October 21, 2009
Dear Parents,
HALLOWEEN PARTY
The Halloween Party will take place on Friday October 30th; the exact time
will be announced next week. Mrs.Menchi and Mrs. Millette will be calling
parents to ask for donations of food and party supplies. Students may bring
their costumes to school for the party and parade.
JOSHUA JUDGE VISITS PES!
Next week the fourth grade students will be fortunate to have a very special
guest speaker on the topic of weather. Mr. Joshua Judge, Certified Broadcast
Meteorologist, from WMUR TV(Channel 9) will be sharing his knowledge about
weather and forecasting on Wednesday, October 28 from 11:30-12:30. In
addition, Mr. Judge will be accompanied by a camera crew from the television
show “Chronicle”, as they will be filming his presentation for a segment to be
aired sometime in November. Any students who have declined to be videotaped or
photographed will be accommodated accordingly.
The students are all very excited for Mr. Judge’s upcoming visit, and we are
looking forward to learning from his expertise.
READING INCENTIVE PROGRAM:
As the end of the month approaches, all students should still be reading each
night towards their monthly minute goal for BOOK-IT, our reading incentive
program. The general goal for all fourth graders is 300 minutes for the month,
and each student set personal goals. All reading done outside of school
counts: reading the story for homework, reading for a book report or project,
and reading for pleasure. Remember to sign your child's reading log next week;
all students should turn in their logs on October 30 for their personal pizza
certificate! New reading logs will be handed out on November 2.
Here are a few updates on what we'll be working on in the coming days and weeks:
MATH
Our current unit in math will focus on addition and subtraction skills. We
will review the process of regrouping (borrowing and carrying, in other
words), and work on subtracting & adding larger numbers, and amounts of money.
During October, I will also start sending home weekly math facts practice
packets. Students will need to complete one page each night, usually timed.
This is to help improve their fluency with the basic addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division facts. Student will progress from one packet to
another once they score a 90% or better on their weekly timed test in class.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We begin our journey across the Granite State by studying the state's land
regions, and reading about the coastal, uplands, and mountain areas. As we
travel through the state, the students will be also learning about the history
of the various regions. In addition, we have started discussing the role of
New Hampshire in the thirteen original colonies. This week the students
created some beautiful relief maps of New Hampshire, using a variety of
creative materials, which will be on display for Parent-Teacher Conferences
later next month.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Meteorologist Visit on Wednesday October 28th
Halloween Party on Friday October 30th.
Feel free to email me or call if you have any questions or concerns about
anything.
Best wishes,
Jill Karwacki
