Dear Families,

I hope you all had a fantastic April break!  Our students returned well rested with some fun stories to share from their time off.  They have worked SO incredibly hard this week with our ELA MCAS from Tuesday-Thursday.   I was proud of their work ethic and the effort put into ensuring they tried their best!  I know we will all enjoy returning to our normal schedule these next few weeks. Today, we started our Friday with a Buzz Assembly!  We also spent the day wrapping up unfinished material before our April Vacation.   In ELA, we are continuing our novel study, Shiloh.  We will return to our Journey’s curriculum consisting of weekly spelling, grammar, and an anthology story.  This will start up on Monday!  

This week in math, students began their new unit, which also happens to be our last unit for the 4^th grade year! These lessons will consists of fractions, angles, world problems, and measurement.  When our curriculum ends next month, we will be spiraling back to review previous skills taught throughout the year.  Our MCAS for math will be on May 16^th and 17^th. In other content areas, Social Studies is filled with new updates.  We are beginning our study on the Southwest Region, which will leave us with just the West to complete over the next few months.  Students will be assigned their final State Project next week, which includes a variety of options for activities that they can complete to show their knowledge about the state of their choice.  We are also continuing our China Study and have been busy exploring the themes as well as composing nature poems.  Across all areas, our fourth graders are learning tai chi with Mr. B, practicing songs with Mrs. Cheung, and continuing their Chinese artwork with Mrs. Rollins.  Please stay in touch for more important dates and information regarding our China Culmination.

Today, our desks were organized into collaborative groupings.  At the beginning of the year, students started

out with sort of structure and it helped them to meet and develop relationships with their new peers.  As our school year nears our final months, I have decided to have our desks grouped in this way to encourage students to continue to try out new friendships and learn to work with all different styles and personalities!  We started these groups today, and we will continue to see how they do!  Below are some questions for conversation.  Enjoy the warm weather!

Best,

Ms. Wentworth :)

Questions for Conversation

1. What types of writing were on the MCAS?

2. Did you find the testing difficult, easy, or just right?

3. What did you write your China Poem about?

4. Name some states in the Southwest. 

5. Why is the Western region broken up into two parts?