Compassion is caring about others more than yourself.

Will you ask someone to join you at lunch? Will you reach out and play with someone at recess?  Will you listen more to those around you?

Be a “Soup-er” Hero and bring in a soup can and another item for our local food pantries.  SOCES is asking 3rd graders to bring in canned vegetables, 4th graders to bring in peanut butter or jelly, and 5th graders to bring in canned tuna, chicken and other canned meat.

Eve Bunting’s Train to Somewhere is our book of the month.  Many orphans were placed with caring families across the United States.  Read to find out if Marianne is chosen to be with a compassionate family.

Remember our Compassion Twins message for this month. “Show Love. Be Kind. Keep Compassion on Your Mind.” 

It is time to get those creative juices going again! Mrs. McBride is offering an opportunity to 4th graders ONLY! Let’s put those problem solving and designing skills to work. Find out more details for this month’s challenge here – The Valentine Challenge.

“Winston Breen finds puzzles everywhere, even on pizzas, and solving them is what he does best. But when his sister uncovers mysterious wooden strips with words and letters that even Winston can’t figure out, the entire family is obsessed. It turns out the strips are part of a scavenger hunt that a town patriarch set up for his children. If all four sets are put together, they will lead to a ring worth thousands of dollars.”

Text – The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin
Audio – Winston Breen 1.1 & Winston Breen 1.2

Have you ever tried to blow bubbles in the cold?  Have you wondered what would happen if you did?  Hope you are dressed warm.  Let’s make some predictions and give it a try.

Play Frozen Bubbles!

Learn more – The Science Behind Bubbles

Let’s use this time of year to keep our logic in check. Choose from the following activities to keep your brains active.

• Factory Balls is a problem solving game that emphasizes logic and sequential reasoning. Your job is to create a design that matches the customer’s order!
• Blocky Christmas Puzzle  is a fun game that challenges you to move some blocks around the screen.  As you move through the levels, new obstacles are added and your own block becomes magnetic – which can be helpful and irritating at the same time.

Don’t forget to study your words and practice analogies!

WordMasters List #1 – 4th Grade

Analogy Practice – Analogy Game – Beginner

Just like you, snowflakes are unique.  Let’s try a few different ways to make them.

Challenge #1 – Try Hopscotch

Challenge #2 – Try Code.org with Anna and Elsa
Challenge #3 – Make a Six-Pointed Snowflake

This week is Computer Science Education Week.  Computer Science Education Week is held this week in honor of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906). Coding helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity.

Let’s CODE!

1. Let’s start with Minecraft! Minecraft is back for the Hour of Code with a brand new activity!

   

2. Now try another coding activity here.  There are plenty!

It is time to get those creative juices going again! Mrs. McBride is offering an opportunity to put your skills to work. Find out more details for this month’s challenge here – The Paper Mache Gift Challenge.

December’s superpower is acceptance. Acceptance is the willingness to embrace feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own. Acceptance is the ability to experience or survive something unpleasant. Acceptance is the willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation. We all have the human need and right to be accepted.

This month’s book of the month is Remember: The Journey to School Integration. It is a collection of photographs from the Civil Right movement and the era of public school integration with a story by Toni Morrison. In this two-minute mini-documentary, Toni Morrison introduces her book and shows young people the relevance of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.

After reading Toni Morrison’s Remember: The Journey to School Integration, look back at photographs on page 22, 42 and 67. Select one photograph and write a dialogue between the two students. Post the conversation to this blog.