Friday, January 27, 2023

Weekly Update

I want to begin by sending a reminder about an even being held in the Lower School next week.

Lower School Community Connection Event

Lower School families are invited to attend our latest Community Connection event, a faculty-led workshop about Project-Based Learning. 
 
This workshop will feature Lower School faculty members Maddy Hargis and Meg Zehmer, both of whom are trained in Project-Based Learning and have been instrumental in the success of this program in our Lower School. We hope you will join us for this informative event. 

Here are some curriculum updates:

Math: We have finished our geometry chapter and I will give the girls an assessment on Tuesday.  Today, we did a fun culmination project where they had to apply their knowledge of the geometric skills. They are doing a great job with this project! Next, we will move quickly through our chapter on area and perimeter.


Writing: The girls really enjoyed interviewing a fellow Fourthie, writing a paragraph about them, and making a magazine cover. They did a great job asking deeper questions and learning more about girls in their grade.

 

Social Studies: Next week, we will begin our study of regions in the United States. We will learn about unique aspects to each part of our country as well as learn which states are included in each region.

It is hard to believe we are at the end of January! Valentine's Day is right around the corner and we will have a class celebration on Tuesday, February 14. The girls may start working on a mailbox to hold cards from their classmates. They may be as creative with this as they would like and it would be great to have the boxes and Valentine's in by Monday, February 13. They need to make a card for each student and here is a list of our classmates. They may also make a Valentine for friends in other classes that we will deliver.
 

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Anna
  • Special Week: Vivian
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!
  • Future dates:
    • April 28: Grandparents' Day
    • April 29: Daisy Days

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Weekly Update

The girls enjoyed the short week and the highlight seemed to be the writing lab project where they interviewed a fellow Fourthie. Here are some pictures of them in action.

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Eleanor
  • Special Week: Hampton
  • Monday, January 23: Wear red for Chinese Lunar New Year
  • Homelinks for all math chapters
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!
  • Future dates:
    • April 28: Grandparents' Day
    • April 29: Daisy Days

Friday, January 13, 2023

Weekly Update

Everyone is excited for the long weekend! The girls and I began our discussion about Martin Luther King, Jr. to remember why Monday is a holiday. We began a collaborative mural of his portrait that we will assemble next week. We will continue studying his life and legacy next week.


 

The Fourthies had a special treat today when they helped with the ribbon cutting of a new Lower School playground. They then had a few minutes to play on it as a grade. This is an exciting addition to our campus!

 

Curriculum Updates:

Next week, we will begin a grade wide writing project that the girls are excited about. Each Fourthie will interview another Fourthie and will try to ask "big talk" questions. We learned the difference between small talk and deeper talk, "big talk." They will interview a fellow Fourthie and then write about what they learned. The project will end with each girl designing a magazine cover about their friend. The girls are extra engaged in a task that incorporates friends, pictures, and writing!

The president projects are just about finished. Next week, the girls will share their presidential portrait along with several interesting facts they learned.

In math, we are moving through the geometry unit. This week, we learned about equilateral, right, scalene, and isosceles triangles. Next, we will move on to quadrilaterals and lines of symmetry.

Thank your for partnership and support!

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Jane Randolph
  • Monday, January 23: Wear red for Chinese Lunar New Year
  • Chat and Chew meetings with Mrs. Sterling
  • Homelinks for all math chapters
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!
  • Future dates:
    • April 28: Grandparents' Day
    • April 29: Daisy Days

 

Friday, January 6, 2023

Weekly Update

 

We had a great first week of school in 2023! I am excited to be back and feeling more like myself. I am going to start with some important nuts and bolts.

  • The girls will switch to Chinese for their World Language class the week of January 16
  • We have had several rule refresher discussions this week regarding expectations in the classroom and with computers. It can be hard to return after a two week break so we discussed how everyone can be the best versions of themselves in class.
  • With computers, I do remind the girls that having a laptop to use is a privilege. With that privilege comes responsibility. Some girls have a hard time remembering to bring theirs from home and we have also had 3-4 accidents where a computer has fallen on the floor and the screen has shattered. 
  • Please make sure your daughter brings an afternoon snack because they are hungry when we come in from recess. If anyone wants to send in snacks for the class that I can keep on hand, that would be great!

On to the curriculum...

Math: We jumped ahead to chapter 12, which focuses on geometry. We reviewed lines, line segments, and rays and how they meet at a vertex to form an angle. We learned about different angle types including acute, obtuse, right, straight, and reflex. The girls learned how to use a protractor to measure an angle's degrees. We ended the week learning about specials types of lines, including parallel and perpendicular. We will continue on with triangles and other polygons next week. 

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our presidential research project. The girls are working on their essays and started a portrait today. I look forward to wrapping this up next week and then starting our study of the regions of the United States.

Language Arts: The girls are progressing well with spelling and Wordly Wise. This week, we discussed how the word lists are getting harder and that this is okay. We talked about ways they may need to study a bit more as things become harder.

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Virginia H
  • Special Week: Holloway
  • Chat and Chew meetings with Mrs. Sterling
  • Homelinks for all math chapters
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Weekly Update - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! I am thankful for this sweet group of girls and for all of you. You are supportive, helpful, and encouraging. I wish you and your families a wonderful break and look forward to 2023!

The girls worked hard on the abstract noun project. Here are their movies...enjoy!

QueenAshby
VivianVirginia H.
EleanorAnela
SanaaMeriwether
WallisHolloway
GabbyAmelia
HamptonAnna
Jane RandolphVirginia M.

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper after break: Meriwether
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!


 

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Weekly Update

The girls have earned 75 class compliments and I am proud of them for this accomplishment. We will celebrate on Monday. 🍪🎥

  
Much of next week will be dedicated to preparing for our special Gift Service. The rehearsal and performance schedule is here. I hope you saw the letter from Mrs. Ivens about any extra costume requirements for your daughter's part. She communicated with girls in the choir separately. For any girls in strings, you should have heard from them as well. The letter from Mrs. Ivens is here

 
Since it has been weeks since papers have come home, the girls will be bringing their Friday Folders home today full of lots of work. Please take a few minutes over the weekend to pull out and go through the work. Their math test from chapter 3 is included in it. Thank you!
 
The girls worked hard this week on several fun Christmas activities. In math, we worked on problem-solving by starting the 12 Days of EdPuzzles. After Christmas, we will jump ahead to chapter 12, which is our unit on geometry. 

We discussed the difference between concrete and abstract nouns and began a fun Christmas project. Using Animoto, the girls will create videos where they choose abstract nouns to discuss their holiday celebrations. They will use videos and images to help create a dynamic movie. I will post the final products next week.

The girls have been amazing helpers as I have come back to school. It is so great to be back with them and appreciate all of their help and concern. 💝

Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Amelia
  • Gift Service Rehearsal Schedule
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!

Friday, December 2, 2022

Weekly Update

The girls have had a great week in my absence this week and are working hard. I loved seeing the pictures of them dressed up and I had fun guessing their Wordly Wise word. They did a fabulous job!

They have worked hard in math and learned the order of operations this week. Earlier in the week, they took a chapter 3 test, which was unexpected to them. We will look at it next week and I will give them an opportunity to make corrections. 

The girls have been researching their assigned president and starting to take their notes and turning them into complete sentences. At the end of this project, they will have a multi-paragraph essay and a hand drawn portrait of their president.

I have some fun Christmas activities planned over the next two weeks since the Christmas season is upon us!

Thank you for all of your support!


Reminders:

  • Carpool helper next week: Queen
  • Special Week: Jane Randolph
  • Gift Service Rehearsal Schedule
  • SCAN Gift Card Outreach Project due by 12/6/22
  • Chat and Chew meetings with Mrs. Sterling
  • Homelinks for all math chapters
  • Remember to check SeeSaw for updates from Specials teacher
  • Scavenger hunt question - answer this!

Last Day of School!

Today's Final Assembly was lovely and I am so proud of each and every girl from our class. They grew so much this year physically, emoti...