Jane Bartow

April 29, 2010

May Plans

I think I must’ve written about 37, 042 words to you over these past two years! This is the last time I’ll be adding something—other than photos--to the blog of 4B. Seems too soon to end, but the sunshines are ready for some summer sun and then . . . middle school challenges. The good-byes are coming soon enough, but FIRST, there are a few academic challenges ahead.

Curriculum
We’ll be finishing ads for our road trips by the end of May. The children will want to play around with the technology a bit before committing to their final productions. You may help out at home in any way you wish, or you may leave all the work for school. We’ve almost got the basic trips planned, the photos gathered of the sites to be seen, and the scripts ready for the production. So it’s really just the “fun” stuff left in the organizing and putting it all together stage.

In math we’ll be working on division and multiplication of larger numbers during morning math times. During the afternoon groups of 11, when half the class is in Chinese, we’ll work on fractions and decimals. And then we’ve covered the two fourth grade math books.

Thank you for your help on the April essays of memories. We’ll be delivering those on June 3, the day of the Fourth Grade Dinner and Show.

Dates to mark on the calendar
May 6: River Boat Trip departs at 8:45 and returns about noon, in time for recess.

May 12: the growing up talk date (letter sent home 4/27)

May 14: Field Day, starting with lunch about noon (details to follow via email)

May 26 AM: 4B visits the Middle School to get a feel for next year

June 3: Celebration Dinner at 6, followed by a short program featuring some of the many talents of the graduating group

June 7: 11:30 Closing Exercises and Reception

Here are a few photos from March and April of this year. There is a little sampling of the Westwood survival in the winter trip. Each group got a fire going and ended up with hot chocolate. There are also photos of each child with the poster of the person studied in our Famous People unit. Next up will be photos from the end of the year. I’ll let you know when those go up on the blog site.

Thank you all again for the ways you’ve helped the Sunshines this year and last—getting them to bed on time, supplying them with good books to read, organizing play dates, and dropping in to assist us with field trips. We have appreciated all the support!

Jane

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April 5, 2010

by Jane Bartow

April

Friends,

With the arrival of spring weather, we are definitely in the countdown to the end of the year. The children have already completed most of the required projects for fourth grade. Their famous person posters are hanging in the commons area by the gym and in every space we could commandeer around our door. Their state reports remain in the room as references for our road tour project. We’ll soon be finishing the Mystery Class geography study which Dave Kust has been kind enough to lead. That leaves just a couple of things to complete before finishing out this year.

Curriculum plans (beyond the usual)

Math: We’ll be working on double digit multiplication and long division with remainders for much of this month. The children begin math book #2, along with a new H & R book. Practicing multiplication (and division) facts on a regular basis is a start in being able to work so many arithmetic problems efficiently. So could you put some review into the weekly homework schedule for your sunshine?

Social Studies: We will begin work on planning a road tour. Each child will begin and end in Minnesota. The rules include stopping over in a minimum of five states on the way to and fro as well as finding something of interest to do in each of those states. One visit should be to a national park, and one to something historical. The other stops on the way will be more influenced by the interests of the children. They will use each other as resources, since we have experts on many states in this classroom. You may be called upon to help with this project, giving suggestions for routes, places to see, helping to select music representative of the trip, etc. Feel free to advise your sunshine if asked to do so. The work on this project will become a technological production to advertise the trip.

Thank you project: Since this is the last year of Lower School for these budding tweens, one of the end-of-year projects in our room will be to write little memories from earlier grades to present to former teachers on the day of the fourth grade dinner. Instead of essay assignments for these first three weeks, these memories/stories will be the assignment. The children should write something from preschool (if at Breck), Kindergarten, first grade and second grade. If a teacher of PE or art or music has touched your sunshine in some way, it would be good to jot a little story of a time in that class/some lesson remembered for that teacher, too. These stories should be in the computer so we can print them out here on the day of the fourth grade dinner.

Heads up

Expect one more WordMasters project before the end of the year. Watch for that coming home with the homework. There probably won’t be as much time to prepare for this one because it usually arrives during our spring break.

We’ll be swimming the first two weeks of school. Our last day for suits and towels is Friday, April 16.

The children will take their Art Institute trip on the morning of April 21.

There are two concerts this month that the children might want to attend. I will be at both of them and will be glad to chaperone anyone who wants to sit with me. The programs run from 7 to about 8; I’ll be around to gather in the children by 6:30 at the Middle School doors.
The band plays in the chapel on April 27th.
The strings play in the Theatre on Thursday, the 29th.
(These dates are a change from the printed Breck calendar.) If your child is interested in playing with either group next year, it would be a good idea to begin imagining the experience of making such music! Will you let me know, though, if your sunshine is coming and wants to sit with me? Pick up would be around 8:15 again by the Middle School doors.

So, on we march, with much to accomplish in the next busy days!

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February 12, 2010

by Jane Bartow

Valentine Talent Show

The Valentine party was a success. We planned it last week. Fifteen minutes for opening cards and thanking each other and eating. Then a talent show. Then off to the pool for PE. The children enjoyed their cards, though several said they missed the candy some people inserted in previous years. Nevertheless there were some creative cards--puzzles, riddles, things to put together or fortunes to scratch off--and the planned opening time stretched to 25 minutes. Then it was off to the talent show--a selection of instrumental numbers, silly skits, the story of St. Valentine, a card trick, a living dinosaur, and a rap. We laughed and clapped and cheered the performances and thoroughly enjoyed the many talents in 4B. I thought you might want to see some of the photos from the Valentine Talent Show of 2010.

Jane

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January 29, 2010

by Jane Bartow

Month of Friendship

The Month of Friendship

The end of January finds the children with many new skills. They’ve tried out and actually played a number of instruments. And, oh, it was fun to be the audience as they experimented with reeds and strings and brass. Such sweet cacophony!

We experimented with magnets and electricity in its static form.

Our study of geometry led us into areas and perimeters of triangles of various kinds as well as transformations (rotations, slides, and reflections) of polygons. The children have worked hard to get their state reports organized and in a finished form by the due date of Feb. 5. Several completed their work--editing and all--before January evaporated.

Although February is a short month—and briefer yet in school—we have a lot to accomplish in the next weeks, too. We begin a mystery class on Journey North. The children will try to figure out mystery locations by knowing the photoperiods at those locations during the month. We study current electricity with Mr. Wright, physics teacher in the upper school; then we can begin our own experiments with hooking up circuits.

February is a month of testing. On Feb. 5, we have the second WordMasters test and the due date for the state reports.
February 8 marks the beginning of ERB tests for fourth grade. This year there are ten tests to be taken in about 7 days, and your sunshine may come home needing more energy to carry on. Because our days will be so full of testing, the little blocks of academic time we have left will be devoted to reading biographies and working on multiplication of big numbers in math.

February has periods of relaxation and fun, too. On Feb. 9, we will head to the Steppingstone Theatre to study the life of MLK. And on the 11th, we’ll have our valentines celebration. The end of February marks the beginning of the Iditarod sled race and some excitement for studying the beginnings of that as well as following this year’s race.

And at the end of the month, we'll spend some time thinking about The Sunshines. The 25th and 26th are conference days. I will love having a cup of coffee together while we chat about the past year and a half and our expectations for these last months of Lower School.

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December 18, 2009

by Jane Bartow

Party photos

After our wonderful concert last night, the children and I were a little weary this morning. But that didn't stop us from having a great party this afternoon! We set up several stations and the sunshines roamed among them. One was, of course, the food. We had cupcakes and hot chocolate with marshmallows and candy cane stirring sticks. Angie Hatfield opened up a glamorous station for decorating a Christmas ornament. Cathy Gnatek got these innocent children busy with gambling by playing the dreidel game for

some of their favorite candies. Burgundi Harris sparkled up the place with a limbo corner. Randy Kurth and Kathy Roland brought in popcorn, cranberries, breads, etc. for making garlands for the birds. (After the party we threw those into the trees on the playground.) Our party ended with some dancing in the commons--the last, as you shall see, with a conga line of MOVEment. I thought you might enjoy scrolling through a slideshow of the action, so here goes . . .

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December 4, 2009

by Jane Bartow

December Update

We're having winter here--gray days, holiday songs and decorations, heavier winter wraps for recess, and synthesizing some of the new ideas in the curriculum.

I imagine you've heard a bit about The Chosen State. Fourth graders are interested in state birds (some of the states have the same bird. . . ), state nicknames, etc. Details are fun for kids this age. A few of our Sunshines are into the history of "their" states or the economy. We're making headway in figuring out why these states came into existence and what makes each unique in the UNITED States.

Grandparents Day was a lot of fun for all of us. I had a contingency plan, but the children had their own plans and the only thing we got to do from my plan was a thank you time for all of us together. It was a wonderful morning, full of love and focused attention on each child.

We've finished the unit three math testing, and you each have received your child's score on that. We're into a geometry unit these days, studying angles.

We biddy again these last two weeks before our winter break. That changes lunch time to 11:15 instead of 12:40. You might want to take that into account when planning an after school snack for your fourth grader.

If you'd like to take a look at a few photos from November, I'm attaching those in a slide show. The early slides were from our readers theater at the end of October. We have some special grandparent/visitor shots, too.

I'll see you all at the program on Dec. 17th. Could you all please have your children here by 7:00 for a class holiday photo op? The following day we will celebrate with a new year's party, which is being organized by Angie Hatfield, Cathy Gnatek, and Randy Kurth. Then it's a two week break for relaxation and reconnection as a family. But I'll be looking forward to our gathering again in January!

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October 30, 2009

by Jane Bartow

November Thoughts

Our butterflies are free and hopefully near their Mexican resting spots.

Our first biddying assignment was a success.

Halloween is finished, and we are already heading toward the winter holidays. We had our dream party, thanks to Nancy Bigos and her mother, Ellen Schmidt, Jim Mayer, Jennifer Ryan, Kathy Roland, and Angie Hatfield.

Unit two (geometry) in math is a memory, hopefully imprinted somewhere in these 22 brains. We polished up the rulers and measured in ye olde English system as well as, chiefly, in the metric system.

Some of the children put on a radio play (readers’ theater) for a third grade class.

The regions study posters and maps were finished

with a lot of good teamwork and cooperation in the five groups; the regions teams are working on presenting their findings to the class early this month.

We’ve accomplished a lot in our first months of fourth grade!

As we look forward in this new month, these are the academic places we’re heading:
1. Learning to take care of the computers, as well as writing the weekly essays—perhaps with more competence in typing.

2. Reading more complicated literature, as well as non-fiction pieces about the states, some plays and Time magazine/news articles.

3. Beginning individual state research by reading about the state chosen and then constructing an I-chart to hold information.

4. Using a drop box for some assignments.

5. Practicing with place value and multi-digit addition and subtraction (unit 3), as well as reviewing double-digit by single digit multiplication (34 X 5).

6. Working to raise a roof on a school in Zimbabwe; the month of November is devoted to that.

7. Celebrating with grandparents and friends on November 25 with Grandparents Day activities.

That’s a lot to do in a short month, but I think we’re up for it.

Please remember that Fridays are work nights for me. If you’d like to chat, give me a call and drop in.

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October 1, 2009

by Jane Bartow

September Life

September Life

We have established some routines for the year this month; we’ve traveled to key trees; we have new computers to enrich our learning; and we have caterpillars eating us out of house and home.

A new routine we’re beginning is to start some kind of themed writing on Mondays; that assignment should be enriched and extended with details each night and brought to school on Fridays. Feel free to be interested, to help with thinking, and to allow the ownership of the writing to belong to your child.

In addition, children should record their reading on the monthly calendar in their assignment notebooks. At the end of the month, would you please initial that?

Another routine is keeping our computers up and running. The children have begun a PowerPoint collection of slides, delineating their reading this year. In addition, they have begun files of their writing again. The first piece was a poem about something in nature. The fourth graders know how to change a background/desktop. Ms. Quick shared a website for typing with us. You might want to try that at home: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ Of course we have been searching for and reading information about caterpillars and monarchs on line.

THANK YOU to our helpers, Kathy Roland, Randy Kurth, and Louise Platt, who visited Westwood Nature Center with us so we could practice keying trees. There is a website for keying on our new computers, too, but it was special to do it outdoors with real trees and a beautiful blue sky. It’s the beginning of understanding the scientific order of Naming Things.

Part of our science curriculum is measuring shadows monthly to see what happens to daylight as the year progresses. Eventually, we’ll be looking at photo periods in our mystery class. This noticing of the sun is the beginning to that study. Watching our geochron has been fascinating to all of us.

We’ve been feeding Danaus Plexippus, and it is becoming a high hunt for milkweed as these babies grow up. The children are measuring their little ones and keeping track of food eaten, as well as growth. We know that many of the monarch roosts long ago left the state, so our babies have a ways to go to catch up, given good weather and some favorable atmospheric winds.

In math, we’ve finished our unit on fluency, and most of these children are fairly accurate and quick with the math facts. We are working in the first “new” unit of our math books. Reading graphs, pictographs, and tables to practice solving multiplication and division problems is the theme. More complicated story problems will cycle in and out of our work in this unit.

The class is currently reading together. Our House is about a place in Levittown, NY. The story takes us through several decades in a house—a veritable time machine from WWII to about 2000. It will help us once again to go into the past as we look at how our country was established.

We begin biddying on October 5. That means we’re in charge of helping the preschool and kindergarten teachers with their family serving of lunch daily. It’s a big responsibility and gives us an earlier time to eat; we eat at 11:ish for a couple of weeks instead of at 12:30. The sunshines might be hungry upon arrival home!

You can see that there’s a lot going on in fourth grade!

Upcoming

Raptor Center Fall Open House
When: Sunday, October 11, 2009 from 11am to 4pm 
Where: The Raptor Center  1920 Fitch Ave   St. Paul
Why: Flock to The Raptor Center for the annual Fall Open House! Hear real-life clinic stories from our veterinarians, meet our education eagles, hawks, owls and falcons beak-to-face,  participate in hands on activities for kids of all ages, and see programs with live raptors.

October 15-16: Workshop days/no school for students

October 30: Halloween parade and party
Helpers are Nancy Bigos, Angie Hatfield, Antonelli Lindsay, Ellen Schmidt, Amy Mayer and Randy or Kathy Roland.

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October 1, 2009

by Jane Bartow

Homework

Today we begin homework assignments for fourth grade.

DAILY ASSIGNMENT: The children are bringing home a fancy homework notebook with their assignments listed on Sept. 2. Each day's work will be listed by date in the same way.

READING LOG:
In addition, before September daily assignments begin, there is a full calendar of the month. On that calendar, I would like you to help your fourth grader remember to list books read/minutes read (30-40) or pages read daily. Because the fourth grade teachers have parents initial those reading times at the end of the month, I think we should go with that routine, too. So when September is over, you'll know how much reading your sunshine has been doing by looking back at that monthly calendar, and you can sign off.

Otherwise, it's always a good idea to be aware of your child's homework. Taking a look at the notebook ASAP, organizing the evening for getting the assignments finished, and staying out of the way unless help is needed will help your fourth grader become more independent. When your child doesn't understand something, if you can help or explain things, please do so. But would you also let me know that there was a problem? I'd like to be very, very certain that these special children understand, and it is my job to fill in the gaps.

Of course, if there are special circumstances and you have no time for homework, drop me a note in the assignment book or on line. We'll work something out together.

Happy Homework!

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October 1, 2009

by Jane Bartow

Day One

It was a joyful reunion in this room today as the children gathered again. We see that there are some new routines for the year and some of the same old. The children went to music and PE; half the children went to Chinese today. We designed and put up locker name tags, had several class meetings, read poems together, had a short GRAB time after a visit to the library, did some math pages--a complicated issue because we now don't write IN workbooks. Thinking the math and finding an organization for writing answers on theme paper can be problematic at first, and there were several children who muttered about not having workbooks to work in any more. Most finished the assignment; the ones who didn't finish have that assignment for homework.

Like most of the other fourth grade teachers, tonight's homework is to get back into the reading routine of 30-40 dedicated minutes. We'll have some additional homework beginning on Wednesday evening this week and we'll be in our new homework routine next Tuesday.

Thanks to those of you who sent in soil samples. We have an interesting area set up for viewing those and speculating about geological functions in the developing earth. The children are fascinated with our geochron which shows the area of the world in daylight. They've been watching MN on its passage to bedtime. The children, though more grown up, are still recognizable, still polite and kind, still interested in learning. They are such a gift!

Jane

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August 28, 2009

by Jane Bartow

School Begins

Dear Sunshines,

I can hardly wait to hear about your summer adventures—the camps you attended, the trips you took, the projects you worked on, and the fun you had with your families. I think that’s the first thing we’ll talk and write about, so plan ahead and think about how your story might begin.

This year we have a lot to accomplish. We’ll have computers to help us with our studies and our writing. Won’t it be helpful to be able to grab your computer any old time to get to work?

We have the entire United States of America to study and write about. Start now to think about which state you’d like to study for your special report. If anyone brings in dirt from summer travels, we can start our collection of soil samples from the Fifty Nifty.

After we review third grade math and all those math facts, we have some interesting new math, too, like double-digit multiplication, long division, more geometry, lots of story problems and a bit of algebra.

The novels and books for fourth graders are longer and more complicated, and they will take some thought as we read (some together, some on your own). Writing will be stories, letters, poems, a few essays and lots of reports of different kinds. We’ll be busy with Kidspiration and Word and PowerPoint projects!

Our science starts with a monarch study (monarch butterflies, not kings and queens). Tornadoes, hurricanes, weather and electricity are a few other topics we’ll focus on. We’ll try a mystery class to see if we can locate places on earth just by knowing their sunrise and sunset times.

Now you are the leaders of the Lower School. You might want to try for the Student Council or the Service Committee or the Chapel Committee. We all will be helping the littlest members of the Lower School when we biddy in the lunchroom. We can find other ways to help our school and to be good examples, too.

Can we do all this in just one year? It will be challenging and fun--with more homework and more responsibility. I am so ready to see your smile in our new “home,” room 13!

763/381-8313

Coach Martin, Mrs. Dicker, Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Flakne, and Mrs. Zosel are still with us. Mrs. Mazion will lead our musical interlude twice a week.

Shopping List

For your desk:
Pointed Scissors
Markers
2 Red Pens
2 Highlighters
Pencils (2 dozen- sharpened) and small pencil sharpener
Pencil case for your desk (zippered)
Set of colored pencils (24) and a case for them

For our room:
1 box of tissues

For the coach:
Gym Shoes

For your computer:
Earbud style headphones
Flashdrive (1-2GB)

For your caterpillar:
Keep an eye out for milkweed; don’t bring any yet, though

For your teacher:
Your smile
Curiosity
Any bags of soil you’ve collected over the summer

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