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 the contents of their desks on Tuesday— as well as some rags for cleaning. Thank you!
Report cards will be sent home on Friday. You will find many important inserts including scores and information about the summer reading program Harris provides as well as 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.- Summer packets: If you requested summer math packets from me I will send them home with the students on Friday. If you need them sooner for any reason please let me know and I will make arrangements.
- Most Recent final tests, assignments and grade sheets will come home Monday. They will be in your child’s filer. You may receive a few stragglers on Tuesday. Expect to see the math final and some timed tests, reading tests, Flat Stanley and mystery report grade sheets, social studies and spelling. This is a good time to clean out filers.
- 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.
- In the tabs at the top of the 4A webpage you will find “Summer Math”, “Summer Reading” and “Summer Writing” tabs by the end of the week. 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, and there are many great review and practice sites there as well.
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 so important to take time to continue to practice math facts as well as review the many math concepts we have learned this year. Summer work does not need to be laborious, just short, focused, regular sessions will make a real difference and reduce summer slide.
I have to give one more plug for summer reading! It is the best way to keep skills strong and reduce the summer learning loss.
Monday: We have some final tasks and assignments to complete today—most importantly some fun history lessons to prepare for the Underground Tour! We will celebrate summer birthdays in the afternoon with a Root Beer Float party.
Tuesday: Remember to send in a study bag 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. Along with cleaning and some final tasks, the students will be presenting a funny play called Blame it on the Wolf to the third graders.
Looks like Sun! Our final field trip of the year will take place Wednesday the 10th. It appears we will not need to stress about rain this year! Sunscreen will definitely be in order. We will first be exploring below the streets of Seattle on the very entertaining and historical Underground Tour. Following the tour we will get back to sea level as we head to Alki to eat our lunches and have some playtime together where the Denny Party landed in 1851. Students should bring their lunch and a water bottle. Treats will be provided at the beach. We plan to be back at school between 1:45 and 2:00. If you signed up to drive/chaperone you should have received an email from me over the weekend. Students may enjoy free dress on this field trip. Please follow all rules regarding free dress days. They should wear tennis shoes, not sandals or flip flops for the tour. It is dusty and dirty below! They may bring flip flops for the beach if they like. It is also fun to have some beach toys, especially shovels and buckets as it is always fun to make sand castles. We never have enough!! If you are not driving/chaperoning and would like to contribute a couple of dollars to help cover parking costs that would be appreciated! Thank you.
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 did this past year. I always make a DVD for each student to bring home on the last day, but this year I do not anticipate I will have it completed by Friday. If not, I plan to put the DVDs in the main office for you to pick up. I will let you know if this is the case later in the week!
Friday is our final day, and the students are asked to dress nicely as we celebrate the final Mass of the school year. Report cards will be passed out after Mass.
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. This may be the first summer I do not go to Montana. I feel the need to stay pretty close to my mom right now. Thank you all for your wonderful support and understanding this spring as I have dealt with my mom’s health issues. I am looking forward to a Seattle summer too! I am sure I will see some of you around West Seattle.
Blessings for a happy, safe, relaxing and rejuvenating summer break.
Sincerely,
Mary Simpson
