Grade 4

Dear Parents,

The 4th graders and the pre-schoolers planted the 2nd annual BCD Garden last week. Ms. Doherty, Ms. Sideropolis, Ms. Junod, Mr. Lee and Mr. Spitzer and the students all worked to make this year’s garden better than ever. If you have time this summer to come in and do some watering and weeding we’d love the help – I sent out sign-up sheets yesterday. Enjoy the photos on the attached slide show.

The class presented their Create-A-State projects in the Learning Commons this morning to the Lower School, families and friends. This project not only speaks to their creativity and imagination, but combines their map skills, writing skills, keyboarding skills and design/layout skills. They each created a physical map, a road map, a regions/resources map, a landmark map, a downtown  map, a history of their state along with a flag that reflected the significant events from their past. I’m not sure which was more fun for them, but I enjoyed shepherding them as they combined their skills and artistry into such a rewarding accomplishment. Thanks to Ms. Kisselbrock for helping with the photos attached.

We also have begun to prepare our year-end portfolios. As you know, throughout the year, the students  would select a few pieces from the work sent home at the end of the week to reflect on. Their reflections answered either; why the work was important to them, what would they want someone to know before looking at it, how they solved it, or how they would improve on it the next time. This process of collecting, selecting, reflecting and evaluating encourages each students sense of responsibility for their own learning, something I have worked to inspire throughout the year. Portfolios will be going home at the end of next week.

If possible, please send in some sturdy canvas bags next week. There are quite a few books to go home and cubby cleaning will  be on going. I will try to trickle things home during the week instead of all at once.

Included in the books will be the 4th grade math review book to help keep their math skills fresh. Please either do a bit each week or wait until later in the summer, – to do them all in June kind of defeats the purpose! And please refer to the BCD summer reading list to keep up with reading as well. As you know I’m a big believer in sending post-cards or letters as a fun way to practice writing/spelling. They can send to a classmate from a far away place.

I can’t begin to tell you how special this class is or how lucky I feel to have had the opportunity to teach them this year. I know each and everyone is going to shine in 5th grade as well.

Happy Summer to all and I hope to see you next week at the all-school picnic on Friday, the 8th!

Katharine

https://www.flickr.com//photos/bcdtech/sets/72157696644079554/show/

https://www.flickr.com//photos/bcdtech/sets/72157694353875072/show/

Dear Families,

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now how much fun we all had at the Museum of Science in Boston last Thursday/Friday. The Lightning Show, The Duck Tour of Boston, the Planetarium Show, Omni Theatre, Domino Physics and Inner Tube Rodeo….and let’s not forget the Dippin’ Dots, plus free access to ALL the wonderful hands-on exhibits, made for a pretty jam-packed 24 hours. Thank you to Mr. Gore for being the old hand at this trip and helping at every step of the way.

I hope the attached photos give you some sense of how much fun it was. I sent home some coupons for some events at the Museum if you are able to visit  sometime this next year.

Thank you Krithi and Vikas for our terrific lunch bunch this week. It was a big hit with everyone.

Congratulations to Libby and Ashley for their 2 goals each in Monday’s Varsity Lacrosse game!

Also, we hope you are able to come in this Monday, May 14th to the Learning Commons at 8:15 to meet Jenifer Fox, a finalist in our Search for a new Head of School.  She will be visiting the campus all day and it’s a great opportunity to meet with her and share thoughts and ideas as the school moves ahead.

I hope to see some of you at the final Spring Concert today at 1:30!

To view the slideshow on a mobile device, click this link.

Best, Katharine

Dear Families,

We are in high gear as we approach the end of the year!

Our new reading book is entitled, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson about a young Chinese immigrant who comes to this country (Brooklyn, NY) in 1947, the same year Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in Major League Baseball. As she struggles with language and cultural issues, she is captivated by Robinson’s smashing success on the field and becomes convinced that American truly is the land of opportunity and that there might just be a place for her here after all.
Before reading we did a small unit on who Jackie Robinson was and the magnitude of his contributions to our history. The class was really taken with just how hard he struggled, how brave he was, and learned quite a bit of history along the way.

In Math class, we are full throttle with decimals and fractions. I have also been doing a lot of short and frequent practice tests which are good review for multiplication and division as well. The students are always happy to come to the board and I love to have them explain to their peers how they solved a particular problem – it really helps to activate and strengthen their learning when they own it that way.

This class has gotten so much out of our Create a State unit in Social Studies. They have made Physical maps, Road maps, Region and Resources Maps, Landmark Maps and now we are to our Downtown maps. We will finish the unit with Create a Flag which will involve writing an essay on their state’s history and how the symbols in their flags relates to the story of their State.

As you all know, we are headed to Boston Museum of Science next week! Mr. Gore, who has been on this trip many times before, is coming in on Monday to go over details and answer any questions the class might have.

I cannot close without thanking Lauren Ballinger for her Lunch Bunch extraordinaire – I hope you all know how much the kids appreciate all of the effort you have put into these events.

Happy Spring to all,

Katharine

To view the slideshow on a mobile device, click this link:https://www.flickr.com//photos/bcdtech/sets/72157695402888874/show/