Are You Looking for a Book?

Are you headed to the BOOKSTORE or LIBRARY? Wondering what to read? There are many choices out there. But now, I've added something to our blog that might help.

On the right sidebar, look for Book Notes from Mrs. Alaniz.
Each time I read a good book I think you might like, I will post the title here.

Happy reading!

-Mrs. Alaniz

4A's Gift to Mrs. Alaniz

At our holiday party before winter break, the students in our class surprised me with a gift.  This is what it looked like before I opened it. It was wrapped so well. When I saw it, I wanted to cry! My class is wonderful.

When I opened it, this is what I found! It is a personalized stool for me! Decorated in Texas style (stars and bandanas), the stool looks wonderful in my classroom. I plan to use this for read-alouds. 

My gift is wonderful! Thank you so much, 4A!

Our Version of Gingerbread Man Loose in the School

Mrs. Alaniz read us a good book this week.  It is called THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL by Laura Murray.



We wrote our own version, and we hope you enjoy it! 

Our gingerbread man is about to go down the elevator. (He should have an adult with him!)

This computer is very interesting. How do I log in? Oh never mind! There is the username button now. What should my password and username be?

This chair is so big I guess I have only one choice. I'm going to climb the chair. I have to be very quiet so the kids do not eat me.

This gingerbread man is looking for his class! He asks our principal Mr. Mac if he's seen them. They are having a good conversation!

The Ginger bread man is skateboarding down the main stairwell!  He is a little scared but he'll be okay!  He has a white bow tie and orange buttons.  His helmet is black with a BIG flame on it.  His pants are black and his unibrow is white!!

This is our gingerbread man. While this gingerbread man was looking for books he got lost in the shelves. Wait! He found some good books to check out!
Can you help him find his way back out?

Skateboarding again! 

Here's a closeup!  This is not safe!  Gingerbread Man isn't following the rules!

He goes to the gym to play a game!

Time for Music class.  Here he is playing the drums.

Now he is dancing to the music.

Our gingerbread man is helping our school nurse in the clinic. Do we have enough bandaids for the students?

Time to wash my hands for lunch!  Lots of suds and water! 

It's time for lunch in the cafeteria. Yum! I wonder if this is a healthy lunch! No, too many snacks!  I need some fruit and protein!

After lunch, it's time for art. Here I am showing my drawing skills.


I had such a nice time at school today. I wonder if they'll ever catch me!


What did you think of this story about me?  We hope you enjoy it! 
Where else should I go in the school?

Canned Food Drive Update!

Our final total was 203 cans! On announcements today they announced the winners:
3rd place: K1
2nd place: 2C
1st place:  4A!!!!!
We jumped in excitement when we heard 4A,  and we were so happy! In the spring we will all be on the Friday announcements show. 

We learned that if we work together, we can do good things!

Can We Collect More Cans?

At our school we are having a canned food drive to help people in need for the holidays.  So far we have 63 cans and we're hoping to get the highest number of cans. We all hope to have the most cans out of the whole school.

These are the cans we had on Wednesday. We've collected more since!

A chart posted in our cafeteria shows how may cans each class has collected. So far we're in the lead. Kindergarten is second. The chart counts in groups of 5, and the highest
 number is 300. Each class is responsible for filling in the chart for the number of cans they have with a Sharpie.

4A loves to help! And we are learning all about cooperation, too. Keep checking our blog to see how many cans we collect! We have until Thursday, Dec. 15th. 
Thank you to all the parents who have helped!

An Elf's Life

Gus the Elf is getting pencils for writing. He is looking for sharp pencils. Our class needs sharp pencils for editing our novels.

Alvin is reading Baby Mouse. I hope he likes it! We do!  

Alvin is getting the TV remote so he can watch Elf (the movie). It is really funny and it is his favorite.

Gus and Alvin are exploring the library. I wonder what books they'll get.

All of our elves need to be with each other after their long day.

2X2 Digit Multiplication

To multiply 42 by 36, first we broke apart the numbers. To keep track of the numbers we were multiplying, we drew this as an array. Can you see how we multiplied? 

We are practicing every day and getting better and better. We use our Smartboard or the  Show Me app on the iPad to practice, too. 

Multiplying 2 X 2 digit numbers isn't as hard as we thought it would be!  What do you think about this strategy? 

Check your Investigation Student Handbook online for more practice and review! 

Class Book Total

On Friday, we tallied our individual book totals for the year so far. Each student checked their book logs and two students added up the numbers. We created a slide to show our total. Mrs. Alaniz is very proud. 

We are not done yet!  We still have many more books to read! 

How do you keep track of the books you've read?