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A Monthly Newsletter from the PTA February 2018

BOWNE BYTES

Specials by: Noah A., Olivia B., Ashley B., Campbell U. and Benjamin C. PE: In PE in fourth grade, we are doing some fun units. For example, basketball, football, and soccer. Also, we do throwing games like prison ball and hula hut showdown. Later on we will do things like gymnastics and other fun games. Media: In fourth grade we get to do fun activities in media. For example, we get to do awesome coding activities like coding our own google logo. We do plugged and unplugged lessons for coding. Also, we get to do type to learn and Interland. In fourth grade you can be a library volunteer. This means you come to the library every morning and help clean up the library and check out books using the scanner. Also, you get to help the younger grades find books. Art: In art we are doing fun projects. We made really cool haunted houses and we also made really cool Halloween characters to put into the windows. Then, we learned about the color wheel and made a leaf project with awesome color designs with analogous and complementary colors. Now we are working on making pizzas with different toppings like cheese, pepperoni, mushroom and many more!!!!!!!! Then we make drinks and silverware and a tablecloth. Then it looks like a real pizza dish! Music: In music we are playing our recorders. In third grade we already did a lot of recorder, so now get to do a bunch of bonus belts! But we don't always do that so in our spare time we learn about the music families. For example, the woodwinds and brass. We also get to do boomwhackers to fun songs like Star Wars and we get to do percussion instruments like drums, triangle and cymbals. We get to do fun songs with the percussion instruments. New in 4th Grade by: Seeret M., Olivia D., Julian D., and Gloria H. In fourth grade, there is a lot of new and exciting things. First we will be talking about the lockers in the classroom. In fourth grade you will be given lockers to share with your classmates. These lockers are here to hold your books and work until you switch classes. There is also flexible seating. There are different types of flexible seating like a bounce cushion, a bouncy ball, wobble stool, standing desk, and a bench. We get to choose different flexible seating each day. The use of flexible seating is to help us learn and not get us distracted. Another new thing that happens in 4th grade is switching classes! In Miss Balzofiore’s classroom you learn math, science, and health. In Mrs. Russ’s classroom you learn ILA, social studies, and word study. Now to wrap everything up, these are all the things that are new in 4rth grade. We also have Spanish and strings, but you’ll hear more about that in the other sections of Bowne Bytes!

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Upcoming Events

February 9 4th-5th Grade Dance

7pm

February 14 Valentine-A-Thon

February 19

President's Day - No School

February 20 - 22 Book Fair

February 21

Brown Bag Lunch

February 28 S.T.E.M. Night

7pm

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Science by: Phoenix M., Noah V., Brett R., and Alex A.

This year in unit one of science we studied animals such as Dwarf frogs, Fiddler crabs, and millipedes. We got the animals shipped by truck to our classroom and after studying we got to take them home to take care of them. We found out information about them by doing experiments. For example, we took one of the frogs out of the tank and into a cup to see what it does when it is alone. Another thing we did was take the millipedes out of the dirt and put them in a separate tank to see them better and how they act when they have nowhere to move in the dirt. So far in unit two of science we are learning about motion and design! Our school bought a bunch of K'nex and we use them to create cars that we use in experiments. A few experiments where we used some vehicles made of K'nex were the falling weight system. In this, we tested different amounts of weight to see which amount of weight would make the car go faster and which slower. Another experiment we did with the vehicle was the load experiment. There was a twist in this experiment. The vehicle had two blocks on top of it, then we took of one block, and then both blocks and tested to see how much time it takes for each amount of load. We also did a few stem challenges such as Save Fred! and popsicle bridge. In the Save Fred! challenge Fred the gummy worm was in his plastic cup boat and the boat flipped over and we had to get Fred into his gummy life saver, but you cannot touch Fred! The popsicle stick bridge challenge was when you had to create a bridge that can hold health books and the bridge must be made out of popsicle sticks and paper tape.

ILA by: Joy Z. and Nandan M.

In ILA the subjects are, Reading, Writing, and Word Study. In reading, we are working on nonfiction books, mostly on animals. Also, we are working on writing responses in read aloud. In writing we are learning about Opinion writing (essays). In opinion writing, everyone has to choose an opinion about something and then write their opinion about it. We also need to include lots of details so the reader can understand. In previous writing units we worked on narrative writing. In narrative writing we wrote about things we did in the past or in the present. We have to include lots of things in our narrative writing like including how the characters felt, and how other people reacted. In reading we, are focusing on reading nonfiction right now. In nonfiction we have to use strategies to help us understand our nonfiction books. In previous reading units we did realistic fiction where we have to do a lot of thinking on the main character and traits.

Social Studies by: Sean G., Morgan H., Tyler P., Haley P., and Mikey F.

We like social studies because we do centers. Some of the thing we use in centers picture books and videos. Some of our Lenape centers were Lenape resources, Lenape jobs, and Lenape beliefs .The Lenape used animals, trees, and plants. They respected their resources. The Lenape beliefs are they believed in spirits and some are bad and some are good. When the Lenape got sick they pray to the spirits to make the people better. Now we are doing a presentation about the Lenape! Another unit that we learned in social studies was the regions in New Jersey and we got to make a brochure to present the class one of the regions. Strings by: Allison Z., Bianca O., Madison R., Ayaan H.

In strings we learned a lot of songs and tricks. One thing we learned is the musical staff. We learned all the notes on the D string and A string. Another thing we learned in strings is how to hold the bow. What we have to do is put our thumb on the side bottom, our pinky on the nail on the top of the bow, and let the rest of our fingers hang over the bow. Another thing we learned is different songs! For example, we learned how to play jingle bells. In strings, you can choose from the violin, viola, cello, and bass. We have to go to strings on Thursday every week. Some groups have strings in the morning and other groups have strings in the afternoon. We rotate each week. Last, about the teacher, Mr. Becket. He is so funny, smart, and kind. That is all the tricks and music we have learned in strings for fourth grade.

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Spanish by: Maricellie T., AJ P., Julie L., Milan C.

In Spanish we are learning a lot! We use something called plickers, which is helpful to learn Spanish. It is like kahoot but senora Kosa scans our cards with her ipad. We have fun with senora Kosa’s puppet Paco. Paco teaches us most Spanish like colors, and numbers, and how to introduce ourselves. Another thing that we do is we watch videos to get better with saying months, clothes, numbers, colors. We also play a lot of games. One game we play is we roll a dice and whatever color we get we have to say it in Spanish. Another game we play is we answer a question si or no and try to press the button. We also fill out a really cool paquete (packet) and it helps us remember all our Spanish at the end of the year we get to bring it home and look over it! We also are having a fashion show where we can dress nice, and get up in front of the class and say what you’re wearing, state your name, and talk about your age, and a personality. Those are only some reason why Spanish is fun!

Math by: John M., Udy E., Adnel L., Sydney G. In math we do a new lesson every day! Sometimes we review old skills or sometimes we learn new topics. After that, we do centers. Right now we are learning about decimals! We have learned about the decimal places - wholes, tenths, and hundredths. To help us, we think of decimals as cents or money. We also learned how to compare decimals. We also learned a lot about fractions! For example, how to make them equivalent, and how to find common denominators and common numerators. Did you know that fractions and decimals are similar? Fractions can be written as decimals. We also do a lot of multiplication practice and do fast facts quizzes every week. In fast fact practice, some of us are on multiplication, some division, and some are past division. The order it goes in is: multiplication, division, mixed, and division with remainders. We do fast facts every Friday or Monday!

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2018 Theater Week Production: THE GOLDEN GOOSE

Congratulations to all who participated on a wonderful performance at Churchill Junior High on January 12. You did an amazing job with just FOUR days of practice!!! Many thanks to Vicky Weir and all of the

PTA parents who helped to make Theater Week a success!

In the District

Board of Education meetings: Thursdays, February 1 & 15, 8pm

Report Cards: February 9

EBEF District-wide Denim Day Friday, February 16

East Brunswick Education Foundation meeting: Wednesday, February 21, 7:30pm

Congratulations to Bowne-Munro staff members, Ms.

DiTomasso and Ms. Williamson, on being awarded grants from the EBEF. Our students in K in 1st grade will get flexible seating

and we will be getting technology to take our kids on virtual field trips as part of these

two grants!

The 5th grade vs. Staff basketball game will be on

March 8th!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF BOWNE-

MUNRO SCHOOL!

Contact Us: bownepta@yahoo.com

Facebook: Bowne-Munro PTA

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