The First Week of School

Homework - Thursday 9/10/09

Since this is the first week of school, homework this week is most an introduction to the types of work that we'll be doing. Real homework will start next week.

Tonight's homework is to read for 15 minutes or longer, complete the entry for 9/10 on your reading log, and do one entry in your RRJ.  For your entry, please write today's date, the title and author of your book. Your entry can be about any of the things we discussed on the RRJ sheet. Some examples might be to make a prediction about what will happen next in your story,  write down some questions you would like to ask the author or one of the characters, draw an illustration of what you imagine the scene in the book looks like, write down any vocabulary words you didn't know, describe your favorite part of the book, explain whether you like or dislike any of the characters.

If you're still confused, don't worry. This will become much more clear as you get used to working on your journal.

Also - you don't have to do all of the thigns I listed. Just choose one or two that seem to fit with what you're reading.

Don't forget to glue or staple the RRJ sheet onto the first page of your RRJ.

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Welcome back!  It was so wonderful to meet everyone this morning. I think we're going to have a fabulous year together.

Homework - Wednesday 09/09/09

Reading - the homework for reading is going to be to read for at least 15 minutes every night. The time will increase as the year goes on, but we start at 15 minutes. Of course you're welcome to read much much more. :)

Reading for tonight is optional as I know the first night can be pretty hectic. I'll hand out and explain reading logs tomorrow.

Math - the math homework tonight is very simple. Figure out how many toes there are in your family. Parents, please don't be concerned about the simplicity of the problem. The purpose of this problem is to focus on all the different strategies people might use to figure out the answer. We'll be discussing those various strategies in class tomorrow. So, for this problem (as with many in 4th grade) HOW you solved the problem is as important as what your answer is.

THINK about Henry Hudson and the anniversary of his arrival in NYC 400 years ago this week. If you find any information or see anything in books or newspapers, please bring it in to share.

400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's arrival

Fourth grade Social Studies focuses on the geography and history of New York. One of the units is all about Henry Hudson and his explorations and the subsequent Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later to become NY).

This coming week marks the 400th anniversary of Hudson's arrival and discovery of the river later to be named after him. There are many celebrations going on that offer us excellent learning opportunities. One such celebration that begins this weekend sounds like a fun family activity.

A model colonial Dutch village has been created in Bowling Green Park in lower Manhattan and will be open from September 4th to 14th. The village is made of 12 traditional houses, a windmill and a greenhouse. There will also be workshops, craft lessons (such as making wooden shoes) and Dutch food available for sampling. Admission is FREE. 

You can find out more about the entire NY400 celebration and events at the NY 400 Site.

Editing in an opinion here on Sunday 09/06/09
My family and I went to visit this today and it wasn't quite what I expected. The houses are really only wooden facades/booths. The windmill was pretty cool and each "booth" features something like glassblowing, wooden shoes being carved. tulip bulbs. There's a booth selling what seem like mini-pancakes with butter and sugar and another one selling various kinds of herring and salmon sandwiches.  The greenhouse, a tribute to modern Amsterdam's ecology-mindedness, did have a fascinating display of bees inside a plexiglass case. I took lots of pictures!

Overall, it's a nice part of a day spent in Battery Park, but not enough of a destination by itself.

We did go on to walk through the Irish Hunger Memorial. If you've never been, it's a simple yet very touching tribute to those who fled Ireland during the Great Famine. It's built around a tumbledown stone cottage that was brought over from Ireland.

Welcome back!

Dear Caroline, Dean, Alexandra, Jason, Isabelle, Anthony, Ryan, Stephanie, Michael, Isabella, Michael, Kaylin, Gabriella, Charlie, Victoria, Joseph, Brandon, Amanda, Sabrina, Patrick, Thomas, Nicolas, Bobby, Teressa, and Aisling,



I've been re-reading the letters you wrote to me last June and I thought I'd try to answer some of your questions and address some of your worries.

First of all, I can't wait to meet you! I've been in school all this week getting our classroom ready and planning some of the things we'll do next week. I've got some wonderful books to read with you and some exciting projects for us to work on. I have a feeling we're going to have a really great year together!

Quite a few of you mentioned being worried about how hard the work in 4th grade might be. I'll be honest with you - we work very hard. But - we have fun doing it and we learn a lot. No one should be at all worried; I can tell just from reading your letters that you are ALL up to meeting the challenge of 4th grade.

We do have some changes. In the past, the NYS tests that you've probably heard so much about have been in January (ELA), March (Math), and April-May (Science). This year NY has changed the schedule so that ELA will be at the end of April, Math will be the beginning of May, and Science the end of May. That gives us plenty of time to be sure you're well prepared.

Several of you mentioned your pets. For most of my life I never had any pets except for fish, but last year we got a puppy (Fenway) and a kitten (Bart). I've spent a lot of time playing with them this summer. I'll show you pictures when you come to school. If you have a pet, please bring in your picture so we can share. If you don't have a pet, is there something else that's special to you? I'd love to see a picture or hear about that too.

It sounds like many of you had great vacations planned. I can't wait to hear about them. I went to Maine at the end of the school year for my daughter's graduation from college but I spent most of the summer in Brooklyn. with my dog and cat. Remind me to tell you about my dog's adventure at camp!

You told me lots about your families - some of you are only children, some are oldest, and some are youngest. I was the oldest girl and I had three younger sisters but no brothers. I always wanted a brother. Now I have a husband and two daughters, but the kitten and dog are boys!

I hope you've all been reading this summer. Reading is one of my most favorite things to do. I love talking about books too. I'm really looking forward to hearing about what books are your favorites. I have a bulletin board ready for us to post about books that we recommend, so start thinking about what books you read this summer that you might like to recommend to others.

Enjoy your last weekend of summer! I'll see you all on Wednesday morning.

Mrs. Curry

HAPPY SUMMER

Saying goodbye at the end of the year is always so bittersweet. The promise of summer calls to us but it's so sad to say good-bye to friends.

So, we won't say good-bye. Instead we'll say - Have a great summer. See you in September!

Week of June 15th - 19th

No homework this week because we're working hard all week in school!

Week of June 8th - 12th

Thursday -

Read for 20 minutes
In RRJ respond to the following - In the chapter we read today, Catherine is feeling guilty about not going to OT (because Jason sent the carrots for her guinea pigs). She says she's going to make it up to him. What would you do to make it up?

Science - mini-report on weather project due tomorrow. Note - this is not the PowerPoint you did with your partner. This is your own mini-report of what you did.

Social Studies - take home test due Monday.



Wednesday -
NOTE: a few people have still not turned in their colony reports or their St. Ephrem reports. Time is running out!

Religion - Take Home test is due tomorrow. Also do pages 141 - 145.

Read for 25 minutes

SS - workbook pages 39 and 41 (not 40).




Tuesday -

Religion - St. Ephrem report was due today. If you forgot it, do it tonight!
Take Home test is due Thursday!

Math - Daily Homework Practice Book page 138

Read for 20 minutes

In RRJ respond to the following - In the chapter of Rules we read today, Catherine decided to go to her new friend Kristy's house rather than to OT with her brother. What do you think of her decision? How do you think Jason feels when she doesn't show up at OT?

Monday -

Religion - St. Ephrem report is due tomorrow for his feast day
Take Home test is due Thursday!

Math - sheet on decimals

Read for 20 minutes

Social Studies - test signed and rewrite essays if you lost any points on them.


Our school Mass for the Feast Day of St. Ephrem is Tuesday at 11am. All are welcome to join us.

Week of June 1st - 5th

Thursday -

Read for 20 minutes.

Math - Daily Homework Practice book page 134 (including spiral review).

Social Studies - text pages 194 - 195 - Vocabulary, People and Places, Facts and Main Ideas.

Anyone who hasn't presented their Native American legend yet should practice and be ready to present.

Wednesday -

Read for 20 minutes.

In Rules, Jason's mother asks Catherine to make 7 word cards that she thinks Jason should have in his word book. In your RRJ, make 7 2" by 2" word cards that you would make for Jason.

Math - sheet

Social Studies - write up a good copy of the notes you took on your colony.



Tuesday -

Reminder - Dress Down on Wednesday - $2 to fight Crohn's Disease

Read for 20 minutes

Social Studies - workbook pages 37 and 38

Math - sheet on decimals

Reading = Practice book pages 129 - 130




Monday -

Read for 20 minutes

Social Studies - workbook pages 35 and 36

Reading Practice book pages 179 - 180