Contact Information

My new contact information is:

franklinjburns@gmail.com
SKYPE: Mr_F_Burns

Please keep in touch! I will continue to update my blog as well from my new school. :(

PROUD

Today I was overwrought with complete joy as I listened to my students share their writing. To see their faces light up as they shared their writing is something I will always remember. I hope they go far with their writing and always continue to have the passion for writing that I saw today.

DOORS/ELABORATION

What a great day! To end our lessons on elaboration we did our door lesson! It could not have happened without such great support from the parents! Thanks for sending all the great pictures! The look on their faces as they realized it was their front doors was priceless!

SCIENCE TEST

The Solar System Unit Test is Tuesday. Study guides went home yesterday. Students should take advantage of studying this weekend. Also, take advantage of the great Brainpop.com space clips. Go to Brainpop.com. Log in: Spalding Password: Tigers

The Sing-A-Long is Monday from 8-9! Our winter centers are on Thursday from 12-2. No school Friday. Happy Holidays!

Persuasive Strategies

We had some real fun yesterday applying our three persuasive strategies (humor, emotions, and facts) to our writing. A great combination of persuasive commercials and the 6 Traits book I Wanna New Room really allowed the kids to focus their writing voice.

Inference/Word Choice

Today we worked on using inference in our writing. We worked on developing strategies to show emotions, and details with great word choice without having to say how our characters feel. The students truly loved our hook (this commercial). It was so great to see the students using such powerful descriptions to create vivid details. We also used another one of our great Six Traits books: Tattletale Armadillo. (Unfortunately my second writing class missed this lesson because of Show Choir and will miss class again tomorrow because of Checkpoints). Students in this class are encouraged to come to morning remediation to catch up.

Toilet Paper Rolls

Parents, we need 21 toilet paper rolls by Wednesday for science. If everyone sends in one or two we'll be all set! Thanks!

Persuasive Writing

Today in writing we did a mini lesson on persuasive writing.

Phases of the moon/QUIZ Tuesday

Today we worked on identifying the stages of the moon with some yummy treats! There will be a quiz on Tuesday. Miniature study guides went home today. Not all of my TAG students came by at the end of the day to get it so they will have to pick it up Monday.

Foundation Pictures

Check out some of our kids featured in the Spalding Foundation link...

http://spaldingdrivefoundation.org

SPACE UNIT

Today we began our Space/Stars unit. Students should observe the moon nightly (if they are in my class) and make observations.

Science Supplies

Parents,
We need three boxes of Vanilla Wafers and three tubs of vanilla frosting. If you are willing to donate any of these please email me.

6 Traits

Friday we continued working on our 6 Traits of writing across all content areas. In Social Studies we used Now & Ben to connect the importance of Benjamin Franklin with our Colonial America unit. We were able to connect our trait of word choice with great historical facts. Students applied their understanding of the significance of Benjamin Franklin to their colonial journals. Also, in writing we used James and the Giant Peach to further our development of word choice. Students wrote entertaining stories focusing on verbs and adjectives. It is so great to see the students writing developing with so many vivid details!

Tiger News 12/2

4th Period Wrting Class from TOTY

Check out the 4th period writing class from the Teacher of the Year presentation.

GREAT DAY IN 4th GRADE!

What a great day! In Social Studies we did an activity to simulate trade between the colonies. Students had to develop roles within their colonies, and decide how to trade and barter with other colonies in order to survive. Students were expected to explain what it means to acquire goods. Then, we went to see the play James and the Giant Peach! The play was hilarious and the students asked some great questions.

Colonial America Test (Monday)

Monday will be our unit test on the 13 Colonies/Colonial America. Study guides will go home tomorrow.

Optimist Oratorical Contest

If your child is part of this group the first meeting is on December 7th in the parent resource room. The group meets from 7:15-7:45 with Mrs. Shams. If you have any questions please touch base with her.

Supplies

Parents,

For a Social Studies lesson on trade we need one bag of Tootsie Rolls, and any scrap fabric you may have. Thank you!

NO SPELLING HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

There is no spelling homework this week but they do have Social Studies.

Nick Says Hi!

Nick says hi from New York!

CHECK EMAIL

Parents,
If your email address is in our school system you should have received an email from Mrs. Barlow or myself. If you DIDN'T please emal me ASAP so I can fill you in on a class project.

Comma Use/Test Monday

Today we worked on use of commas and how they change the meaning of our sentences. Please remember that there is a writing & grammar test on Monday. Signed papers from me will be going home on Tuesday.

TIGER NEWS 11/18

FOLDERS

We are in need of 22 colored folders with prongs for our new social studies unit. It does not matter what color. If you can donate some please email me. We need them by Monday morning. As always thanks for your support!

FIELD TRIP TO THE SYMPHONY

GRAMMAR TEST

On Monday (11/21) there will be a grammar/writing test. The study guide will go home tomorrow. If your child is going to be absent on Monday due to the holidays please send them to morning remediation this Friday (11/18) at 7:15 to take the test.

SPELLING 11/14

greatest, purpose, invisible, dangerous, farewell, golden, divide, salmon, pollen, wounded

BOOK FAIR

The Book Fair is now open! Be sure to check out all the great books with your child. The teacher “wish list” has also been filled out.

UPDATE

Thank you for all the birthday cards and emails! You are all very sweet. I am back, and I wanted to post a few reminders. Tomorrow is our field trip to the symphony. Wednesday is our Sound & Light unit test. Study guides went home last week. If you have any questions please let me know. Wednesday we will be starting our Social Studies unit on Colonial America and the 13 Colonies.

Transition Words

Today we continued to work with our 6 Traits. Today our focus was on word choice and sentence fluency. We read the book “Meanwhile” to help give students a better understanding of how some words are overused. Students then applied their understanding of transition words and phrases to their writing.

Spelling 11/7

tiniest,husband, purpose, farewell, doctor, operate, button, mountain, shelves, unheard

TIGER NEWS

Parents,
For Monday we need one role of each of the following. If you can send any of them in please email me.
•Saran Wrap (Colored) Red, Green and Blue
•Wax Paper
•Aluminum Foil

Two Bad Ants/Point of View

In writing today we talked about characters point of view. We read the book Two Bad Ants and went through an activity that helped students to use their vocabulary to enhance point of view in their writing. Students filled out a graphic organizer and began their short stories in class. Some students are finishing their short stories for homework. Can’t wait to hear what great adventures our ants go on!

SOUND LABS/SOUND TAKE HOME PROJECT

Today in Science we went through a series of SOUND LABS. Students were able to investigate the properties of sound with hands on inquiry. Today students were also assigned their take home project for this unit. The rubric that will be used is attached to the assignment.

Spelling 11/1

turkey, already, shelves, mountain, addition, they'd, wasn't, noisy, permitting, radar

Today was Mad About Math! What a great day of events! Thank you to Mrs. Barlow for organizing such a great event! The students and parent volunteers revolved through a series of math centers. The kids had a great time and were able to work together to practice some very important math skills! Happy Halloween!

SOUND UNIT

Today we started our Sound Unit. This is a short unit that will last approximately one week. Then we will transition into our Light Unit. Today we started with a great lab called The Screaming Balloon. We were able to see how friction works with sound waves to create high and low pitch sounds.

SKITTLES

We are in need of Skittles. If you are willing to donate any please send them in.

Bottles and Food Coloring

Parents,
Please dig into your recycling bins. We need SIX clear glass bottles. If they have a “label” on them it is ok. I will take them home and wash them off. They can be smaller to larger. I need a variety of sizes. I also need food coloring. We also need some small bolts and large balloons (only 7). If you are willing to send any of these in that would be great for Science this week.

Wildself & Topic Sentences

Be sure to check out the 4th grade bulletin board. You’ll see some of our great Wildself creatures and topic sentences!

CAPS/Social Studies Test & Quiz

For our Explorers and Informational Writing units we made our “Explorers Thinking Caps”. These caps are covered with character traits that describe each of our explorers. These character traits will be used with our writing piece. There will be an explorer’s quiz on Thursday that will cover all of our explorers as well as map skills. Monday will be the UNIT TEST. Study guides will go home on Wednesday.

Report Cards

REPORT CARDS went home today. Please send the signed envelope back tomorrow.

Dear 4th grade parents,
I can't believe how fast October is flying by. 4th grade Mad About Math will be here on Monday, October 31st from 12 - 2pm. We will be doing a math scavenger hunt where the children will solve math problems to lead them to different parts of the school. As they solve clues they will receive prizes and candy. The scavenger hunt will finish up with a snack of juice and cookies. As always, we will need parent donations sent in by Friday, October 29th. Here is what we need according to homeroom class.If your child is in Ms. Bilyeau's home room: Please send in either bags of individually wrapped fun sized candy or prizes (spider rings, rubber bracelets, Halloween erasers or pencils, bouncy balls, eraser tops etc.)If your child is in Mr. Burns' homeroom:If your last name begins with A-J, please send in a package of Halloween Cookies - Halloween Bakery Cookies, Halloween Oreos, Halloween Chips A Hoy etc. (If you are a Costco member, you can find them there.)If you last name begins with K-Z, please send in 1-2 boxes of Caprisun fruit punch.If you child is in Ms. Causey's homeroom: Please send in Halloween stickers or foam shapes for students to decorate their bags. The 4th grade room moms will be providing bags for the students to collect their prizes & candy. If possible, please be sensitive to the fact we have students with nut allergies when making your purchases.We also need 7 volunteers (or more) to help with the students. Please e-mail me directly if you can volunteer.
Thank you so much. This should be a fun event!
Cheryl Barlow, Linda Trickey, Betty Klein, and Tobi Moore
4th grade room parents

Tiger News

School Pictures

School pictures went home today. Please look them over. If you are going to purchase the pictures please send the money back in (envelope is inside the package). If you are not going to purchase the pictures please send them back in.

Guest Speaker

Thank you to Mrs. Perry for taking the time to come and speak with our class about the importance of India in connection with our explorers unit. Mrs. Perry was able to talk about the Silk Road, spices, gold, and the history of India. Students were able to get hands on experience with silk and other artifacts from India. They now have a better understanding of why European explorers wanted to get to China and India for trade. Thank you Mrs. Perry!

Character Traits

We are working on using stronger character traits in our writing. Be sure to ask your child about the lesson we did today to practice applying them to characters from great movies.

Red Ribbon Week (10/24-10/28)

Monday: “Red Ribbon Day”—Students should wear a red shirt. They will receive a Red Ribbon that they are encouraged to wear throughout the week.

Tuesday: “Hugs not Drugs”—Students are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal to school.

Wednesday: “Shade Out Drugs”—Students are encouraged to wear sunglasses to school.

Thursday: “Put a Cap on Drugs”—Students are encouraged to wear a baseball hat

Friday: “Team Up Against Drugs”—Students are encouraged to wear team jerseys.

Spelling 10/18

nonstop,turkey, they'd already, coffee, ability, rewarding, wounded, nonsense, invisible

We are in need of LARGE brown construction paper. It measures about 12 x 18. I need one large piece per child for a writing lesson (about 65 pieces). If you are willing to pick some up at Office Depot or any supply store please let me know before I order some myself. I will need the paper by Thursday for a lesson on Friday. As always thank you for your support!

TAG PARENTS:

Tuesday Mrs. Shams will be taking the TAG kids (usually she takes them on Friday). They will miss a very important lesson on Tuesday. If possible please send them to my room for morning remediation (just to catch up) either Tuesday morning or Wednesday morning. I will be doing a miniature version of the lesson both days from 7:20-7:40.

Informational Writing Unit

This week we start our second writing unit. In this genre we will be learning about informational writing. This type of writing is based on the knowledge of a given topic. Our prompt will be focused on explorers in connection with our current Social Studies unit. During this unit we will continue to use children’s literature (6+1 Traits) to model for students organized writing structures. We will also be focusing on character traits, topic sentences and sentence fluency.

NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY!

There is no school on Monday because of conferences. If your child has me for Science/Social Studies please email me if you would like to meet on Monday. Most times are full, but I have a few openings. I have sent home three notices for conferences.

Explorers Unit

This week we started our next Social Studies unit on Explorers. Students will study how early explorers such as John Cabot, Vasco Nunez Balboa, Juan Ponce de Leon, Christopher Columbus, Henry Hudson, and Jacques Cartier interacted with the Native Americans. We will also study the reasons for their explorations and the obstacles they faced. Students will also practice their map skills. Students should be familiar with continents and important European countries associated with this unit.

Science Test

Reminder: Science test tomorrow on Weather. Study guides went home last week.

Spelling 10/10

forgiveness, wasn't, glisten, families, dangerous, undecided, farewell, purpose, don't, paragraph

Parent Conferences

Parents,
On Monday a letter will be going home about conferences. Conferences will be held on 10/17. Parents will meet with their child’s SCIENCE teacher. That teacher will give them an overall update for all content areas. If your child has me for Science and you want to go ahead and set up a time for 10/17 please feel free to send me an email. Conferences will be 15 minutes long. I will set them up on a first come first serve basis.

WEATHER TEST

The Weather & Water Cycle test will be next Wednesday. The study guide is going home with students today. Students are also receiving their graded Water Cycle Quiz today so they may have it to study over the weekend. On Monday students will be doing a hands on performance assessment where they will need to apply their understanding of weather predicting and weather fronts. Students are encouraged to review weather predictions over the weekend. Reminder: All tests have questions on them from previous units!

Stars

Parents,
We need SMALL star stickers for an activity next week. If you are willing to donate any please email me. Thank you!

GREAT VIDEO!

Check out this video!!! GO 4th GRADE!!!

Cut and paste this link:

http://mysandyspringstv.com/community/archives/365

Air Pressure

To help us learn more about how hot air and cold air interact with each other we did our "egg in a bottle lab". Tonight students need to finish the lab sheet for this activity.

Have you checked the weather today?

http://www.weather.com

http://www.wunderground.com

http://www.11alive.com/weather

Today we made anemometers in class.

Tiger Trot-A-Thon

Spelling 10/3

noisy, invisible, stepped, they'd, reusable, practicing, several, readily, achieve, pollen

Spanish Heritage

Friday the PTA hosted a cultural performance for the school in honor of Spanish Heritage month. Some of our 4th graders got the chance to join in the fun!

THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE...

This week in Science we used the mobile lab to research weather instruments. Students worked with a partner to present their information to the class.

Tiger News 9/30

SUPPLIES

Parents,
This week for Science we need the following supplies. If you can send any of these in for Monday morning please send me an email. Thank you as always!
1.Bag of plastic straws (not bendy)
2.Straight pins
3.Four containers of Play-Doh (any color)
4.A dozen eggs
5.Glass bottles with smaller openings (pictured below)
6.Cotton balls (3 bags)

GRADED PAPERS

Parents,

The 4th grade expectation of graded papers is that they are sent home with students on Friday's and should be signed and returned on Monday mornings. Thank you.

Newspaper

Parents, over the next few weeks if you have any old newspapers please send them in. Thank you!

Subject & Predicate Practice

REMEMBER: QUIZ ON MONDAY!


http://www.quia.com/rr/36765.html

http://languageartsgames.4you4free.com/subjects_predicates.html

Today in Science we did two labs. One lab focused on the process of condensation, and the other focused on modeling the entire water cycle.

Cloud

Be sure to ask your child about how we made a cloud in a bottle today. Ask them if there is DUST in clouds.

Spelling 9/26

achieve
nonfat
valley
purpose
already
salmon
mountain
farewell
annoyed
shouldn't

Parents, we need ONE RED bottle of fruit punch for science Monday morning. If you are willing to donate this item please email me over the weekend. Thank you.

Narrative Writing

We are half way through our Narrative writing piece. This week students began to work on editing skills to add strategies that we have learned in class such as voice, not talking to the reader, vivid word choice and organization. Students are now learning how to work with their classmates on giving constructive feedback. In this next week we will work on how to bring our narratives to an end with a sense of closure for the reader. This week our grammar skills will focus on subjects and predicates.

Water Cycle Unit

This week we began our Water Cycle science unit. Please be sure to continue to review the vocabulary from this unit with your child (Precipitation, Condensation, Evaporation, and Collection). We have done some great labs, and will be doing more next week before transitioning into our WEATHER unit.

Native American Artifacts

This week students presented their Native American artifacts. We were also lucky enough to have Mrs. Liptack present on her trip to Alaska where she took amazing pictures of Native American artifacts. The UNIT TEST went home yesterday.

Spelling 9/19

pollen
glisten
button
candle
readily
oxen
national
salmon
determined
fierce

Social Studies Book

If you would like to view the Social Studies book online please visit Mrs. Bilyeu's website. Look under COOL LINKS for log in information. If your child has me for Social Studies I told them to take their books & notes home to study over the weekend for the UNIT TEST on Tuesday.

GRADES

If your child has me for any class you can view grades online now. The only update you will not see is if a student took a retest today. Those updated test and quiz scores will not be updated until next week. If you do not have your log in information to view grades online you will need to contact the school for that information. Teachers do not have log in information for parents. Please remember that all graded papers need to be signed and sent back in by Monday morning.

Jell-O

Parents, we will be starting our water cycle unit next week and need boxes of JELL-O and small plastic cups for a lab. If you can donate any please send them in by Monday morning. Thank you.

Native American Stories

Today we began learning about the Native Americans of the Plains. We discussed how they used buffalo hide to tell stories by using symbols and pictures. Each student made their own buffalo hide story to share with the class. Reminder: Artifact projects are due Monday and the UNIT TEST is on Tuesday.

VOICE!

Be sure to ask your child what these pictures have to do with VOICE in writing! They may not be able to see them, but they can hear them!

Native American Test & Quiz

On Wednesday there will be a short quiz on Native Americans (the ones we have studied up until this point). It will also cover map skills. Students in my class brought their graphic organizer webs and notes home tonight to study. Students also received the study guide for the UNIT TEST that will be given on 9/20.

9/11

Today in honor of 9/11 each student traced their hand to create a flag. The flag was then presented to the Sandy Springs police department to thank them for all that they do. Every student gathered today around the flag pole for a short ceremony.

Morning Remediation

Morning remediation starts on Monday morning at 7:15. This is a great time to review and retest without missing out on instructional time during the day. Friday, letters went home with students who need to meet with their teachers. If a student needs to meet with me for remediation for Science, Social Studies or Writing I will place a sticker like this ON thier SBR.

Our totem poles look great! We put them outside our classroom door, just like the Kwakiutl put them outside the door to their home. The Native American artifact project was assigned Friday. It will be due September 19th. The assignment and rubric went home with students and a hard copy can be downloaded on Mrs. Bilyeu's web page.

GRADES

Parents,

Now that all the groups are finally made we can start entering grades into our eschool grading system. As of yesterday we are able to enter grades. You may start checking grades online starting early next week. If you have any questions please let me know.

Tiger News 9/9

Paper Bags

We need 30 brown paper bags (large). If you are grocery shopping this weekend please grab a few if you can and send them in. Thank you!

CARD STOCK

We still need light colored CARD STOCK if you are willing to send any in. Thank you.

Homophones

Be sure to ask your child about homophones from this week. Students need to practice the difference between there, their & they’re. They also need practice in too, two, & to. We read Dear Deer and it sparked some great conversations!