Dear 4A Families,
Happy Veterans Day Week! Just as a reminder, there is no school this coming Friday, November 8th for an inservice and Monday November 11th in honor of Veterans Day.
We want to send out one more huge thank you to all of the 4th grade families for everything you did to help your children prepare for the lovely All Saints’ Day Masses last week and weekend. We were so proud of the excellent job all of the students did reading and representing their saints during the masses. We also 
visited kindergarten, first and 3rd grade students to teach about the saints.
Our Halloween party was great fun last Thursday. Thank you to our room parents and all the helpers that made it such fun for the students. A great time was had by all!
This Thursday we will have a special classroom service honoring the veterans the students are writing about on their flags. This is always a very moving event. In order to be ready to share, your child should turn in their Veterans Day Flag Project no later than this Wednesday, November 6th—at the latest. Students should practice reading their flag so they can present to the class. If you do not know a Veteran you can honor, you can research databases online with profiles of Veterans. Here is one site we have used in the past.
Conferences will be held on Monday, November 25th, Tuesday, November 26th, and Wednesday, November 27th. Look for a link to be sent to you on November 6th to sign up for a conference day and time. Please let us know if you have any conflicts with the days/times offered so we can plan accordingly. We will be starting our preparations for the upcoming conferences. Your child will receive a pre-conference survey on Monday, in which you can ask questions, so we are well prepared during the conference with you and your child.
During this month of giving thanks, let us remember those most in need in the community around us. We are partnering with three groups to provide much needed items that go directly to those in need in our greater West Seattle community. We encourage families to participate and support as you’re able. Tables for drop off can be found inside the school entry.
1) St. Vincent de Paul Food Drive– Support those in our West Seattle community facing food instability. Items most in need include:
The following items are needed most and may be dropped off on the table inside the school entry:
Peanut Butter (16oz)
Canned Vegetables
Canned Fruit
Boxed Cereal
Boxed Oatmeal( instant packets)
Canned Chicken
Canned Tuna
Macaroni and Cheese
Rice, Rice a Roni,
Knorr Rice Sides
Instant Mashed Potatoes
Chili
Canned Pasta with Meat
Hearty Soups
2) WIN (Westside Interfaith Network) is a group of local faith communities (including Holy Rosary) who host the Welcome Table each Saturday from 12 to 2 at Body of Christ Church in White Center across from Steve Cox Memorial Park. They provide a hot meal, food pantry, clothing, and hygiene supplies and more for homeless, low income, and no income people within our community.
They always need basic hygiene items which include toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, disposable razors, chapsticks, travel size items, bandaids, cough drops, mens socks and underwear, hand warmers, men’s hats, and men’s gloves.
3) Support a local women’s shelter partnering with St. James Cathedral. Items most needed include toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, chapsticks), women’s underwear, women’s socks, and other female hygiene items.
Language Arts: The Saint reports are looking amazing! We will be adding some final touches this week as we complete this big project. We are also preparing a beautiful bulletin board for the main hallway you will see when you come for your conference!
Spelling: The spelling words for the week focus on long o: o, oa, ow. The test will be on Thursday, November 7th this week.
Reading: This week, we will be continuing on our journey with Wilbur and Charlotte and the friends in the barn. Students are expected to be more independent as we choose high quality quotes and explore new vocabulary from each chapter. We are also working on reading fluently. This includes expression, smoothness, and accuracy. Reading fluency directly impacts comprehension. Finally, students are analyzing characters and choosing character traits based on evidence from the story.
Math: We are moving through our chapter on multiplication and division. The students will take the chapter test next Thursday the 14th. We will then move on to multiplication of multi-digit numbers. This week the students will learn about the Sieve of Eratosthenes and prime numbers. Understanding and being able to name the factors and multiples of numbers is a very important skill that spans many math concepts moving forward. Continued nightly practice to build mastery of the multiplication and division facts is expected. As students pass multiplication they will move on to division, then more challenging fact tests to keep the students moving forward with their skills.
Social Studies: This Thursday, the 7th, is the SE State Test. On Tuesday, November 19th, the students will be tested on the combination of the NE and SE states. (This is a date change due to the Science Test on the 15th. All students received study sheets for the combination test last Friday that should be in their filer. If they have misplaced their study sheet, you can access new ones with the link.
Science: We have finished the first science unit on earth’s features. The test will be on November 15th. We will be working through the study guide next week. The students also get to practice for the test with a few Kahoots that I have prepared.
Reminder: Be sure you are checking your child’s filer regularly and taking out corrected papers and test sheets. I generally fold the tests in half, so be sure you check carefully. Please remove all tests and graded papers to keep the filer less cluttered.
Have a great week–I appreciate you all so much, and thank you Veterans!
