4th Grade FOCUS

        FOCUS this year was really fun. We got to do many activities. This year in FOCUS was fantastic! I had loads of fun!
        In the beginning, in the unit category, we studied bridges. It was a lot of fun! We studied a lot on different kinds of bridges, and we even got to create our own bridges.
        We have been doing logic for all of the year. Logic is a sheet of paper given to you. It is acctually really fun! Logic gets harder and harder every time you exceed.
        Another thing we are doing in FOCUS is Reader's Theater! Reader's Theater is a program where you are the characters in a certain book. You are given a script and, of course, your part. Sometimes there are nonfiction books and sometimes there are fiction books. I love doing Reader's Theater! In fact, it is my favorite thing to do in FOCUS!
        We are doing a powerpoint too!
        Over all, I love FOCUS.

                                                                                                  Carson

Farewell to Reader's Theater in FOCUS

   Throughout all of my fourth grade in FOCUS my class and I have been doing Reader's Theater and the story I really enjoyed before the one we are doing right now was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and that was because I like that story. My favorite Reader's Theater story that we did this year is The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians. It was very fun doing the story. In the book that we are doing I am narrator two. This year I didn't really like was that we had to perform in front of our classes and other ones because I am a little shy.
     But what I really liked was illustrating the drawings to go when we represent our story. At the end of the story he joins his libarian friends in the libary. When he was in high school he got a part time job in the libary. When he was finished with collage he got a full time job at the libary and he worked with his librarian friends. This year in Reader's Theater was a blast!

                                                                                                               Daniel

Reflections to my Fourth Grade FOCUS and Reader's Theater

     This year, my fourth grade FOCUS year was an exciting one. I did many things and learned a lot. I learned about bridges and their history behind them. My favorite kind of bridge was the Suspension Bridge. We also did our leadership unit. That was my favorite thing we learned about in FOCUS. We talked about the qualities of a good leader. We also did power points on a leader we chose. I did my power point on Dwight D. Eisenhower. I learned so much about him. We also did vocabulary, which was really fun to learn about them. It helped us on some of the writings we did, too. The last thing we learned about was Logic Skills. We also did Reader's Theater, which you will read in about later on. To improve our skills in that area, we did logic grids and analogies. The thing I really wanted was to have recess once in a while to get some fresh air during FOCUS class. Other than that, all the things I did in FOCUS was really cool and interesting to learn about.
      The Reader's Theater projects that we have done in the past have been very fun to do, too. It helped us with our fluency in reading, so we will have experiences when we wil go to middle and high school. The books I have done in Reader's Theater was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, When Rain Falls, and The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians. We also Skyped with an author and a class in Wisconsin. I liked blogging because we get ot write about what we feel. I loved Reader's Theater and I'm going to miss it over the summer.
                                  Goodbye fourth grade FOCUS!
-Anushka


  

Peace out fourth grade FOCUS!

Dear fellow students,

            I've had a great time in FOCUS this year, such a great time that I can't even say how many I had. To start off, I loved Reader's Theater, especially when we got to write the script. I also enjoyed researching a person and making a PowerPoint on the person. I enjoyed the unit on bridges, but if I had the chance to change it to something else, I would. I love that we got to spend every single Thursday with Mrs. Zawacki.

On the downside, I have some dislikes. Like Logic. I absolutely, positively, 100% did not like Logic. Analogies weren't my favorite either. I did love every time I saw "Complete"on my paper. I loved fourth grade FOCUS.

Thinking Back

      This year in Reader's Theater was awesome for our first story I was in the Three Little Pigs and I was the narrator. Then I did Under The Snow and I was the narrator. Finally I'm doing Knuffle Bunny Free and I'm Mom, Oma, Baby's Mom, and Airline Person. I'm glad in this last Reader's Theater I get an actual part of a person so I can show them what I'm made of! This last FOCUS Reader's Theater feels like it's our own because we wrote it. This is a great feeling to hold a script in your hand that was typed but, written by you!


                                                                                                                                 Taylynn
                                                                                                                           

Goodbye 4th Grade FOCUS

     My fourth grade FOCUS year was very challenging. But I felt very proud. I did my best work to do really good in FOCUS. Reader's Theater was very fun but I had trouble with a few things. Logic and Analogies were also fun but difficult. My dislike is that we had to miss recess and we had to have vocabulary tests. The vocabulary words were really hard but I tried my best to study hard and to ace the tests.
     I think people who are in FOCUS have a chance to learn things other people don't know and a chance to go above and beyond what teachers are expecting. This is what I love about FOCUS. I am very proud of all the things I did in FOCUS. I know that 5th grade FOCUS will be even harder than 4th grade's. So if I get into FOCUS next year, I will have to be prepared and work even harder to try my best in 5th grade.
     Goodbye 4th grade FOCUS!!!!

-DASEUL

Farewell! 4th grade FOCUS

     When I came to FOCUS I was nervous. I didn't know anybody. I didn't even know what we were going to do this year. I was scared it was going to be harder than a normal class. When we started learning I knew it would be a little bit easier than what I thought. We started to do Readers Theater. It was a lot of fun. We were doing these scripts. I thought Readers Theater was a play thing. Then we did the The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs that was our first Readers Theater. The only thing I did not like was the vocabulary quiz. Those were really hard. We would have to match words with their definition and then we would have to finish a sentence with them. We then started to do Readers Theater in public. Some kindergarten classes came and some 4th grade classes came.  Later in the year we started to do Under The Snow. That one was a little hard for me. We had animals of different kinds and we would act as those animals. Then we would do the Readers Theater in front of the classes.
     
      Well after that Readers Theater we started our own script. It took us about 2 or 3 weeks to finish writing it on paper then we had to type it. That took us about 2 weeks. Then we started to do the story making. We made the scripts and started learning them. it took a long time. We had to have a good pirate voice in my story. It was called Pirates Don't Change Diapers. Then we came to this very day.

HAMZA

See You Later 4th Grade FOCUS

     I would like to say that 4th grade FOCUS has been a blast. With all of the fun Reader's Theater scripts. The best was when we got to make our own script. I loved the vocabulary tests because I had something to do which was studying.  I also loved doing all of our fun projects like the simile person. I couldn't forget the countless hours of logic grids. But I didn't get real happy when we had to do analogies because I didn't like always having to find words in the dictionary. But I really will miss the 4th grade because it was a very fun experience. Right now we are doing the script The Boy Who Was Raised By Librarians. I am one of the main characters named Melvin. It is about a boy who spends most of his time in his life at the library. He even gets a part time job in the library. But when he graduates high school he gets a job at the library. That's what I have to say about my experiences in 4th grade FOCUS.
                                                               
                                                                              Brooks

My Year in FOCUS 2010-2011

   I had a great year in 4th grade, but I must say good bye and cherish these memory in my heart. I did many things this year, like Logic Grids, Analogies, Bridges, Leaders, Vocabulary, and Reader's Theater. In Reader's Theater, I was in three different Reader's Theaters, The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall. I was Narrator 6. I was also in When Rain Falls by Mellisa Stewart. I was the deer, ladybug, turtle, snake, and a toad. Now I am in Knuffle Bunny 3 by Mo Willems. I am the dad, opa (grandpa), doll, and baby. There are many things I liked this year in Reader's Theater, like we make a version of a Reader's Theater your group for a book you are intruiged with. Something I don't like is that we are assigned parts.
I liked Logic Grids because it is challenging and you have to use clues and common sense. There is not anything I don't like in Logic Grids. We only did one Analogy, but I liked it. You had to use a resource to find your answers. In the bridges unit, there were a lot of hands-on and partner work. There was also a lot of science in the structure of a bridge. I very much liked the Leaders unit because it relates to most people in FOCUS, because you pretty much have to be gifted to be a leader. Last, but not least is the vocabulary quiz. The vocabulary quiz/test is a very uniqe type of test. It is a test where you learn it once at school and study at home. Most test subjects gets discssed at school, then tested. Overall, FOCUS is the a class I afford to go to. 

-Johaer

4th Grade FOCUS Reflections

              This year in FOCUS I did many things including Reader's Theater. Now just like you, I did not enjoy everything I did, but most of it I enjoyed. I definitely enjoyed Reader's Theater because it lets me break out of my shell. It also shows people that I am not always shy and that I can be very loud. Just ask my sister and parents. I also enjoyed making a PowerPoint because it let me be creative and also learn more about the person. I love being able to go above what I am expected to do because I get to let people see what I am capable of. The vocabulary tests were not my favorite thing to do, but, everything and everyone has a reason. The good part about vocabulary tests are that you get a chance to improve your grade and get to spend time with your friends and family studying. Oh, I must not forget about logic and analogies. They are hard, but they give you a challenge and a learning experience to learn from your mistakes. I appreciate what God gave me, and that is a gift that is very special. I will never let that gift go to waste, because I am special and that is how I was made!

                                                          - Maddy

that last FOCUS moment

Reader'sTheater a honner particapence to have a book almost specialized for your group. It also can reading acedemics of reading in the most fun way. Without sitting down and doing a reading group.All the enthusiasm is wanted to help you learn and actually doing something . I am new for Reader's Theater and The Boy who was Raised by Libraians is a book that you can express loudness and life as everybody knows. Yes, logic and analogies plus prjects are stressfull . But Reader's Theater you can just relax and tell the story not explian it or write about it. Just like I was saying I might like what the person next to  me doesn't.


                                           
                                                     - Katelyn

The Big Picture

Ok, now I have to say, that Reader's Theater this year was the most fun thing I've ever done in FOCUS! Instead of just sitting in a rock hard chair doing work all day, we got to express ourselves with our voices and give ourselves just another reason to live. From monsters to princesses, from desserts to oceans, we have accomplished so much as a FOCUS class in Reader's Theater and basicly in every area in FOCUS! Come on, I mean, finishing logic and annoligies in a nine week period is pretty hard for some people, and I bet it's also hard for some people to juggle two reasearch projectcs; one in class and one on Thursdays, or whenever you go to FOCUS! Those of you out there who are bagging on yourself for not being in FOCUS.......Don't! We all learn at our own paces in our own ways, that's just what humans do. God gave us brains and for the most part, we all use it well.

                                                                        - Lauren W.

Reader's Theater

          Today I want to tell you about the experiences you can have in Reader's theater. One thing I really love to do is write your own script for it. Also , there is a lot of fun time with your friends while you practice. It is really fun. Some reasons it is fun is you can imagine what the character feels like while you express that feeling. Sometimes I get so into the person that I have their expression on my face when I read it. Reader's Theater also helps some people with standing up in front of large crowds. One other thing is there are some likes and dislikes about some things. To me at first blogging was really hard and not my thing , but later in the year I started to think it was easier and not so bad. These last two examples show how Reader's Theater can sometimes change someones perspective of it like me. Lastly , it can help you with knowing your voice so that you are always prepared for a play or even another Reader's Theater!

                                                                                    -Maria

4th grade FOCUS year

I percenaly like focus. I also like Reader's Theter. I like it because it is the one chance you get to get the funny out of you.Also, who does not love making funny voices.Although the thing is, that finding a voice is hard for people who get embarresed, but when you present to friends it is fun and exciting because you get to share something that you have practiced with this whole nine weeks.Reader's Theter is the best.

Have you ever heard of Logic?Well it is the best and most fun thing in the world.If you like puzzles then you will love logic. It is like a mystery that is stuck in a piece of paper.Also it is challengeing,and who doesn't like a hard challenge.I mean that is what makes logic fun.Although if you take a vocabulary test and it is a challenge you will hate it,so that is why you study for vocabulary test.Finally the thing that makes focus the best is that Mrs. Zawacki is are teacher.

Sincerly,

Trevor (The Situation)