Monday News

Dear Families,

Happy Halloween! We will do some spooky writing and have a publishing party at 1:45. Parents are welcome. Our next unit in writing will be opinion writing.

The book projects (book jackets) are due Monday, November 7th. A new book project and the November optional homework calendar will go home on Monday. The book jackets will be displayed for the month of November in the hallway display case. Stop in and have a look at the creativity of all the students.

Save the date! The Boston trip will be May 4th and 5th. More detailed information will come during December. Chaperones are chosen by a lottery system. The ratio is 3 students to 1 adult so that means there will be 5-6 parents needed per classroom.

Maggie Mae, Juniper's stepmom will teach the class yoga on Monday! We're hoping to do it once a month this school year.

I will be out Tuesday for a Math Committee meeting.

Enjoy the following pictures from our Outdoor Classroom. The students are focusing on winter survival for living things. We created shelters and planned and experimented with different materials and places to build our shelters.

Enjoy your week,
Anna

Monday News

Dear Families,

Ms. Johnson, our new librarian could use a few volunteers to help with re-shelving books and Alison can always use an extra hand in the kitchen. If you have time available and would like to volunteer at school, please let me know.

The students will "finish-up" their realistic fiction stories on October 31st. Parents are invited to come to the publishing party at 1:45 on Halloween. The students will read their stories in small groups to students in the other third and fourth grade classrooms.

Fire safety day is Friday. Make sure to change your smoke alarm and carbon monoxide batteries when you set the clocks back.

Our class is leading all school morning meeting Friday.

Book projects are due Monday, November 7th.

Lastly, Tuesday is zero-waste day. We will try to recycle or reuse everything on Tuesday. Let's see if we can do it!

The book fair will be the week of 11/14, so I have decided not to send home scholastic orders this month. The next order form will go home in January.

Enjoy your week,
Anna

Monday News

Dear Families,

On Wednesday, we will see The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh at the Flynn. Here's the synopsis:

This remarkably moving and funny play from Roseneath Theatre reveals true-to-life struggles: Max’s parents are getting a divorce and wired Jamie just can’t seem to slow down or pay attention! Her journey toward understanding and accepting her ADHD puts Jamie’s courage to the test. But with humor and compassion, she moves past the hurt and confusion of being “different” and learns to use her strengths—becoming a good friend to Max, an inspiration to the school bully, and a positive role model for the millions of students who share her struggle.

Homework

Homework is going to be a little different from this point forward. We at Brewster Pierce are changing the way homework looks. Ms. Hayes sent home some information in a past Backpack News and the three-four teachers sat down to review what we were doing and have come up with the following changes.

First and foremost, we do expect every child to read every day for at least 20 to 30 minutes. It is an essential habit to form now which will benefit your child forever. We will continue with our monthly book projects. These projects give children a creative way to share the books they have been reading at home with their friends at school. It's a great way to get kids interested in and talking about books and helps keep them accountable for reading at home.

It would also be a good idea to study math facts every day, addition for third graders and multiplication for fourth. Try to incorporate math skills around telling time, baking, measuring and any problem solving that needs to be done from day to day. I will on occasion send home a math page when a student needs some extra practice with a skill and students can choose to bring workbook pages home for practice. Parents can read the information I send home at the start of each unit to keep up with what we are doing in math class.

We will also send home a calendar each month with educational activities to do each day. These are just fun, optional activities to do as a family if you so choose.

By changing what homework looks like, I would like to make it easier for a child's afternoon to be an educational, fun, worry-free time to spend with family and friends participating in activities that help all of us grow and learn. I want students to have time to play, create, invent, exercise and imagine.

Thank you, Ms. Hayes and I welcome your feedback on this change.

Enjoy your week,

Anna

Monday News

Dear Families,

This week we will have Hike Day on Tuesday. Please remember to have your child dress for a day outside. Wednesday will be a late start day.

We are continuing to work on our realistic fictions stories. Last week, we worked on writing scenes, instead on summaries. We will have a publishing party with the other 3/4 classes on Monday, October 31st from 1:45-2:10. Parents are welcome to come and listen to the stories. We will not have food at this publishing party. It will be a time to share our stories, listen to classmates and celebrate all the hard work. 

Thursday we had Prebuddies with the afternoon preschool class. Please enjoy the following pictures. 

Enjoy your week,

Anna

Field Trip to Burnt Rock Farm and the alpaca farm