The 4th Grade class has been working on WRITING!!! What creative minds we have in our classroom. Each student is working on writing in the Narrative form and being as descriptive with their adjectives as possible. Please ask your children about the stories they are writing. I think you will enjoy reading them or hearing about them. This past two weeks we have been working on a story about a wish that went wrong…and how they had to make it right again. Your children will be doing many more stories and writing is a big focus in the 4th grade classroom this year.

Fourth graders are learning to play recorders. Recorders are a basic beginning into a world of instrumental music. Ways parents can help:  Students should be practicing at least 30 minutes a week, they need to have their parents sign their practice records at the end of the week. I’’ve had a lot of questions regarding practice time and I want to pass along some suggestions that may be helpful!

• 1. Schedule a specific time that is always set aside for practicing! -if a student knows that as soon as they get home after school they are to get their instrument practiced BEFORE the TV/computer/video games come on, then they are much more likely to get it done!
• 2. Spread the practice time throughout the week. -Did you know your mouth has muscles? Just like your body doesn’’t want to have one massive workout a week, your mouth doesn’’t want to be abused once a week either! Break down you practice into smaller moments throughout the week and see how your sound improves!
• 3. Encourage your student to play for you! -Your student is SO proud of their accomplishments, encourage them to put on a performance for the family so you can tell them how proud YOU are of them!
• 4. Use positive feedback! -Yes, I know the recorder isn’’t the most pleasing instrument to listen to; but a sure fire way to get your student to stop playing is for you to make negative comments about their hard work! I promise it will get better and your words of encouragement will only help move along their progress!

On Saturday, Nov. 3, students in Business and Marketing attended the “Super Business Saturday” at Chadron State College. Laurin Bronson, Zoe Schneider, Michaela Metcalf, and Mrs. Efta participated in workshops about starting and marketing a successful business, doing eCommerce business on the Web, marketing business using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, and involving young people in business. Our students mingled with Chadron State College Business students, local business leaders, and people interested in starting new businesses. The event was hosted by CSC’s Nebraska Business Development Center and included leaders from Security First Bank, Chamber of Commerce, and Nebraska Northwest Development Cooperation. It was an inspiring, fun day out in the “real world” of business and marketing!

The purpose of this project is to: Design, construct and finish a personalized scroll saw box.

• Sketch preliminary design

• Technical drawing with dimensions, bill of materials

• Rough cut stock

• Prepare surface thickness

• Join and construct

• Scroll saw application

• Sand and finish

With some new additions to our shop lab, beginning wood students were given the chance to experiment on these keepsake boxes. Though small, the 8^th grade went through all the problem solving processes that one would on any level of production.

Surface planing, lamination, shaping, and detail scrollwork were just some of the processes they encountered. Sanding and finishing remained the least popular chore, but its significance was made evident as some of the projects that came to me for final inspection were returned to start the finish process back to the beginning! All in all the kids did a great job and the satisfaction of seeing the boxes take shape from paper to reality showed in the pride on their faces. Here are just a few examples.

The first grade students conducted the 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Investigation on Halloween! We had a great time making predictions about the height, weight, and buoyancy of our pumpkins along with how many lines and seeds we thought our pumpkins had. We were surprised to find that our pumpkins had anywhere from 400 to 750 seeds in them; way more than our estimates!