Hello to all of our 4H families! At least the kids can't complain they haven't gotten enough time to play in snow this season! With yet another snow day this past week, many have wondered how the lost minutes of instruction will be handled by our school district. We have been informed that we can make up the time by cancelling our March CRT day (so we will have a full day of school March 14th), and one minute will be added to each elementary school day for the 4th quarter of this year. To add to the snow fun, Friday afternoon turned out to be a perfect time for our class "Winter Prairie Visit". The sun was shining and we actually could feel its warmth on our faces. We hiked through completely untouched snow halfway up to our knees down the middle of our prairie, and around the back of it. Conditions were ideal for everyone to pick a clear spot to fall straight backwards into a cushion of soft snow, just lie there, and listen to a perfect Wisconsin winter day (interspersed with sounds of giggles and wiggles from endlessly energetic 4th graders!). We came back into the classroom with our Thoughtful Logs already opened, pencils ready, and the title written: "Winter Prairie". We will compare our descriptions with our Autumn Prairie writing from last fall. (Can't wait for our Spring edition!)
Our week ahead will bring us to Valentine's Day on Thursday. We do have four volunteers already (Emma, Avante, Luigi, and Jacob) who have offered to bring in goodies for our card exchange that afternoon - thank you. As I wrote you earlier this past week, students may bring in cards for the whole class that day or anytime during the week, and I will keep them stored until Thursday afternoon. We will have decorated envelopes ready to receive our 'mail'. Other reminders for the week: February Scholastic Book Orders are due Monday, the 11th, and bright green permission slips can be found in Take Home Folders for our Field Trip on the 22nd. Please keep the top half for your information, and fill out and send in the bottom half as soon as possible. We have 4 parent volunteers for our day to the Capitol and Historical Museum so far - I can take one more parent if you are interested in coming. Chaperones will be able to ride the buses with us, and just need to give me $2 for their admission to the Museum - and bring along a lunch.
Take Home Folders should also contain a pink sheet with the 4th Grade 75 High Frequency Spelling Words. No formal assignments to practice these have been given, though our students have been encouraged to practice and be ready for several pretests on these - any missed words will need to be learned and checked off for mastery. The pink sheet should stay in the Take Home Folders, so they are available at all times both at home and at school. In Writer's Workshop, we are at the stage of finishing our realistic fiction rough drafts, and next week we will be revising and editing, and creating our final drafts, with a 'book' cover and backing. With several 30 minute long 'write' times throughout the week, many students are visibly developing their stamina to stay writing for an extended period of time - a most valuable skill!
We are in the midst of a major push to cover most of 3 chapters in our Wisconsin Social Studies texts before our field trip on the 22nd. We are reading and comparing the ways of life for the early people of our state, and plan to get the basics of our state government covered as well (I know - lofty ambitions!). We will do our best! Our new science unit on Rocks and Minerals is also ready for launch. Whew - no more snow days, please!
In math, please continue to oversee and give your 4th grader practice on long division problems. We learned how to measure and create angles with both full circle and half circle protractors this past week, along with continued work on division. We will begin a thorough review this coming week on Unit 6.
Other upcoming events: The WM PO Winter Carnival is taking place next Saturday on February 16th, starting at 2:00 pm at West Midddleton. Also, please make sure our upcoming WM Choral Concert is on your calendar for Thursday evening, February 28th. It is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm in the Middleton High School PAC. Our students will all get a time slot to travel to the PAC with Ms. Bodell and Mr. Macklem during the school day that day for rehearsal on the stage.
Thank you for your continuing support for your 4th grader to meet deadlines, keep organized with their papers and belongings, and providing regular time to finish homework and READ! Before this month ends, I will be sending out time slots for our 2nd parent-student-teacher conferences during the first half of March. I will get specific dates and times to you very soon, so you can plan. The second trimester ends on March 8th. Time flies when we are busy! Melanie Hannam
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