Final Newsletter 2023!

Dear 4A Families,

We made it! The last week of school and the last newsletter of the year. I am always a little sad writing this letter as I say good-bye to my students and their families. It has been a wonderful year with such a creative, enthusiastic and talented group of students. I have so appreciated the kind support of all the 4A families and I will truly miss this special class.

Some important messages:

Cleaning Days Tuesday and Thursday! We will do the major desk clean out on Tuesday. Students are asked to bring in a sturdy bag or two to bring home most of the contents of their desks on Tuesday–as well as some rags for cleaning. Most of the heavy duty cleaning will be on Thursday so you can also send rags that day. Thank you!

Report cards will be sent home on Friday. You will find many important inserts which include MAP scores, directions for the summer reading program and the summer math challenge.   You will also be receiving information about math placements for 5th grade. I am asking students not to open their report cards until they get home or in their car. That way no important notes will be lost. I will be sealing the envelopes to be sure important materials are not lost.  Thank you for reinforcing this at home.

A special message from Ms. Beck:

4th graders have been working hard this trimester playing their recorders! These recorders are for them to keep and to continue practice on. I will be sending them home with 4th grade students on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Over the summer, students may access the 38 songs that we have practiced this year, and more on musicplayonline.com. My student code is: j519476. Students can navigate to “Instruments”, then “Recorder”, and there they will find lots of play along videos with different songs!

Thank you all for a great year!

-Ms. Beck

 

Summer Learning: I will be sending a summer math packet home with each student on Friday.  This is not required, but I highly encourage all students to do some type of math review during the summer. The math packet I send is optional but encouraged and can count towards the summer math challenge hours. 

Those students that can bring in evidence of their summer work in math (worksheets, website online program results, or completed workbooks) should bring them in to me the first week of school for some fun little prizes/goodies to reward a job well done. It is imperative that all students come to fifth grade with their multiplication and division facts mastered for automatic recall! Summer review should also include review of the important concepts we have covered this year, especially multiplication and division of larger numbers. Summer work does not need to be laborious, just short, focused, regular sessions will make a real difference and reduce the summer slide.


Summer Reading packet, just click on this link and you can run off as many comprehension activities as you like.  There are also additional reading comprehension activities in the Summer Reading tab at the top of the page. 

Don’t Forget that in the top tabs of the 4A webpage you will find newly added Summer Math”, “Summer Reading” and “Summer Writing” tabs. In each section you will find links to great websites, resources and ideas to help with summer review. The links on the right side of the webpage that the students have used all year will remain as well. If you are looking for some fun summer work ideas, be sure to check out these tabs.

Be sure to check your child’s filer on Monday and Tuesday for recent tests, assignments and grade sheets. Most important, the Flat Stanley Grade rubrics (goldenrod and pink stapled)

Tuesday is the last day students need to bring their filers.  We will be cleaning out the papers that the students no longer need in their filers on Monday, so the papers that you will find Monday and Tuesday are those you should look over.

Monday and Tuesday: Monday and Tuesday are the last uniform days.  Along with our desk clean out on Tuesday, we will be doing some final tasks and wrapping up our projects including writing a letter to the next year’s teacher to introduce ourselves. 

Tuesday:   Remember to send in a sturdy bag or two for your child to put the contents of their desks and lockers in. We love to have some rags for cleaning if you have any to spare. These generally are not returned.

Alki Beach on Wednesday!

Our final field trip of the year will take place Wednesday the 14th when we head to Alki to eat our lunches and have some playtime together where the Denny Party landed in 1851. Students are encouraged to wear sunscreen and they should all bring a water bottle.  We will eat lunch at the beach. Students should bring a sack lunch.  We are encouraging students to bring a shopping bag or backpack with their lunches, water, maybe a towel. Students can also bring frisbees/balls and  beach toys to build sandcastles—buckets and shovels are always in high demand. Frisbees can also be fun.  We plan to be back at school by 1:45. If you signed up to drive/chaperone you will be receiving a separate email from me with some final notes about the day.  Students may enjoy free dress on this field trip. Please follow all rules regarding free dress days–no bare midriffs please. They should wear regular school shoes to school in the morning, but they may bring flip flops for the beach if they like. 

Thursday is a half-day and a free dress day as well.  We will hopefully enjoy a viewing of a slide show (that I am very behind in working on) chronicling our year. It is fun putting the slide show together, and it is amazing to recall all of the great work and many projects the students completed as 4th graders. On Thursday the students will bring home their 4th grade portfolios. In the portfolios you will find many of the bigger/special projects of the year. This is a nice compilation of fourth grade work neatly stored.  Be sure to take a look! 

Friday is our final day, and the students are asked to wear their “Sunday best”  or their uniform, as we celebrate the final Mass of the school year. Report cards will be passed out after Mass. Dismissal is around 10:00. Reminder, report cards will be sealed.  We ask that they are not opened until they get home.  Thank you!

That is about all for this last newsletter. Again, I want to thank you all for a wonderful year. I hope you all have a fun and relaxing summer. I am looking forward to heading out to Montana at the end of June. I love to get letters in Montana (and it is a great way for students to practice those writing skills). If I get a letter I will return a postcard from Montana in return! I have included my summer address in the final email to you all.

Blessings for a happy, safe, relaxing and rejuvenating summer break.  

Sincerely,

Mary Simpson