with the teacher

They best part about some of these passes is that students will work together to pay for classroom items like extra PE or lunch in the classroom. I love to hear conversations about budgeting in order to buy something bigger the next month and collaborating on how to pool their money together in order to buy class prizes.  I even had one student (and parent)  ask me if the desks were for sale so they could buy them and sell it back at the end of the year.  I also have students who will buy things for other people!  The picture above is Ellyana and she bought these items for her little brother.  She also asked if she could place them in his locker!  To say the least, students are learning a lot with this project and I will definitely continue this next year! 

(Stay tuned next week because I will have two students adding posts because I created a job called the blogger.)

SSG Lee Heckenlaible

We were able to talk with SSG Lee Heckenlaible this morning via Skype.  Earlier this year we sent letters and a care packages to some deployed soldiers and he was one of them.  He is a graduate of Menno High School class of 2001.  He told us a lot about himself and then the students were able to introduce themselves.  He knew several of the students' parents because he grew up in Menno. Lee is a Chaplain's Assistant with the military and is currently serving on his 3rd deployment. He was able to tell us about his military job, his civilian job, his family, and then gave us a short tour of his living quarters. Later we were able to go check out the school athletic records in order to see Lee's name for the record in Cross Country.

Fun Fact: Lee and Mrs. Huber met on the way to Basic Training.  They both went to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina at the same time.  They were not in the same company, but did see each other every so often.

Character Counts- Caring

The 4th grade February Character Counts winner for Caring is Nathan! Keep up the good work!

FFA Petting Zoo

We had a great time at the petting zoo during National FFA week.  Our Ag Teacher, Brady Duxbury, went above and beyond this year to bring in some very interesting animals!

I would like to welcome you all to my new blog.  This is a new adventure for me and I am excited to use this blog in a variety of ways.  The most exciting way is to include student work and activities from our classroom.  Eventually I would love to have students help me update my blog to include some of their work samples. Please stay tuned for an exciting adventure in the 4th Grade!