Bonus Questions Answered and Asked

Here is the answer to last week's bonus question, "What is the nickname for the first railroad trains to cross the American continent in the 1800's?  Answer: "Iron Horse"

This week's bonus question/problem: "Is the Burger King married to the Dairy Queen? Explain."

Here is our bonus question for Monday:

What is the nickname for the first transcontinental railroad trains that crossed the North American continent during the 1800's?

Tree-planting in Indian Valley with help from Merrill and Ring and Sitkum Tree Service last week gave first hand experience to our fourth graders with one of the areas major and historical resources and commercial enterprises. Some teams of two and three students planted as many as 32 trees and learned to distinguish between Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir trees.

Today is "Poem In Your Pocket" day.

Try Again

'Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try, try again;
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again.
Once or twice though you should fail
Try again;
If you would at last prevail,
Try again.
If we strive, 'tis no disgrace
Though we may not win the race;
What should you do in that case?
Try again.
If you find your task is hard,
Try again;
Time will bring you your reward,
Try again.
All that other folks can do,
With your patience should not you?
Only keep this rule in view—
Try again.

On Friday, April 18th, our class will travel by bus to Indian Valley to plant trees with help from Merrill and Ring, the Department of Natural Resources, and Sitkum Tree Service. Two field trips in one week! (Today was the short trek to the bridge for the opening ceremony with our kindergarten buddies.)

We are looking forward to a memorable trip although the weather is, as usual, unpredictable and good shoes and rain coats or slickers are strongly advised.

No need to pack a lunch for this field trip since we will return to Franklin by 11 AM

The fourth graders are learning to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers this week. For example, 9/4 (nine fourths) converts to 2 and 1/4 (two and one fourth). Using the pizza example, you can think of two pizzas with each divided into four parts, or slices. If you have nine slices, then that is one more slice than eight slices, or two whole pizzas with one more slice. In other words, nine fourths equals two and one fourth.
Tomorrow the fourth graders will read one of their friendly letters about what one should expect in fourth grade to their kindergarten buddies. Then they will help them write their own friendly letter, which will likely be the first letter the kindergarteners have ever written, at least in school.

The Family History Reports are in and on the bulletin board for Room 17. As expected, they are some of the best reports in many years.

At this time the students are finishing their oral presentations where each student reads one of the anecdotes within their report that was shared by a relative.

Later this week we hope to receive our pen pal letters from Sierra Leone. This time each of our fourth graders will write to a specific student from the other class, and we are considering including a self-portrait drawn with oil pastels. In fact, today the fourth graders helped their kindergarten buddies draw and color self-portraits.

More on Family History Reports

Interviews

Take notes about your family members (at least three people). Ask where they were born, lived, went to school and worked. What were things like when they were your age? What hobbies do they have? Finally, and most importantly, ask for an anecdote form their life. In other words, ask your relative to share a story from their life. It can be just about anything, but this is always the most interesting part of the Family History Report to read during the oral presentation to the other fourth-graders.