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.

We can a learn a lot about perseverance from Martin Luther King, Jr. On Monday, January 21st we observe his birthday and honor all of his accomplishments. Listen to Kid President’s video on how King taught us that things won’t always be awesome, but your response can be.

Remember, things don’t always have to be they are. We can change them! Kids can change them.

Let’s use a creative form of poetry, Blackout Poetry, to share our own message of hope and perseverance with MLK: An American Leader.  For homework, post your poem to this blog.

Challenges:

• Post your poem to this blog.
• Here is a Martin Luther King, Jr. Internet scavenger hunt. Information is from the official U.S. Government website on Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

Post your diamante poem to this blog!

Let’s enjoy some creative writing.  A diamante poems is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving diamante poems a diamond shape. “Diamante” is the Italian word for diamond, so this poetic form is named for this diamond shape.

A diamante poem is made up of 7 lines using a set structure:

Line 1: Beginning subject
Line 2: Two describing words about line 1
Line 3: Three doing words about line 1
Line 4: A short phrase about line 1, a short phrase about line 7
Line 5: Three doing words about line 7
Line 6: Two describing words about line 7
Line 7: End subject

An example of a diamante poem

Read Write Think is a great resource to help you develop your diamante poem.

Challenge – Go to Mrs. McBride’s website to find out more about the Snowflake Challenge.

Solve the logic puzzle by filling in all of the squares in the game grid. Use the clues and your deductive reasoning to solve these online logic games:

• Pet Mix-Up
• Foot Race
• Toy Cars
• Pony Snacks

Are you an expert?

• Try Logic Puzzles Packet from Mrs. McBride.
• Try these logic grids on PuzzlersParadise.

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. 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 Paper Bag Challenge. Save money and the environment!  All entries are due Monday, December 17th.

Please visit The Paper Bag Challenge blog post for additional information, ideas and resources.

It is our job as teachers to give you time to grapple with problems and make your brains work – Cultivating a Growth Mindset. Sometime in life, people have no choice.  Their whole lives can be a struggle.  These inspirational stories are more about physical struggles but deliver the same message about not giving up!

• • Overcoming Obstacles
  • Shaquem Griffin’s Motivation to Be the Greatest

When things in school or out are difficult, what will you do? Who will you turn to? How will you shift your energy on the Mood Meter?

It’s Halloween week! Let’s have a sweet time solving tricky problems. You need to get rid of the rotten pumpkins but don’t wreck the good ones that are still edible.  Good luck!

• Pumpkin Remover
• Pumpkin Remover 2
• Pumpkin Remover 3

Extra Time?

• Read about Henry’s pumpkin and pumpkins, here.
• Learn how to make a pumpkin you can carve and light up in Hopscotch, Carve a Pumpkin!  Sign out an iPad to get started.
• Write a Halloween poem for Mrs. Eyer, Halloween Poetry.
• Create a Magnetic Halloween Poem.  Share with your teacher.
• A Candy Challenge for multiplication.  Print and complete.

Today we used, Story Cubes, to generate a creative story.  Anyone can become a great story teller and there are no wrong answers. Let your imagination “roll” wild with these images.  Post your story to this blog.

The National Day on Writing (October 20), an initiative of the National Council of Teachers of English, is built on the premise that writing is critical to literacy but needs greater attention and celebration.

For ten years, hundreds of thousands of people share their writing and engage in activities around the theme of #WhyIWrite.

Today, we will write for entertainment!

1.  Use wordless books to create a story.
2. Emoji Prompts to generate stories.
3. Story Dice  is a free app with dice that feature pictures create your story.
4. Writing Sparks use this website for timed stories online.
5. Choose one or more activities from the poster and make it happen.
6. Write your story to Chalk by Bill Thompson.