September 2, 2003

Dear Parents,

Well, we all survived the first half-week of organizational franticness. It has been a real delight getting to know your children. The first three days involved setting up the classroom routines, deriving our classroom rules and getting used to the physical environment although we did have a chance to meet as a whole fourth grade in our first Gathering of the year. Currently, baseline testing in reading, writing and mathematics is happening so that I can get an idea of your children’s beginning year levels in those subject areas.

Congratulations need to go out to Jiro and Nastassja. They are the Fall Student Council representatives for 4-F.

Academically, there will be minimum of homework this week as I am training the students on how to do the spelling homework, the DoLs and handwriting drills in class. Next week, your children will do these at home.  However, your children do have their Web Walk assignment this week. The basic idea is to have the kids do a scavenger hunt of the class web page to familiarize themselves with its various aspects. They then will show you where they found the answers to the questions and you check them, which is your introduction to the site, and then you both sign the paper. The Web Walk is due on Friday, September 5^th.

In this week’s homework package, there are several forms. One of them is the Parent Volunteer form. If you would like to sign up, you may use this form or the posted one on the web site. Just as a parenthetical, this will be the last printed newsletter form that you get from me. Starting next week, the newsletter will be posted on the newsletter section of the web page every Monday afternoon. On another note, there are a few outstanding Parent Questionnaire papers and Nogawa permission slips that have not made their way back to me. I sure would appreciate it if these can wend their way back sometime this week. Also, thank you to the parents who have sent me their email addresses. I am compiling them and will send out the class information as soon as I have the remaining ones gathered.

I am looking forward to seeing you all on Friday,

Bridgette 

September 12, 2003

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for your attendance at our Back-to-School presentation last Friday. I have gone ahead and put a link on the web page for the article that was passed out about the difference in fourth graders. We will finish up our orientation marathon this Thursday when we have a chance to chat one on one about your child. 

This week start homework officially. By Tuesday, your children will have finished up going through a model activity for the spelling so that they know how to do the homework. An overview, which serves as  reminder for the kids, is found on the Spelling Activity link on the front of the web page. The students will also be starting their reading challenge for the month of September.  I have found that it helps the kids to print off this letter and post the assignment where they can see them throughout the week. There are items that a due sporadically throughout the week, which they will have to pay attention to and turn in.

This week also initiates our first multiage buddy project which we will be doing with Marty Eastman-Brown’s first grade class in Portland, Oregon. Marty was a teacher here in the elementary school and returned to the United States just last year. This e-mail and web based exchange revolves around the concepts of Identity and Journeys using the conceits of shoes and footsteps. The class will be writing biographical poems to compare with their buddies as well as doing some beginning literature circles using a series of  multicultural Cinderella and journey picture books. The poetic jewel in our crown is a narrative poetry book called If the Shoe Fits- Voices from Cinderella by Laura Whipple.

Hence, the odd shoe assignment of this week. Tomorrow, your children will be given the parameters of the shoe homework that will be due on September the 16^th. The project information will be posted on the Shoe Site on the web as it develops, so look for the initial information about what to do with the shoes there tomorrow. What is needful now is an old shoe that they have worn out or someone in the family has worn out. Shoes from the 100 yen store would serve just as well or a pair of summer flip-flops. If you could help your children identify a shoe that they would use early this week that would be great. 

Picture day is will either be next Friday or Monday week for the class. We start out in the morning with an all school picture that goes on the front and back of the yearbook on Friday. Then, later one of those afternoons, we truck out to the faculty lounge to have our individual class pictures taken. When the three proofs of you child arrives, these will be sent back to you, along with an order form, which allows you to choose both the picture and the package you would like to order.

Take care and I will talk to you on Thursday, Bridgette  

September 15, 2003

Dear Parents,

Although a bit frenetic, I really appreciated having the time to talk with you last Thursday. Not only was I able to find out more about your child, but I also had a chance to get to know you better, which is a wonderful thing.

This week is pretty much just getting into the groove. Today, your children had dipped their feet into the beginning of researching and content area reading when we did our Data Base relay in the library. The primary objectives of this exercise was to introduce the four databases that the kids will be learning about this year and to get an idea as to the skills the children have in this area. The Laptop Program gets kicked off on Tuesday with the establishment of our laptop agreements for usage. We will have finished the base foundation of our web portfolios by Friday and will have a chance to so some keyboard practice in the lab. For Place, the kids have written and presented their own version of The Place Poem according to where they call home and have presented it to their classmates. (See if your child can recite the whole original poem—many can!) In science, by the end of the week, we will have talked about force and started our first explorations of levers. We are about halfway finished with the first unit in math. Currently, we are doing an exploration of the characteristics of polygons and how learning how to use a compass. We are having a glorious time getting into the groove of our project with our buddies in Oregon. Look for a site posting later this week to see what this has been all about.

Speaking of which....the shoes are due tomorrow!

A big thank you needs to go out to Mary Ann Luebbers who has graciously undertaken the task of being the 4-F room mother for the year.

Take care,

Bridgette

September 21, 2003

Dear Parents,  

A busy, busy week for your children this week. First of all, the whole fourth grade kicks off Bunka, our year long study of Japanese culture, this week with the student’s introduction to haiku and printmaking. The students will learn the elements of what makes a good haiku, get into their mixed class groups to do a practice session on the wood block printing process, and then on Friday the whole grade level retires to Nogawa Park to write their group haiku.  

In social studies, we have begun to look at the geographic history of Japan and learn about the Ainu- the first peoples to inhabit this archipelago. Political and topographical maps are also an element of this unit. In math, the students are learning how to use a compass appropriately to make inscribed polygons. This week is the last week for spelling homework practice. From here on out, the students will receive a grade for their work along with feedback comments.  

I have two items to end with. Your children have been going great guns on their buddy project. They will be typing their Shoe Poem These are the first draft poems. We will be editing them in class for flow and content before the children transfer them into their web page. The students will be starting their shoe paragraph in school in which they apply the concepts of Identity and Place to the symbols they selected for their shoe. These pieces of prose and poetry will form their first foray into writing at the fourth grade level.  

Finally, the children have developed their own rubric for how they are going to be assessed for Ideas/Content in all their assignments. This was a week long process in which they analyzed past student papers to find elements of quality; listed them according to a continuum on a five point scale in their own kid language; reviewed examples of other scales other people had come up with and incorporated what they thought would work; and then ratified the rubric. This is going to be the signature rubric that will be used all year long. I am asking them to sign it at home, and also have you sign it, as well and return it to me. There will be approximately eight other rubrics to come home over the next three months and the process by which they are derived will be the same. Again, the purpose is to have the student understand exactly what the target expectations are, how to reach them, how they correlate to the report card but most importantly of all they were the ones who came up with it. Empowerment is the name of the game.

Take care,

Bridgette

October 6,  2003

Good Afternoon, Parents! 

Tonight, your child will be bringing home their Unit One test. It was a positive outcome for the class…no one earned a stinky grade, which sets a positive tone for future tests. To help the kids figure out what behaviors helped them be successful, they have a test analysis for homework tonight.  They are to look at their results and fill out the evaluation sheet before they show you both of the items. As this test was a review test, I am not asking for the test itself to be returned but I do want you to see it. By signing the evaluation sheet, this lets me know that you have.  

Right under the ram picture, there is a score with a descriptor highlighted. This is the ranking your child earned on this particular test. The scores, and their matched descriptors, mirror the language and the ranking system on the report cards. In class, we have discussed what these mean and are applying the scoring method to all work. This way, the students will gain an understanding of how work matches class expectations that then matches what is stated on the report card.

Academically, we are charging ahead. In fictional reading, last week we explored characterization and linked it to our study of Identity by using excerpts from our read aloud Poppy and Rye. This week, we will use the same method to link setting with the study of Place. All of this will be applied to our first series of literature circles and prompts this week. In content area reading, the children did a series of lessons with Mr. Laleman focusing on how to read call numbers, locating books in the library and finding a book on the library web site. In class, the children and I completed our first unit on the graphic layout of non-fiction. Next on the docket is a discussion and application of strategies to find key words. In spelling, the children are being introduced to the concepts behind syllabication and open and closed syllables. We are finishing up the rough draft of our shoe paragraph in the lab with a particular focus on application of the Idea Rubric, which came home to you a few weeks ago. In social studies, we move on to the Kofun era of Japanese history after do a Web Quest on the Ainu along with a topographical map of Japan. In science, our first real experiment using a variant of the scientific method and springs will happen this week.  

Bunka-wise, the prints and the haiku are in from last week’s grade level haiku extravaganza. I will be posting some example on the class web site here directly. This week continues the fun with Japanese Sports Day on Friday. Aka to shiro, gambate!   

Phew!

Bridgette

October 15, 2003

Dear Parents,

A very short and very sweet newsletter sans the homework table. I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday. This week finds 4-F into the routine of school as we finish up older sections of work and gear up for some exciting things next week.like, a Halloween poetry writing days with Kay Clarks' second graders, a visit to Kyodo-no Mori for Bunka, and starting our preparation for our Fuchu Dai Ichi buddies. To that end, there is a paper in the package about volunteers for Fuchu Dai Ichi. Please be sure that your children hand it to you. There is no spelling and no reading this week unless they are one of the kids who has to catch up to meet the end challenge goal of 750 minutes. Our celebration will be next week.

Other than that, not much more on the horizon. Have a good week. All homework and Scholastic order  is due on Friday!

Bridgette

Sept. 20, 03

Dear Parents,  

What a wonderful week this is going to be. We are absolutely packed with multiple things happening. First of all, we are going on our first field trip tomorrow. It will take up pretty much the majority of the day. We tend to get back to school around 2:30 in the afternoon and the children are WELL exercised, to say the least. It looks like there is a forty percent chance of rain in the afternoon so we need to prepare for that. The trip goes on…rain or shine. Please, be sure that your children have the following with them:

Secondly, we will be starting up two buddy classes this week. The 6-F class will be an extended math pairing with Derrel Fincher’s sixth grade math class. Our first introductory project will be a statistical one based on the number of Halloween visitors who will visit our house on Halloween based on statistics from the last seven year. (Yes, we have kept the data and the figures are phenomenal!) Our second grade pairing is with Kay Clarke’s second grade class and we will be writing a series of Halloween poetry with them culminating in a Kid Pics slide show of their poems. Too, Fuchu Dai Ichi happens next week. The kids have been assigned their buddies from our Japanese sister school and have finished their invitations for next week’s festivities.  

The Mechanics Rubric comes home today. The class and I worked up the base skills that a fourth grade student should have in language arts mechanics in October. Then, we worked on a grading rubric. Please read this over with your child and then sign it.  

Thank you to all the people who volunteered to help with Fuchu Dai Ichi. You are wondrous! To be able to accommodate folks who wanted to help on the food end, as there were certain areas with a surplus, I moved the extra folks into other food slots. If this does not work for you, personally, would you please let me know? The list will is posted on the front of the web site.  

Our reading challenge party will happen this Friday. The kids met, or exceeded, their 30 minute a night level which worked out to 750 minutes since we began. Congratulations go out to each and every one! Our theme of the afternoon will be Halloween. The room will be decorated, masks made, poetry written and treats dug into. What fun!  

Parent teacher conference information goes out today. It is stapled to the front of your package.

Take care,

Bridgette 

 November 4, 2003

Dear Parents,  

I can hardly believe that last week was only a week long, it seemed more like a year given that there was so much packed into it. Fuchu Dai Ichi and Halloween all went swimmingly due in a large part to all the parent help and support. Thank you all so very much. I know that the children had a wonderful time because of it. A special domo arigato goes out to Mrs. Luebbers, our room mom, for the wonderful job on the Halloween party!  

Just so that you can get an idea of what went on, by Friday, there will be three new web galleries posted. The brief Halloween one is posted today as is the 4-F student’s final reflections on their Oregon buddies. The 2C Halloween poems will be booted up in the next few days. Currently, the students are working on their Fuchu Dai Ichi paragraph and web page.  

Academically, we are winding up our Place Unit. This week, I will be giving a series of bench mark activities to get an idea of the amount of growth your children have had from the start of the year until now. Our next unit, starting next week, is Location. On Friday, your children will be bringing home all their documented work for you to look at over the weekend plus a curriculum outline about what they have done thus far. This will help both you, and them, understand the report card that follows on Tuesday.  

A few of the strands continue into the Location Unit. We are half done with the simple machines unit, as we have pulleys, screws and inclined plains left. Too, in math, we have a few of the subtraction and addition algorithms left to be done in Unit Two.  Parenthetically, the Math 6 buddy pairs have done a great job of statistical prediction and graphing over the last couple of weeks. We will finish up this portion of our joint work this Thursday. The Ghost Fox literature circles begins this week.  

In social studies, we will be ready to start the researching portion of our study of Shintoism on November 19^th and 20^th. There will be five groups assigned to five different, and very important, ancient Shinto places: Isumo Tasha, Miakejima, Mt. Onatake, Ise Shrine, and Fuji-sama.  Are there five research parents who would be willing to come in from 12: 15-3:06 on those two days to work with one of the groups? It would involve helping them research and collect some data on one of the shrines, help the students develop a shrine experience and make a symbol for the group. Further information about just what is involved will be sent to the individuals who, says she pleadingly, are willing to come in and give it their all. If so, please drop me a note via email. 

Dear Parents,  

Posted a wee bit later than usual but here we are. I spent an educational time in Singapore over the weekend at a literacy conference. I was able to garner a few nuggets that I am going to guinea pig your children with. That said, I know that your children have been in good hands with Mrs. Cain over the last few days.  

The researching went well last week for a first run. The students applied very step-by-step processes to gathering information from encyclopedias, non-fiction and web sites. They also learned a way to specifically search for information using color coding and for note-taking with sticky notes. This week, we will continue to use these techniques as they do further researching on their shrines. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Mrs. Luebbers, Mrs. Tenney and Mrs. Patrick who came out on the two days to be research parents. On Tuesday, the class will be going to a local Shinto shrine that is just across from the school to get an idea of the different buildings and objects that are standard in a shrine. In other aspects of content area reading, we continue to cover how to read text that compares and contrasts viewpoints and information. Too, the students have learned some pointers about charts and maps. Our literature study of Ghost Fox continues. The students are exploring character and setting as well as learning how to make inferences at a deeper level. In science, levers are our main focus over the next two weeks and we will finish up the whole unit before the kids go on their breaks. In math, the third unit covers basic multiplication and division facts. It is short and sweet and will also finish before the break.  

So, how DOES 4-F celebrate the holiday season? Like all fourth grade classes with a gift exchange. However, with a variant. Each girl brings in a maximum 200 yen gift for each girl in the class. The each boy brings in a 200 yen gift for each boy. NOT INCLUDING THEMSELVES!  So, that is seven girl gifts and 13 boy gifts. What we will do is, at the class party on Wednesday, Dec 17^th, the students will pass out their gifts. Handmade gifts, cards and cookies have always been greatly appreciated. For the students who are leaving earlier than the party, I will distribute their gifts for them and be sure to store the ones they receive so they can pick them up after they return.  

Take care and have a great holiday,

Bridgette