Who Are We?

Welcome to our classroom blog! Although this blog is a long time coming, (thanks Mr. Lane for giving me that extra push I needed...) I am so excited to share all the experiences my fantabulous fourth graders have had so far this year and to continue to post about all the learning and fun we are having in fourth grade. My class this year is a really special group. Their big ideas and thirst for knowledge is contagious. If that isn't enough to make a teacher happy, their positive attitudes and good humor keep a permanent smile on my face and make me love my job even more than I already do.

During our first month together, our class decided to adopt our class mission statement from my favorite college football team, Notre Dame. Notre Dame's motto is to "Play Like a Champion Today," and we liked the message that their motto sent encouraging everyone to always give their best effort, like a champion does. We wanted our mission statement to reflect our jobs as students and teachers in the classroom so we changed it to "Learn Like a Champion Today" and decided that this meant we were going to work hard to be champion learners by challenging ourselves, trying our best, learning from our mistakes and having fun! Having this "Champion" mentality the first half of this year has made us become...

rockstar readers,

marvelous mathematicians,

whimsical writers and

stellar scientists.

All of our success the first half of this year is also attributed to our classroom social contract, which we all created together the first week of school.  We wanted a set of expectations that our entire class could agree to so that our classroom was welcoming to everyone who walked through its doors. After a lengthy discussion, we all pledged to treat each other like a "family" by following the expectations we found near and dear to our hearts. These are listed on our contract below.

Thank you for stopping by our blog. Stay tuned for updates on what is happening in our class. I'd love to hear what you are thinking too, so feel free to drop me a comment if you find something relatable, helpful, confusing or amusing.  :)

-Mrs. Stines