Weekend News 5-31-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

I cannot believe how close we are to the end of the year. We have had so much fun and learned a great deal. I am so sad to say goodbye to this sweet class. Thankfully, we have a fun filled week ahead of us!

On Monday at 12:30, all choir students will walk to Clark Home to perform for the residents. Students should return around 2:15 pm.

On Tuesday at 6:00 am we leave for our Mackinac Island field trip. Please have your fourth grader to Wealthy at 5:40 am. Our class will be riding on the GOLD bus. Please take some time over the weekend to pack for the trip. I will be doing the same!  Don't forget to pack a lunch, drink, and healthy morning snack for Tuesday when we are on the road. We met with all fourth grade students as a team on Friday to do an overview of the itinerary for day 1 and reviewed the packing list. We will meet again on Monday morning to go over day 2. We sent home a hard copy of the packing list on Friday and an email version should have arrived via Mrs. Tinholt.  Please let me know if you have questions or concerns before we leave for the trip. Also- don't forget to pack your child's helmet!

We will return from Mackinac late on Wednesday evening. Please join my class Remind so you will receive the notification of when to pick up your child. Follow this link to join instantly! 
https://www.remind.com/join/sgood1819

We did a phase 1 desk/locker clean out this week. Talk with your child about which supplies you'd like him/her to bring home. We will be making donations to a school in need next week, this is an option for supplies you would not like to have returned home. 
On Monday we will do the final purge of desks, lockers, cubbies, etc. Expect an onslaught of papers and other fun to come home!

Please do not bring a backpack to school on Thursday. We will have everything sent home and cleaned out of the classroom. We will not attend specials on Thursday morning. We will join the school for the end of year assembly and end the day with the 5th grade Walk of Fame. Students will be dismissed at 11:24 am. 

Thank you all for your support and active involvement this year. It has been a gift to spend this year with your child. I always refer to the students as "my kids" because of the bond we form over the school year. Thank you for trusting your child to my care. It has been such a fantastic year!

Weekend News 5-17-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
We had an awesome Field Day today! Thank you to all parents who helped with this fun end of year celebration.

The students worked very hard on the M-STEP this week. We will take the Math assessment next Tuesday and Wednesday. 

If you would like to place an order for our final Scholastic Book Order please do so by Wednesday! I originally planned to submit today, but many students requested a few extra days to place the order. Our online code is HB4N7. 

This week in fourth grade:

• We began writing our animal legends that we will share with each other on our Mackinac field trip.
• We concluded our math unit on perimeter and area. We will take our last unit assessment on Monday! Use the study guide this weekend as well as the reteach/enrich packet that came home today.
• We continued to research different subtopics on the American Revolution. Ask your child which topic his/her group is researching.  

Weekend News 5-10-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
It was fun to visit with many of you at the Wizard Walk and Family Fun Night. How incredible that as a school we raised $40,000! Thank you all for your donations, participation, and for organizing a fun event for all to enjoy. 

Tuesday will be our last day to check out library books for the school year! Thank you to our faithful volunteers Beth and Carmen for taking such great care of us this year. It has been fun to see you each week. 

Next week we will begin our session of M-STEP testing. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will take the ELA test. Please help your child arrive on time as we will begin first thing in the morning. It is always helpful to have a good night of sleep and big healthy breakfast to give your child maximum brain power. We will take the math M-STEP test the following week.

On Thursday May 16th we are having a Mackinac chaperone meeting. If you have been selected as a chaperone, it is necessary that you attend this meeting. I look forward to seeing you in the Learning Commons at 5:30 pm. 

On Friday May 17th we will participate in Field Day as the last TEAM celebration of the school year. Hopefully the weather holds out for us! Rain date is May 24. 

I will submit the last book order of the year on May 17th! 

This week in fourth grade: 

• We built electrical circuits and engineered a switch to open and close the circuit. Check out our Seesaw page to watch a video of this in action!
• We worked in research teams to study different subtopics on The American Revolution. We are learning that readers of history always think about the 3W's: who, where, and when.
• We found the perimeter and area of various shapes. We learned that it is sometimes necessary to break a shape into multiple rectangles to accurately find the area.

Weekend News 5-3-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

We are excited for the Wizard Walk next week! Please return your packet next week (regardless of if you have participated). We will be in the running to win a prize with 100% of packets returned!

Please take a few moments this weekend to review the two Mackinac packets with your fourth grader. We need the behavior packet returned to school by May 12^th! Thank you!

This week we completed online practice for the M-STEP assessment that students will be taking beginning on May 14th. To help ensure your child's success, please assist your child in getting a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast prior to testing. Thank you for considering this small way to help your child be prepared to work hard!

We have had a fun and educational year with Pete the (bearded) Dragon as our class pet. Students were able to learn important lessons about caring for an animal and we really grew to love him! Because of this, we have decided that a classroom is not the best fit for our friend Pete. There are times when he'd really like to get out and play- right in the middle of a lesson. He spends most weekends alone in the classroom. He would not do well if there was a power outage at school and no one was here to help him. 

We are hoping to find a forever home for Pete with a loving family who would be able to enjoy him. He is close to 3 years old now, so you could have 7 or more great years with him! 
If your family is interested in adopting Pete, please contact me so I can give you more information. I will give first dibs to families from our class, but will open it to other fourth graders/students if we do not have interest.  

Important Upcoming Dates:
May 9- Wizard Walk and Family Fun Night (5:30)
May 14th- Last day to check out library books
May 14th- ELA M-STEP
May 15th- ELA M-STEP continued...
May 16th- Mackinac Chaperone Meeting (5:30)
May 17th- Field Day (pm)
May 21st- ALL library books due
May 21st- Math M-STEP
May 27th- No School, Memorial Day
June 4-5th- Mackinac Island field trip

June 6th- LAST DAY! Early release at 11:24

This week in fourth grade:

• We completed our poetry unit and had fun performing our poems for our classmates, a few parents, and reading buddies.
• We did the practice M-STEP tests to give ourselves an idea of what to expect later this month.
• We completed our math unit on measurement and will take the assessment on Monday. Look over the study guide that came home on Thursday with your student. The chapter review (coming home today) will give you a great idea of what to expect!
• We created electrical circuits in science using a battery, copper wire, and a mini light bulb. We are applying this investigation to our understanding of energy transfers.

Have a fantastic weekend! -SG

Weekend News 4-26-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

Happy Weekend! I hope  you had a great week. We were happy to spend some time yesterday reading outside with our 1st grade buddies. Check the blog (below) for some pictures of this. 

This time of year is always the most busy.  I have listed some important upcoming events below. 

Upcoming Events:
April 30th- Mackinac Parent Meeting (all parents)
May 9th- Wizard Walk and Family Fun Night
May 14th- M-STEP
May 16th- Mackinac Chaperone Meeting (chaperones only)
May 17th- Field Day
May 21st- M-STEP
May 27th- Memorial Day, no school
June 3rd- Choir to Clark Home
June 4 & 5th- Mackinac Island Field Trip
June 6th- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! 

This week in fourth grade:

• We revised and edited our poetry and practiced for our class Poetry Slam on Tuesday. If you'd like to pop in for this informal in-class event, we will begin around 10:30.
• We investigated the different ways energy, heat, and light are related with a series of experiments in science.
• We converted measurement in the US standard and metric system. A study guide for this assessment will come home late next week. The measurement assessment will be Monday May 6th!

Have a wonderful week!

SG

Weekend News 4-19-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
I hope you had a nice week! Yesterday students had the opportunity to cheer on the Lakeside Lions during their school musical production while the fourth grade team worked on refining details of our Mackinac Island field trip! 
We will be holding an informational parent meeting regarding the Mackinac trip for ALL parents on April 30th at 5:30 pm. We will meet in Pioneer Auditorium. Please attend this informative meeting to ensure a successful trip. There will be a separate parent chaperone meeting held on May 16th at 5:30 pm. You only need to attend this meeting if you are a chaperone on the trip. 

If you are still interested in ordering from Scholastic, please place your online order by the end of the school day today. Thank you!

This week in fourth grade:

• We presented our Rube Goldberg creations to our science classes. These videos can be viewed on our class Seesaw page. Presenting via video was a great learning experience for all students. In addition to working through the steps of the scientific investigation process, students learned lessons about working cooperatively in a small group. I am proud of the creativity and efforts all groups put into this project.
• We continued our study of poetry and enjoyed writing some poems of our own.
• We reviewed concepts of measurement students have previously learned and will build on those throughout this chapter. 

Weekend News 4-12-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful spring break and enjoyed the extra time with your families! We have had an awesome week in fourth grade and I loved seeing students work hard in all areas.

We are getting so excited for our field trip to Mackinac Island in June. If you haven't sent in payment for this trip, please do so soon! Thank you very much. The cost is  $125 for students and $145 for parent chaperones. 

Spring means the Wizard Walk is near! The annual Wizard Walk will be held on May 9th at 1:30. Students will be coming home with their packets today. The funds raised by the Wizard Walk help 4th graders by covering some of the costs of the Mackinac field trip. Thank you for participating!

I will submit the April/May Scholastic Book Order on Friday April 19th. Please have all orders placed by then. Our class code for online orders is HB4N7.

This week in fourth grade:

• We constructed Rube Goldberg devices to solve a variety of problems as an engineering design challenge in science. We brainstormed, planned, designed, built, adapted, and rebuilt. Next week we will film our devices in motion and present to the class.
• We began our study of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month. We are reading poems, learning about poetic forms, and exploring techniques poets use.
• We concluded our unit on angles and took the unit assessment. We will begin our study of measurement next week. Thanks to all who went out and bought protractors for home use. 

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the sunshine!