We would like to invite parents and family members to the Bear Creek Holiday Carol Sing. Fourth grade will be going at 2:30 on Thursday, Dec. 20. Thursday is also Red & Green Day so you can show your holiday spirit by wearing red, green, Santa hats, reindeer antlers, and any other fun holiday clothing.
Our team will also be having our holiday parties on Friday afternoon from 1:30 - 3:30. If you have your TB test and would like to help out, please let your child's homeroom teacher know right away. Some classes are also still in need of supplies so if you are able to donate you could let your child's homeroom teacher know that, too.
Check back here for pictures of our fun events!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Wacky Hair Day
It sure was nice to see everybody's smiling faces back today after our eventful last couple of days. I hope that everybody's families, friends and homes made it safely through Hurricane Sandy with little or no damage. Compared to other locations just a few hours away we certainly can consider ourselves very lucky.
Our day back was a busy one, and here at Bear Creek we celebrated Halloween by having Wacky Hair Day. Unfortunately because of the two days off due to the bad weather many of our friends didn't remember this particular spirit day. But we did have a few people who were all decked out with some pretty Wacky Hair - even the crazy teachers!! Check out the slideshow below for some cool dos!
Our day back was a busy one, and here at Bear Creek we celebrated Halloween by having Wacky Hair Day. Unfortunately because of the two days off due to the bad weather many of our friends didn't remember this particular spirit day. But we did have a few people who were all decked out with some pretty Wacky Hair - even the crazy teachers!! Check out the slideshow below for some cool dos!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Crazy Hair and Science Tools
The first three days of our week have been very eventful! On Tuesday, we celebrated the fact that Bear Creek earned $1,000 in school supplies from the Avery contest. Our school finished 15th out of over 9,000 schools! Last year Dr. Spagnolo and Mr. Kingsborough promised to have colored hair if we were one of the top schools so Tuesday they fulfilled their end of the bargain. Dr. Spagnolo had green hair and eyelashes, and Mr. Kingsborough had a pink beard and mustache to go along with his pink hair and eyelashes. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture with Mr. Kingsborough, but some of us were lucky enough to get our picture taken with Dr. Spagnolo!
We have been finishing up our writing pieces about the scientific process, but we are already looking at our next science topic: the tools that we will use this year when we're completing experiments! During the past week students in the 4th grade classes visited the science lab for one period. During this time we tried out many different tools, talked about how they were the same and how they were different and learned about the job of each tool.
Check out the slideshow below to see some of us in action in the lab getting acquainted with these tools and how they are used:
We have been finishing up our writing pieces about the scientific process, but we are already looking at our next science topic: the tools that we will use this year when we're completing experiments! During the past week students in the 4th grade classes visited the science lab for one period. During this time we tried out many different tools, talked about how they were the same and how they were different and learned about the job of each tool.
Check out the slideshow below to see some of us in action in the lab getting acquainted with these tools and how they are used:
Friday, October 5, 2012
Homecoming, No School & Book Fair
Hello Kit Kat Families!
Can you believe that it is already October? It doesn't seem possible that we have been in school over a month already! We have had or will be having some special events, and we wanted to take just a few minutes to tell you about them.
Yesterday afternoon band members, football players, cheerleaders and The Bear came to visit Bear Creek for a pep really. As you can see from the pictures we all had a great time cheering on the team and clapping along to the music. We were also very proud and excited because Team Kit Kat's very own Ian was chosen to be the 4th grade representative at the game tonight! Congratulations, Ian!!!
Team Kit Kat also had another excited winner today when Emma B.'s name was randomly chosen as the Box Top winner for the month of September! Emma got a coupon to buy some books at the book fair! Congratulations, Emma!
Tonight (10/5) - Tonight is Bear Creek Night at the E-town Bears football game, and it is also Homecoming. On Tuesday your child received a blue coupon for free admission to the football game so we hope that you will be able to come out and join us as we cheer on the football team.
10/8 - As one of our Mini Kit Kats said today, "Thank you, Christopher Columbus!" Your child does not have school on Monday, October 8 due to the celebration of Columbus day. School will be back in full swing, and it will be Day 5.
10/9 - 10/11 - Next week the Book Fair will be continuing here at Bear Creek. Students will be able to shop during their library times to pick from a variety of amazing books. There will also be another family night on Thursday, October 11, so you can come in and get some books with your child.
One last thank you to everybody who sent in change for the Penny Wars. Bear Creek raised an amazing $918 for the capital campaign! Way to go! 4th grade made a respectable showing and came in second place behind 5th grade.
Thanks to all of our team Kit Kat families for all of your support throughout this first month of school!
Can you believe that it is already October? It doesn't seem possible that we have been in school over a month already! We have had or will be having some special events, and we wanted to take just a few minutes to tell you about them.
Yesterday afternoon band members, football players, cheerleaders and The Bear came to visit Bear Creek for a pep really. As you can see from the pictures we all had a great time cheering on the team and clapping along to the music. We were also very proud and excited because Team Kit Kat's very own Ian was chosen to be the 4th grade representative at the game tonight! Congratulations, Ian!!!
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| Waiting patiently for the pep rally to start |
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| Can you see the first person to spot the E-town Bear? |
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| Ian gets called up to join the players. |
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| Getting introduced to the entire school |
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| Clapping and cheering - we totally beat 5th grade in the cheer off! |
Team Kit Kat also had another excited winner today when Emma B.'s name was randomly chosen as the Box Top winner for the month of September! Emma got a coupon to buy some books at the book fair! Congratulations, Emma!
Tonight (10/5) - Tonight is Bear Creek Night at the E-town Bears football game, and it is also Homecoming. On Tuesday your child received a blue coupon for free admission to the football game so we hope that you will be able to come out and join us as we cheer on the football team.
10/8 - As one of our Mini Kit Kats said today, "Thank you, Christopher Columbus!" Your child does not have school on Monday, October 8 due to the celebration of Columbus day. School will be back in full swing, and it will be Day 5.
10/9 - 10/11 - Next week the Book Fair will be continuing here at Bear Creek. Students will be able to shop during their library times to pick from a variety of amazing books. There will also be another family night on Thursday, October 11, so you can come in and get some books with your child.
One last thank you to everybody who sent in change for the Penny Wars. Bear Creek raised an amazing $918 for the capital campaign! Way to go! 4th grade made a respectable showing and came in second place behind 5th grade.
Thanks to all of our team Kit Kat families for all of your support throughout this first month of school!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Did You Smell the Stinky Sticker?
Throughout the day today the 4th grades at Bear Creek were treated to an entertaining and informative presentation about energy and natural gas safety. The presentation, sponsored by UGI and presented by the National Energy Foundation, focused on a basic introduction to energy, the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources, how fossil fuels are created, and what we need to do to be safe around natural gas in our homes and communities. This informative presentation included an experiment that showed the kids exactly how decomposing plants and animals give off gas that eventually becomes natural gas. All of these activities and discussions covered one of our 4th grade science standards, and several gave our kids a preview of topics that we will be talking about later in the year.
The kids also had the opportunity to think about what they need to do to be safe in their homes (one message was cleaning up the clutter - hopefully it works!!) and to learn a little more about the warning signs of a gas leak.
And that's where the smelly sticker comes in. Mercaptan is a chemical added to natural gas, which is actually odorless, so people will notice a leak before a situation becomes dangerous. The scratch and sniff sticker your child brought home gives you all a great example of what a natural gas leak would smell like. You can thank us at conferences for all the stinky smells you had to do tonight! ;)
If you would like to learn more about the National Energy Foundation, you can visit their website by clicking here, and you can learning more about today's program by clicking here. UGI also has a fun web based activity where kids can visit and learn more about energy safety. Check out Energyville and see how well you do conserving energy!
Thanks to UGI and the National Energy Foundation for presenting this program, and a special thank you goes to Mrs. Kimmel for organizing the presentation for the Bear Creek 4th grade classes!
The kids also had the opportunity to think about what they need to do to be safe in their homes (one message was cleaning up the clutter - hopefully it works!!) and to learn a little more about the warning signs of a gas leak.
And that's where the smelly sticker comes in. Mercaptan is a chemical added to natural gas, which is actually odorless, so people will notice a leak before a situation becomes dangerous. The scratch and sniff sticker your child brought home gives you all a great example of what a natural gas leak would smell like. You can thank us at conferences for all the stinky smells you had to do tonight! ;)
If you would like to learn more about the National Energy Foundation, you can visit their website by clicking here, and you can learning more about today's program by clicking here. UGI also has a fun web based activity where kids can visit and learn more about energy safety. Check out Energyville and see how well you do conserving energy!
Thanks to UGI and the National Energy Foundation for presenting this program, and a special thank you goes to Mrs. Kimmel for organizing the presentation for the Bear Creek 4th grade classes!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Free BEAR
Each day 4th graders participate in BEAR time. This half hour block prior to lunch is a chunk of time when the students participate in a variety of different clinics. Some students participate in clinics specifically tailored to meeting their reading needs in the areas of accuracy (decoding), fluency and comprehension. Other students participate in math, word study and reading comprehension clinics to review skills that have been taught and preview upcoming skills. These clinics take place every cycle Day 1 - Day 5 from 12:10 - 12:40.
On Day 6 the fourth graders get a brain break and get to participate in Free BEAR! Each teacher or group of teachers provides different activities in which the students can participate. The students, if they have completed all of their homework and classwork and have followed the Code of Conduct throughout the cycle, are able to choose the activity they would like to attend. Our current Free BEAR activities are:
- group games in the gym
- foreign language club
- nature walk
- arts & crafts
- reading, drawing and computers
- computers
- Chess & strategy games
- board games
- team challenge
In team challenge groups of students work together to solve a problem. This week's problem? Move a ball down our entire fourth grade hallway. The catch? The students could not touch the ball with their hands, the ball could not touch the floor, and the tools that the students were given could not touch each other. It took the group several tries, but eventually by using team work, problem solving and some creative thinking, they made it to the doors at the end of the hall! We started working on moving two balls down the hallways but ran out of time before we were successful. The group is excited to come back next week and wants to add to the challenge by seeing if they can go all the way down the hall and come back! Please check out the slideshow below to see the kids working together to Pass the Ball!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Scientific Method - Rap Style
Over the last few weeks we have been learning about the scientific method by actually putting it into action! We've done several different experiments and talked about each step as we completed them.
Know that we have some background knowledge about using the scientific method, we started to talk more about what each step actually means. To help us learn and remember the different parts we learned a scientific method rap.
You can play the rap and view the words by visiting this link!
We hope that you can learn a little bit about the Scientific Method by listening along with your child!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Bair / Towsen Math Homework
Tonight Mrs. Bair's and Mrs. Towsen's math classes started a new type of homework assignment. Each week your child will be bringing home math puzzles. These assignments cover the various skills we did in class in the past and the skills we are working on that week. Each night for homework your child may choose any two boxes on the puzzle side of the paper and any one or two patterns on the back of the paper. Problems involving rounding, forms of a number or place value should use the "Number of the Day" to solve that work.
For example, if the number of the day says 5,322, your child would write that number in standard, written or expanded form. Or he or should would round to the tens, hundreds and thousands place in that number if that's the box chosen.
This is all your child needs to do for homework. Even if it seems easy for your child, please only have your child do the work that was assigned. We do not want your child to spend an extraordinary amount of time on their work because we want them to put their best effort into the problems they do. As the year goes on the number of problems may change for your student, and we will be sure to make that clear for them each day before they go home.
There is a space at the bottom of the paper for questions. If your child cannot explain what he or she needs to do for one box, they can pick another. If they are stuck on the whole sheet please simply jot us a note at the bottom and one of us will work with your child individually before or during math class.
Thanks for your support of your child as we try this different type of math homework!
For example, if the number of the day says 5,322, your child would write that number in standard, written or expanded form. Or he or should would round to the tens, hundreds and thousands place in that number if that's the box chosen.
This is all your child needs to do for homework. Even if it seems easy for your child, please only have your child do the work that was assigned. We do not want your child to spend an extraordinary amount of time on their work because we want them to put their best effort into the problems they do. As the year goes on the number of problems may change for your student, and we will be sure to make that clear for them each day before they go home.
There is a space at the bottom of the paper for questions. If your child cannot explain what he or she needs to do for one box, they can pick another. If they are stuck on the whole sheet please simply jot us a note at the bottom and one of us will work with your child individually before or during math class.
Thanks for your support of your child as we try this different type of math homework!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
School is Closed
Just a reminder that school will be closed on Friday, August 31 and Monday, September 3 in observance of Labor Day. We hope that you and your family have a wonderful long weekend enjoying the unofficial end of summer!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Parent Night!
Just in case your child may have lost the paper between school and home, tomorrow night (Wednesday, August 29) is 4th Grade Parent Night! The program begins at 6:45 with a presentation about the school by Dr. Spagnolo and our PTO. Following that we will be meeting in your child's classroom to talk about 4th grade and life at Bear Creek.
After the opening presentation, you will report to your child's homeroom. You will have the chance to hear about all of the subject areas and visit with each teacher that your child has throughout the day.
Considering the great turnout we had for Open House last week we are very excited to meet many of you tomorrow evening. If you can't make it to the Open House, you can get any of the information you need by checking back here or by contacting your child's teacher via phone or email.
After the opening presentation, you will report to your child's homeroom. You will have the chance to hear about all of the subject areas and visit with each teacher that your child has throughout the day.
Considering the great turnout we had for Open House last week we are very excited to meet many of you tomorrow evening. If you can't make it to the Open House, you can get any of the information you need by checking back here or by contacting your child's teacher via phone or email.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
A Little Tour of Bear Creek
If you haven't had a chance to come to one of the orientation sessions, we thought it would be fun to give you a little tour of what you'll be seeing when you come to school next Tuesday! Let's take a look at our new school:
This is the main entrance to the school where you'll come in if you ride the bus or if your parents drop you off out front. If you walk to school on the walking path you'll come in the side of the building right next to our classroom!
These are three areas where you will have specials: the Instructional Media Center (IMC), or what we used to call the library, the gym and part of the music room. While the pictures may be a little dark you can see that these are big rooms where lots of learning and fun will take place!
These two pictures show you the stage and the cafeteria. You'll be eating lunch with the rest of the fourth graders, and we'll also come to assemblies with the rest of the fourth grade class. We sometimes have assemblies with part of 5th and 6th grade, it depends upon the schedule.
Our hallway is the first classroom hallway that you come to after passing the IMC and gym. Our walls have that amazing blue color, and you can't miss the giant 4! If you take the steps below the 4 they will take you to our hallway in the lower level.
And finally, these are pictures of our two new playground areaa. They are really amazing, and even the teachers had fun playing on them before our summer meeting! Many kids have had the chance to try them out during orientation, and they said the equipment is AWESOME!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Welcome to Team Kit Kat!
Hi everybody, and welcome to Team Kit Kat! We are looking forward to having all of you in our classes, and we hope you are excited to be starting a new adventure at Bear Creek School!
Please check back here every day, and you will be able to find out a little bit more about our classroom, see some pictures (and maybe even a video!), and find out more about what our days will be like as a student on Team Kit Kat!
We're hoping that all of you will be able to come and join us on either Thursday, August 23 from 2:30 - 3:30 for our Open House. Come and see the school, visit the classroom, make your name tag, pick your first book, and meet some new friends. Parents and guardians, please put Wednesday evening, August 29 on your calendar. That evening we will be holding Parent Night for 4th grade parents, and we are all looking forward to meeting you and talking about the upcoming year.
We cannot wait for our new year together to begin!
Mrs. Bair
Mrs. Horner
Mrs. Kimmel
Mrs. Towsen
Please check back here every day, and you will be able to find out a little bit more about our classroom, see some pictures (and maybe even a video!), and find out more about what our days will be like as a student on Team Kit Kat!
We're hoping that all of you will be able to come and join us on either Thursday, August 23 from 2:30 - 3:30 for our Open House. Come and see the school, visit the classroom, make your name tag, pick your first book, and meet some new friends. Parents and guardians, please put Wednesday evening, August 29 on your calendar. That evening we will be holding Parent Night for 4th grade parents, and we are all looking forward to meeting you and talking about the upcoming year.
We cannot wait for our new year together to begin!
Mrs. Bair
Mrs. Horner
Mrs. Kimmel
Mrs. Towsen
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