Everyone loves a snow day!   Let’s plan a game and get those creative juices going! Mrs. McBride is offering an opportunity to put your skills to work. Games are due Tuesday, January 21st. Find out more details for this month’s challenge here – The Snow Day Game Challenge.

Black Friday… Cyber Monday…Sales! Sales! Sales! Everyone is out looking for great deals on holiday presents.  Don’t fall into this shopping craze. Use some imagination and creativity with Mrs. McBride’s monthly challenge, The Holiday Challenge.  All entries are due Tuesday, December 17th.

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

Do you have the grit to solve today’s problem, The 1-10 Card Investigation.

What I love about this investigation…

1. Do you know how to put numbers in order?
2. Do you need an answer key?
3. Does everyone need to solve it the same way?
4. How will you tackle the task?

Don’t give up.  GRIT is the key to your success.

Explore:

• Use the cards 1-5 to get a grasp on the task.
• Use all the cards A-k and try the same task.
• Vary the task.  Place two cards at the bottom of the pile after each flip.
• You don’t need playing cards.  Create cards with index cards.  Use numbers 1-20.

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 Pumpkin Character Challenge.

This week we will celebrate “Start with Hello” week, which is a week to remind us how important and powerful it is to get to know one another, make new friends, say hi to new people, and make people feel good if they are feeling sad or alone. Every day you can do a special activity to remember to try and include others. Whether on the school bus, in the playground or in class, it is important to make sure others feel included and welcome.

Sometimes to do this, you need courage. Courage can mean a lot of things and people can act courageously in a lot of different situations.  Listen to Bernard Waber’s book, Courage. Think about what courage means to you and how you too can act courageously in every day kind of ways. 

Courage is also staring with Hello! Let’s try to be courageous by getting to know new people and by helping others who might need a friend.

September Roses is another great book like 14 Cows for America.  Both demonstrate how others show empathy.  “On September 11, 2001, two sisters from South Africa are flying to New York City with 2,400 roses to be displayed at a flower show. As their plane approaches the airport, a cloud of black smoke billows over the Manhattan skyline. When they land, they learn of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. All flights are canceled; the sisters cannot go home, and they are stranded with boxes and boxes of roses.”

What can you do to show empathy today, this month, this school year?

This year our Character Education theme is “Communities form Connections.”  Through building relationships, we can build a better school, community and world. Each month we will highlight a character trait and use a read aloud to reinforce this trait.

September is empathy.  Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah wrote 14 Cows for America.  One inscription reads, “To all the little children who read this book. You are the peace the world has been waiting for. May you grow to be compassionate diplomats.” You have the ability to make the world and our school a better place.

What can you do this year to heal a sorrowing heart? How will you show empathy? 

Please post your comment to our class blog.  Remember… this blog is an extension of our classroom.  Communicate clearly and be respectful of others.

May 29, 2019

Dear Governor Cuomo,  

We, the 4th grade students of Cottage Lane,  would like to make a proposal. Are you aware that New York does not have a designated state sport?  Other states like Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Maryland all have a state sport.

After learning about New York State symbols, we did research and found out lots of information about State Symbols of New York.  Your website was a great resource, New York State Symbols.   We noticed what was missing, a sport state symbol. This inspired us to research our own state symbol to fill that spot for a state sport!

As a result, we believe that Lacrosse should be the official New York State sport. Lacrosse was the first sport played in North America. Do you know where it was first played as an actual game? It was played in New York, by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) hundreds of years ago. The Haudenosaunee, inhabited much of the Northeast, including most of New York State and the game was originally known as Stickball.

Lacrosse was first played as early as the 12th century. The Native Americans used lacrosse to train for war and to improve skill, aim, speed, agility, and strength. The fields were hundreds of miles long with more than 1,000 people playing on each team. Lacrosse was one of their favorite sports to play because people could also improve being warriors to defend their land. That land is now known today as New York.

The people of the Haudenosaunee Nation today play in the World Games which is the World Cup for lacrosse. Thanks to the Haudenosaunee this sport is played today by both men and women of all ages. There is just so much history behind Lacrosse that involves New York. A great sport like lacrosse was invented in New York -the state we live in! We believe lacrosse is a great suggestion for New York’s State sport. How do we make it official?  Your help would be greatly appreciated.

From,

Mrs.Fluger’s 4th Grade Class
Cottage Lane Elementary
Blauvelt, New York
Rockland County