Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a nice extended weekend. Our retreat day on Friday was excellent, and all of the teachers will be able to bring back some great ideas and content to enhance our curriculum. The week ahead will be full of excellent learning!
Your child will be coming home with a permission slip on green paper for our November 7th trip to Pike Place Market. Please sign and return this slip by this Friday, October 13th. If you wish to drive/chaperone please indicate this on the permission slip. You are required to be up to date on your Safe Environment obligations in order to drive. Thank you.
We will aim to finish up the MAP testing this week. I was so proud of the hard work and attention the students gave to the math portion of the test last week. Once we finish testing, the scores will provide individualized information that will assist me in the planning of lessons that will support learning and growth for each student.
This Thursday we will have our first Faith Family Meeting and on Friday afternoon we will have the final Magazine Assembly to announce the results of the sale! Thank you all again for your wonderful support.
Social Studies: The West/SW state test will take place this Thursday the 12th. We will review in class, and you can also review at home with two online sites I created for this test. Practice the abbreviations here and practice the locations here. Our classroom lessons will continue to focus on reading maps and using longitude and latitude coordinates to locate places around the world.
Math: Look for some math homework most nights this week. Our focus is on addition, subtraction and problem solving. I gave a pre-test of addition and subtraction of larger numbers last week. I will be working with small groups to build/review algorithms and accuracy. Those students that showed mastery of the algorithms will be provided with added challenge in this area. Thank you for taking the time to check over your child’s math homework for accuracy. We are working towards “precision” with math computation, which means reading questions carefully, and double checking work as needed. Students should always properly label answers to story problems. For instance, if a problem asks, “How many more children liked Skittles than Starbursts?” their answer should look like: 354 more children liked Skittles. When answers to story problems are correctly labeled it shows that the problem is clearly understood.
Reading: This week the students will be working through a creative writing assignment based on a scene from Charlotte’s Web. The students will use EB White’s detailed descriptions as a model for their own writing.
Religion: The students got a good start on their rough drafts of their saint reports last week. As we work through this project the students will be learning and practicing the Traits of Good Writing. We will be working on these special reports for the next several weeks. Your child will show you his or her report during their conference in November. Mrs. Helling will be working on special saint portraits with the students in upcoming art classes that will become a part of the November bulletin board in the main hallway of the school. We will also receive a visit from Fr. Oakland on Friday, with Saints as the topic. It is a good time to start thinking about the saint costume your child will wear for the All Saint’s Day Mass on November 2st. The costumes do not have to be fancy. In the past students have used sheets, bathrobes, Halloween capes, etc. It is amazing what a bit of material can do! Past students are also great resources for costumes. I have posted some past pictures of the students in costumes for you to get ideas. If you have any questions please let me know! Thank you for continuing to practice the Prayer of St. Francis at home regularly.
Science: This week we will be finishing up on anemometer project. It is important for students to be able to reflect and communicate on their lab projects. We will be building on this skill all year long. Finally, we will look at mechanical engineering and how machines work.
Spelling: I sent home the spelling list last Thursday with the students for Unit 2, vowel-consonant-e words. The test will be this Friday as usual.
Homework Overview: Look for math homework most nights, be ready for the West/SW State test on Thursday, and the spelling test on Friday. Continue to practice the Prayer of St. Francis.
Have a wonderful week everyone. During these fall days when the weather is unpredictable, students should always bring a raincoat (preferably with a hood) for recess. We do live in Seattle and drizzle happens! Also, if you have not done so already, all sweatshirts and coats should be labeled with the student’s name. Now that the weather is cooler, all students need to have a red Holy Rosary sweatshirt, sweater or vest every Wednesday for Mass. Thank you!