Dear Parents and Guardians,

    Happy New Year! I hope you all had a marvelous vacation filled with rest, relaxation, adventure, and memory-making experiences.  Thank you for your kind sentiments and generous gifts.  I feel honored and appreciated!

**Important Announcements/Field Trips:

Fourth Grade Dance Around the World: January 12 through March 2

Your child will have a unique and amazing opportunity to participate in the DATW (Dance Around the World) experience with Micha Scott.

1.  Classes begin on January 12th for 8 consecutive Thursdays beginning at 1:00 and ending at 1:45.

2.  A Mountain performance tba

3. The State Dance standards link is below as this will be an academic, well integrated instructional experience.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/dagrade4.asp

4. No academic instruction will be set aside--rather, our commitment to the arts as an integral part of a well-balanced scholastic program allows us to extend this special opportunity to our students with grant funds from the SC County Office of Education.

Science Fair- Wednesday, March 1st:

Your child received a Science Fair packet to read over with you and begin planning for a project.  All students in grades 4-6 are required to complete science fair projects at home.  Clear guidelines and timeline are included in the information.   

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/ and SC County Science Fair Link provide helpful resources for project planning.  Please contact me with any questions.

THE SANTA CRUZ SYMPHONY FIELD TRIP: January 26 at 11:00, Civic Auditorium

To inspire our students’ musical talents and aspirations we will participate in this fantastic event.

**A field trip form is in your child’s Monday folder.**

THE SEYMOUR CENTER FIELD TRIP: Tuesday February 21 at 9:00

Santa Cruz County Science Fair: March 11th  (registration deadline: Fri., Feb. 10)

SC County Science Fair Link  We encourage students to enter their projects into the Santa Cruz County Science Fair. Please view the website with your child to consider whether she or he is interested in this opportunity.  The website includes helpful ideas as well as guidelines for projects. If your child is interested in participating, he/she is strongly encouraged to begin a project as soon as possible.

Upcoming Dates:

DATW with Micha Scott-- Thursdays January 12th - March 2nd, 1:50-2:35

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, January 16th

Mt. School Spelling Bee-- Thursday, January 19th, lunch time

SC Symphony field trip-- Thursday, January 26th, 11:00

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, February 13th

HOLIDAY/ NO SCHOOL-- Monday, February 20th

SCCOE Spelling Bee-- Saturday, February 4th

Science Fair-- Wednesday, March 1st

Typing Club

This week we begin typing practice!! typingclub.com

We will be typing in class each week.  Please let me know if computer access is a problem.

Curriculum Updates: January

ELA: we will begin reading/analyzing our literature book: The Birchbark House.  We are working on jots (note taking from the text and elaboration) and uncovering the problems that face our main characters and the life lessons taught in the text.  In addition, we continue to honor our VIP each week and listen and respond to presentations by students and practice writing friendly letters. 

SC Symphony: daily musical compositions are introduced and enjoyed every morning in preparation for our SC Symphony experience on January 26th and beyond.

Mindfulness: best practices in mindfulness are being incorporated in our classroom this year.

Harmony: best practices school-wide curriculum for building a strong social-emotional community within our classrooms.

AR Reading: Accelerated Reader continues to be an important part of our reading program.  Students are reading appropriate AR books found through the AR book find link and then quizzing on them within 24 hours of finishing their book.  It is critical to support your child in book selection (most books are in our school and classroom libraries) and to remind them to read, read, read whenever the opportunity arises--in the car, while waiting for an appt., to and from school, before bed time, on a Sunday in your jammies, etc.  These books should travel to and from the classroom in a daily fashion for classroom DEAR (drop everything and read) sessions as well as nightly reading homework and beyond.  Students have a goal of 14 points for the second trimester.  Each book has a certain amount of points it is worth.  This information is listed with reading level and appropriateness (grade school, middle school, high school, for example).  Points per book range from 3 to 5, generally, with longer books being worth more points.  On an average this is going to mean your child is reading anywhere from 3-5 books a Trimester. That said, help your child select books that are on their reading level (their latest DRA2 level), and have high interest for them.  This will allow them to accomplish reading books from start to finish successfully.

    

Math: Review of 2-digit multiplication and division of large numbers. Please check your child's planner for specific page numbers. We begin fractions next week.  POM solving and presentations (problem of the month) continue. The next MARS task will be introduced this month as well. 

Science: "Solid Earth" and science fair preparation.

Social Studies: explorers.

Writing and Grammar: summary writing continues throughout the year. Personal narratives, grammar and root word study.

Warmly,

Mrs. Young