Newsletter Week of January 11th

Dear 4B Families,

I hope you had a great weekend! Thank you for attending the dropoff/pickup days last week. We appreciate your support!

A Message From Anna Horton:
You hopefully saw in the eFC before the break, and again this week, that we will begin the process of bringing students back to campus for in-person instruction after the MLK weekend in accordance with the revised guidance from Governor Inslee.  We are very excited for this transition and pray the COVID-19 numbers continue to decline.  We anticipate after our youngest learners return to campus first, we will be able to begin the process of returning our third and fourth graders to school for in person instruction. More to come on a specific return date in the near future.   The opportunity to remain remote will still be available as well, though it will look slightly different in this next phase with students on campus.  Students remaining remote will have the opportunity to follow the in person school day, watching what is happening in the classroom in real time while at home.  
Please know how excited we are to see your children in person!  In planning for this next phase,  I am writing to you today to let you know of some necessary transition planning.   We will need to make some classroom transitions to accommodate numbers and social distancing needs.  Therefore, 3A and 3B will be moving into our fourth grade classrooms and 4A and 4B will be moving to our kindergarten classrooms.  In order to facilitate this transition, next Thursday and Friday (January 14th and 15th) will be asynchronous learning days.  This means that there will not be live instruction for most of these days as teachers will be working hard to prepare for this transition., but work will be provided.  More information to come specifically from your child’s homeroom teacher.  
Thank you for your support and partnership as all navigate these new waters.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you may have.
In Christ, 
Anna 

 

Regarding Thursday and Friday, students will receive instructions for asynchronous learning on Google Classroom as usual. Ms. Simpson and I will check in with students first thing in the morning on both days to go over the expectations as students are self-guided. On Thursday, we will check in with students after lunch as well. Friday’s afternoon will not change, and PE and Music videos will be available for students on Google Classroom. We appreciate your support in this transition, and rest assured we are working hard to make in-person learning possible!

Reading: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and Cesar Chavez will highlight our reading work this week. This unit includes reading, language arts, and social studies objectives. This unit is part of our larger unit on biographies that will culminate in the big Oral Biography Projects in late March.

Spelling: The spelling list for Lesson 2 was sent home last in the new pick up last week.  Note, the spelling packet was stapled in the wrong order, showing the test for January 29th first. The test for this week is in the second part of the packet and is dated correctly as the week of January 11-15.  Just a reminder all students need to have the Month Poem memorized by Friday, January 29th.  I am adding a second requirement for the students on this date as well.  It came to my attention last week that the majority of the students were not able to recite the months of the year in order.  So, they will also be asked to do this when they recite the month poem! The students have all written the months in order on the last page of their Reading/LA Comp book.

Language Arts: This week the students will be assigned a writing activity called Cool School News.  This activity is a follow-up to our study of the Works of Mercy.  The directions for this assignment came home in the most recent pick up and you can also access pdf’s of the assignment here.  Your child will need a little help from you to complete the note taking portion of this assignment. Each student is asked (with your help) to think of a person that follows one or more of the Works of Mercy regularly.  This could be a part of their job, or some type of volunteer work they do to help others.  The notes need to be completed by Wednesday, so the students are ready to start writing their final drafts.  This assignment will be completed during the asynchronous work times on Thursday/Friday.  Thank you for your assistance with the note taking portion of this assignment.

Social Studies: The students will be taking the NE/SE/Midwest Combo test this Tuesday, January 12th.  Students should review both the locations and abbreviations of these state.  The students have already been tested on these states by region, this is a combination test of the states we have covered so far.

Science: We’re still working on our final projects about Brain Injuries. Students will be presenting

next week. Videos will be posted on the school website to spread the word about preventing and identifying concussions. Also, we will have a virtual field trip to the Pacific Science Center on Thursday, January 21st! Students will learn even more about the brain as an educator from the PSC joins 4A and 4B on zoom.

Religion: Our classwork this week will continue to focus on the Liturgical Year.  All students have completed study sheets to prepare for the January 21st test. I have also created online practice sites for the tests. Links to the practice sites and PDF versions of the study sheets can be accessed here.

Math: We will be starting the double digit multiplication algorithm this week. Students have been working hard to understand why we multiply the way we do using area models and the Distributive Property.

All students should still be working on Xtramath regularly until multiplication and division are mastered.

 

 

 

 

Just a reminder that students should be practicing their recorders for 5-10 minutes every night. Recorder practice can be a nice brain break for students.

From Amanda Roberts regarding our Auction project:

Happy New Year!  I hope that you and your families are doing well.
It’s time to tackle our class auction project again. –And because of COVID, the school has asked that we make a collaborative art project for the online auction (no buy-backs this year).
To keep things as simple as possible, Brittiony Borges and I have decided on an easy origami dove shadowbox project. If you would like to see an example, let me know.
The kids will receive their first auction project kit (origami paper and instructions) at this week’s materials pick-up.  Each 4th grader should make 3-4 doves apiece using the paper included.  Please know that they do not need to be perfect. Also, we may send home a second project kit in February if needed.
Here is a link for video instructions if you prefer:
Please return your 4th grader’s doves to the school office in the provided ziplock bag by Friday, January 22nd if possible.  If you have any questions, please let me know.
Amanda

 

 

Have a great week everyone!

Ms. Benson

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