April/May Newsletter
Hello families of students in room 209. Where has the school year gone? Time is flying by! Still so much learning to do!
First things first: the biggest news is that MSP testing starts next week.
Reading MSP is Thursday, April 26th
Writing MSP is Thursday, May 3rd AND Tuesday, May 8th
Math MSP is Thursday, May 16th
Please do all you can to make sure your child is present in class on time so that no learning is missed as the non-testing days are just as important as the testing days. Thank you for your support in this.
Class community- this month we are focusing on perseverance. I define perseverance as the willingness to keep trying, to stick to it, have stamina through sometimes trying circumstances. We are going to find ways to applaud this life skill in our classroom in the coming weeks.
Miss Magnuson, our student teacher, has been a big part of our class community and her full time student teaching is coming to an end "officially" on April 26th, the first day of testing. Since this is the case, I have asked her to come back for a celebration of her work with our class as well as the students' work at the conclusion of MSP testing. I think we will give her cards and perhaps some small gifts to wish her well. If you and your family would like to provide some snacks for this occasion, please let me know via email. Miss Magnuson will continue to volunteer in our classroom periodically through the end of the school year but she will also be taking time to work on her master's thesis and observe in other classrooms and other grade levels as well. We wish her well!
Writing: In the next few weeks, we will be finishing our preparation for the Writing MSP. We will be working on preparing several writing plans to build our skills at developing and organizing a writing plan quickly. We will also be looking at a lot of writing to strengthen our understanding of what high level writing is to help us be more reflective when looking to revise our own. In the month of May, our focus in writing will shift as we will move into research writing to develop a plan for writing a Social Studies essay that focuses on People on the Move- our focus will be pioneers. We will read lots of nonfiction to build our background knowledge about Pioneers.
The directions for the spring book report went home last Friday- they are written on a pink piece of paper and students were instructed to have this piece of paper "live" in their red homework folder in their backpack. This is so that students and parents can have access to the directions whenever and where ever needed. Students are to pick an award-winning book or best selling book that is at least 100 pages and at their approximate reading level. I want to see the kids reading quality literature. Their book choice is due to me by Tuesday, April 24th and they should have their book in their hands by that time. That way, students can be reading their books when testing is over on testing days. There was a rough draft of the book report poster that came home with the book report directions. The rough draft is due by Friday, June 1st. When students turn in their rough draft, I will give them a card stock version of the book report poster to use as a final poster. The final poster is due Wednesday, June 6th. There is no oral presentation for this book report.
High Five Book Club is still going this trimester. Remember the goal is for each student to read and summarize 500 pages during the trimester. I add this goal and the students' progress toward this goal in report comments so that parents, as well fifth grade teachers, know about your student's reading habits. A major goal for fourth graders is to be building stamina for long term reading in chapter books. The High Five Book Club encourages this. Ask your child about it and their progress toward the goal.
Math: We are finishing fractions and transitioning into decimals. Students have shown good growth with fractions and growing confidence. After we finish our work with decimals, we will focus on measurement with length, weight, capacity and time then work with some data and probability. These are fun learning units as they involve lots of active experiences and games.
We will conclude weekly math facts tutoring next week. I want to personally thank Mrs. Boardman, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Douglas, Mrs. Long, and Mrs. Tu for their many weeks of commitment to the students in our class. We are soooo very lucky to have had you working with us!
Social Studies: we have been having a ball with the pioneer simulation as we learn about the costs and benefits (a theme in the Social Studies CBA essay our class will write near the end of the year). We will, however, pause the simulation for a few weeks for testing and then resume the simulation in May. We will also have Junior Achievement start in May in our class. Its focus this year is state economy. This ties in nicely with our end of the year focus which is why did pioneer people move to WA state and why do people move here today?
Science: We will begin science toward the end of May. Our focus is magnetism and electricity. It is one of my favorite kits to teach as the students love exploring the properties of magnets and circuit building. Students will build electric series circuits as well as parallel circuits.
Here are some important dates forwarded from our PE teacher, Mr. Hansen and our music teacher, Mrs. Hurst:
Jump Rope for Heart - April 25th
Track starts - May 8th
Recorder Concert- May 24th
Track Meet - May 31st
Field Day - June 14th
More info will be coming on these later and that information will most likely be found in the Weekly Bulletins emailed on Fridays as well as on our school’s website.
Thank you for all your support and please let me know if you have any questions.
