Dear Fourth Grade,
Our first term has come to a close. I have been impressed at the progress of the students overall since beginning the year. They are ending the calendar year strong. They have overall had an attitude recently of, “Ok. I finished that. What’s next, Ms Avellone? What else you got for me?”
They each made a goal for their daily math fact review sheets of how many they would answer and get right. Our “test” was the last week of the block. I’m pleased to say over half the class made their goal, and there was significant improvement from everyone. This solid knowledge of their math facts will serve them in the fraction work we’ll do in January, and beyond.
In our last week of our language arts block we learned about writing business letters. This was quite funny, as we used prompts based in Norse myths. Imagine Loki writing to the giant lord, complaining that the feats of strength tests were rigged, or Thor writing to the Midgard Serpent an official challenge to battle. We also closed our work on prepositions, reviewed the grammar work from the entire year, and read our individual compositions aloud.
We have lots of great stuff ahead. Teaser: fractions, zoology projects, more expeditions, regional geography, and the eagerly-awaited class play! You will hear from me over the break with a more detailed email about projects.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Family Camping Trip – Please complete the poll asap so we can select a date.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Festival
- “Push-in” Festival – We will not be having an assembly, as we did in years past, to honor this day. The Friday before, however, the entire school will celebrate in age-appropriate ways within each class.
- Day of Service – Monday, January 21. Did you know that MLK Day is a National Day of Service? This year, we will be offering UPWS communities members the opportunity to participate in the Say of Service events in a coordinated way. In the upcoming weeks, more information will be provided about your class’ volunteer opportunity.
- Gr 4 Evening – Wednesday, February 6, 7:00pm. Save the date. This will be an important Parent/Guardian meeting in which we talk about the upcoming projects and expectations.