Welcome to Grade


Staff Biographies

 

 

Brian Boardman

Karen Dicks
Dawn Frazer

 

 

Cyndi Houser

Rebecca Kelleher

Mindy Lehman

Lorraine Mack
 

 

                Welcome to fourth grade!  Be prepared to enjoy a fun filled educational year. While there will be several projects throughout the year, the vast majority of these will take place in the classroom.

      The students have many areas to cover this year.  Language Arts is broken down into the Reading and Writing Workshop model.  Reading Workshop emphasizes the importance of student engagement and the interaction between reader and text. It provided differentiated instruction in reading. Reader’s Workshop focuses on teaching of reading strategies and fosters independence among readers. There are seven important strategies that all readers must be able to apply to text in order to read and understand content.  Some of those strategies are:

1.    Making Connections

2.    Creating Mental Images

3.    Making Inferences/ Drawing Conclusions

4.    Asking Questions

5.    Determining What is Important

6.    Synthesizing

7.    Monitoring  Meaning and Comprehension

The Writer’s Workshop organizes the best practices in the teaching of writing to provide each child with writing instruction that meets his or her individual needs.  Writer’s Workshop has five main components:

1.     A teacher lesson to provide direct instruction in a writing skill

2.     Independent practice in a writer’s notebook or writing folder at home and in school

3.     Guided writing practice in small groups

4.     Writing Conferences to provide one on one direction from the teacher with student writing

5.     Working through the writing process to publish written work

 

  A very important tool in Writer's Workshop is each child’s writer’s notebook.  The notebook is a place for young writers to gather ideas and begin storytelling.  Writers generate ideas in many ways; some will be as follows

  • ·        Thinking back over recent events and looking for small moments

  • ·        Talking about the day’s events and sharing stories

  • ·        Reading - books often remind us of a story in our own life

  • ·        Looking for objects that tell a story or create memories

 

    In our Math curriculum, the main units of focus are: process skills, numbers and operations, geometry, measurement, algebra, and data analysis & probability.  Because we believe that students learn more effectively through hands on experiences, the student will be using a wide variety of manipulatives to help them gain a better understanding of mathematics that will carry them on through their middle and high school years.

            The Science curriculum is filled with many hands on opportunities to develop the skills needed to become great scientists.  The areas of focus are: Solar System, Water Cycle/Weather, Light & Sound, Forces & Motion, and Ecosystems. Students will be encouraged to formulate logical conclusions based on experimental results, understand that similar investigations may produce varying results due to unexpected differences of observational uncertainties, and apply computation and estimation skills necessary for analyzing data and following scientific explanations.

 

            The history of the United States is the main area of focus in Social Studies.  Students will compare maps of the same place at different points in time and from different perspectives to identify changes and trends. They will move on to examining the Native American way of life and the impact that the Age of Exploration had had on the formation of the early colonies. The growing conflict between England and their colonies bring us to the American Revolution.  After the war is won, we study the formation of the government.  Our last two units take us through Westward Expansion and the Reforms Movement.  Throughout the units, students will use basic economic concepts of trade, opportunity costs, specialization, voluntary exchange, productivity, and price incentive to illustrate historical events.

 


 

Bear Bits about our teachers:

  • Brian Boardman is from North Carolina and is a U. S. Navy retiree. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia State University in 2003 and his Master of Science degree from Walden University in 2007. In addition to teaching, Mr. Boardman coaches the Berkeley Lake Running Bears, the school’s running club. He has been teaching for eight years and was recognized by his peers as Teacher of the Year for the 2010-2011 school year. When not teaching, Mr. Boardman enjoys playing with his three granddaughters, two of whom attend our school, and reading his Kindle. Mr. Boardman feels there is no better job in the world than teaching and helping students reach their fullest potential.

  • Karen Dicks was born in Charlotte, NC. She graduated from the University of North Carolina Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education. She also has her ESOL endorsement from the University of Georgia and a Masters Degree in Reading and Literacy from Walden University. She taught Chapter One in Charlotte for two years before moving to Georgia. Mrs. Dicks taught 3rd grade in Cobb County for 3 years. She took off 11 years to be a stay at home mom. Mrs. Dicks taught ESOL at Hull Middle School for two years and third grade at Jackson Elementary for 4 years. She is excited to be a Berkeley Lake and is looking forward to working with her students.

  • Dawn Frazer grew up in Flint , Michigan. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Elem. Education. Dawn moved to Atlanta in 1993 and taught for Atlanta Public Schools for 10yrs. She is married with 2 children, who both attend BLES. Dawn started working at BLES in 2008 , as an EIP teacher and is thrilled to be on the 4th grade team. She loves to read, travel and scrapbook. Mrs. Frazer has led our school and students with the Green Team this year and we have recycled over 19 tons of paper this school year, saving 334 trees!

  • Cyndi Houser was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. Mrs. Houser taught 4th and 6th grade in West Virginia and moved to Georgia in 1995. She is returning to teaching after staying home to raise her three children, Josh, Abbie, and Luke. She is excited about teaching again and her goal is to develop students that have a passion for learning that lasts a lifetime.
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  • Rebecca Kelleher  grew up in Alpharetta, Georgia. She graduated from The University of West Georgia with her Bachelor's degree as well as her Master's degree in Early Childhood Ed. She has wanted to be a teacher since she was 7 because of the impact her second grade teacher made on her. She is passionate about teaching and loves finding fun ways to teach in the classroom. When she has spare time, she enjoys running, scrapbooking, photography, and reading.

  • Mindy Lehman was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent her childhood years in New Jersey and Indiana, and moved to Georgia when she was in high school. Before becoming a teacher, she received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia and worked in marketing and advertising. She later received her teacher certification from Mercer University. Mindy previously taught fourth grade in Fulton County, and then joined Berkeley Lake in 2006 when her daughter started kindergarten at Berkeley Lake. She looks forward to watching her students and her own child learn and grow at Berkeley Lake each year.
     

  • Lorraine Mack is originally from New York City. She moved to the Berkeley Lake area in 1990 and her 4 children have attended Berkeley Lake Elementary over the past 14 years. Mrs. Mack began her education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. After taking off 17 years to raise her family, she returned to school and received her degree in Elementary Education from Brenau University. She graduated with honors and is a member of the National Honors Society of Educators. Lorraine also has her Masters in Education from Piedmont College.

    A classroom where students become part of a community of learners is important to her. The class motto is , "Teachers open the door, but you (the student) must enter by yourself." It is Mrs. Mack's hope that her students leave her classroom having the confidence to strive to become the best they can be!