Week of May 9-13

Dear 4A Families,

I hope all of our 4th grade moms had a very special Mother’s Day and were treated royally!  We have a great week of learning ahead—and the first of the big bios being presented! 

Oral Biography Presentations:  We will be starting our Oral Biography presentations this week.  We are looking forward to presentations by David, Ila Andrea, Lee and Reed this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We still have some spots to fill, and openings this week if any other students would like to sign up!  The reminder of the presentations will take place next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  This week will have a bit of time in class on Monday and Tuesday to work on the presentations. These will be the final class work times for this project.  Let me know if you have any questions or need anything for the project.  

*Students may wear their costume to school on the day of their presentation, or bring their costume to change into at school prior to their presentation time.

From Beth Martin regarding the auction:

Bidding for CLASS PROJECTS is open and closes WEDNESDAY, MAY 11TH at 9PM.  Students and parents have worked hard to create some very unique projects to commemorate this school year.  THANK YOU to all the parents who took on this role! 

Math: Last week, we wrapped up our chapter on operations with fractions. All students worked very hard, and they should be proud of themselves! Check your child’s filer for their corrected chapter 9 math tests if you have not done so already. Our new chapter is all about fractions and decimals. To give the students more time to devote to their oral biography presentations there will be no math homework assigned this week and next.

Reading: This week, students reach chapter 9 in our novel. Our target skills include making inferences and summarizing. We practice fluency through the`repeated reading of a selection passage, focusing on phrasing, pausing and expression. 

Language Arts/Spelling:  There will be a spelling test this Friday the 13th, but there will not be a spelling test on Friday, May 20th.  The students will be writing a final wrap up entry for their Flat Stanley projects at school this week.  We will then put the entries into a binded book and the students will add their pictures. It will be exciting to see the final products of this project.

Religion: We are wrapping up our year focusing on two main topics (The Beatitudes and Catholic Social Teaching). These two topics work very well together, as they both teach us and challenge us to live our lives in the service of others, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Students will learn that true, lasting happiness is rooted in our positive relationships with one another, and living God’s Law of Love. 

Science: Students are presented with an engineering design challenge to create their own chain reaction machine.

Social Studies: Our Washington State History topic for the next few weeks will be focusing on our local Seattle history, including the Denny Party, the growth of Early Seattle, The Great Seattle Fire and the Klondike Gold Rush.  

Here’s to a great week of learning ahead!