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. Thank you for reinforcing this at home.
- Summer packets: I will be sending a summer math packet home with each student. 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. I will send the math packets on Friday. Those students that complete the majority of their packet over the summer can bring to me the first week of school in September for some fun prizes! Remember, this packet also counts as math time for the Summer Math Challenge.
- Be sure to check your child’s filer on Monday and Tuesday for recent tests, assignments and grade sheets. Many of the filers seem quite stuffed with old papers and tests that have not been removed recently. 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.
- 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.
Just a reminder 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.
- 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.
I have to give one more plug for summer reading! It is the most important and best way to keep skills strong and reduce the summer learning loss.
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. We will have our final science and social studies classes on Monday.
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 8th 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 ar 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 sand castles—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 should have received an email from me on Friday. Students may enjoy free dress on this field trip. Please follow all rules regarding free dress days. 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.
Friday is our final day, and the students are asked to wear their “Sunday best” as we celebrate the final Mass of the school year. Report cards will be passed out after Mass. Dismissal is around 10:00.
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 and I will also post it on the 4th grade Google Classroom
Blessings for a happy, safe, relaxing and rejuvenating
summer break.
Sincerely,
Mary Simpson
