Dear 4A Families
I hope you all had a nice weekend, despite the lost hour of sleep! The extra daylight hours are always nice, but the time change can throw off the sleep schedules a bit.
We have a very special event this Thursday the 16th. The “Of Cedar and Salmon” program will be set up in the School Hall all day just for the 3rd and 4th grade students. This multi-media, multi-cultural, hands-on educational program is designed to teach students about the native art and culture of the Pacific Northwest Coast. This program supports and supplements the 3rd and 4th grade studies of Native People and cultures. Parents are welcome to come at any point during the day to check out the displays and program.
Friday is St. Patrick’s Day. We do have Mass at 8:45. Students can wear green, but it must be church appropriate- no face paint, hats, green hair, etc. The goal is to stay as church appropriate as possible, while still enjoying the spirit of the day.
Oral Biographies: Please send in your requests for days/times for the oral biography presentations that I included in the email. On Tuesday this week (14th) the students in 4A will have an hour of class work time for their oral biography projects. Students can work on their notes, plan/practice any part of their presentation, ask questions or get advice from their classmates or me. Every student needs to bring in their main book for the project, and any other sources of information they have. During library time on Tuesday Mrs. Harris will be teaching the students about bibliographies and the students will practice with one or more of their actual sources of information. Even if they have already started or completed their bibliographies, they will write them again—which is good practice. This is a checklist that I will be going over in class with the students of things to strive for when presenting. You should use this at home as well as your children are practcing. They do not have to do all of the items on the list, but they provide some good areas of focus.
All students need to come to school with a plan of what they will be working on during the hour—and the materials they will need to use their time well. This also gives me a chance to check in with the students and see if they need anything as they prepare to present.
I will give the students time in class to start their math or other homework whenever times allows to give added time for oral biography work.
Religion: The students will have their 10 Commandment test on Tuesday. They should be prepared to fill in the missing words from each Commandment. Spelling should be as accurate as possible. Extra spelling credit will be given for perfect spelling.
Spelling/LA words for lesson 8 were sent home last Thursday. The test will be this Friday as usual. The students have been working hard on their mini bio posters in class. They will get a chance to practice presenting in the style of the big biography project when they share their posters in the “voice” of the person they wrote their report on.
Math: We are nearing the end our division unit. We will be having a test this Friday the 17th. Thursday night’s homework will be a review/practice test. Even if the students do start their homework at school, I will be asking them to bring home their work for you to look over for accuracy and to make needed corrections. The homework will be the same format as the Friday test.
Lenten Outreach: Don’t forget Brown Bag Fridays for St. Martin de Porres this Friday. The extra item you can bring in this week along with a fresh lunch are men’s gloves. Just a reminder about our 4th grade outreach projects as well. Because we have the Site Visit and Oral Biographies coming up, I would ask that you hold off bringing in your canned goods and donations for St. Vincent de Paul until the week of April 2nd other than monetary donations for Uganda. Thank you!
Just a reminder that during the Site Visit next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday students may not use free dress passes. Thank you!
Social Studies: The Lewis and Clark tests were sent home last Thursday and should be in your child’s filer. This week we begin a mini unit on the Oregon Trail that will include a fun simulation of the journey in small groups. We will begin with an overview of Westward Expansion, especially as related to Washington State, which includes the story of the Whitman Mission.
Science: This week we will be finishing our discussion on the effects of wind in our environment. We will also be introducing the vocabulary for our upcoming projects. One of the vocabulary words we will be referring to throughout our projects, the Beaufort Scale, is used to describe the speed, force, and effects of wind.
Report cards will be coming home this Friday. I will ask the students to wait to open their report cards until they are with a family member. Grades should be personal and there here will be additional inserts in the report card that I do not want to get misplaced. Thank you for supporting this a home as well. The students are making such good progress and they all have much to celebrate. Please return the envelope with your signature but keep the report card.
Have a wonderful week and Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Friday!
