My RSS Feed

School's Out!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-12T15:12:44-05:00

Well, that ends another wonderful year of school for all of us. Congratulations on a wonderful year. I really had a blast not only teaching you, but getting to know each of you. After 180 days of school’s ups and downs, challenges, and successes I sit here in my empty classroom hoping that each of you is better for your experience with me as your teacher. I know that I am a better teacher because of the things that I have learned from each of you.

It was quite a joy to sit back today and watch you all from a corner signing each other’s yearbooks. As a teacher I saw each of you as different children than the ones who came to me last September. The growth and maturity that comes in the relatively few months of your lives that is a school year is amazing. It felt as if I was watching you all grow up before my eyes.

I hope that the experiences and the friendships you made this year stick with you as long as I know your influence will be a part of me.

Have a great summer and check in some time @ Club Geek, I would love to know about your summers.

Be safe and have fun. Remeber to laugh, smile, dance, and tell a lot of stories (rat holes!!) ;)

~Mr. M

One Day Left

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-11T14:45:50-05:00

Well, this was the last full day of class. Today we spent a lot of time cleaning our tote trays, packing up all of our school supplies, watching the movie Stone Fox, having Field Day, and enjoying our fabulous pizza party. Nadia had a great time, too, with all of your. She sure got over her shyness quickly! Thanks for being so kind to her while she was here.

Tomorrow we are going to sign yearbooks and finish tidying up the classroom. See you tomorrow!
~Mr. M

Two Days Left

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-10T15:20:45-05:00

Just another reminder to parents that you are all welcome ot join us for our pizza party. I believe that only enough pizza was ordered for the kids, so ,parents, you may have to bring your own! Field day will be from 1:15 to 2:15 pm. Notes about the time change are are in your child’s take home folder.

Have a great night!

Three Days Left

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-09T11:07:09-05:00

Today we finished up our health and saftey books, discussing smoking and social situation choices, this morning. Those finished books should be in your backbacks to take home with you. In math we continued to so some work with adding and subtracting fractions.

Unfortunately, our field day was postponed until Wednesday. The time is yet to be determined. That’s all for today! See you tomorrow.

~Mr. M

The Last Friday

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-06T14:51:36-05:00

Well, I cannot believe that I am saying this. TODAY IS THE LAST FRIDAY OF THE SCHOOL YEAR, and by the time you are reading this blog post the school day is already behind you. Congratulations on a wonderful week. Most school work is finished and turned in. I want to take a moment to let you know a few things:

All library books need to be back next week MONDAY! There are two of you that still need to turn in your books.
Gym clothes and shoes will come home after our field day on Monday along with your art shirts.
Almost all school supplies will come home on Wednesday, so bring a big bag if you think you may need it.
There will be a school sing along on Wednesday morning.
Report cards come home on Thursday.
Dismissal for summer is at 11:50 on Thursday.

Have a great weekend and check in some time in Club Geek.

~ Mr. M

Come One, Come All - PIZZA PARTAAY!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-05T12:49:58-05:00

Next week Wednesday we will be having a pizza party to celebrate the ending of a wonderful school year. Our party will start at 11:00 and will go until 11:45. Dani’s mom has been wonderful enough to make all of the arrangements for us, so A BIG SPECIAL THANKS GOES OUT TO HER!
:)
All parents are invited to attend if it works out in your schedule!

PARENTS - We just finished watching a movie called Journey to 10,000BC. Please ask your children what they learned about the Paleo-Indians that inhabited this continent during the last ice age. Your children should know some interesting things about life back then, the climate back then, and the technology of the anscestors of early American Indians.

Here is the classwork for the day:

Tuesday News

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-06-03T13:34:50-05:00

Not much to say again. Here is the classwork for the day:

Just the Work

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-29T14:45:37-05:00

No time to really chit-chat. Here is the work for the day:

Writing for Reading

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-28T13:44:55-05:00

This week we began a bit of a writing project for reading class. After reading Visitors from Space we decided to do a writing project written in the first person, where we are the comet! This piece is an expository fiction work where there are facts with fictional happenings. Our requirements were to explain the parts of a comet, what a comet is made up of, and use the word “period” correctly in relation to comets. We were also supposed to take the comet on a journey into our solar system naming the planets in order as we enter and leave the solar system.

Some of you are setting the plot to be like a race or like another story that people know. Great luck, we will finish them up in class tomorrow.

Here is the classwork for the day:

"Easy Day!", Says Dani

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-27T14:16:31-05:00

According to Dani, today was easy. In math we used manipulatives to discover the volume of simple shapes in cubic units. Dany says, “That’s easy!” In reading we worked on vocaulary words fror our story Visitors From Space (click the link to hear our story). Dani says, “Come on - too easy!” In English we reviewed using commas to separate our values. Dani yells, “Oh, come on, Mr. M! That’s siiiimple!” Oh, and in social studies we began reading about the history of our town. “Mr. M, this is nothing!” an elated Dani chimes in.

Great work today, kids! Keep up the great attitude. Normally, many students are having summer dreams, but you are working just like it was the first month of school. Thanks for the great work ethic and effort that you put into all you do!

~Mr. M

Happy Friday and Happy Long Weekend

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-23T13:08:21-05:00

After Memorial Day we are down to only 12 and 1/2 days left of school. No worries, we are going to keep on learning right until the end!

Next week we will be exploring volume in relation to area and perimeter. After that we are going to be introduced to fractions and decimals. In social studies we are going to finish learning about our national governement and then get into the history of our city. Our reading story for next week is called Visitors from Space. Visitors from Space is another expository nonfiction piece about objects in space. In English we will continue our review of all of our concepts until the end of the year, using our skills in the other subject areas to write our ideas and explain our thoughts.

If you want to listen to Visitors from Space a little early, click here.

Have a great weekend, kids. Hopefully, we will have great weather. :)

Eleanore's POD

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-22T08:47:57-05:00

Thanks, Eleanore, or thePOD today. What a sweetie! As I was checking my morning email, I came across an email from Eleanore, who let me know that she was not going to be in school, but had written our POD for us. What I like about the work is that it is practicing two ofthe skills that we are reviewing right now - to/two/too and proper nouns. Thanks much! You can see her POD sentence bleow:

Here is the classwork for the day:

Figurin' Newtons

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-21T13:18:04-05:00

Today in science we ran around the room conducting an experiement that tied in math to science. Since we can now multiply quite well, we thought it would be cool to figure out how much work it was to move small objects. Using the formula:
distance x force = work
Well, we are measuring distance in centimeters and our force in newtons, so our work is how many Newtons it took to move our objects 30 cm. We kept the distance a constant, meaning that we always lifted the object the same height. I wonder how many newtons are needed to lift me up 30 cm?

Today was also an “I am a gambler.” day in spelling. This is where you choose to do only half of the assignment, just the worksheet, betting that you will spell all the words correctly. If you make any sort of mistake, you know what to do! Yup, that’s right, write each word 100 times!!

Lastly, many of you have been able to use a computer now and then for daily work in English and spelling. I am proud of how quickly you have taken to Apple’s word processing and layout software called Pages.

Great work today in science I am proud of you. See you later.

Just the Work Today

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-20T14:32:41-05:00

Translations, Rotations, And Reflections

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-19T14:59:57-05:00

In addition to our cut out models of shapes, we used Apple's program called Pages to make these movements of shapes. Remember that a translation is a slide, a rotation is a turn, and a reflection is a flip. Here is our digital work for math:

Here is the classwork for the day:

Happy Birthday, Haruka!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-19T07:19:02-05:00

Happy Birthday, Haruka!!

Reading Comprehension Test Tomorrow!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-15T12:52:48-05:00

Just to remind you - tomorrow we will be taking a reading comprehension test on our expository fiction selection this week, Rockin' and Rollin'. I really enjoyed your educational posters. I can easily see the work that you put into them. What impressed me the most was how well you cited your source for information that did not come from our text. You researched and found information on the web, clearly stating the site that your information came from. Great work! Click here to hear the audio version of our selection of the week.

Also, we will be taking a spelling test tomorrow on contractions, study up.

Tomorrow we will continue on to chapter 24 in our math text exploring more complicated geometrical concepts such as congruency, symmetry, perimeter, area, and volume.

Have a great night and here is the classwork for the day:

Skipped Tuesday, but here is Wednesday

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-14T14:05:49-05:00

I apologize for being out and not getting a post through yesterday, but Nadia needed a bit of my attention. She was quite sick at daycare and needed to say home yesterday. So, I got to be a stay at home daddy to my little girl. There is not much more to add to that for today, other than that our science review activity today will count as a test grade. You all worked very hard on it today in class. I was very impressed how you used your resources to find the correct answers. Great work!

Here is the classwork for the day:

English and Homework for the Day

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-12T16:29:21-05:00

Below is the homework for the day and a copy of the directions for our English assignment.

Happy Birthday, Eleanore!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-12T07:09:58-05:00

Happy Birthday, Eleanore!!

Happy Mother's Day from Marchionda.org

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-11T19:39:30-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you. In honor of all you do for your children I would like to share this "oldie but a goodie" movie with all of you moms. It still cracks me up, I know as a teacher I relate well to the singer! Enjoy and enjoy your day, you deserve it!

~Mr. M

Happy Birthday Sadie and Braden!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-09T10:14:02-05:00

Happy Birthday, Braden!!
and not to forget:
Happy Birthday, Sadie!!

More Science Writing!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-08T13:07:01-05:00

Today in science we learned a bit more about how thermometers and thermostats work. At some point tonight, take a look around your house and find your thermostat. What kind is it? Is it digital? Does it have coil? Ask mom or dad, they can help you.

Tomorrow we will be taking our comprehension test on Alejandro's Gift. You should all have brought home your text books to read it again, or if you want, head on over to this thread in Club Geek and listen to the audio version.

Lastly, we will be having a spelling test tomorrow, be sure to study up! :)

Oh, I almost forgot!! Tomorrow is the last day that we will be collecting coins for diabetes. If you have any spare change, send it on in to donate to a good cause!

Here is our science writing from today:

Here is our classwork for the day:

Shapes, Lines, and Figures

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-07T13:26:07-05:00

Yesterday and the day before we studied 2D and 3D figures learning that they have sides/angles and verticies/edges/faces, respectively. If you would like more practice with 2D shapes and the line segments that make them up, head on over here. There will also be work with lines and angles. Have fun! If you would like to review 3D shapes, click here. Kids, remember to ask your parents a question! ;)

By the way, here is our science work. I was impressed with your ability to write solid sentences with great content. Some of the skills we took with us from English class include comma separated values, the article "an, subject/verb agreement, and the use of present tense verbs. Great work!

Here is the classwork for the day:

Five More Tuesdays to Go!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-06T15:01:25-05:00

Today, kids, we got to become gamblers in spelling. When it came time to do your sheet, you got to choose to write your colorful words three times each on the back, or just do the front. If you chose to just do the front, you agreed to write each error 100 times. Ooooohhhh, what a gamble. You were also instructed to take it home and have a friend double check it for you. Be careful and be thoughtful. Good luck!

Here is the classwork for the day:

New Game Added!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-05T13:08:25-05:00

Sling Fire has been added to our science game section of Marchionda.org. It is the second version of one of our classroom favorites, Sling. Head on over to our science games area to play Sling Fire. Why is this in the science game section? Great question. Sling is a lesson in physics, or the science of how things move in nature. But, whatever, its a cool game.

Win a Chance to Meet the Packers!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-05T11:53:34-05:00

You all have a chance to meet the Green Bay Packers at our high school on May 12th. The Packers will be playing basketball against a team of Fondy All-stars. All you have to do to win is write 4-5 sentences to the following prompt: "Why would you love to meet the Packers?" Two winners will be selected from grade levels to meet the Packers. Be sure to include your name, school, grade, and home phone number on your writing piece. The catch is that this is due TOMORROW MORNING. I will take care of submitting your paper for you.

Today we began our chapter on geometry in math class. We will follow this up with decimals and fractions. If there is time at the end of the school year we will get into fourth grade multiplication and division.

Instead of putting an audio version of our story of the week, Alejandro's Gift, in the sidebar, head on over to this thread in Club Geek to listen and chat. I will put up different questions each day. See if you can reply the correct answer first!

Lastly, I will not be in the classroom tomorrow morning. A substitute will be teaching you our reading and English lessons. Represent our class well! I have an inservice on educational technology.

Here is the work for the day:

Thursday Stuff

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-05-01T15:07:43-05:00

Well, kids, there will not be a comprehension test yet again for our Wump World book. The main point of this week was to learn about human impact on our planet. After watching Life After People, I am sure you have learned a balance between human technology and nature. Please share with your parents and family all that you have learned. Many of you choose to take notes for your own learning. I was amazed to see that your notes turned out to be pages and pages in some cases. Some of you actually began writing stories with this interesting setting. Very cool!

Tomorrow we will be drilling some basic long division. I'm sure you will pick it up. There will be lots of time for questions. No worries.

Lastly, there will be a spelling test tomorrow, but only after we do some in class studying.

Oh, and I am off to pick up my NEW CAR!!!

When Tuesday Feels Like a Monday

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-29T14:23:45-05:00

Thanks for correcting me on our PODs this morning. I tell you, sometimes starting the week of on a Tuesday feeling like a Monday is a crazy way to start things. You all were great workers today, using your time in class very well! Once again I leave school feeling like the proudest teacher in school. If you all only know how much I brag about you! hahaha

Well, this week we will be reading the book Wump World, where the world of the Wumps is overtaken by the careless Pollutians. Our spelling list is made up of words from this story: giant, meadow, monster, planet, Earth, machine, world, river, water, zoom, spaceship, grass, munch, hero, sky. There will be no challenge words this week. Tomorrowwe will be testing in math on finding the mean of a group of data. We will also be testing on math fact families, solving for a divisor, and some logic story problems. Below are some practice problems for you to solve. Comment your answers in Club Geek or to this post if you want.

Practice Question 1:
There are 9 vehicles in the parking lot. Some are motorcycles and some are cars, Mr. M counts 30 tires. How many are motorcycles and how many are cars parked in the parking lot?

Practice Question 2:
Find the mean of these numbers: 3, 9, 7, 5, 8, 4

Here is a link to a topic in Club Geek to discuss these answers.

See you all tomorrow!

Why Things Go Bang

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-25T14:24:45-05:00

Have a good weekend and enjoy the nice weather. Here is our science video cast on why things go bang. Enjoy, and teach Mom, Dad, or a brother or sister a thing or two! See you on Tuesday (Remember that there is no school on Monday!!)

Thursday - What an Easy Day!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-24T15:17:43-05:00

Kids, there was just a little bit of work that could become homework today. English was very short, math is spreading over into tomorrow, and there will not be a comprehension test tomorrow. Make sure to study your spelling words for tomorrow's test though. Please practice your spelling words in a creative way in Club Geek. Oh, and check out the Nadia model shots in the Media Sharing forum, what a little stinker! Here is the work for the day:

And Now, A Message From Nadia

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-23T14:07:40-05:00

See you tomorrow! Hope your day went well.

Tuesday News

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-22T15:07:42-05:00

Nothing new but the work for the day:

Is It Getting Hot in Here?

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-21T13:28:13-05:00

Kids, I have added a link in the sidebar that will allow you to read along at home with our story of the week. The link is just above our clock. See it? Good, hope you enjoy. Click here to view some vocabulary activities for our story of the week.

This week we will be beginning a science unit on HEAT. We will be learning theses vocabulary words: thermal energy, heat, friction, conduction, conductor, insulator, convection, radiation, and thermometer. In this unit we are going to learn about ways things become hot, ways to use heat as energy, how thermal energy moves through objects, how temperature is measured, and ways in which controlling heat (or thermal energy) makes our lives easier.

Below is the homework for the day:

Listen to our Story of the Week

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-17T21:54:20-05:00

This is just a test to see if this will work. You may not see this until after you have taken your test on Friday, but I am just trying to prove a concept. Let me know if this works. Go ahead and listen to our story of the week by clicking the link below.

25 In You Made a Million

Did it work?

Can You Lift an Ice Cube Out of a Bowl of Water Using Only String?

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-17T15:11:27-05:00

Watch and try! Click the link below.

Ice and String Movie

Remember to study for your spelling test of tion and sion words. We will also have a language arts test on our story of the week. English and math are also due tomorrow! See you later!

Report Cards Came Home Tonight

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-16T14:53:42-05:00

Kids, be sure to give your parents the report cards that were in your take home folder tonight. Inside of the envelope you and your parents should find:

a writing sample (if you you were here on the day we did it)
your report card
a subject area graph report

Lastly, be sure to finish any corrections you may have.
Have a great night.
Here is the classwork for the day.

Report Cards Come Home Tomorrow

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-15T15:03:41-05:00

Not much to say here, kids. Remember that third quarter report cards will be going home tomorrow. Here is the classwork for the day:

I Have a Book to Lend to a Parent!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-14T11:04:17-05:00

To Parents:
I have one spare copy of No left to borrow to a parent that is interested. First come, first served! Shoot me an email if you would like to read No.

To Kids:
After a week of cursive writing, I can already tell that you are able to write a lot faster and a lot more clearly. What a difference five days can make. I just want to say to all of you kids a few words about how impressed I am with you. None of you complained about the work taking longer, none of you complained about needing more time to complete your work, and all of you are now able to work at a faster pace - some of you even faster than printing!

Your attitude has been wonderful as a group and only makes me think of the successes you will have as students in the future! Keep up the great work and the great attitudes! You all make me smile!
:)
Check out our blast from the past video.

Happy Birthday, Callie!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-14T07:16:25-05:00

Happy Birthday, Callie!!

Friday News

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-11T14:53:31-05:00

As a Friday thought, I thought I would publish our latest video podcast that we watch called Experiment of the Week with Robert Krampf. Check out his web site, too. This week is experiment 55, "Light As Air". Get out your tape measure, paper, pencil, and a calculator. Have mom or dad watch the video and help you. Comment to this post how many pounds of air you have in your living room or bedroom. Let us know the weight and which room you did the calculations for. Have fun!! Click the link to see the movie.
Light as Air

Again the math is like this:
1. Height of your room X Length of your room X Width of your room = b (b is just some number)
2. b X 1.2 = c (how many ounces of air in the room)
3. c ÷ 16 = d (this is the pounds of air in your room, post this number with the name of the room you measured!!!)

Two Tests and The Work for the Day

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-10T14:26:25-05:00

Remember that you will be having a test on Cocoa Ice tomorrow, so please read it one more time tonight. All of you should have taken the book home with you. You will also have a test on your spelling words. Study, study, study!!

Here is the work for the day!

Writing in Science

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-09T14:36:10-05:00

Today in science our assignment was to take our English skills and use them to communicate how sunlight is transformed into electricity. This writing was to be multiple sentences including plants, animals, death, coal/oil, mining/pumping, and burning to create electricity. Kids, I encouraged you to have your parents read over your writing. All good writers have even better editors! Good luck and be patient with your writing so that your mechanics shine through.

Have a great night and feel free to ask any homework questions in Club Geek in our new forum. Check it out. I just added the homework help to the classwork forum. Please feel free to use it!

A Note for the Kids, and a Note for the Parents

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-08T14:27:29-05:00

Kids first - Here is the classwork for the day. Be sure to clean up any corrections you may have. I know that our adjustment to cursive writing can cause you to get some things wrong that you may have otherwise, but keep at it! In a week or two, you will all be pretty fluent cursive writers ready for fourth grade!

We are reading Cocoa Ice in reading. Here is a Power Point on the vocabulary for you to download. Here is a Power Point on cocoa pictures for you to download. Feel free to play them and see if you learn anything. Here is a link to information on Santo Dominico.

For the Parents - Apparently . . . well, it has been brought to my attention that Amazon is sold out of the "No" book that I blogged about previously. Teachers at our school are really excited about it, and I know some of you have ordered it. If you would like to read it, you can borrow a copy of mine when they come in. I should have 2 or three copies to share. Just shoot me an email and I will let you borrow it.

Lastly, for the parents, if you enjoy getting these blog posts emailed to you, if you enjoy hearing about your kids' days in this format, and if you would like more teachers at our school to do things like this, please-please-please talk about it to our PTO, to our principal, and/or to our school board. There are many teachers here that would love to do this and would appreciate your voice and support in learning how to have a classroom site. Thanks!

First Day of the Fourth Quarter

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-07T15:17:47-05:00

Not much to say, but a reminder that you all have no grades because this is the first day of the fourth quarter. This is your opportunity to start all over. Set some goals for yourselves. What subjects do you want to do better in? What areas of your student skills would you like to be better at? Now is the time to ask yourselves these question to become the best student you can be. I know you can do it! You all impress me every day! Keep up the good work.

~Mr. M

Well, That's the End of the Third Quarter

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-04T14:56:42-05:00

Parents, if you have not already, please read the post below and check out chapter 4 of the book.

Well, that's the end of the third quarter. Our class grades are as follows:
Reading Tests: 93%
Reading Work: 93%
Math Tests: 91%
Math Work: 90%
Spelling Tests: 97%
Spelling Work: 95%
Science: 92%
Social Studies: 94%
POD's: 83%
That's pretty good! Pretty much all A's and or PODs have improved. Next week I will be making your report graphs and filling out your report cards. Report cards will be coming home on Wednesday, April 16.

Check you all out in Club Geek! Have a great weekend.

Parents, This One is for You!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-03T16:29:38-05:00

Below is the classwork we did today, kids. Now, go away (hehehehehe) the rest of this blog post is for your parents and me.

Parents, I recently ran across this book:

I have been reading it from a parent's point of view with my wife, Michelle. I have also been thinking of it from a teacher point of view, too, and have found the book to be really insightful in many areas of working with children. David Walsh is a very bright man who understands today's cultural media very well. Click here to read more about him.

I plan on buying multiple copies of this book for my classroom parents for next year for anyone who would choose to read it. I highly recommend heading on over to Amazon and buying a copy. It is definitely worth more than the 15 dollars they are charging.

Attached to this link is chapter 4. It is about defining and developing healthy self-esteem in children, dispelling some myths of what "healthy" self-esteem is, and has great insight into what we can do to help our children grow into independent, successful adults. Feel free to comment to this blog post or send me an email letting me know what you got out of the chapter. If you like the chapter, BUY THE BOOK! :) Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Kassidy

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-02T16:02:53-05:00

Happy Birthday, Kassidy!!

Hope you like your iDog! ;)

Just the Classwork!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-02T14:49:11-05:00

Here you go, kids!

Happy April Fool's Day!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-04-01T13:39:10-05:00

Here is the classwork for the day. Don't forget to play a prank on your parents! hahahahha

By the way, don't forget that tomorrow is "Bring Your Portable Music Player to School Day!!"

Math Timed Test Downloads Fixed/Division Published!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-31T17:37:19-05:00

Kids, check out the timed tests section of our downloads section. I have fixed it all and published the Rocket Math for division. Feel free and practice as much as you want.

~Mr. M

Last Week of the Third Quarter

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-31T14:26:10-05:00

Welcome to the last week of the third quarter. This is the last week we will be practicing multiplication in Rocket Math, even though we are beginning division in math class.

We are reading Boomtown in reading. Head on over here to play some educational games that go along with the concepts and vocabulary. Here is a picture of gooseberries that we were discussing from reading class. Ask your parents if they have ever had a gooseberry and if they liked it. Reply to this thread what they said.

Our spelling list this week consists of words that have a VCV pattern. Head on over to this thread on Club Geek to practice writing them.

Happy Birthday, Kendra!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-19T21:27:22-05:00

Happy Birthday, Kendra!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-17T14:22:12-05:00

'Tis a glorious day in March, today. We finished our lesson on metric measurements by comparing celsius and fahrenheit temperatures. We also were able to finish up our long lesson on sources of energy.

Tomorrow will be a fun day as we head on over to the PAC to see the fourth and second grades, along with the school choir, perform School Daze. Most of our afternoon will be watching this fun play. On Thursday, we will be watching the Florentine Opera, then we will be having our third quarter assembly. Then it's spring vacation time!!

Here is the classwork for the day:

Friday Stuff - Logic Puzzles!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-14T13:46:26-05:00

Solve this one:
Al, Beth, Chuck, and Dean are standing in line. Chuck is standing in back of Dean. Beth is standing in front of Al. Dean is not first. List the names of the kinds in line in order from first to last! Comment your answer to this post or solve it in Club Geek.

Have a good weekend, kids, Enjoy the nice, mild weather. See you on Monday.

P.S. Be sure to complete any corrections you may have. ;)

Field Trip News!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-13T14:55:05-05:00

Sorry to not get a blog out yesterday. I did want to take a moment here to publicly say, "Thank you!" Your behavior on the bus and at the theatre was outstanding. You represented our school and my class well. I heard a few comments from the ushers saying how well behaved and mature you were. I hope all of your parents know, and read this, so that they can feel the pride that I do.

Be sure to read Leah's Pony tonight for our comprehension test tomorrow. Also, I am looking for someone to start a thread in Club Geek in the Classwork area. I would like someone to write their spelling list out. It would be fun to see if a bunch of us could do it. If four of you manage to do it, I will write the words ten times each! Really, I will. Hahahahaha ;)

Here is the classwork for the day:

Field Trip Tomorrow!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-11T13:36:09-05:00

Just as a reminder, you will need to bring a lunch tomorrow to eat in the classroom. We will be eating an early lunch (around 10:30!!) so that we can leave on our bus around 11:00. We should be back around 2:30 pm just in time for Phy Ed class. Remember not to bring your portable music player or gaming machine because they are not allowed on the bus. See you tomorrow morning!!

Here is the classwork for the day:

1+1=1, in Spelling!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-10T13:42:12-05:00

Today, we started a new spelling list that teaches us about building compound words, so, in that case, one word plus another word gives us one (larger) word. Strange how spelling messes with our math! :)

Just a reminder that our field trip will be on Wednesday of this week. We will be leaving around 11:00 and returning by 2:30. We should have time to squeeze in reading and spelling. Here is the classwork for the day:

Forget Standard, Let's Go Metric

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-05T13:37:27-06:00

This week we began comparing and studying the metric system of measurement with that of standard American measurements. Even though we are more familiar with standard measurements, it is nice to work with the numbers that come with the metric system. Anyway, here is the classwork for the day. Make sure your corrections for your social studies tests are finished by tomorrow!

Sorry No Bloggy, Bloggy on Monday! :(

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-03-04T13:23:33-06:00

Sorry for not getting a blog post out yesterday. Somehow the day just got busier and busier, but that is behind us now. I will keep this post short because I know that many of us are busy these evenings with our lives and parent-teacher conferences. Have a good night and I will see you tomorrow.

I Got My Burrito!!!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-29T14:55:15-06:00

Well, it finally happened. After a few of my students' vacations to Mexico, I finally got my burrito!! Now I am a very happy teacher. Thanks to Eleanore and Mom, I finally got to enjoy the warm, spicy goodness of a wonderful burrito. Thanks! You made my week! :)

In other news, we scored a 99% class average on our spelling tests this week and a wonderful, record setting class average of a 97% on our reading comprehension tests for the story Lon Po Po. Great work, kids. You writing is becoming mechanically perfect, and your sentence structures are beautiful. I am impressed by how well you are using your resources to answer the questions correctly, too.

In Club Geek news, we are only 35,000 hits away from earning a class pizza party. So, this weekend some time, register if you have not - or log in and chit chat with friends. Post some questions, make some polls, show off some fun pictures, or whatever you want. I have posted some family videos in the Media Sharing section of my baby girl, Nadia. There is even a video of my sister and I when we were very, very young. Hope you enjoy them.

Have a good weekend, kids, and let your parents know that I am looking forward to seeing them at the parent/teacher conferences coming up. If your parent needs to contact me about changing a time, direct them to the "Email Me" page. Bye-bye!

~Mr. M

Happy Birthday, Dani!!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-27T14:26:20-06:00

Happy Birthday, Dani!!
Have a great evening, kids. Here is the classwork:

Clown Day Tuesday

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-26T15:04:36-06:00

This week we have been studying standard measurements in math class. Today we made clowns using gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. We then hung them up in the room. Hopefully, this activity and hanging them up around the room will help us on our test in the future. :)

Also, below are some pictures of us acting out Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears from last week. Enjoy:

Here is the classwork for the day:

Monday News

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-25T15:16:30-06:00

Not much news, just the classwork:

Have a Good Weekend

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-22T14:35:17-06:00

Great job this week, Kids! I was really impress with how hard you are working and your commitment to making sure that all of your corrections are made. Have a great weekend and head on over to Club Geek some time over the weekend and check out the new features! The only work some of you may have is our handwriting practice of uppercase A and O. See you on Monday, I'm off to celebrate Nadia's first birthday. Look for pictures in Club Geek in the Media Sharing section sometime this weekend. I hope to capture a picture of her with cake all over her face!

Oh, and head on over to the photos area to see pictures of our Valentine's Day Party. Also, check out the new multiplication and division downloads!

New Policy!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-20T13:41:03-06:00

This week we unrolled a new classroom policy for almost every assignment. After checking with me, all corrections are made on the spot. Kids, tell your parents to look for the green signature above your grade. That green signature of mine lets you and your parents know that I have seen your corrections on a particular assignment.

Please re-register in Club Geek if you are interested in some online fun. The new software that I am running allows you to have a lot of control in your "user Control Panel". Also, uploading media from your hard drive is a lot easier - no need for a digital briefcase. So, you will notice that page is gone now.

Here is the classwork for the day:

Westward Trail

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-19T12:57:56-06:00

Today we learned a bit about traveling west as a pioneer. We learned about wagon trains and their leaders, what kind of stuff to bring along, and some of the dangers of life on the trail. Feel free to play Westward Trail to get a virtual feel for this experience. Click the image to play the game. I have also added the game to our social studies games.

I have also updated the sidebar to include more current events that are coming up. If I have missed one please let me know.

Monday Mixtures and Solutions

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-18T15:02:19-06:00

Today we reviewed mixtures and began to discuss solutions in science. Check out the link for more information about these two vocabulary words in science. Check out this resource for more information about solutions and mixtures. There are movies, pictures and other activities there for you to explore. For some extra practice comment below one example of a solution and one example of a mixture.

Today we also began our review of multiplication for our test on chapter 18 in math. Head on over to our downloads section to practice if you wish. There are math facts and multiplication activities to browse through.

Also, Club Geek is in repair right now. I upgraded the software to try and keep out the bots, but lost all of our conversations. Please reregister yourselves remembering to use your first name and last initial in this format: Firstname L. - I would be Rocco M. Choose a password and submit your email address and wait for me to ok it.

Have a great night, kids. Here is the classwork for the day:

Lots of Math Today!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-13T14:27:59-06:00

Today we spent quite a while working on the multiplication of larger numbers. I was really impressed with how well you kids stuck to your work and made sure you got all of your problems on the first sheet correct. Here is the work for the day:

Multiplication Games

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-12T13:16:50-06:00

Kids, I added 100 multiplication activities to our Educational Downloads section. They are under the heading called Multiplication Fun. Feel free to download and print them out. Return them to school and get a prize after completing 10 of them! Click on the picture to go right there.

By the way, kids, make sure that you make sure you bring home your take home folders. We need to get better at doing that. Parents, please bug your kids to make sure they are coming home! Thanks! :)

Here is the classwork for the day:

Can Someone Pick Up the Homophone, It's Ringing

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-11T14:31:02-06:00

There are no challenge words for the week in spelling. We will be learning 16 homophones. Check them out here from our spelling chalkboard:

Homophones are words that have the same sound, but different spellings and meanings. Here is a link to more than 100 of them. Post your favorite to this post using the commenting system. Lastly, here is the homework for the day:

Valentine's Party and the Classwork for the Day

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-07T14:58:03-06:00

As a reminder, we will be having our Valentine's Day party next week Thursday in the morning. The party will begin sometime around 10:30AM. All parents are welcome to attend and celebrate this holiday with us.

Remember that you are responsible for bringing in a self-decorated Valentine's Day mailbox and valentine cards for each of the members of our class. Attached is a class list of first names for you to download. I will send a paper copy home if requested.

No School Today!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-06T06:17:53-06:00

School is closed for the day! We will have our "Bring Your Portable Music Player to School Day" next week Wednesday. Have a great day!

~Mr. M

What Does a Foot, The Sun, and Suburban Animals Have in Common?

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-02-05T14:22:45-06:00

Well, that was our lesson today in social studies. Please share with your parents what these three things have in common. Just as a foot will grow at the expense of the shoe, the sun will grow at the expense of the inner planets, suburban communities grow at the expense of an animal's natural habitat. We had a great discussion about that, and we had a good review of multiplication for our test tomorrow. We will be testing on our 9's and 10's facts, along with three digit multiplication, and missing factors. Solve these for a little extra practice and comment your answers:
1. 9X4=?
2. 6X9=?
3. 10X0=?
4. 7X10=?
5. 2X4X5=?
6. 1X5X3=?
7. 6X2X4=?
8. 4X?=12
9. ?X3=36
10. Rodney wanted to ride a roller coaster with two of his friends. Each ticket cost them 5 dollars. After the first ride they all wanted to go again. How much money did the whole group spend on roller coaster tickets altogether?

No School Today!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-30T05:42:16-06:00

Due to the winds and the crazy wind chill, our school district has closed for the day. Enjoy your Wednesday off. If you are bored, head on over to Club Geek. I'll be checking in throughout the day. Talk to you all later!

~Mr. M

Opps, I Forgot to Blog!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-29T19:02:03-06:00

Sorry about forgetting to blog, I guess I was busy chit-chatting with you at the end of the day. It was great hearing your opinions about your report cards - what you are proud of and what you would like to improve on. I am really impressed with how you all seem to be "owning" your education. Here is the classwork for the day.

Here is a link to something cool. It is the cockpit of an Airbus. I don't know much about these large planes, but check out this 3D panoramic view from the inside! Pay attention to the details! Anyone think they could fly this thing?

Monday, and We Write!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-28T13:48:19-06:00

Today, I raised the bar of expectations that we are going to have for ourselves. It is that point in the year where we slide into writing like fourth graders. What this means is that complete sentences with proper mechanics. i know many of you are nervous about the consequences of this, but it will be old hat soon enough. Your fourth grade teachers will be impressed! You are all great kids who can do wonderful work, trust me - I see you every day. :)

We will be writing a lot of nonfiction and use those grades as our writing grades. So, our writing grades will reflect our work in social studies, math, science, and reading - along with our writing projects.

Have a good night, kids, and remember your capital letters, punctuation marks, and proper spelling!

Sentence Scientists

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-24T13:46:54-06:00

Today we were taking our science concept (exploring matter by breaking it down to its basic elements - atoms) to English class. We were practicing all of our English skills by breaking down sentences to their atoms, or parts of speech. We were trying to identify subjects, predicates, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, and verbs in sentences. Here is our work:

Great job, kids!!!
Here is the classwork for the day:

Wed-nes-day, Come Get Your Math Facts!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-23T13:40:29-06:00

In addition to posting your classwork for the day, I want to suggest something for you to do at home to help you progress through your multiplication math facts. Head on over here and get the individual level you are on and practice it the day (or morning) before you take it here in class.

Here is the classwork for the day:

Shop Updated!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-22T19:48:57-06:00

I have added lots of books to the "Kids Picks" section of our book shop. I have also added items to the "Software" section of our shop. Feel free to browse around. If you have and questions, feel free to email me.

Tuesday, Snowy, Tuesday!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-22T14:36:22-06:00

After our two hour delay, we began our new quarter (and grade book) with a POD, or problem of the day. Mathematics brought us into our multiplication facts, as some of you are going to collect more data about your performance. Good for you! Who knows what you will find, that's what makes collecting data interesting. Anyway, here is the classwork for the day:

Two Hour Delay This Morning

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-22T06:04:56-06:00

There is a two hour delay this morning, so I will be seeing you all around 10:45 instead of 8:45. Eat an extra pancake for me!

Happy Birthday, Tommy S.

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-21T13:49:58-06:00

Happy Birthday, Tommy S.!!

It's Friday and our Classroom Computer is Gutted Out!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-18T13:10:51-06:00

Have a great weekend, kids. You did a great job this week scoring a class average of 98% on your spelling tests, a 95% on your chapter 10 multiplication test, and a 93% on your Centerfield Ballhawk comprehension tests. Great work!

Monday there will be no school for you, but I will be here finishing up your report cards. One great little bit of data that I ran across was about missing work, or work that is turned in late. During the first quarter there were 67 assignments turned in late. During the second quarter there were only 17 assignments turned in late.

Here are some pictures of our classroom computer that we have been taking apart. Great job, kids, it seems you are wonderful at this type of thing. Now the next step is to put it all back together correctly again.

Next week we will be starting our multiplication timed tests, head on over here to get a head start.

Hopefully this weekend I will be able to add all of your suggestions of books and software to our store. Keep checking back! Talk to you later. Below are some pictures from your performance at our Pride assembly.

~Mr. M

Spelling Test Tomorrow

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-17T15:00:10-06:00

Thanks for bringing in all of your DS's! You made spelling today a great success! We will try that again next week. Be sure to study for your spelling test tomorrow.

Here is the classwork for the day:

Happy Birthday, Hunter

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-16T15:12:05-06:00

Happy Birthday, Hunter!!

Even though you are on vacation in Mexico, we are thinking of you and hope you are having a blast!
~Mr. M's class

Tomorrow is "Bring Your DS to School Day"

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-16T10:37:05-06:00

Tomorrow is our first "Bring Your DS to School Day"!!! If your parents approve and trust you to be careful with your Nintendo DS, you can bring it to school. We will be using the mesh networking technology to take advantage of the chat feature built into the DS. We will be doing this during spelling. Instead of using chalk slates, we will have groups in chat rooms on DS's writing their answers. Should work out, should be fun! Remember to get your parents' permission, first!

Many of you have science homework, or should bring your science home. The main point, and change from previous work, is that you begin to become proficient at writing your thoughts down in complete sentences. I do not expect everyone to be perfect right away, but I do expect us to be wonderful by the end of the school year. Writing about science and math in complete sentences will set you apart from every other fourth grade student next year. You can do it! Written expression is a skill that will take you far in life.

Even though tomorrow is Thursday, we will be having our comprehension test for Centerfield Ballhawk. Click here to do some online activities for the story.

Classwork, Store, Downloads, and More!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-15T13:55:40-06:00

I want to remind you kids first that we have a PRIDE Assembly on Friday morning. Please remember to wear your blue Pride shirts Friday morning.

PARENTS - - - I have added an Amazon store to this site. Feel free to browse, even though there is not much there yet. I will be adding dozens of books. I would love suggestions, also. Treat this store like a like the traditional book orders from schools, but you get to purchase without cash and get the books sent directly to you.

PARENTS - - - I have also added an Educational Downloads area, too. Right now there are math fact timed tests galore in it. If you would like your child to get some extra practice, download away! If you would like your child to get a head start practicing multiplication, feel free to take as many of those as you want. Challenge your child to a math fact race! They are getting pretty fast.

Lastly, I will be busy tonight watching the MacWorld Expo Keynote by Steve Jobs. Its Apple's release of all of their way cool new technologies. Here is the classwork for the day:

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-15T05:59:29-06:00

Just wanted to let you know that I have added a new tab to the top of the page. It is called Shop/Downloads. This page has two links, one for our shop and one for educational downloads.

With she Shop page you can shop with Mom and Dad for books, software, and other things. Think of it just like the traditional book order forms, but you do it all in your own home and the things you buy come right to your home in a package! I am an Amazon affiliate, which means that I can recommend and sell the products they sell on my site. All money (and it is not a lot!:) ) goes right back into paying for hosting and bandwidth of Marchionda.org. So, think of your purchases as donating a few cents to our classroom website. You can tell me what types of books, software and other things you want in our store. Over time it should be quite a cool place. Remember that you must be with Mom and Dad to use the shop, just like in the real world!

The Educational Downloads area is going to be a place for paper and pencil games and drilling activities. I have put up all of our Rocket Math and will be adding other math games soon. I will also add up some readers and many other activities shortly. Keep on checking back!

Lastly, you will need a password and username to access these pages. If you do not remember it from class, email me and I will let you know what they are. Click around and have fun! See you in school.

~ Mr. M

SIR, We Thank You for Your Science!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-11T12:05:11-06:00

This morning was the final activity with UW Oshkosh's Science Outreach program. Follow the previous link to see their web site filled with links to other web resources.

We attended many short science lessons this morning learning about how hover crafts work, UV materials, endo/exothermic reactions, earthquakes, and phases of the moon. This was a great cumulative activity to do with our class. We all seemed to have quite a bit of fun. Thirty new photos have been added to our SIR photo album. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

Have a great weekend, kids! Hope you had as fun of a week as I did. :)

SIR, We are Ready for a Science Fair

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-10T15:05:52-06:00

Today we learned about comets and what makes up a comet. Kids, use the commenting system to name the parts that make up a comet, and to name what materials a comet is made of. More pictures have been added to our album. Feel free to check them out.

Also, some of you were interested in binary as a language. So, we learned how to make letters and symbols in binary. Pretty cool, huh??
Here is Tommy L.'s:

I wonder what it says?? Hmmmm??
Here is the work for the day:

SIR, Your Atmosphere is in the Way of My Moon!

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-09T11:25:02-06:00

Thirty-six new photos have been added to our SIR (Science in Residence) photo gallery. Today we reviewed what we learned about scale models by using balloons to to make models of the Earth, our moon, and Mars. This gave us a great comparison to see the relative size of these objects. We also were able to understand the distance between these objects by keeping them in scale.

Next we learned about the telescopes and how the atmosphere can interfere with what we are seeing from Earth. We then practiced surveying a mystery planet from space without an atmosphere, comparing observations.

Lastly, we observed how meteors impact the surface of a moon or planet by dropping different sized objects into a fake surface. Check out the pictures for more details.

As you notice on our planner sheet, there was not a lot of classwork today. We are in the middle of taking our district assessments. We should be finished with everything by the end of the week. Next week we will continue with our current spelling list and language arts story.

Congrats on your math tests, our class average was a 93%!!

Club Geek Challenge:
1. Find a picture on the internet for 5 or more of your spelling words.
2. Upload them to our Digital Briefcase.
3. Go to this thread and paste each of our pictures along with the correct spelling of each word.
4. Look for me to post back, get your reward in the morning.

SIR Photographs

Mr. Marchionda — 2008-01-08T16:50:54-06:00

Here are 28 photos from our SIR Program. Head on over to the Albums area of Marchionda.org or simply click on the image below. Enjoy!

p.s. For extra credit - comment the adverb in my sentence above.