Our Teacher:Ms. Farnsworth

25 10 2008

Ms. Farnsworth sits at her desk and helps students every single second or she walks around and makes sure each student is on track. It looks very hard to be a teacher. She helps every kid equally. She read us Because of Winn Dixie. She read to us like she was a character. Ms. Farnsworth has worked in this classroom for nine years. She is a great teacher. She has taught in second, third, and fourth grade. She has worked at other schools also. She does not have a favorite color because she went to art school and loves all colors. Her favorite place is Maine. Her favorite thing to do in Maine is pick blueberries and swim in Echo Lake. She loves all animals and she has two dogs and one snake that live in her house.-JA



Halloween Fun

23 10 2008

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. My favorite parts of Halloween is the candy, the costumes, the pleasure of hearing kids laughing and saying, ” Trick-or-treat.” One of my friends say she likes Halloween because, “My parents let me take candy from strangers and I get all the candy I want.”

On Halloween I like to have parties. When I have parties I like to make these cookies. They’re always a big hit as soon as I put them out they’re all gone. Some people like to get a sugar rush like me and go crazy. But I wouldn’t recommend doing that. -DB

For Halloween here are some treats. ” Cobweb Cookies.”

1 1/3 cups of all- purpose flowers

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter refrigerated

1/2 cup of granuated sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

white writing icing

a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter

2 cooking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray

or lined with baking parchment

a toothpick

preheat you’re oven for 350 degrees feranheight

needs to be eaten within 5 days

1. Put the flower and cocoa in a large bowl. Cut the buttr into chunks and add them to the bowl, then rub it in with your fingers.

2. When the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar. Then, sprinkle the milk over the mixture and stir with a fork.

3.Stir the mixture until everything strts to stick together. Then, squeeze it with your hands to make a ball of dough.

4. Wrap the doughin plastic food wrap. Put it in a refrigerator for 20 minutes. While it is in there, turn on your oven.

5. Sprinkle a clean work surface and rolling pin with som flour. Then, roll out the dough unil it is about 1/4 inch thick.

6. Use the circle to cut out lots of circles and carefully lift then onto the cookie sheets. Then, make the scraps into a ball.

7. Roll out the ball and cut out more circles. Bake the cookis for about12- 15 minutes, Then carefully lift thm out of theoven.

8. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheets for about five minutes. Then, lift the wire racl and leave them to cool.

9. Draw a spiral of white writing icing on each cookie, starting in the middle and working out toward the edge.

10. Using a toothpick, drag the icing from the to make a web. Ice the other cookies then leave the icing set.



Our 3rd Week of 4th Grade

20 10 2008

We started soccer in P.E. In playsreet we play games like football, monkey in the middle, crazy ball and other games. In music Mr. Morgan”s class played the clarinet. Ms. Wolreich’s class is trying to memorize the first part of the National Anthem. In art Ms.Sirow’s class made aliens and Ms.Stavitsky’s class cut out sea scorpions and prehistoric animals. In math Ms.Farnsworth’s class went over the properties, Ms.Noble’s class did 2-12 times tables, Ms. Vogelsang’s class did multiplication war, Ms.Kirsch’s class did funbrain.com and whack-a-mole, Ms.Younge’s class put chocolate in boxes and didn’t get anything in return. It wasn’t real chocolate. In science we are studying minerals and trying to figure out what they are. We looked at what color there were, what they smelled and tasted like, how hard they were, would they scratch a penny or your finger nail, could they write, could they pick up a paper clip. Afterward we grew crystals. A few days ago a bird landed on the sidewalk during playstreet and stood there. It was small and Ms. Farnsworth said it was a warbler. People stood around it in a circle and observed it as if it was a UFO! (an unidentified frozen object). WOW! So many things happened this week! Stay tuned for next week’s post!

-JM and KS

Pictures on their way! Stay tuned!



What is a hero? Who is the hero in the book: Charlotte’s Web?

14 10 2008

Fern?Charlotte?Templeton?

The student’s of Farnsworth House each wrote a two paragraph essay on these questions. As you can see, there are many heroes to be found.

DB
KB
LF
JF
CH
CH2
AK
HL
JM
MR
LR
KS
CS
SW
CY
JA



Resources

6 10 2008

This post is where I will be adding links to the web that relate to various aspects of our curriculum. It will be continually updated.

Literature:

E.B. White: Most Companionable of Writers

E.B. White NY Times

For information on Joseph Cornell:

http://www.josephcornellbox.com/menu.htm

http://www.pem.org/cornell/imagination.html

Poetry:

Search and explore poets and poetry

Social Studies:

Geography

Ellis Island

Tenement Museum

NYPL Digital Gallery

History of Angel Island

The Poetry of Angel Island

Oral Histories of Angel Island detainees

Interactive Slave Trade Map

The Amistad

Original profiles of Amistad Captives from John Barber’s book

John Adams

History Poetry:

Elizabeth Alexander

Natasha Trethewey

Other:

Main Dalton Web Site