Dear 4B Parents,
Happy last week of October! What an ending to the Seahawks game last night! I know many of the kiddos were sleepy this morning having stayed up watching the dramatic finish!
I am so proud of the hard work and focus the students have been putting into so many days of testing! We are almost finished with the IOWA portion, and the CogAT’s will take less time. We will be finishing up the tests on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
The All Saints’ Day Masses are fast approaching!
Sunday, October 30th the Mass begins at 10:30. The students (saints) will meet at the back of the church to march in. They should arrive no later than 10:15. The students that have any singing parts should arrive by 10:00 to practice with the musicians. You will find a “Reserved for Saint……..” in each pew. Also, please leave the “Reserved for” signs in the Church after Mass as we will need them on Tuesday.
On Tuesday November 1st the students should come to school dressed as their saint—be sure to be right on time at 8:15—on Tuesday, as we will head over to church just after 8:30 to set up. Thank you for helping your saint get to school on time! The two Masses are always such wonderful experiences for everyone and special tradition for the 4th grade students. Thank you for your assistance at home practicing the Prayer of St. Francis and getting the costumes prepared.
The reserved signs will be in the pews as they were on Sunday, but the order might have changed slightly. If you are coming to the Mass, look for your child’s reserved sign and sit in the pew with them (leaving a spot for your saint!). The other classes know to save space in the pews for families. Please do not take pictures before or during the service. We will remain in the church following the service for pictures. If it is not raining we will go outside for pictures on the steps. You may bring home the reserved signs after the mass on Tuesday. Please let me know if you have any questions about either of the Masses.
Next Monday the 31st is our Halloween Party! Students may wear orange and black/Halloween themed clothing on Monday. No costumes or face paint please. Thank you to our room moms Lynne Harper and Tanya Repanich for organizing the party. Here is a little message from her: The party is from 2:00-2:55, and set up will begin around 1:30. If any parents are able to come please email Lynne to let her know.
Veteran’s Day HW Project: Next Wednesday, Nov. 3rd, the students will be bringing home a flag for a Veterans Day 
homework assignment. Each student will be asked to write about a Veteran (family member or friend) on this flag. You can begin talking with your child a bit about this person in preparation for the activity. If you do not know a Veteran there are many sites online to learn about Veterans. Here is one you can explore. No need to worry about any writing until the directions and flag template come home next Wednesday.
On Thursday, November 10th, 4B heads to Pike Place Market. The students get a special tour of the Market, meeting vendors and seeing a few behind the scene sections of the Market as well. This wonderful field trip is provided at no cost to us (other than parking). The Pike Place Market runs a large food bank that feeds over 600 people each week. We are asking every student in grade 4 to bring in donations for the Pike Place Market Food Bank before our field trip on the 8th. We will bring the donations with us on the day of the trip. Last year the students got to see the food bank as part of the tour—and hopefully that will work out this year as well. The food bank also accepts cash donations to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. Thank you so much for your generosity. Students may bring in donations any day prior to the field trip on the 10th. See a list below of suggested items. It is always great if the students can shop for any purchase at least an item or two with their own money, or money they have earned by doing a chore.
Religion: On Tuesday this week the students in 4B will have their lesson on Boundaries from the Touching Safety lessons that I described in the October 10th newsletter. Please talk to your child about what he/she learned about boundaries. Each student will have a paper in his/her filer on Tuesday to show you. Follow-up at home is important. Most of our religion work this week will focus on Mass preparations and practices. Those students that brought home speaking parts last Friday should be practicing at home. It is very important that students read slowly, enunciating each word and pausing at commas and periods. Thank you for your help with this. Our religion studies, as we finish our saint projects will focus on the Corporal Works of Mercy. As we move into the Season of Advent in just a few weeks, it is the perfect time to learn about the actions we are called to take throughout our lives to help those less fortunate and be Christ’s hands in the world!
Prayer of St. Francis: All students need to recite the prayer either in front of the class or to me individually by this Friday the 28th at the latest.
Math: Our math work will focus on some problem solving skills, multi-step problems and using variables. We will also be incorporating geometry and measurement into our lessons. Reading clocks and working with elapsed time will be incorporated into upcoming lessons. This can be tricky, and any time you can have your child read an analog clock, and even tell what time it was 20 minutes earlier, or what time will it be 40 minutes later etc., really helps students master this skill.
Spelling: There is no spelling test this week. The list for the next test on Friday, November 4th will come home this Friday.
Social Studies: Social Studies: We are focusing on the Native People of Washington State, comparing and contrasting the Coastal Groups of Western Washington with the Plateau Groups of Western Washington. The students all received a study packet for the NE and SE state test, which will take place next Friday the 4th. Remember, the 4A website has several links to online state practice sites. These two sites let you practice by region: SITE ONE and SITE TWO. These two sites are good for practicing the abbreviations: Abb 1 and Abb 2.
Language Arts: The students will be completing their Saint Reports this week (several already have!) Once finished the students will be doing some creative Halloween writing.
One more service opportunity to consider from the 8th grade: “Backpacks of Love” – The Dominican Sisters in Tacoma work with immigrants as they are released from the detention center in Tacoma. The sisters are always looking for backpacks that they can give to those in need. If anyone would like to donate used backpacks for this cause please drop them off in the big blue box outside of 8B. We will deliver these to Tacoma at the end of the week.
HOMEWORK:
- Talk to your parents about the Touching Safety Boundarieslesson (Tuesday)
- Review NE/SE states for November 4th test
- Practice multiplication on XtraMath at least 4 times this week
- Read for 20 minutes
- Practice recorder nightly
Have a wonderful week—thank you for all you do!