Dear 4H Families - I told our 4th graders that I would start my note right off with an invitation for you to look into their Take Home Folders today to find the finished drafts of their "Memoirs". Hopefully they have already presented you with their precious memory stories. I was so touched by these stories, and where our students were able to express what these memories meant to them, it was quite special (thinking more like a parent here than a teacher, I must admit!). These are definitely projects worth putting in the "save till they're grown up" box. I told the kids that they may have the option of keeping these at home now, or if they do return it to school after you've read them, we will be putting them in our big lime green binders where we are saving all of their 4th grade writing projects to take home at the end of the year. Enjoy this little window into what's important in your son or daughter's memory so far - maybe some of you are in for a surprise!
I hope you haven't minded getting a little tree taking up space first in your refrigerator, and soon hopefully, somewhere in your yard, this week! Give the kids the job of keeping them watered and safe from lawn mowers this first summer, and may these roots and sprigs grow into beautiful evergreens as your children grow as well. Well, this is certainly a sentimental beginning to this week's update!
On to other more businesslike topics: We have completed Unit 9 in 4th grade math, so on Monday we will take the final unit test. We went over the Review problems in class today, and I instructed everyone to take these home this weekend so that they can use them for more practice. These examples closely match the items on our test.
Our Writer's Workshop has been all about Informational Writing since we finished Memoirs. We have researched what inviting and engaging pages filled with info about a real topic looks like. We have decided on a topic we are interested in learning more (and teaching others) about, and are deciding into what categories we will sort our facts and pictures, charts, diagrams, etc. Some students have already found books and articles in our libraries, and they will be looking for more info at home this weekend (online sources, the public library, your own book/magazine collections... may we have your permission to print out some pages of facts and pictures at home for our note-taking sessions next week?). Next week in class, we will be taking our notes and keeping all of our information organized. When these projects are completed, our students will be 'teaching' their own classmates, and one or two classrooms of second graders!
For the last two weeks, our Book Clubs have been reading and discussing the events in their books during Club Meetings. They have set their own reading schedule, and have kept to them very well. Most of the groups were able to celebrate the completion of their book late this week, and the last group will be done next week. Now everyone wants to switch books and read some of the others, so that will happen next. This project has proven to be valuable not only with reading comprehension, but also for proper meeting protocol, respect, self discipline, compromise and negotiation, leadership skills... lots of valuable lessons!
Social studies has us exploring the upper Midwest states of our country, and led us to 'discovering' the remarkable story of Lewis and Clark's courageous journeys from St. Louis, along the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, and all the way to the Pacific Ocean in the early 1800's. We have also made the acquaintance of Sacajawea, and are reading stories of her important role in their exploration. We've really enjoyed going back to this time period and imagining what it must have been like. We will branch out into other regions of the U.S. in the coming weeks, and somehow we will find time to explore beyond our entire planet Earth for our final Science Unit on Sun, Moon, and Stars. Yikes, and there's only 6 more weeks of school to do all this exploring!
This reminds me to let you know of our final two field trips, coming up during our last week of school. Mark your calendars: On Monday, June 3rd, all of our 4th graders will be spending the whole day at the Cave of the Mounds. We get a special tour and meeting with the guides of the grounds above the caves, eat a picnic lunch there, go on our Cave tour, and also do some 'sluicing' for gold! Think about whether you'd like to chaperone this fun day - a letter with all the info will come home in May! All parents can follow our buses in their own cars to the Cave. Then on the morning of Tuesday, June 4th, our 4th graders have been invited to take part in a special program of hands-on activities at nearby Pope Farm Park. Naturalists, geologists, and historians will lead groups into exploring the evidence of the last Ice Age, and the history of this land. Buses will take our classes there, and parents are again invited to attend with us - we'll want lots of adult help to be with our groups!
Enough news for now - we certainly aren't slowing down as we come to our last month of school, by any means. So much to learn, so little time....! More news next week, Melanie Hannam
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