Here We Go!

Hello 4B families, and welcome to The Berendt Buzz. Ask anyone in 4B, and I'll bet they'll be able to tell you the literary device I used in the blog's title. We all seem to be drawn to alliteration, especially in our weekly poem, and the kids point it out all the time!

I can't believe that we are nearly at the halfway point of the school year. I don't know if it just goes faster for me each year as I get older, or if it's going this fast for the kids too. Remembering back to how long I used to think it took between birthdays when I was nine or ten, I'm guessing it's just me!

Blogs are a great way to provide ongoing communication in an easy-to-access format. It is my goal to keep you updated on important dates for our classroom, what we have been studying and why, and what we have coming up in the future. I hope to update this blog every couple of weeks, or anytime I have something important that I'd like to share. Be sure to check back frequently.

I hope you enjoyed reviewing your son's or daughter's portfolio of work in our nonfiction unit. I put a lot of emphasis on the "how-to's" of reading nonfiction because we do so much of it in our adult lives. Moving ahead, we'll be applying our recently learned knowledge of text structure and features as we navigate nonfiction texts to perform research for our solar system unit, and in preparation for our trip to Waubonsee's Planetarium next week. We also have our new Social Studies textbooks and materials to learn from by using these strategies as well. We'll be focusing first on the geography of the Northeast and then moving to some key historical ties to the region in the next couple of weeks.

We spent a lot of time in December filling up our minds with what makes for a well-written biographical sketch. This is called "immersion" and is essential for kids to successfully cross the bridge that connects reading and writing. We've also dabbled with a small autobiographical piece called a "Jewelled Moment" and now we are ready to draft our biographical sketches on the famous subject of each student's choice. I hope to wrap these up within the next couple of weeks and plans include publishing them through the Cool Cat Press. Encourage your kids to write at home, too. I'd love to see every student publish a self-chosen piece of writing this year through Cool Cat.

I hope you see the overall "literary" tone this blog takes. I love children's literature and hope to pass that on to your child through what we do every single day in 4B. Please keep your kids reading on a regular basis. If you ever need help with book ideas, I'd love to help!

Oh, and one more thing...there's a fun "poll" on the blog that kids can answer before 1/11/11. Stay warm and thanks for reading!