June 15th, 2023

 Dear families,
I can't believe it is already the end of the year. The past few weeks have been a blur of activity, and we've barely had any time to work on our blog. Here is a quick summary of past events:
In Language Arts the students have been working non stop on finishing up their book club books, reading with a partner, working independently or working with me on discussion questions, making connections, describing character traits and finding themes. We culminated the book club activity with a meeting where students reading the same book gathered with a couple of teachers or facilitators to discuss the highlights of the book. Ms. Griswold and I met with the students that had read "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate, and I was blown away by the deep understanding and the insights that all the students shared. I love to talk about books, and sharing with the students how much each of us loved this book made our reading even more significant. This was an amazing 4th grade project that we could not have done without the guidance of our reading specialist Mrs. Zalusky, who organized it all, and the support of our principal Mrs. Garden and our Instructional Coach Mrs. Desruisseaux. We had six groups of students and twelve teachers, paras and administrator working with the fourth graders, and we all really enjoyed the collaboration. What a year for literacy this has been.
Additionally, our students have been working on their opinion pieces, giving very persuasive and valid arguments for the importance of having a pet, extending recess, reading books vs. playing video games, having popsicles with lunch on hot spring days, or being payed for doing chores at home.
During math, our students have been working on describing polygons using specific geometry vocabulary, finding the area and perimeter of rectangles and "hexarights", and measuring angles.
During science, we have finished the unit on waves and the properties of light, creating a laser circuit to explore reflection, and exploring transparent, translucent and opaque objects. 
Finally during social studies, students have been investigating the regions of the United States, and the states and abbreviations.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and communication this year. It has been fantastic to get to know and teach your children. I wish them all the best in Middle School and beyond. Have a fantastic summer :)
Take a look at the pictures!