The 4-F  January News Archives 

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Dear Parents,

Well, the rumor you heard was true. NO more spelling for the rest of the year. The kids pretty well have knocked the subsets that I needed them to know, so we can free them- and you, from all forms of pain. 

However, homework in and of itself, will continue for the next two weeks. The major thrust this week is on their Electronic Portfolio reflection pieces. Having the kids finish these on time and of a decent quality is going to be very important. There is very little time, in school, for kids to make up lost or weak quality work. To that end, I am depending on you all to serve as my editors at home. The qualifications for each of the three reflections will be sent home the day before along with a floppy disk. Too, they are posted on the opening page of the 4-F Web site. Each night, your children need to write their reflections and, if you would, please do go over it and correct for obvious- and rather glaring, errors. The content is their own, however. The kids will upload each file onto their Electronic Portfolios the very next day. A permission slip concerning the portfolios will be sent home next week.  

On a lighter note, a huge thanks needs to go out to our stalwart chaperones at Meiji Shrine last week: Mrs. Kervarech, Mrs. Needs, Mrs. Steinlauf and Mrs. Ackerman. A thousand blessings to these ladies as they walked (!) and instructed their charges.  

This week is full of here and there. Obviously, the PAW performance is a big part of the week as the students prepare for their thespian extravaganza on multiple days. I have listed the various performance dates. Just remind the kids that they need to wear their Bunka T-shirts on those days. Tuesday, we head off to Minka-en for the day. With a bit of luck, the day will opt to be cloudy. Eyeball the weather report and if your child needs to bring an umbrella, have them take one with them.

Take care,

Bridgette

 

Dear Parents,

 I hope that you all had a wonderful, refreshing holiday with your children. We are off on our final leg of your children’s fourth grade year. Time has passed so incredibly quickly. This final leg is the time in which your children will synthesize all that they have learned.  

Just as a note. I will not be here Thursday through Tuesday. My husband and I are taking a quick leap back to the States to watch our eldest graduate from college. Mrs. Howerton will be the substitute for those days. Thus, please be sure to have any questions you may have written to her directly on paper as I will not have my computer with me on this trip.

Given all that is going on, it seems a good idea to give you an overview of what will be happening curricularly outside of the multitudinous Bunka field trips. They follow a general chronological and subject order which will define major elements of Japan. The first two weeks are devoted to religious aspects, with a study of Buddhism and Shintoism, with the resulting trips to Efukuji Temple and to Meiji Shrine. The following weeks are devoted to seeing how the religious aspects are woven into architecture, both pre and post Meiji. Finally, the Industrial and Meiji Revolutions are covered in our final field trip. Look for updates from each Caravan group on the main web page starting this week.

There are no field trips scheduled for this week. However, information about the Mieji trip will come out on today and is due back this Friday. The parents who will be chaperoning us on our Meiji trip are: Mrs. Ackerman, Mrs. Kerverach, Mrs. Needs and Mrs. Steinlauf. I will have a parent packet stuff with background information for you next Tuesday prior to the trip.

In class, the students will make links to what they are learning in the field trip to the Silk Road geographic ideas of Human Interaction, Regions and Movement. You have already seen the outline of the contract and, last Friday, I went through the benefits package with the students. As we start out from Osaka, and enter China, the students will see how Buddhism and Confucianism drives what people do there and also enable them to compare how it drove Japanese society of that time. Each week, and each step of the Silk Road journey, there will be a new series of connections which serves to cap off the 4-Fers year long study of Place.   

In science, final  integration of the inquiry and scientific method will continue in our study of heat transfer, as it pertains to metals and liquids, as they are connected to the layers of the Earth. Demonstrations, of a more “relaxed” scientific nature will also tackle core samples. In mathematics, we will finish a short unit on fractions, percents and probability and then launch into Polyhedraville in about two weeks.  

In language arts, your children are now writing their Middle East myths. This is going to be an exciting process and hopefully a rewarding one for your children. It will be the capstone project for them to really show what they have assimilated this year regarding the Write Traits, spelling and literature elements. Too, they will apply the research information they learned about their countries into their stories. The class will start their final literature study this week as they break into Jackie Robinson and the Year of the Boar.  

This will be the last curricular overview of the year. You will be able to see the results of your children’s labors if you are able to attend the 4-F Showcase Afternoon. This is scheduled for Tuesday, June 8th.

Dear Parents,  

Well, it begins! Your children have lugged home their squishy dyed T-shirts that will become their shirt that they will wear every Bunka field trip. On Tuesday, they will need to finish off their shirt. (The dye has to be in the shirt for a day to set.)  

On Tuesday:

Remove the shirt and the smaller plastic bag from the large Ziplock Bag.

Rinse the dye under WARM running water.

Untie the rubber hands and keep rinsing until the water becomes clear.

IMMEDIATELY wash in hot water in which the liquid from the small plastic bag is added and let soak for 10 minutes. This is very important. The synthrapol, which is in the small bag, fixes the dye so that it will not run.

Wash regularly with soap and rinse.

Hang up and dry.

 Speaking of Bunka, I will have the field trip volunteer confirmations ready to go home by Wednesday, so that you can start to plan. I appreciate all the support. It should be a whole lot of fun.  

In class we have been working on the Everyday Math Division Algorithm. This has a tendency to seem a bit flummoxing if you haven’t used it before. I have gone ahead and copied an example from a web site below to let you know how it works. Your children will be having a multiplication and division worksheet for the rest of the year for homework so that these rote processes become ingrained.

The Many Ways of Arithmetic in UCSMP Everyday Mathematics.  Braams, Bas. New York University. 2003  www.math.nyu.edu/mfdd/braams/links/em-arith

Division

For division, Everyday Mathematics offers two methods: the "partial quotients method" and the "column division method". The traditional method of long division is not taught.

Partial Quotients Method

The Partial Quotients Method, the Everyday Mathematics focus algorithm for division, might be described as successive approximation. It is suggested that a pupil will find it helpful to prepare first a table of some easy multiples of the divisor; say twice and five times the divisor. Then we work up towards the answer from below. In the example at right, 1220 divided by 16, we may have made a note first that 2*16=32 and 5*16=80. Then we work up towards 1220. 50*16=800 subtract from 1220, leaves 420; 20*16=320; etc..   
     ------  |
  16 ) 1220  |
      - 800  |  50
       ----  |
        420  |
      - 320  |  20
        ---  |
        100  |
      -  80  |   5
        ---  |
         20  |
      -  16  |   1
         --  |  --
          4  |  76

Dear Parents,

Ah…spring blooms solidly at last! Yeah! We are on the march academically here in 4-F. In language arts, we are in the process of gathering data and information on how to make myths. Specific vocabulary such as antagonist, protagonist and motivation is being bandied about as well as having the students having specific instruction in the characteristics and types of myths. The myths the students write will hook into their study of the Middle East.

We went to the HS Science Fair last week, which served as a great kick off for the class’ own thoughts about what they would like to do for the ES Science Fair. We have been looking at Earth crust information and have been doing a series of demonstrations based on movement and density.

Mathematically, it is division. At the moment, the students are looking into how to do a mental math method, which involves the Commutative Property of Multiplication as one of the steps. We continue to work on making multiplication computation more fluid as well as harping on learning their division facts.  

Ikibana is on Wednesday. If they have not already done so, please be sure that your child has brought in his or her bowl, frog and sharp plant sheers to cut with by tomorrow.

Take care,

Bridgette

April , 2004

Dear Parents,  

Ohhhhh, is was a day of math stress and strain. The kids took their math test today and I rush like a fiend to get it graded so that they could bring it home. Hopefully, my addition of the various parts is correct. If not, please do let me know! I haven’t recorded the grades so it is imperative that they return the test and the reflection sheet tomorrow but the kids really wanted it back. That said, this test really helps delineate the kids who are in abstraction, on the cusp and are on the concrete level in their mathematics understanding. It goes beyond the requirements of the Everyday Math book for multiplication. The two parts that are a direct correlate are the problem page with the three types and the form of the essay. The others are rooted in set theory and advancing their mathematics understanding. The kids breathed a big sigh of relief to know that this test was the last one of its kind, the rest will either be straight out of the text book or more of a projects based one when we do Pollyhedraville in a month.   

So, our next Bunka activity- Ikebana, will happen on Wednesday April 16th. A letter outlining the materials that we need will be sent out tomorrow. Please do look for it. Secondly, a plea. I will be going down to Meiji Shrine on Saturday April the 24th at 10:00 to set up our annual fieldtrip there. Unfortunately, they only speak Japanese. My variant of the language is poorly equipped to handle what we need to talk about. Is it possible to have one of you need me there to help out? I will treat at Starbucks afterwards! ;.> Please let me know if this would be a possibility for you.  

Take care and I hope that you all have a grand week,

Bridgette

 

 

March 30, 2004

Dear Parents,  

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday and by now have had a chance to see some cherry blossoms starting to do their thing.  

This week will see your children studying for the dreaded Fincher Multiplication Test. The test will be given next Monday. Every day, I will post the day’s study sheet on the front of the web page so that in case they loose their study guides, they can refer to that. I have also tacked on a Parent Cheat Sheet to help you all in case they have some questions. Again, I have asked them to hook up with study buddies in class.  

In other areas, we are plunging into forming our Word Choice Rubric which is connected to our Write Traits method of scoring writing. It is amazing how facile your children have become in doing this and identifying aspects of good word choice in writing. They will be able to put this to the test when in a few weeks they have their last major writing process piece. This will be a nature creation myth. Should be pretty exciting. About that time, will be will starting our novel study of The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Scientifically, we plunge into an inquiry exploration of the inner mantle and heat conduction with in social studies we continue with our exploration of the Middle East.  

On Friday, we will be joining up with our 2-C buddies to enjoy the blooms. Please have your child bring an extra bit of snack to share with their second grade buddy on that day. With a bit of luck it will not be raining!

The Scholastic Book Orders are due next Monday and there is no spelling due to the short week.  

Take care,

Bridgette

 

 

March 15, 2004

 

Dear Parents,  

I wanted to thank you so much for our time together over conferences. I enjoyed talking with you about your children and making plans for the final trimester of their fourth grade year. It makes a lot of sense to me why these children are so cool. The acorns haven’t fallen far from the parental tree!   

Keeping it short and sweet today. The only major item that I have not talked about prior to this week is a shift in the spelling for the daily work. The guide word part has been mastered by the kids and it is being dropped from the activities. The new item, which will happen on Wednesday, is to find one synonym and one antonym for each one of the spelling words. I went over how to do that with the kids today. One thing they really have to remember, however, it that the words they come up with HAVE to have the same function as the spelling word. Thus, they can’t have a synonym that is a verb to match a spelling word that is a noun.  

The Japanese Fashion Show is tomorrow. Growth and Human Development on Thursday and Friday.  

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

March 8, 2004

Dear Parents,  

A short week this week as we prepare for our conferences on Thursday and Friday. Report cards will be coming home with your child on Tuesday. A lot have already asked if they could open them on the way home, which I said that they had to wait for you. Thus, you will see a sheep stamp on the back of the envelope to help them remember that comment. Although, this time around, I am sharing the comment section with them ahead of time, so that I can answer any questions they may have prior to seeing you. Although, like last trimester, the vast majority of scores are 3s, the expectations of the class have increased. Which means that the children have been doing that much better to achieve a score that indicates meeting expectations consistently. A check is the skill equivalent of the same comment.  

Aside from that, there is a fair amount going on. We are just finishing Location and are moving into our next unit of Human Interaction. That is defined as how we affect nature and how nature affects us. This particular unit will cover all our Pan Asia and Earth Forces studies in the next two months. In science, we have started our first hard science experiment revolving around heat conduction through a pure metal. This links to how heat acts in the inner core. Each successive experience will have a heat link to each of the layers of the earth and takes our study out of the book learning mode. In math, your kids learned two of the three algorithms and have been busy working away on their set theory understanding of the principals behind the multiplication. In language arts, we are working on limericks, which has proven to be a lot of fun.  

No spelling this week, as it is a short one. However, there is a very important letter in today’ package about our Growth and Human Development Unit that will be taught next week. Please be sure to read it and have it return signed to me by this Wednesday.  

Next week, we will be having our Bunka Fashion show. James and Julie will be our able assistants from our class. Gambate!  

I look forward to talking with you all soon,

Bridgette 

March 2, 2004

Dear Parents, 

Just a short and sweet note this week. Last week was spent mostly on researching, multiplication and mid-year testing. Not exactly the most dazzling array of subjects, but given the time of year, needful. Anyway, we got done with the base researching in the library. It was really gratifying to see the progress in your children’s ability to follow the steps and how much more confident they feel. This week, we trot on to the Excel section of the project.  

Take care,

Bridgette

Feb 23, 2004

Dear Parents,

I hope that you and yours had a great long weekend. It is an amazing bout of weather we have been having. With a bit of luck it will continue! Pretty soon you will be scheduling a time for our parent conferences. This will be the last time we will be able to meet formally about your child. The middle conference is an important one for projections for the last trimester of fourth grade and as a major check point to see if your child is gaining the appropriate level of skills and knowledge. I am doing a series of mid-year testing this week. They are variations of the tests that I gave the kids at the start of the year and will give me another piece of the educational puzzle in which to judge your child’s growth. This time is the planning time for us to focus on your child. Unfortunately, meeting face-to- face outside of these scheduled conference times will not be an option this time around for me due to other constraints. However, I can do telephone conferences for a week afterwards if there are conflicts to the set aside dates. I thank you in advance for your consideration concerning the conference schedules.

Our Fuchu Dai Ichi exchange went off without a hitch last Tuesday. The day was warm and inviting and the students and staff of our sister school did a wonderful job of hosts. Tim did a grand job on his speech.

This week kicks off our Middle East research project. Listed below are the major objectives of the project.

To get a basic overview of the countries in the Middle East and what characteristics define them as a region.
To be able to analyze data and make generalizations based on what they have researched.
To be able to use various non-fiction print resources, by doing a second research project using encyclopedias and non-fiction books, but adding detailed instruction on how to use an almanac, key atlases and magazines.
Document their research process skills and citations.
Practice key word identification in the questions and secondary key words to help them broaden their informational search.
Summarize and categorize using paraphrasing on sticky tabs.
Using the Excel program to display their data and make graphs.
Make various maps to graphically display their information and a short comparison paragraph of their country with the rest of the Middle East.

 

February 9, 2004

Dear Parents,  

This week starts out our new focus on Pan Asia and the Middle East. Over the next few weeks, the children will be introduced to some rather sweeping concepts as to why agriculture and civilization started in Asia and specifically in the Fertile Crescent. The basis of this study is the book Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It is a fascinating adult non-fiction read. After we all return from the February break, the students will be doing a quick research project on the various countries of the Middle East. More about that a bit closer to time.  

Included in this week’s package is a long letter outlining our return visit to Fuchu Dai Ichi, on February 17th, the Tuesday prior to the vacation. Please save the letter and refer to it next week. In preparation, the Japanese teachers are running a review of appropriate social customs on Wednesday for this month’s Bunka activity.  

Harrison and Jasmin have started their duties as our Student Council representatives for the spring. Currently, there are a series of fund raisers going on. The Rainforest Fund Raiser continues through Friday. Too, the fifth grade is having a sock donation for the homeless in Shinjuku. Any donation of clean, black or white adult socks would be much appreciated.  

Valentines is being celebrated on Friday. Just as a reminder, a Valentine needs to be given to each person in the class, which was the purpose of the class list that was sent home last week. Like Christmas, simplicity is the name of the game on this one. The party will be at 2:15 after afternoon recess.  

The spelling list this week covers words with the suffix ending of “ful”. Unfortunately, the copy of the list is on my school computer rather than the one I have here in New York, so I am unable to post it. However, the spelling list is attached to the homework package and Mrs. Cain has extra. 

Take care and have a great week,

Bridgette

January 12, 2004

 

Dear Parents,

Welcome to a week of intensive work. On the minus side, there is the Rube Goldberg Science Project. On the plus side, there is NO homework aside from the reading challenge and the project. The project has been sent home with your child in a print format and it is also listed in its entity on the front of the 4-F web page. I have gone over the project with the class this afternoon. Please review the project outline with your child tonight so that everyone is on the same page in regards to the requirements and pacing. If the project goes longer than 45 minutes, ditch the reading for the day. Just be sure a note is made on the reading log.  

In social studies, the kids are working hard on their Shinto Shrine paragraphs and are developing the rituals and special characteristics surrounding their presentation day. Their backdrop enlargement is taking shape. It is interesting to me to watch how the kids have to problem solve as they take a picture and enlarge it to scale ten times the original size.  The start of the simulation is January the 19th and last until the end of the month. Some of the activities will be done with our 2nd grade buddies during this time. They are also doing a Japan unit and there are fun activities that Ms. Clarke and I are planning for the classes.   

In math, we are starting Unit 4 on decimals. Basically, it reiterates the values behind tenths, hundredths and thousands; the addition and subtraction of decimals, and the links to place value and fractions. Unit 4 is the lead up to long multiplication and division.

We will celebrate everyone making the 4-F reading challenge on Friday afternoon. Congratulations, you readers, you! Too, your children will be bringing home their work for you to look at as promised last week.  

Take care,

Bridgette

January 7, 2004

Dear Parents,

I hope that you and yours had a wonderful vacation and brought in the Year of the Monkey well. We had a great first day back and are launching right into the workhorse section of the school year.

First of all, a thank you. The class Christmas gift that you all contributed towards blew me away. The hand-painted blue and white sumi-e plate now sits in the place of honor on my bookshelf at home. It is just lovely. Speaking of holiday parties, the kids had a great time under the trained party eye of Mrs. Luebbers, Mrs. Lenihan and Mrs. Ehrendreich. Look at the front of the web page to see snapshots of what is going on.  

Congratulations to Brigham! He won the Info Quest for the last week.

This month brings a whole school focus on the ideas of Respect and Tolerance. The school will be putting the following pledge into play. 

I will treat others with respect and tolerance.

 I will be responsible for what I do and say.

 I will honor the value of others. 

The first step is to have each classroom make a link between the pledge and what they do in class. Then, a class agreement will be signed. You will see a homework page about this next week. Further activities, such as a gathering and a whole school affirmation will happen later in the month.   

Too, next week, your children will be bringing home their second batch of papers and an update as to how they are doing thus far in the second marking period. It is a long haul between the first and second marking periods, and rather than leave you all in a quandary, this is the way you as parents can get an idea about how your child is doing. More information about that in next week’s parent letter.

Take care,

Bridgette

January 26, 2004

Dear Parents,  

What a glorious week last week was. Rather than hiding what we are doing here on the back page, I will post all the goings on the front of the web page for the duration of the simulation. Each week, I will post a picture gallery of the shrines that presented that week and their report. Too, if there is any other cultural aspect, I will attach that as a link as well. Also, the kids have their finished Rube Goldberg site up. They will be able to share it with 4-0 tomorrow, which should be fun as Mr. Overend’s class just got finished with their simple machine project as well. Like the turtle of Aesop fame, slowly and surely, I did also got the first half of the Location curriculum out to you all. Not only has your son or daughter dragged it home but it is also linked to the main web page on the side.    

Today, we had Fushimi Inari present. 5-M came as fellow pilgrimages on the journey and were a great audience. Kasuga will be on Wednesday and  Ise on Friday. Tomorrow, a small group will be traveling off to the local tofu shop to interview the proprietors in preparation for this week’s tofu extravaganza. Tomorrow, our class will finish off the 4th grade Bunka activity of making soba noodles in honor of the new year. Given the erratic schedule, there is no spelling this week, but we will have it starting next Monday.  

PAW will start for us on February 4th and meet on B and D days. We are really looking forward to starting and seeing what Ms. Fuller has cooked up for us to do given the rousing success of “Make Em Laugh!”.

Mrs. Cain will be here on Tuesday afternoon will the fourth grade teachers work on curriculum development. Also, as a reminder, she will be here a whole week from February 9- February 13th while I am away in New York.  

Take care,

Bridgette