OOPS! I MADE SOME ERRORS ON DATES!!

Dear Families,

I must have been really tired when I wrote my BLOG last night because I made a few errors. The field trip was today, the 14th and was wonderful. Ask your child! We come back to school, Monday January 4th, not the 3rd.
I also forgot one last thing. I was asked if there were any art supplies I might need and "yes" there are as I would like the students in my class to have the opportunity to oil paint when we get back from Christmas break. I need the following and cannot afford to purchase these items myself:

Canvases should be 11 x 14 and I need 20. The oil paint colors we will need are Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Ultrmarine Blue, and Titanium White. I also need some brushes, thin plastic (like painter's use) to cover the floors and tables, and the safer version of turpentine (I can't remember what it is called). It would also probably be a good idea to have plastic gloves.

For the art supplies, BLICK Art on India Street is a good place.

Thanks
Kim

"Tis the week before Christmas Break!

Dear Families,

Thanks to all the families that came out to Barnes and Nobles last Thursday! I thought the poetry recitations went very well and I was proud of those students that conquered their fear of "public speaking"!!
I also appreciate the support all of you parents are giving your children in finding resources for their informational reports. The last I checked, which was on Friday, there were only a few students that hadn't brought their information. I did neglect to send a note home with the students on Friday regarding bringing supplies to school for their dioramas. Again, the idea is for them to create a scene from their chosen person's life inside a shoe box. We talked about the supplies they could use on Friday. I would like to have these items, no later than Wednesday morning. Please contact me, if you have any questions.
On Monday, December 18th from 10am-2pm we will be on an exciting field trip to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. Thanks ahead of time to all of you wonderful parents who volunteered to drive. Don't forget to pack a lunch for your child as we will be there over the lunch hour.
Our last day of school is on December 18th. That afternoon, I am planning for students to relax and have fun decorating cookies and one other suprise item for home! I think we all deserve to let our hair down a bit as they mostly work hard while they are in class with me! School will be back in session on January 3, 2010!
I hope you all enjoy your holidays.

This week in school, your children will be:

Having lots of laughs during our morning meetings.
Learning new vocabulary and grammar skills (compound sentences using coordinating conjunctions).
Working on their fictional narrativies. They have their overall outlines completed and will now start adding details, making careful word choices, and checking for spelling and punctuation errors.
Completing an assessment in math.
Continuing work on their project, which will include finishing "Patty Reed's Doll", starting to write their informational reports, make dioramas, and hopefully if time allows create some desert art and poetry. They will also be watching a PBS special about the west during the 1800's.

Our first progress reports for the year will be completed in January. I'm excited to share with you all the ways your child has grown and developed.

Sincerely,
Kim

Ten School Days Until Christmas Break!!!!

Dear Families,

Our mandatory Family Night meeting will be held at Barnes & Nobles at 6 pm on Thursday, December 10th. Please attend so you can stay informed of important IA updates and information. As I've mentioned before, my class is memorizing poetry to recite at 6:30 in the bookstore that night. Please have your children there by approximately 6:15, so that we are organized and ready to go! Should you decide to purchase Barnes & Noble items that night or any time from December 10th-16th, a percentage of the proceeds goes towards the 8th grade Washington D.C. trip. Also, rather than going home after picking up your child, an IA dinner is being held at Applebee's before the meeting from 4-8 pm. IA gets 15% of the proceeds, so invite friends and family to join in.

In class, we are continuing to study California history. Students have been asked to choose a historical figure that was significant to California's history. Most students chose their person on Friday, but some did not. The requirement for Monday is that your child have their historical figure chosen and bring in three informational resources about that person. The resources can be a book and two internet articles or any combination of the two. Your child will be writing an informational report on their chosen person. Additionally, because we are reading about westward expansion and pioneers, we have recently discussed bartering. Students were asked to bring in five items on Monday to barter away (items should be things your child can part with) during our "Bartering Fair" A note went home on Friday, so I hope you all received it!

For math, we have been studying mean, median, and mode and how to organize data. Students and I co-created a tally chart and line-plot that described the number of people in our families. The lowest number was three and highest was eleven! We are also practicing various strategies for addition and subtraction as well as skip counting and drilling on multiplication facts. Students are also having to learn how to round in order to calculate ball park estimates, a skill we commonly use as adult. The rounding is presenting some difficulties.

Students are busy writing their next narrative, a fictional one about a dilemma with water. We have everything from a boy falling in a walrus tank (mine), to avalanches, sinking boats, and being pulled into ocean waves without being able to swim. Ask your child what they are writing about. The process of writing these narratives well is time consuming, but time well spent. Your child is learning to plan, organize, and revise what I consider to be fairly high level pieces of writing.

We are also working hard on learning 15 new high level vocabulary words weekly. For example this week, students learned the meanings of words such as contempt and abrupt. They also took a pre-test on these words in spelling. At least four of the students were able to spell all 15 words correctly on the pre-test which tells me that I need two lists in the future. Our final spelling test will be on Monday. Each week your child makes 3 X 5 cards with their words on them. I have asked them to practice them at home and at school, so you might ask them about them. A good time to practice together is in the car while driving to school.

We are also practicing grammar on most days. We have gone over all capitalization requirements for 4th grade and we are on to punctuation. For the most part, this is going well; however, using commas to separate an appositive from the noun that proceeds it is a bit confusing, so we will be engaging in additional lessons on this topic this week.

I would like you and your child to begin gathering supplies for them to create a diorama of a scene from their historical figure's life. As a matter a fact, if your child could be ready to bring their shoe box and supplies by Monday, December 14th, that would be great as we will start working on them that day. Upon our return from Christmas break and soon as their informational reports and dioramas are done, your child will also need to create a costume depicting their historical figure. When all is ready, we will conduct a Wax Museum in our classroom, where your child is the expert on their historical figure, they are dressed as them and the entire school as well as families will be invited into our room to learn! I will keep you updated concerning the date.

I will also be looking into having an artist come into the classroom to teach oil painting after the Christmas break. I will need supplies for this venture such as oil paints, brushes, turpentine, and canvases. I would like each student to paint the California Poppy. After the paintings are completed, we can transfer the images onto fabric and make a classroom quilt. So, I will also need fabric and quilting supplies. If you can supply any of these items, I would appreciate it. We did a similar project last year and the end result was beautiful!

Please contact me with any questions or concerns. I think that is it for now!

Sincerely,

Kim