Jesse Tree

This Advent season, our class will be preparing for Christmas by making a Jesse Tree.  A Jesse Tree is a small tree decorated with symbols portraying the spiritual heritage of Jesus.  It is a kind of family tree that was suggested by Isaiah's prophecy:  "A root shall come out from the stump of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1).

Each day during Advent we will listen to a Bible story and hang a symbol for that story on a branch of our tree.  As a class we will discuss the importance of each story and how it is part of the spiritual heritage of Jesus.  

This is one of my favorite traditions of the year.  My fourth grade class has been doing this for 12 years now, and I love that we get to hear one or two stories each day of Advent.  I also love seeing the creative ornaments each child brings to school.  The picture above is a picture of a Jesse Tree from years past.  I can't wait to see what this year's tree looks like!

Halloween Dioramas

Yes, it's true.  Halloween was nearly one month ago, but it would be a crime not to post a few photos of our Peep dioramas.  Each 4th grader let their creative juices flow and turned their marshmallow ghosts, cats, and pumpkins into a ghoulish scene.

Seventy-Six Trombones Led the Big Parade....

Well...  We may not have quite 76 trombones, but our class does have four trombone players, three saxophone players, a clarinetist, and a flautist attending band lessons each week.  They are joined by a handful of  students from Mrs. Diffatte's fourth grade class as well as quite a few students from the upper grades.  Every Monday our hallway looks like a display at a music store!  We love that so many students are taking advantage of the band lessons offered at school, so we work hard to catch them up and give a little more time to get work done.  We can't wait to hear their first concert in a few months!

Busy - Busy - Busy!

We have been a busy bunch these last few weeks!  

Check out the pictures of the Marathon!  We went over to Highland High School's track and met our friends from neighboring Catholic schools to walk the track for an hour.

We also went on our annual trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum to visit their Apple House. We learned about the history of apples in Minnesota, learned how new varieties of apples are grown, and even enjoyed a few samples.

We are pleased to be finished with our standardized testing and are ready to get back into the groove of regular fourth grade work!  We sure did work hard!

Target Field

Last Friday the fourth graders went on our third annual trip to Target Field.  We had a great time!  Our tour took us all over the the ballpark.  A few of the highlights include the Legends Club, the Champions Club, the press box, the visitor's dugout and the visitor's locker room.  

We also had a science lesson in the visitor's batting cage.  We learned about the composition of a baseball, how bats are made, what the "sweet spot" is on a bat, and about reaction time.  We also learned what happens to a ball and bat when a player gets a hit.  

We even had a chance to hit a few balls off a tee (something even Joe Mauer does) in the actual batting cage.  It was a highlight for many of the fourth graders!