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The end is near, but that doesn’t mean we have stopped the presses. This Friday our class and Mrs. Cherubini’s class have begun our work with the Weston Playhouse. I will keep you all updated on our progress, but I do know that we will be putting on our big show at the Weston Playhouse on June 10, 2012. I have attached a flyer to this week’s Newsletter. You must signt his flyer and return it to me as soon as possible, so that I know whether or not your child will be participating in the final show.

Next week is also going to be a busy week for fourth grade students, as we will be having our Science NECAP tests on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. In fact, all students will be taking the MAPS tests the week after next beginning onTuesday, May 15. After that we will be doing our final work in the Science and Social Studies as well as doing the final touches on our Portfolio pieces.

Besides the academic news, I am also happy to report that we will be joining other fourth grade classes for two field trips this month. Both of these will be the last week of May, and I will be sending out information and permission slips in future Newsletters.

Below you will find information and tools that you and your child can use to investigate past and present topics of study. I will be adding to this site as time permits and as information becomes available. I am always looking for valuable and safe websites for students to explore, so if you happen along on a good web site, please email the link to me and I will add it to our list. I will also be adding photographs and videos of our class in action so families can share in the educational experience of their children and siblings.

A word about web sites: I have found that the best web sites for young students will have an IP address of .edu, .org, .gov, or .net as these addresses have few or no advertisements. However, I will from time to time post a web-site that has a .com address; all I ask is that you reaffirm my word of caution to your child about links and advertisements on internet web sites. "They should not click on any links or web sites on a .com site without asking an adult."

Science: Our science investigations this year will cover plants, space, weather and electricity. We began our studies with a Nature Journal in which we logged our observations of a deciduous tree during the fall season. We also looked at how trees and other plants survive, grow and interact with the environment around them. After the winter break we began our next scientific inquiry into the world of the solar system, space and astronomy. I will be gathering helpful internet links and other information on our page for students to use in their studies as well as to just explore and have fun.

Social Studies: So far this year, we have spent most of our Social Studies time looking at states and their capitals. We will be integrating some more social studies work into our science as we explore the people and the history of astronomy. Also, as we search for our Mystery Classrooms we will be looking a little deeper at the globe and maps. Our other big topics in Social Studies this year will cover immigration and the Town of Chester. However, the students have expressed some interest in doing some research on foreign countries, so I am hoping to work some independent project into our mix.

In our pursuit to become Readers, I ask all students to read every night for at least 20 minutes. I only require them to read Monday through Thursday and ask them to respond to a question in their Home Reading Journal. The questions I ask each night are generally tied to fiction so sometimes students may have trouble responding because I do not require them to read fiction; in fact, I have been encouraging them to read from other media like newspapers, magazines, non fiction books and pamphlets. There is no limit to what a student may read each night. Many parents have come to me with concerns about students reading comic books or other materials that are generally not considered academic. Our reading homework each night is more of a matter of forming reading habits and building stamina, therefore, although I would hope that children read a variety of text, I am not concerned if a student wants to read from a joke book or any other material now and again to meet the nightly reading requirement. If your student happens to forget their planner or has trouble responding to the journal question, he or she can always just write something that interests them in their nightly reading.