32

Hurray for the Red, White, and Blue

Things to Know:

Special Week Share:  4-29 Madison Rector

Carpool Helpers: Clare Coleman

Ambassadors: Clare Coleman and Cora Coulbourn

Maypole information: https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm 

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How To Videos for Parents

Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

Naturalization Field Trip

We had a fantastic time at the downtown Federal Court on Wednesday. The girls were at their best, asking and answering questions like champs, and they got a huge and magical
surprise when Mrs. Kefu Dorian, our own Mandarin Chinese language teacher, was naturalized and became a United States citizen right before  our very eyes. Dr. Kapetanis was able to join us for this great moment. Of course, this was heartfelt and the Fourthies were so pleased to be a part of this experience. We even held an extended celebration the next morning and Mrs. Dorian received a red, white, and blue bouquet and the girls enjoyed red, white, and blue dessert popsicles to make it an even more momentous event.


Grandparents and Special Friends

The girls are preparing a brief song and dance review from Mary Poppins for Grandparents and Special Friends Day which will be on Thursday. We look forward to sharing time with Grandparents and Special Friends in the fourth grade classroom and are especially excited to have them come to lunch with us.


Language Arts

Students will be creating poetry to describe the Sheroes they have been studying. They will be attached below their Shero watercolors on the hallway wall outside of the classroom. 

The girls have enjoyed working on Wordly Wise creative projects like emoji and text writing which includes storytelling with lesson 15 Wordly Wise words. The girls have had a lot of fun with this and have gotten quite creative. We will take some time to share them in class. 


Mathematics

Students will continue to review the unit on decimals when we get back after Easter break. We will take an assessment the following Tuesday. 






Literature

In A Year Down Yonder, both my students and "Mary Alice" are beginning to see that Grandma is not just a "force to behold". They are opening their eyes to an old woman who is a hard worker and is willing to go out in the dark and snowy cold evenings to do some trapping to get some furs to trade for cash. With the money Grandma is

saving, she will be buying Mary Alice shoes and clothing that are much needed, since Mary Alice is a growing girl. Even Grandma can now look forward to a happy Christmas.


History 4 Fourthies

Students have enjoyed watching the British Broadcast story of "Carrie's War" and are Creating Scripts for an Episode 9 Production of their own, which they will record on an iPad.  The girls had a choice of working collaboratively on this or summarizing and illustrating three characters in the story for their culmination project on the 1940s.

31

Taking a Peek across the Green

Palm Monday Chapel Monday, April 15th Wear Red!

Field Trip to the District Court for Naturalization Ceremony Wed. 4-17 Information Here

Special Week Share:  4-15 Courtney Carter 

Carpool Helpers: Madison Rector, Nicole Makris, Maisie Nelson

Ambassadors: Victoria Carter and Courtney Carter 

Maypole information: https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm 

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How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

Field Trip to District Court to Watch a Naturalization Ceremony

All of the Fourthies will be headed downtown to the District Court Building to watch a Naturalization Ceremony and visit with the Honorable Judge Lauck on Wednesday, April 17, from 9am to 12:30 pm. This is a rare experience and priviledge to be invited to particitpate in such an iconic American ceremony and it is a wonderful addition to our Immigration Living History Project. Please make sure your daughter has a hearty breakfast and a lunch packed with a beverage, as we will not be back to school in time to eat at the dining hall. We will picnic in the classroom when we arrive back at school. (This is NOT our Living History Immigration Day at School, which will be in May)

A Peek across the Green

Students in the Fourth Grade will be having three 45 minute sessions with Mrs. Sterling to discuss and share information about upcoming Fifth Grade. They will go on a mini tour of the Middle School, practice opening Master Locks, take a look inside lockers, discuss organization techniques and many other wonderful and exciting things about Fifth Grade. Each class will be split in half, so that the girls will have greater opportunities to talk and have their questions answered. The second
half of the class will explore robotics with Mrs. Hamilton-Dixon and Ms. Adkins for three sessions and then the half classes will switch. On May 8th, the Middle School has invited the Fourthies for their first official tour of the Middle School. They will be shadowing a fifth grade student and sharing in the fun of going to capsule classes and meeting the fifth grade faculty. This will take place from 9 until 1 p.m. Please try not to schedule any appointments on this day.

Literature

The girls are learning about the subtle and not so subtle differences between depression era community farm life and city life. Mary Alice has come from a school that housed a thousand students and is now in a school with fewer than fifty. Many of the students live on farms and must forego school during the harvest season. Halloween shenanigans, radio shows, an outdoor privy, and being "way down yonder" are all a part of this city girl's new life in the country.

Mathematics

We will be completing the last few exercises in our decimals unit and will be ready for review next
week. Students are ordering, adding and subtracting decimals. We will practice and fine tune this week.


History 4 Fourthies
Students continue to watch Carrie's War, a child's eye view of England during the War in the early 40's and the adventure of a lifetime that she and her brother will never forget. They are staying with a family until the end of the war when they can be reunited with their family, much like Mary Alice.

30

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 

Special Week Share:  4-15 Courtney Carter 

Carpool Helpers: Lillie Mayer

Ambassadors: Parker Birdsey and Emmie Bonnell

Maypole information: https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm 

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How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

29

Step in Time






       




Things to Know:

Musical for Fourth Grade Parents Wednesday, 4-3 9:45 a.m. 
Lower School Assembly Room
Special Week Share: 3-25 Betsy Spalding

Carpool Helpers: Substitute for Meredith Ford and Cora CoulbournClass 

Ambassadors: Madeline Taliaferro and Campbell Taylor

Fourth Grade Rehearsal Practice for Mary Poppins Musical
Maypole information: https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm 

Password daisy2027

How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

5th Grad Language Choice

The girls have worked fast and furiously to gather props, put costumes together and learn their parts for the upcoming play, Mary Poppins, which will be performed for the Fourth Grade parents this Wednesday, April 3rd! You can feel their excitement and it is contagious. The Fourthies will share the play with the entire Senior Class on Thursday morning. We will share songs, there will be some tears and much laughter for the graduating girls whom we will be celebrating!

Language Arts:

Students have completed their "Sheroes" which are hanging up outside the classroom. We had a nice
discussion on the character traits sheroes tend to have and the girls wrote about a particular shero they had chosen. The girls will present their sheroes to the class next week.

Mathematics:

We are happily racing through decimals. Students love this unit and since the days are getting warmer, we will also be working on some liquid measure and making use of the water feature on the playground. We are almost there but are waiting for some warm afternoons to play in the water.


Literature:

The girls completed their class novel, Scraps of Time, 1928, A Song for Harlem. We have spent time discussing the Harlem Renaissance and many of the people who were involved in it. We are turning now in history, to the late 1930's and have begun to read Richard Peck's novel about life following the Great Depression, A Year Down Yonder. Times are still hard for Mary Alice and her family. As her mother and father struggle to regain their financial footing in Chicago, Mary Alice, who is fifteen, is sent to live with her Grandma Dowdel in a small southern Illinois town. Richard Peck is a master storyteller. This novel has everything it takes to keep the girls' interest!

History for Fourthies:
We will discuss the 30's and 40's. There will be comparisons and contrasts with the post Depression
Era in the United States and Great Britain. The girls continue to work on their Country Research so that we have enough information to begin our fictional Immigration Journals.




                                       This is a quote from the famous writer, Anita Diamant.

28

Rolling Along!













Things to Know:

Special Week Share: 3-25 Betsy Spalding

Carpool Helpers: Substitute for Meredith Ford and Cora CoulbournClass 

Ambassadors: Madeline Taliaferro and Campbell Taylor

Fourth Grade Rehearsal Practice for Mary Poppins Musical

Musical for Fourth Grade Parents Wednesday, 4-3 9:45 a.m. Lower School Assembly Room

Maypole information: https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm Password daisy2027

How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

5th Grad Language Choice

Literature:

The girls have been comparing and contrasting characters from past novels and have noted major similarities and differences between characters. They have also been making inferences and contemplating the behaviors of specific characters and making outcome predictions as well. In Scraps of Time 1928 A Song for Harlem, the author writes about actual famous black Americans, including A'lelia Walker, business woman, patron of the arts, and Zora Neale Hurston, an influential author of American literature and anthropologist. We are always looking for role models and during this March, which is Women's History Month, the girls will be choosing a "Shero" to study.

Mathematics:

The class has been exploring in their math journals and have begun to see the link between percentages, fractions, and decimals. They are practicing converting fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions. They have been exploring decimals using a numberline to determine smaller and greater decimals. We will continue to work on percentages and will practice monetary decimals as well.

Language Arts:

Our Language Arts Writing Lab will revolve around Women's History Month. Students will choose a "Shero" and share her significance and "Super Power" on a google slide and will be shared when it is complete. They will be creating super heroes to put up in the classroom and we will discuss many of the character traits that these women exemplify.

27

Jumping into Spring

Things to Know:

Special Week Share: 3-25 Betsy Spalding

Carpool Helpers: Madeline Taliaferro and Ada Mathews

Class Ambassadors: Natalie Richards and Betsy Spalding

Fourth Grade Rehearsal Practice for Mary Poppins Musical

Musical for Fourth Grade Parents Wednesday, 4-3 9:45 a.m. Lower School Assembly Room

MayPole Dance Information can be found on Everything Else on the Fourthie Website.
https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm Password daisy2027
How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire
Grandparents and Special Friends Day Information

Literature: The girls have completed their novel study on Lily's Crossing by Patricia Giff. They now have a greater view of life in the midst World War II. They are creating hashtags for each chapter and will be sharing them with each other in class when they are completed. We will begin a new novel study on Scraps of Time, A Song for Harlem, by Patricia C. McKissack. This is a story of twelve year old Lilly Belle, who is chosen to participate in a seminar for young black writers. She will spend six weeks in Harlem with her Aunt Odessa and will be studying with 17 other students under the author Zora Hurston in the summer of 1928.

Mathematics: We will continue working on measurement and incorporate adding, subtracting and rounding decimals when we return from Spring Break. Students will be enjoying liquid measurement outside as soon as the weather begins to warm.


Language Arts: Haiku Spring Poems and Tanka Response Poems have been completed. The girls have been enjoying the study of Japanese and Chinese brush watercolor paintings and have created brush watercolor bamboo to complement their poetry. We will be hanging these on the bulletin board outside of the classroom along with their Haiku and Tanka poems. Take a look at this quick and easy explanation of Chinese Brush Painting.            Watercolor Bamboo Painting Tutorial

Compliment Party: We had a wonderful adventure on Wednesday, going to Zazoli Sweets. The girls "stepped in time"  for their Compliment Party so that we could walk there, choose some delicious treats, and walk back at a quick pace in order to join Mrs. Marshalek for P.E. A great time was had by all. It was a wonderful little neighborhood adventure.

History 4 Fourthies: Students are completing the first pages of their Country Research Reports. They are using the Lib Guide, which they
can navigate to from the Fourthie Site, "Everything Else". There the girls can find on line Encyclopedias and special information pages for their Countries. It is incredibly easy to navigate and has outstanding amounts of information.



Have a Wonderful Spring Break!

26

Winter into Spring

Things to Know:

Special Week Share: Maisie Nelson

Carpool Helpers: No Carpool Helpers this Week

Class Ambassadors: Madison Rector and Maisie Nelson

Fourth Grade Rehearsal Practice for Mary Poppins Musical

Musical for Fourth Grade Parents Wednesday, 4-3 9:45 a.m. Lower School Assembly Room
MayPole Dance Information can be found on Everything Else on the Fourthie Website.
https://mcfourthies.weebly.com/maypole.htm Password daisy2027
How To Videos for Parents
Final Assembly Attire

The girls are learning their fractions and are particpating in fun and  fabulous Edpuzzles which are created specifically for our fourth grade math units. Here is a sample of one of the Edpuzzles the girls enjoyed:    Embarked

They enjoyed collaborating on this and many other activities in Singapore Math.

Since this week will be filled with completing book report projects and Innovations with Big Sisters on Friday, there will be light homework through Wednesday. Students will be creating hats with their Big Sisters on Friday.  The girls may want to bring items in to share or to use on their own with other supplies that will be on hand in the classroom. Big Sisters will be bringing in items as well.

A little sunshine peeked through the clouds at school, and with the blessing of Dr. Kapetanis, 4-C took a short but fruitful mini field trip to Zazoli Sweets! The girls were thrilled to celebrate their 25 compliments and satisfy a sweet tooth as well. What fun! The girls were giddy with all of the treats to look at, but kept their cool, made wise choices and also kept to their budget.

Students will begin researching the Country of their choice and create an iMovie with interesting facts and visuals for their oral presentation. This is a long term project which will be completed by the beginning of April. The girls are using the school library for books and online encyclopedias to gather research materials. Mrs. Irving will discuss sources with the girls and teach them the rudiments of putting together a bibliography and how to use kid friendly citation tools.

The girls are working with Helping Verbs and here is a cute song that they are learning to remind them of which words are helping verbs.                       

The Helping Verb Blues

A Spring Conference Schedule is being prepared and will be emailed to you this week!