4S Blog Bridge

4S Home/School Connection 10/29/09

Write at least 1 bullet per topic. Issue #7

There are 14 topics – discuss at least 10.

c DO THEY AGREE? This week you looked at some sentences that had bad grammar. You found out they had something in common that was wrong. For example:

The flowers is in the vase.

When my mom is on the phone, she don’t like it when I interrupt her.

My uncle’s dog are happy to see us.

o You noticed they all had bad grammar, but then you learned the official problem. They don’t have subject/verb agreement. Please explain what subject verb agreement means.

o

o

c TUESDAY NEWSDAY/BULLYING: This Tuesday you read about what people around the nation are doing to prevent bullying. You spent time with a partner thinking about what bullying is, what grade bullying can start, why people bully and what you can do to stop it.

o Why do you think T.F.K. made this the main story in their article?

o Some people wondered if being mean to your sibling counts as bullying. What do you think?

o What did you learn from talking to your partner or listening to others?

c PARTNER WORK: Throughout the year you will do a lot of work with a partner. You worked with a partner on the bullying assignment. You got the partner by the ‘Invitation’ method. If you didn’t like that method, I picked luck of the draw for you.

• Describe the invitation method. Do this without using words that say what you think about it. Just say the facts.
• Then explain what you think about the invitation method.
• Why do you think I (Ms. Stark) have you work with partners? Do you think partner work helps you learn more?

c WRITING ABOUT READING: For P.S. work you had to write a paragraph describing what people are doing to stop bullying. Your paragraph was based on the article that you read. What strategies are you learning in order to write the paragraph clearly? Think about what you need to know about reading and writing.

c CLASSIFYING ANGLES AND SHAPES: We have launched our new unit. So, what have you noticed/learned so far about angles or shapes?

o

c EDITING/PROOF READING: You have had to look over the work of Anita Edetour. Anita is learning how to use the proof reading symbols. She is also learning how write better so her picky teacher, Ms. Stakezout will be happy. Are you learning to see mistakes better ? What were some of the ideas the class had for her character Alfred?

o

c COW, PIG, PIG STORY. You have done a lot of work that focuses on the facts. I wanted to give you a chance to use your imagination. Did you enjoy this? Why?

o

c KINDERGARTEN BUDDIES! How did it go? Do you think it’s a good idea to have them?

o

c COMMON OBJECT POEM and DRAWING: You have been learning how to use the thesaurus, edit and save on the computer as you write. (*learning, enjoying, trying.)

o

c TREE STUDIES: Drawing Kablammo and collecting leaves (*learning, enjoying, trying.)

o Do you think drawing something helps you learn about it?

o

c DECORATING PUMPKINS/THE PARADE (*learning, enjoying, trying out…)

o

c LEN CABRAL: You have been learning about what makes a story better. What did you learn about story writing and performing from Len Cabral?

o

c SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Instruments, Chinese, Computers and Library? What did you talk about? _______________________

o

c SOMETHING ELSE?, Search For Delicious, Greeting Meeting (we’ve had fun), daily exercise, Wisconsin Fast Plants, CHAT, something else? ____________________.

o

Due: Monday

We made a time to sit and do the HSC together on_________

Parent Signature: ___________________________________

Comments?

10/22/09

ISSUE #6

4S Home/School Connection #6

Please discuss at least 6 of the 9 items

Write at least one bullet for each topic.

c ARBORETUM FIELD TRIP: *Note: Even if your parent was there with us, you should compare your ideas.

o Before we went on the trip, what did you imagine the trip would be like? Was the trip what you expected?

o What did you learn about trees from being at the arboretum that you didn’t know before? For example think about their shape, when the branches start to come out of the tree, the size of a full grown tree, bark on the trunk, the different types of leaves, the different varieties within each kind (Black Oak, Pin Oak, etc.)

o Did you like having the trees labeled with the black placards and with the copper tags? Explain.

o If you were a teacher would you take your class to the Arnold Arboretum? Why or why not?

o Do you have any lingering questions about any of the trees or what you saw after having been to the arboretum?

o

c READING ABOUT HOW PLANTS SURVIVE AND WRITING A PARAGRAPH:

You had to write a paragraph this week based on reading from the National Geographic about how plants survive.

o Discuss some of what you learned from the National Geographic about how plants survive.

o Is it getting easier to write a paragraph based on a text you’re reading? Why or why not? What are you learning about writing paragraphs that will help you complete the task?

o

c WISCONSIN FAST PLANTS ARE GETTING PODS: Your pods are growing! The pod is the fruit. Inside the pods are the seeds. Around how many pods do you have? Around how many seeds do you think are in each pod? How are your plants different from each other? WHY do you think they are different from each other? What are you learning about the life cycle of a plant? Due to the time of year, I thought you might want to look at a little video about the life cycle of a pumpkin. Compare it to our Fast plants.

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=134153&title=The_Life_Cycle_of_a_Pumpkin

o

c LAPTOPS: Mr. Thomas came into our class to teach us how to use the laptops from our classroom.

o

c MATH/ ERASER STORE: You have continued to practice solving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems when certain digits are missing. You are getting better with division. Do you think so? You have been working on estimating what an answer will be by rounding.

• How’s it going?
• Can you describe some of the problems you are learning how to do better?
• What has become easier for you during math? What is trickier?

c CLASS TREE: Well, after a few debates and rounds of voting, the name Kablamo won! It’s been an interesting journey. Last week it won right away with only 4 out of 20 votes because other names got less than 4. This week we had a few debates and it won with 11 of 20 votes. What did you think of the debates? Describe them. What did you learn about debating from the process? Even if you continued to vote the same way, did anyone say anything that was convincing to you? Now we need to draw our class tree.

o

c SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Instruments, Chinese, Computers and Library? What did you talk about? _______________________

o

c SOMETHING ELSE? National Geographic articles, Search For Delicious, Quiet reading time, daily exercise, CHAT, Your teams, Friday Try Day, something else? Write down what you chose to talk about. Add a bullet! ____________________________.

o

10/15/09

ISSUE #5

4S Home/School Connection

Please discuss at least 6 of the 9 items

Write at least one bullet for each topic.

c STEREOTYPES/BREAKING THE MOLD: You were asked to pretend a kindergartner came up to you because she heard you were going to study Native Americans, and she wanted to know what a Native American is. So you drew and labeled a picture for her. After you finished your drawings we hung them up during library and looked at them. You noticed many similarities. Then I hung up drawings done by former 4th graders who also had been asked to draw a picture of a Native American. Their drawings were almost identical to your drawings. Why is that?

In the United States, there are many different groups of people who are misunderstood and stereotypes are formed against them. We are defining a stereotype as: A fixed, overly simplified and/or often wrong image or idea about a person or group of people. For example many stereotypes happen to people who are old, people who have certain jobs (like librarians, nurses, custodians, carpenters, scientists, etc.), people with disabilities, people who speak a language other than English, people of color, people who have bodies that are different than models in magazines, people with different cultures, religions or political ideas.

o Describe the pictures people drew of Native Americans. Discuss why you think almost the whole class had the same type of drawing? Where do you think people got these images?

o WHY do you think groups are stereotyped against? Please discuss this with your mom and dad.

o You are going to collect examples of places where you found people being stereotyped against and examples of places where you found humans breaking the mold. Where might you look for examples? How about the way items you buy at the store are packaged? Have you looked at commercials, movies, Halloween costumes, and books, TV shows, video games, songs, etc?

o Your family and friends are also a great place to find people who break the mold.

¨ WISCONSIN FAST PLANTS:

o Many of your plants have continued to go through a tremendous growth spurt. Describe how much your plant has grown this week.

o Flowers are blooming! Describe your Brassica/Wisconsin flowers

o What have you learned about the parts of a flower? Can you explain what these parts do? If not, perhaps use the flower magazine and review together.

o

¨ BEES:

o What did you learn about bees from looking at them, from pollinating your flowers with them, and from reading about them?

o What surprised you about what you learned?

o Describe why flowers and bees have a symbiotic relationship.

o What other questions do you still have about bees?

o

¨ WRITING PARAGRAPHS and UTTTSYI:

o UTTTSYI stands for Use The Text To Support Your Ideas. See if you can remember and recite the UTTTSYI poem.

o Try an experiment using UTTTSYI – Share an idea you have about what you are reading (for example, you think the main character is brave). Open up the book and find parts of the book that support YOUR ideas. It is not an easy skill, but it is an important skill as you learn to write about your reading. Or perhaps try this out with a movie, or show or game you watched or played in. Make a statement about it, and come up with supporting details from the event to prove your point.

o

¨ EDITING: All writers need editors. All good editors help writers by helping them with their ideas and their mechanics. You are going to learn how to be a good editor for both of these items. One way to help your own work or the work of others is to know proof reading symbols. We have started to learn them in class. Below are some of the symbols we will use. You will only have to know the symbols for new paragraph, delete, make a capital, lower case and insert. You might end up liking the others too.

¨ MATH/ ERASER STORE: You are learning about the base 10 system now. We started the chapter with base 7. You are learning to add, subtract, multiply and now… divide in base 10. You are also learning how to solve problems when certain digits are missing.

o How’s it going?

o Can you describe some of the problems you are learning how to do?

o

¨ CLASS TREE: You had a chance to draw a rough draft of our class tree.

o What did you learn about the tree from having to do this?

o Many students in our class spoke to me about not feeling great about the name Kablamo. The name Kablamo won because more people voted for it than the other names, but a majority of the class did not vote for the name. So we are going through the voting process again until we come up with a class tree name that the majority of our class has voted for. Currently (as I write this HSC) we have narrowed the name down to either Lily or keeping Kablamo (nick names such as Kabby, blammo, blam blam are allowed). We may know the tree name soon.

o Do you think it has been worth it to go through the voting process again? Explain why or why not.

o

¨ SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Instruments, Chinese, (we missed computers this week because of no school on Monday), and Library?

¨ SOMETHING ELSE? Time For Kids articles, Search For Delicious, Class Posters, Subject/Predicate, Quiet reading time, Class Constitution, , daily exercise, CHAT, Friday Try Day, something else? Write down what you chose to talk about. Add a bullet! ______________________________________________.

October 8, 2009

4S Home/School Connection #4

THIS WEEK: CHECK-OFF AND DO at least 7 of the 10 items.

¨ DISCOVERING WILLIAM’S LUNCH BOX-

On Monday you have no school. Why? It’s Columbus Day, and our nation celebrates the day that Columbus landed in Sans Salvador (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and discovered America.

o What were you thinking when you came back from our evacuation walk and I announced that I had ‘discovered’ the perfect lunch box for me? It had no name, it had a basketball on it (I love basketball) and it had healthy food that would be just right for me – especially since I have a cold. Based on what you know about the word discovered, had I discovered William’s lunch box?

o Describe the book ‘Encounter’ (see picture above) about the Taino boy who tries to warn his people against welcoming the strangers (Columbus and his crew). Describe the pictures and how it is told from the point of view of the boy rather than the traditional books that focus on Columbus.

o Ask your parents what they learned about Columbus when they were in school. If they came from another country, ask them if they know who he was and what he is known for. Or, talk about famous explorers from their country.

o How is the book Encounter connected to our ‘shoe theme’, in our class?

o

WRITING: In both science and language arts you are learning how to carefully write about what you observe. Now you are in the midst of writing a Common Object poem. You read some poems about common objects and looked for writing techniques such as personification, alliteration, similes, metaphors, line breaks, and choosing between the 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd person. Please try and describe each of those words to your parents.

o Which of the poems did you like? What did you learn about poetry from reading them?

o How did you decide what object to write about? What did you notice about your object once you started to write about it?

For your first draft, what ‘person’ did you write the poem in? What might you do for the second draft? Do you notice a difference in the poems depending on the ‘person’ they’re written in?

* Note: I told you the story of the parent I knew at Devotion (Arthur Golden) who was having a terrible time getting his book published until after 15 years of working on it, and two completely different drafts, he changed his novel from 3^rd to 1^st person. This made all the difference, and his novel became a New York Times best seller.

o

TREES: We have a class tree. Today you voted and the tree is now named Kablamo. Soon you will create a portrait of Kablamo. As we study our class tree, we are also learning about what makes a tree a tree (as opposed to bushes and shrubs) and how you can identify a tree by it’s shape, leaves and bark. You are learning that some leaves have lobes and some don’t. Some leaves are compound and some are simple. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen. This information will help us to identify trees when we head to the Arnold Arboretum in two weeks.

o Describe the tree you picked and why you picked it.

o If your tree was lined up with other kinds of trees, how could you tell it was yours?

o

WISCONSIN FAST (really fast) PLANTS:

Our plants continue to grow. Many of them have gone through a major growth spurt. What I find most interesting is how different each of your plants are. Some of them have big, wide true leaves and some true leaves are long. Some plants have long stems, some have short stems, some have flowers starting, some don’t…

o Describe the plant you are drawing and graphing. How it is similar or different than other plants? (your other plants or the plants of your peers?) How is your plant like a tree, but not like a tree?

o

o

SYSTEMS AND ROUTINES: It’s been over 20 days of school, so everyone has had a chance to do each of the jobs once. We have also had over 20 days of different greetings at morning meeting and we have had an opportunity to have everyone at CHAT share at least once.

• Do you have a favorite job or jobs so far? What do you enjoy?
• Do you have a favorite greeting?
• What do you think meeting greeting helps to accomplish?
• What have you learned about people from having CHAT? What have you let people know about you?

TEAMWORK, POINTS AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: The class earned 85 points, so you were homework free on Wednesday. What have you noticed helps your team or the class to get points? Do you think earning points is a good way to motivate the class to work together better? Have you noticed if students are getting to know each other better? Have you learned anything about someone on your team or in the class that you didn’t know before?

MATH: We have started Chapter 3 - The Eraser Store in the Think Math program. Even though some of it is tricky, I’ve been impressed with your ability to ask good questions and keep going until you understand it better.

o So, what have you found interesting or tricky so far while doing the problems? For example, can you describe how many erasers you would have if you had the following packages? 1, 2, 0, 3. What if you added 5,7,1 more packages how many packages would you have, how many erasers would you have?

o I noticed it would help many of you if you had some alternative methods for multiplying. For example, many of you rely on repeated addition. What ways do you know now? For example how could you use multiplication in two different ways to solve 3 x 49?

o

OUR CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS CONTINUE TO BRING CHANGE:

After our latest constitutional convention, Article 2 was amended. It used to say, “ATTENTION must be given to whoever is talking. People should look at the speaker and wait until the speaker is finished before raising their hands.”

But now, you have voted to take out the words, “People should wait until the speaker is finished before raising their hands.” This particular article has been amended more than any other article in the 4S constitution. Those words have been put in and taken out many times. Clearly there are good reasons for both.

How did you vote? Why did you vote for what you did?

·

SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Chinese Computers, and Library?

SOMETHING ELSE? Search For Delicious, Class Posters, Paragraph Writing, etc.

Write down what you chose to talk about. Add a bullet!

Due: TUESDAY (Monday is Columbus day)

We made a time to sit and do the HSC together on:

Parent Signature:

Comments?

4S MONDAY MESSAGES

10/05/09

We are about to start our 5^th week of school. Monday is our 19^th day of school.

We are getting into a groove. It’s fun to watch the class getting used to our systems, schedule, expectations, etc. I hope it feels that way to you too.

c FIRST FIELD TRIP: We (the whole 4^th grade) are heading to the Arnold Arboretum on Wednesday, October 21^st. Our rain date is Thursday, October 22^nd. If you have never been there, or would like to know more about it, you can look at their web page at:

http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/visitors/visitors.html

We are going there in connection with our botany curriculum and our future focus on Native people and their use of trees. If you would like to join us, we would love to have you come. It’s a beautiful place in every season, and it’s a great opportunity to spend the day walking around outside with your child and the rest of us.

We will be taking the #51 bus from Cleveland Circle to Forest Hills Station in Jamaica Plain, and walking to the arboretum. You can see the route at: http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/bus/routes/?route=51

Please fill in the field trip form coming home in the Monday Message folder and let us know if you will be joining us as a chaperone.

c DRILLS: Last Thursday Driscoll had an official ‘lockdown” drill. This drill is to prepare everyone in case there is an external threat outside the school and we need to keep everyone safe inside the school. It was good we had the drill because 4S had a chance to figure out the best spot for everyone to sit where they would not be squished or in view of someone outside our class. Everyone was flexible and at ease as we went through the drill. There were even some, ‘this is fun’ comments. I could think of better ways to have fun, but it was clear that the process was clear and not upsetting. Some time next week we will have an Evacuation Drill. During the drill we will first walk to our ‘safe spot’ on Bartlett Crescent, and then silently walk up to the Temple Beth Zion at 1566 Beacon St.

c CONFERENCES: On the last page is a list of the conference times that are taken and ones that are still available. If you would rather sign up by email, then give me at least 3 possible times, and I will give you one of them.

c HOMEWORK CLUB: It is never too late to sign up for homework club. Your child can come 2, 3 or 4 days. If you are interested, please see Elaine Eivers in order to sign your child up. Elaine’s office is across from the main office on the second floor.

c INSTRUMENTS: We have instrumental music every Tuesday at 8:10 a.m. This is different than music class with Ms. Liddiard. Please remember to have your child get his or her instrument and music book ready the night before, and remind your child to bring his or her instrument and book home every Tuesday. The music book comes with a CD that students are expected to practice with. Many families find their child learns more if they set up a regular practice schedule.

c SNACK: Please ask your child if he or she is eating enough during snack. I am no longer allowed to give students any food if they forget their snack, and as the cool weather eases in, most students are pretty hungry by around 9:15 or so. It is fine with me if you want to send in some extra labeled items for me to store in a cupboard in case your child is hungry.

c ON TIME: Thank you for making sure your child gets to school before 8:00. As you know, 4S has specific tasks to do each day before morning meeting. Being on time helps everyone to get organized and in gear before we commence our meeting.

That’s it for now,

Francesca

4S FALL

2009 Conference Sign-Up

Below are the slots that have been taken and the ones that are still available. I can meet a couple of mornings the week after December 3^rd if mornings are the only time that work for you. If you have not yet signed up, please give me at least 3 times possible times, and I will give you one of them. Thanks.

Thursday, November 12^th (12:30 Dismissal)

2:00 _______________________________________

2:30 _______________________________________

3:00 _______________________________________

3:30 _______________________________________

4:00 _______________________________________

Wednesday, November 18th^h (12:30 Dismissal)

1:30 _______________________________________

2:00 _______________________________________

2:30 _______________________________________

3:00 _______________________________________

3:30: Isabelle Cotney

Thursday, November 19^th (Evening Conferences)

4:30: Rachel Percy

5:00: Maya Page

5:30: Hunter Amory

6:00: Eli Mendels

6:30: William McCormack

7:00: Brad Saines

7:30: Ben Moyer

Thursday, December 3^rd, (12:30 Dismissal)

2:00: Emil Anderson

2:30 _______________________________________

3:00 _______________________________________

3:30 _______________________________________

4:00 _______________________________________

Morning Options

Thursday, November 12^th

7:20: Elizabeth Bailey

Wednesday, November 18^th

7:20: Anthony Porco

Thursday, November 19^th

7:20: Emily Gardner

Thursday, December 3rd

7:20: Ceci Cipullo

October 1, 2009

3rd Home/School Connection

Happy October!

We have only had three days of school so far due to the holiday on Monday, but there is still plenty to talk about!

THIS WEEK: CHECK-OFF AND DO at least 6 of the 9 items. It will probably take around 20 minutes. Note: This week you will have to write at least 1 bullet per topic.

Next week you will have to write two bullets per topic.

1. SCIENCE/BOTANY/WISCONSIN FAST PLANTS:

Our plants are growing; our plants are growing! Many of your plants grew around 3 centimeters in 5 days. Below is the web address of a wonderful short video about how these amazing plants were developed. The ‘star’ of the movie is Paul Williams, the scientist who spent 15 years developing the Wisconsin Fast Plants. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73S63xV_o34

· Describe what you are drawing, writing and graphing as you study your newly formed plants.

· Your turn:

2. SENTENCES: What is a sentence?

· You already knew that all sentences need a capital at the beginning and end punctuation at the end. Now you know some new fancy language. Now you know that all sentences also need a subject and a predicate! The subject and predicate mean that all sentences need a subject and a verb. Susan ate. Is that a complete sentence? Yes. It has a subject and a verb. “My zany hamster.” Is that a sentence? No. It is missing a predicate. Add some possible predicates to that sentence to show you are learning how to make a complete sentence.

· Add your own bullet:

3. WHAT GREAT READERS DO:

All of you read. All of you are learning new reading strategies to become even better readers. Describe how visualizing (making a movie in your head), asking different types of questions, making connections, observing your thinking (being meta cognitive), learning new words, and picking just right books can improve your reading skills.

· What are some reading strategies you are starting to do more? Give an example of when you are trying them out.

·

4. LEAVING TRACKS OF YOUR THINKING: I sat in front of you and began to read the article on ‘seeing’ in the National Geographic magazine. I wrote down tracks of my thinking so you could see how to do that. Then you had a chance to write tracks of your thinking. What kinds of things did you write?

· How did it go when you wrote tracks of your thinking on your own while reading the ‘Fooled You’ article?

·

5. MATH: We are almost done with our chapter on arrays. You are learning how to write sentences that show you have a whole array with some leftovers. For example:

(5×6) + 3 = 33. This connects to division. For example 33 ¸ 5 = 6 r 3.

· How’s it going? Are you enjoying math? Do you feel you understand it?

Do you need to brush up on your math facts?

·

6. OUR CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS ARE ON A ROLL: You have already amended two laws!

· Our first law has new wording in it. It will now include the words, “no matter what this person does for a hobby or enjoyment. Explain why some people voted for it and why some people didn’t.

· You changed our voting procedure. Before we needed 2/3 of the class to vote for a change in order to amend a law. Now we only need a majority. Many of you wrote that we are a classroom and not a country, so changing a law shouldn’t be as hard. What was your opinion?

·

7. WRITING: We are continuing to write in our Scribbler’s notebooks. Sometimes you will write about some kind of common object you don’t usually pay attention to. For example, you wrote about a chair. Sometimes you will write about a person, place or event you experienced.

Monday = Mundane (the mundane can be miraculous writing) Tuesday=Who’s Day (writing about someone), Wednesday = When’s Day (writing about when something happened), Thursday= Thirsty (wanting, wishing writing) Friday Try Day (writing about goals, new ideas and lessons- fables, proverbs, etc.).

All of these journal entries will help your writing to become more fluent, and will help you find out ideas you didn’t know you had! What have you written so far?

·

8. SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Chinese (You saw an interesting video clip in Chinese today,) Computers, and Library

9. SOMETHING ELSE? For example, you will see an Artbarn performance on Friday. Write down what you chose to talk about. Add a bullet! ____________________.

·

Due: MONDAY

We made a time to sit and do the HSC together on:

Parent Signature:

Comments?

4S TUESDAY NEWSDAY

9/29/09

I hope your long weekend had some sunny walks, light hearted talks, and did not include getting caught in the sudden rainstorm last night… (I got caught).

c BACK–TO-SCHOOL NIGHT: It was a pleasure seeing many of you at the open house last Thursday. It was a bit shorter than in the past, so if you did not get questions answered, let me know. James Gardner, Emily’s dad took some wonderful photos of the assembled group. I will try to print and/or post them soon. If you weren’t there, I sent home the packet in your child’s white folder today, and I am going to post the packet on the 4S Blog Bridge. Once I get the password/photo section up and running, I will also try and post the 4S slide show.

c CONFERENCES: At the open house, I posted a conference sign-up sheet on our front door. If you weren’t there, or if you did not have a chance to sign up, please look on our classroom door, and pick a time that is available. If you can’t get in to sign up, let me know, and I will email you some available times.

c HOMEWORK CLUB: Homework Club began last week. Currently it is in 4S (our room), and will be here for 1/3 of the year. Students report that it’s helping them finish their work before heading home. If you are interested, please see Elaine Eivers so you can sign your child up. Elaine’s office is across from the main office on the second floor.

c INSTRUMENTS: We began today! So far so good. 4S will always have instruments first period on Tuesday, so please remember to have your child get the instrument ready the night before, and remind your child to bring his or her instrument home every Tuesday. If you have a question, please contact me and I will forward your question to the music department.

c FALL EQUINOX: Last week, on September 22^nd, was the first day of fall. As part of science and geography, our class discussed why there is a fall equinox, how the earth rotates around the sun (Anthony played the sun), and how our earth is on a tilted axis – which explains the reasons for the seasons. If you happen to get the Boston Globe or another almanac that shows the sunrise and sunset times, please go over it with your child. Also, if you and your child are out during sunrise or sunset times, take a look at your watch and note the time together. These are some of the ‘changes over time’ our class is becoming aware of.

c FIELD TRIPS: This week I am confirming the times for our fall field trips. I will let you know in next week’s messages.

That’s it for now,

Francesca

September 24, 2009

2nd Home/School Connection

THIS WEEK: CHECK-OFF AND DO at least 7 of the 10 items. It will probably take around 20 minutes.

Note: Soon you will be writing at least two bullets per topic,

so please notice how they are written so it won’t be hard for you to write them too.

1. SCIENCE/BOTANY/WISCONSIN FAST PLANTS:

· It took a scientist 15 years to develop the Wisconsin Fast Plants. Explain what kind of plants he was hoping to grow and why he wanted them to be that way.

· You planted them! How did it go? What was interesting or memorable about the experience?

· Describe all the different materials you needed to use in order to plant those tiny seeds.

· What other seeds have you looked at so far? How do they differ?

· What kinds of seeds do you eat? How about stems, roots, leaves or flowers? As you have snacks and meals, pay attention to the plants you eat.

2. MATH:

· You started a new chapter on arrays. It seems this chapter is a bit easier for you. Do you think so? Explain why or why not.

· Please show your parents the family letter attached to the hard copy of this. It explains some of the main ideas and vocabulary you will be working on.

· Try to explain the difference between a factor and a multiple. What kind of trick will you use so you don’t confuse those two terms? For example, Zoe thought of the word factory is like factor. In the factory you help make the products. Do you have another mnemonic (pronounced new-maw nick) device you will use? * A mnemonic device is a mind memory and/or learning aid.

· Can you explain the factor rainbow?

3. EXERCISE and GRAPHING:

· Speaking of math… we’ve started to graph the results of your daily exercise. We are using a line graph to do this. Why are we using a line graph as opposed to a bar graph, a pictograph, or a pie chart?

· Try to explain the different parts to the graph: The title, the label for the Y-axis and the label for the x-axis. The reason you had to decide on the increments it would go up on the y-axis.

4. TEAM WORK:

· What is your team name? Explain how you got that team name. How did you decide on what to put on your team poster?

· What have you learned about people on your team so far? Are you helping anyone? Is anyone helping you?

· Do you have a team greeting or ciao for now handshake?

· Explain what the A B C and D do on your team.

5. SEARCH FOR DELICIOUS:

Gaylen’s adventures in ‘The Search For Delicious’ continue. Gaylen has met the mayor of the first town who has an odd way of talking. Hint: It’s downright uplifting!” Natalie Babbitt uses personification and many similes in her story. Try and describe what those words mean. In 4S we also use a lot of personification…Hubert, Tabitha, Fiona, Ezra…

6. PESONIFICATION AND WRITING:

· Speaking of personification: Why do you think it will help your writing if you can try and be someone or something different than who you are.

· If you had to pretend you were an OBJECT what object would you try and be?

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7. CONSTITUTION: I am about to put our current constitution on our blog. Soon we will start our Constitutional Convention. Some of you would like to leave the laws as they are; some of you want to amend them. How about you? Do you remember what you wrote and why you wrote that?

· You are finding out about the 3 branches of government in the U.S. We are using the three branches in 4S too. You are the legislative branch (make and amend laws), I am the President (enforce laws), the executive director is the Vice President, and Dr. Parziale and Ms. Carothers are our Supreme Court.

8. INNER CONVERSATION – LEAVING TRACKS OF YOUR THINKING. As you read, you are learning how to pay attention to your own brain. The fancy word for this is being meta cognitive. Have you noticed if you are watching your brain better as you read yet? If not, don’t worry, you will.

9. SPECIALS: What’s going on in your specials? Music, Art, P.E., Chinese, Computers, and Library with Ms. Neale *NOTE: describe our summer reading discussion,

10 SOMETHING ELSE? You choose and write it on the line: ____________________.

Due: TUESDAY (No school Monday)

We made a time to sit and do the HSC together on ________________

Parent Signature: ___________________________________ Comments?

4S MONDAY MESSAGES #3

9/21/09

c HOMEWORK CLUB: Homework Club begins today! It will take place in 4S (our room) for 1/3 of the year. In December it will move to 4G and in April it will move to 4P. If you haven’t signed up and would like to, please see Elaine Eivers. Ms. Eiver’s office is across from the main office on the second floor.

c INSTRUMENTS: Where do you get them? Rayburn Music will be in the DEVOTION SCHOOL CAFETERIA, 345 Harvard Street, this Wednesday, 9/23 from 5:00-8:00 and this Saturday, 9/23/ from 9:00-1:00.

c EMERGENCY DRILLS/PROCEDURES: In the next few weeks, Driscoll will be having a practice fire drill, evacuation, and lockdown. 4S already began this discussion at morning meeting, but you should be aware we will be doing this so you can follow up at home.

c EARTH VIEW: This Friday, thanks to a grant from the Driscoll PTO and the work of Ms. Neale and Ms. Prager, students in grades 2-6 will be part of an amazing program called Earth View. EarthView is a 20 foot tall, (yes, that’s right 20 FEET tall) inflatable sphere in the form of the physical earth. Professors from Bridgewater State College will take students inside the “EarthView” and teach them about the climatic, physical and cultural features of our planet. All students are expected to wear CLEAN WHITE SOCKS in order to protect the sphere. 4S is scheduled to go on Friday at 1:00.

c BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT: This THURSDAY, 9/24/09 is our Driscoll Back-to-school night. It will begin at 7:30 in the theater where you will be introduced to the wonderful specialists and support staff who work with your child. Next stop, parents go to their child’s classroom. There you will have a chance to learn as much as possible (without actually coming to school each day) about what it’s like to be in 4S.

c ROOM PARENTS: William McCormack’s mom, Jean Mulder, has volunteered to be a parent liason. This means she will help coordinate what is needed for our room parents and for other people who would like to volunteer. I would like to have a plethora of parents involved. If, for example, you like to take pictures and/or you like to take videos at school events, perhaps you could be one of our room 302 photographers. Or perhaps you are good at putting contact paper on speckled composition books (I could use some help doing that ASAP) and making copies without the copy machine breaking. You could be our parent office supplies manager. If you are good at helping new families get to know the Driscoll community, perhaps you could be our parent welcome wagon family. I will make a list of ways to join in and post it on our blog. But, in the meantime, I need two ‘official’ room parents whose names will go in the Driscoll Directory. Your biggest job will be to delegate.

c PLANTS: Speaking of joining in, the 4^th grade is in the midst of our botany unit. This week we will be planting different seeds, and we will be focusing on different parts of the plant – roots, leaves, seeds, flowers, etc. If you have made a trip to a farmer’s market or have any fruits or vegetables that show parts of the plant (leaves on the carrots, tomatoes still on the vine, roots on beets, etc.) we will examine them and return them to you the same day. Just label your bag.

THAT’S IT!

Hi 4S Families,

If you click the tab at the top that says “Home/School Connections”, you will be able to see the first HSC (Home/School Connection).

A hard copy went home with your child today. Please schedule a time between today and Sunday to sit  for around 2o minutes to do the HSC together.  I know it may seem like I am giving you homework, and in a sense I am, but I have found that parents have learned a great deal about what’s going on in here, and they have learned what their children are understanding and not understanding. They then have reported back to me. This helps me know if some items are a success or need to be reviewed in more detail or ripped up and thrown away.

Thanks in advance for staying in contact with me. Next week is fall equinox. We’ll be balancing light and dark and work and play. I hope your weekend has lots of sun and fresh fall air.

Francesca