Hello to all of our 4H Families!
Tomorrow is Leap Day! -- and the end of two big winter months. I have high hopes for signs of spring in March! There are just short of 4 weeks of school in March, with Spring Break Week from the 21st through the 25th. I am looking forward to our chance to sit together around the table with you and our 4th graders during conferences - a chance to show you some good work and our goals for the last trimester of our year. The second trimester officially ends on March 4th, and you will receive the second of three report cards before Spring Break.
We have moved from Historical Fiction in our Readers' Workshop to a short unit on Poetry and poetic language. We are amazing ourselves with our ability to find poetic and vivid language that touches right to our hearts even in our 'prose' reading books! That's been a revelation to us all, and I am quite proud of how our students are finding these colorful and meaningful passages. It is helping them to read more deeply, and this is a big step toward improving our reading skills. Discussions are getting deeper as well, as we ponder together what some of these lines really could mean. I love it!! Writing Workshop is going right along with the reading unit - we are starting with writing Haiku poems. Wow, I was so excited this week as I started the class off with the basic techniques of 'wordsmithing' and even before I thought they were ready, students were asking if they could keep on going, and they started putting together their lines into very descriptive Haiku! We have decided we want to print out our best ones and mount them in the hallway by conference time, so you can all see them when you come. Fun stuff!
We went on our annual field trip this past week to the Capitol and saw each of the most beautiful meeting halls in that historical building, which all happen to be in our Wisconsin textbook. The kids were thrilled to see these fancy rooms and even sit in the cushy leather chairs. At the Historical Museum, being able to gather our whole class into the "Aztalan House" also pictured in our book, and handling real beaver and mink pelts like the fur traders we've been studying were highlights. I am so thankful to all of our chaperones who were able to come with us. In Social Studies we have moved from native culture to fur traders from France and then Britain, to the new "Americans" taking over, and now - to how this Great Lakes territory became the state of Wisconsin. Science with Mrs. Bertz will be completing the Magnets and Electricity experience in the next couple of weeks.
This coming week, we will do our last math lessons in Unit 7, review for a couple of days, and then have the final test later in the week. Please check in with your 4th grader as you look through their workbooks. Ask them if they can show you how they add and subtract fractions, especially the ones with unlike denominators.
About half our class so far has returned the envelopes for purchasing the 2015-2016 West Middleton Yearbook. The due date for your order is March 13th. If you do not have the special envelope any more, please have your 4th grade let me know and I will see if I can find more. This book becomes a meaningful keepsake, and during one of the last school days in June, we hold a special "signing' time for our kids, which becomes even more meaningful now for our 4th graders who will be moving on and spreading out to Glacier Creek next year. If anyone needs assistance with purchasing this booklet, do let me know.
I am happy to let you know that we have added a new friend to our class in the past week - we are now a classroom family of 22! Her name is Najmo, and her family moved last year to Wisconsin from the country of Somalia. We are having fun getting acquainted, and I am impressed by how beautifully our classmates have welcomed her and made her feel comfortable with us.
This coming week is "Literacy Week"!! Each day we will all be adding in some special activities and extra chances to enjoy the art of literature in many forms. Please see the Homework Page of our classroom blog (link below my name) to see the list of each day's events. Monday is "PJ" or comfy clothes day, and will include a period of time when our entire building will just Drop Everything And Read! Friday morning will include our annual Dress Like A Book Character parade around the hallways. Outfits can be very simple to elaborate, along with the book that features your character. Cameras will be out! We are decorating our classroom door with all of our favorite book titles and authors, and on Thursday we have a visit from a local author. The Drama Club will present "Fractured Fairy Tales" on Tuesday - and Wednesday we want to wear clothing with WORDS on them.
As we work our way through the next month, I will keep you posted on any other details! Please check that your conference time is on your calendar, and we will talk soon! Sincerely, Melanie Hannam
