The Wonder of Snow

Rain, rain and rain throughout the night. Then a bit of sleet mixed in on my way to school. When the students arrived, there were noticeable flakes on their hats and jackets. We started our day. Frequent glances out the classroom windows reminded us that the masterful Creator can turn a dreary brown day into a winter wonderland in just a matter of minutes. The flakes grew larger and larger. The playground turned to white. The parking lot became slippery and plows went to work. Finally, we were told that school would dismiss at 12:30. We completed our work, wrote in our planners, and took a quick trip outside for a class picture. SMILE. God gave us another beautiful memory for winter 2009-2010 in Edmond, Oklahoma!

Phases Of An Oreo Cookie

What do cookies have to do with our current unit study of the moon? PLENTY! Take a paper plate, 8 Oreos, 2 friends, a "blob" of icing, yellow highlighter, a black sharpie, and plastic knife----put them all together, and you've aptly illustrated the 8 PHASES OF THE MOON! You may be thinking, "Did the kids eat "the phases?" No, they did not. Rather, one of the friends took the model home to show their family and EVERYONE enjoyed two fresh Oreos.

Just in case you don't recall the 8 phases, here they are: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent.

Book Buddies Celebrate One Hundred Days!

What a treat celebrating One Hundred Days with our Book Buddies! Each first grader brought a bag of 100 items to school today. They made a decision to share them with us. There were cool squiggly straws, dinosaurs, life savers, foam shapes, chocolate candy, and taffy just to name a few. Then our class read books about great Americans to the first graders to help them prepare for their upcoming "Great American" reports. We LOVED it!

Moon Mania

Fine moon models by Josh and Peyton.

We created salt dough models of the moon. Each models contains 4 landforms including a maria, a rill, a crater, and a mountain. This is Kelsey's model.

Ben and Josh are deciding how much they would weigh on the moon compared to the earth. They divided their earth weight by 6 to get the answer

Bailey, Maddie, and Brandon are figuring out how less gravity on the moon will effect the distance they toss a bean bag.

Riley is measuring how far a bean bag is tossed in feet and multiplying that distance by 6 to determine the distance it would have been if thrown on the moon.

Tools Not Toys

Hard to believe we are half way through The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe . As we read chapter ten, we sat facing the wonderful scene in our room of Father Christmas and his sleigh. He makes a surprise visit to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Lucy, Susan, and Peter as they are trudging through the snow on the way to find Edmund. They sleep in a dirt cave for the night only to be awakened by the sound of a sleigh and bells. Fear grips their hearts as they imagine the White Witch to be driving the sleigh. To their complete surprise, Father Christmas arrives bearing tools, not toys for each of them. He advises them that the time is near to use the tools and gives them a charge to "Bear them well". For Peter it is a sword and shield. Susan is handed a bow, quiver full of arrows, and a little ivory horn. Lucy is given a glass container filled with a cordial made of the juice of the fire-flowers as well as a dagger to defend herself. Even Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are blessed with gifts. For Mrs. Beaver it is a new sewing machine. Mr. Beaver is elated to receive promise of a completed and repaired dam. It is indeed a solemn occasion until Father Christmas produces a tray with a piping hot pot of tea and all the trimmings. Hurriedly they drink the tea and prepare to be off on their journey again.
Kelsey, Hannah, and Mason enjoy taking on the roles of Lucy,Susan, and Peter as they receive their tools and charge to use them wisely!

A Visit By A Witch and A Shield Of Our Own

On Wednesday, we had a visit from the White Witch herself!!! True to the text, she had a gilded grown and wand, red lips, skin that was incredibly white, and a look that was cold and stern. Her commanding voice demanded that we bow in submission to her, Queen of Narnia! She took Hannah into her spell with promises of warmth, sweets. Her majesty also informed us that we were welcomed to visit her ice castle. Her prophecy of doom for poor Mr. Tumnus left us shuddering. Before she departed, a magical dusting of glittery snow fell across our room.




What talent parents we have! Jeff and Sema Brazell created a beautiful shield EXACTLY like the one Peter carries into battle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Jessica proudly displays her parents' handiwork

Narnia is here!

Cair Paraval

The Wardrobe

Beaver's Den

Armor for the future battle

Aslan

January is always Narnia time in fourth grade at OCS. It is definitely fun to observe the faces on the students as they return the first day after Christmas break. The sparkle in their eyes and the smiles on their faces tell me they are ready to "step into the Narnia journey. We begin our unit by learning about WWII since this is the initial setting for the opening of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Next we focus C.S. Lewis and God's call on his life to write masterful novels for adults and children. Finally, on the third day, we begin with chapter one. Bailey is seeing inside the wardrobe for the first time.

Christian and Mason can feel the cold of the frozen waterfall

Sacks of Love for Linwood Elementary

Sweet treats for our party

Playing hilarious games, right Riley?

Faster Jordan, faster!

Hannah's decorated sack is going to make a second grader smile!

Peyton and Maddie are planning

Mason has a novel idea for decorating his sack.

What creative ideas will they come up with?






Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Christmas parties are always fun, but even more so when the focus is on giving to others. We had the privilege of preparing sacks of toys, books, and candy for the second graders at Linwood Elementary in Oklahoma City during our party. This school is where Mrs. Leadford's daughter teaches second grade. Our fourth graders thought it would be nice to reach out to this school and show Christ's love in a very tangible way. Our creative ideas abounded as we decorated the outside of the sacks and made certain that just the right items filled our sacks.

We also enjoyed a meaningful Christmas story told by Mr. Steven Fite along with Bailey who read from Luke 2. Mr. Fite also played his guitar while we sang some favorite Christmas songs. Yummy cupcakes along with hot chocolate made for a tasty treat and we roared with laughter, cheered, and jumped with glee as we played games.

The final few minutes of party even included a surprise for me! They had secretly organized a joint birthday and Christmas gift, including some VERY stylin' boots and gift certificates to myfavorite restaurants. How special is that!!!! I appreciate their thoughtful so very much.

And now we have two weeks off to enjoy Christmas with family and friends. How blessed weare to celebrate Jesus as baby and King!