Amazing April

I cannot remember an April quite like the one we have nearly finished this year. Between the potlatch, the coast, the report cards, the Tillamook Forest Center, testing, and our visit to the Capitol tomorrow (followed by Burgerville night), it is a wonder we are all still standing!

We owe you pictures of all these exciting adventures and hard work. Mrs. Harrington, Ms. Cocheu, and Ms. Kinsman will work hard this week to put all of our pictures together. In the meantime, if you have any great shots from our trips, please include them in the comments section of the blog.

We also want to be sure that you know the details of our Burgerville fundraiser on Tuesday evening. We will be at the Hillsboro location (2401 Ne Cornell Rd, Hillsboro, OR 97124)  from 5:00-8:00 p.m. We will receive 10% of all the sales made during this time! It is really a great opportunity to help support the remaining amounts we owe for our field trips this year. We look forward to seeing our Free Orchards families there!

The Coast, The Fair, and The Test

The Oregon Coast

We had a wonderful trip to the Oregon coast last week. I do not think we could have had a more beautiful day or more special experience. Not only did we have clear skies, but many of the students spotted a whale and a bald eagle nest. We really feel that the students are now well prepared to learn more about ocean habitats and whale structures as we begin our final science unit of the year.

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers and families who donated snacks. Once again, we could not offer these opportunities without your support.

On Wednesday, April 15, we will be heading to the Tillamook Forest Center. Please be sure to dress your student appropriately, as a good portion of the trip is outdoors. The students will be learning more about the history of this nearby forest and its impact on Oregon's economy.

The Fair

The Free Orchards Science Fair Extravaganza is coming soon! Please join us on April 22nd for our annual science night. We hope that all of our students' projects are near completion. Please remember that they are due this Friday, April 17th. If your child needs any additional support to complete their project, let us know. Ms. Kinsman will be available to help after school on Friday. We are excited to see all of the great projects!

The Test

Some families might have heard that state testing has started at Free Orchards. This year we are administering a new type of assessment, which requires more in-depth thinking by the students. While we know it will be challenging, Mrs. Harrington and Ms. Kinsman believe that our students are ready!



Please help us ensure that students are prepared for state testing by encouraging a good night's rest and healthy meals.

Hagg Lake & Fort Vancouver

We have had some technical difficulties posting these great pictures from our student teacher, Ms. Cocheu. We enjoyed a fun-filled week before spring break visiting Hagg Lake and Fort Vancouver. Thank you, again, to our wonderful family volunteers for your help in making these trips possible.
  

  

 

Coming Soon

In the following weeks we have some additional events to add to your calendars. On Wednesday, April 8th, we will be holding our Potlatch. This traditional ceremony will be a bit shorter this year but still a lot of fun for families. Please join us at 1:00 in the gym to learn more about NW Coastal Indian groups.

 

On following morning, on Thursday, April 9th, we will head to the coast. This very special field trip requires that families have their students to the school at 6:30am! We will not return to Free Orchards until 6:30pm! We will be sending home a letter with drop-off/pick-up confirmation later this week.

 

In addition, we ask families if they are willing to donate snacks for the trip. Given the long bus ride, it is helpful to have food aboard the bus. Snacks like string cheese, fruit, crackers, muffins, and bottled drinks are helpful. If you are available to help, please feel free to send these to school before the day of the trip. We like to have them sorted and ready for the kids before we leave. 

Oregon's Important People

This past week our students have been reading and writing about the events that led to Oregon's statehood. This week we are asking that students begin research on a famous Oregonian. The fourth grade team is using a "new-to-us" app called Thinglink to help focus our learners' research. Each student will choose one of the famous people below, take notes, compile the information into a five paragraph essay, and then turn their work into a digital story using Adobe Voice!!

Good luck, fourth graders!

Marco Polo (Sample)               

Eliza Spalding 

John McLoughlin

 Chief Joseph

Sacagawea

 David Douglas

 

 

Jason Lee

Clean Water Festival

We look forward to our guest author, Sahalie, who will tell us all about this fabulous field trip.  For now, please enjoy some photos of our fun day!  The Clean Water Festival was educational, fun, and packed with learning!

March Madness

After a great February full of fun, we are looking forward to kicking off our spring with a number of great activities.

 

Math Night & Author Visit

On Tuesday evening, please join us for our annual Math & Pizza Family Night. Our teachers are excited to offer a number of hands-on math games for our students and families to explore. Even better, everyone gets pizza!! Doors open at 5:30 and the event lasts until 7:30. Please be sure that your student has adult, or chaperone, in order to come.

On Wednesday, March 4, from 8:30-9:30, we have a very special presentation from Alter Weiner, a Holocaust survivor. Mr. Wiener is not able to make many appearances any more, but was so impressed with our students two years ago, he has agreed to visit again. We are inviting parents to hear this powerful speaker, but do suggest that little brothers and sisters not attend. While Mr. Wiener’s presentation is for younger listeners, the content is best suited for students fourth grade or older.

Read Across America

Every year, students across the nation celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday by joining in the Read Across America celebration. According to the NEA, “this year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through [special] events, partnerships and reading resources.” We are so excited to be participating this year with a month-long challenge to motivate our students to READ each night.

Parents can help by working with your students to complete the reading log each week. We will count weekend minutes, as well, so be sure to add those to the reading log. Every Wednesday in March, two prizes will be awarded to students from each class; this might be for most minutes read or outstanding performance for the week. The grand prize winners will be announced on April 1st!

Field Trips

Our first field trip of the year was a success, thanks to the help of our fantastic student teacher, Ms. Cocheu. This month we have two upcoming trips; the first is to the Clean Water Festival at University of Portland on Tuesday, March 10. The following day, Wednesday, March 11, we will head downtown to watch the Portland Youth Philharmonic perform at the Schnitzer.

On Thursday, March 19, we head to Hagg Lake to release our baby trout and the next day we are going to Fort Vancouver for their wonderful interpretive program. We will soon be sending out emails to parent volunteers with the specific departure and arrival times. Thank you so much for all of your support.  

Hi families,

Check out this video, which demonstrates one of the experiments our class will be doing during our Communicable Disease Unit!

Don't forget to ask your students what they are learning about in class. They love to share, and it helps to reinforce new learning!

Ms. Cocheu

The Body Invaders!

Dear 4^th Grade Parents,

We just started a fun new health unit on Communicable and Non-communicable Diseases. It seems at this time of year many of us have first-hand experience with some nasty cold and flu viruses! Sounds like an appropriate time to learn the difference between communicable and non-communicable diseases!

Students will learn about pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, how they are spread, and what each of us can do to help prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

We even have a fun activity day planned during which we are hoping to have a visiting micro-biologist join us. The students will each cough into a Petri dish, and then see what grows after the dishes are incubated. Similarly, they will use another Petri dish with agar and touch the dish before hand washing, and again afterward to demonstrate how well they are really washing their hands! We’re not done yet—the kids will also have the opportunity to see real live bacteria under a microscope!

Check out this cool link that uses concrete graphic images to depict the real size of a germ compared to other very small surfaces. The kids loved it!

http://www.cellsalive.com/howbig.htm

Valentine's Day

This Friday we will be having a Valentine's Day celebration! Mrs. Harrington and Ms. Kinsman wanted to do something special for the students, so we will be serving delicious Italian sodas! If you would like to donate a two liter of plain soda water, please let us know. We will need the bottles before Friday in order to have them refrigerated and cooled in time. Mrs. Harrington has already purchased cream and cups, while Ms. Kinsman will take care of the strawberry flavored syrup.

In addition to our sweet treat, students have been given plain envelopes to decorate as "mailboxes" for Valentine's Day. We sent home a class list on Friday, along with the envelopes, for kids who want to bring in cards for the class. This is not a required activity, nor is it necessary to send in extra candy or extravagant gifts. Simple, homemade messages or inexpensive store bought cards are just fine. The key is that all students are included and have fun.

Finally, we will be spending a part of the morning and the afternoon working on a special art project. In the spirit of love and sharing, we will be working on "Mixed Media Hearts" to help decorate the hospital room of McKenzie Anderson, a local girl who is working toward recovering from a rare illness that has left her paralyzed from the neck down. Ms. Kinsman heard about McKenzie's story from her sister (an employee of the Children's Miracle Network), and knew that a special art project from our class could do so much to brighten this little girl's day. She has been in contact with McKenzie's mom, who was delighted to hear that our students would be willing to share their artwork with her daughter. 

If you would like to volunteer on Friday afternoon, we can always use a few extra hands. We will begin our celebration around 1:40 and will work until the end of the day. Please let us know if you are interested in helping out!

Can You Say Field Trips? OH YEAH!!!!

We have MANY field trips in the works for this Spring.  It may, in fact, be a record number.  With support from grants, educational organizations, and sponsors, we are able to offer these rich and engaging educational opportunities for our 4th grade students.

We will be sending home permission slips this week with the students.  We will also be planning ahead for lunch needs as we need to order any school-made lunches early to help our kitchen staff.  We also need to ask for financial donations for two of our field trips.  Both Fort Vancouver and the Oregon State Capitol Trips are free with educational programs, but we need to provide our own funding for the buses on these two trips.  If you are able to help out with a donation, we greatly appreciate your assistance.

We will need parent chaperones!  We encourage you to consider accompanying us on one or all of our trips.  Sometimes our bus space will be tight, and there may be some trips where we need you to drive behind the bus(es), but we very much need parent help to ensure the oversight and management of the students in these various settings.

Below is a preview for you to see all of the amazing trips coming up.
Thank you for your support and help.

2/26 Charlie Brown (play performance by Glencoe High School)
3/10 Clean Water Festival (University of Portland)
3/11 Portland Youth Philharmonic (Downtown Portland Schnitzer)
3/19 Hagg Lake- releasing hatched baby trout 
3/20 Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, WA
4/9 Oregon Coast- Marine Hatfield Science Center and Tidepools at Yaquina Head
4/15 (Dow/Golay & H/K) and 4/22 (Ramchandar)  Tillamook Forestry Center
4/28 Oregon State Capitol
5/8 Oregon Historical Society
6/3 (Dow/Golay & Ramchandar) and 6/8 (H/K) Tyron Creek Park (near Lewis & Clark College)

The National Championship game created quite a flurry of excitement at Free Orchards.  One of our sixth grade teachers, Mrs. Dessert, held a challenge that the top "dressed" student at each grade level showing the best spirit would earn a new Ducks T-Shirt.  We are proud of our top two 4th grade students.  Congrats to Mason (right) for taking home first place from our 4th grade spirit competition.  We hope you enjoy wearing your new shirt, Mason!

Native American Studies

In reading, we are studying the Native American groups that lived in Oregon before European settlers moved into the area. Students have been placed into small groups to research the homes, environment, and customs of one region, and will present their findings to the whole class.

To help focus their research, we have created a list of resources that we feel would be helpful to fourth graders. Use the links below to learn more about Oregon's diverse Native American groups:

http://www.native-languages.org/oregon.htm - This is a site with many different links to help you learn about Oregon's different tribes. Be sure to read the links carefully to find the information you are searching for.

http://www.nps.gov/para/forteachers/upload/Total-Final-Curriculum.pdf -Information about the Pauite tribe

http://www.bigorrin.org/chinook_kids.htm - Facts about the Chinook Tribe

http://www.bigorrin.org/nez_kids.htm - Facts about the Nez Perce

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/or/county/clackamas/molallas.html - Information about the Molalla tribe in the Willamette Valley

http://www.critfc.org/for-kids-home/for-kids/indians-and-indian-tribes -Website for all the types of Indians – Can choose from Costal, Valley, or Plateau (no desert)

http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans.php - Nice simple timeline of American Native Indian History

Holiday Fun on Friday

We have a fun day planned this Friday, December 19, and wanted to let families know what to expect before winter break.

We will start our morning with two stations; the first is a craft project that half the students will work on while the other half play with Snap Circuits. If you are not familiar with Snap Circuits, they are a great way for our students to get some safe, hands-on experience with electricity. This is the perfect end to our energy unit, which we just finished today!

Snap Circuits: One of the coolest toys ever!

 

Later in the morning the students will be finishing their fun winter stories and then will have their last Artist in Residence session. Finally, we will return to the classroom for our Electronics Party!!! We let the students vote on a party to celebrate their participation in the food drive and electronics party won! Tomorrow, we will be sending home more information about our electronics policies, but please be aware that we have school iPads available to use rather than bringing devices from home.

If you would like to send a treat to school with your child to share with the class, please have your student let us know tomorrow. We will be offering these as snacks during our afternoon party. 

Have a wonderful winter break with your families. We look forward to seeing you all in 2015!

The joy of creating computer code.  Last week some of the 4th graders had the opportunity to do further experimentation in developing computer code.  As you can see from the video below it was met with the kind of enthusiasm that only our amazing 4th graders can exude. Students can do that at home as well.  Just go to Code.org and follow the directions.  I know some of them have already tried it.

Canned Food Drive

Despite our best efforts, the H/K kids took second place in the canned food drive! We lost by a mere eight cans! I want to give a HUGE thank you to all of our students and families who donated to this wonderful cause. I know our local food bank appreciates all of our efforts. Your kids have amazing spirit and big hearts.

The students furiously unpacking the huge donation from Peyton's family.

Posted with Blogsy

Teligami

Last week the students we serve with our new iPads were asked to create a "Teligami" to express their opinion about living in the tropics vs. a desert climate.  It was the first time the students had been exposed to the Teligami app.  The app allows the students to record their voice using an animated character.  The students can make choices on the physical features of the character.  They can also choose different backgrounds for the character.  The app is modeled and intended for short messages.  They can not be longer than 90 seconds. We had a brief time on our first trial but we had a couple of successful "Teligamis".  The young women below says..." In my opinion it is much better to live in the tropics than the desert because there are many more usable natural resources in the tropics."  Let us know if you would like us to send you the "Teligami" directly.
  

Updates

Extreme Weather Excitement

Now that we have survived the first bout of “Extreme Winter Weather”, it’s time to get back to business! Last week we did not send home DSL’s, Reading Logs, or spelling lists. With conferences starting on Friday, we have decided to NOT send home Fox Reports this afternoon. If you have any questions about how your student performed last week, we can happily say that everyone had a great two day week! There were no new major assignments, and we are seeing a huge improvement in math homework turn-in. Thank you for your ongoing support from home.

Not quite this extreme

Conferences

As stated above, conferences begin this Friday, November 21^st. We have early release on Friday; kids will be excused at 11:20 and conferences will begin at 3:30. We will continue conferences on Monday, November 24^th. If you have any questions about your conference time, please contact the main office. They have access to our schedules and may be able to make changes.

Your students are welcome to join us, as they are an important part of the conversation. We will also hand out report cards at that time.

Shoebox Speech

This week we are also not sending home a traditional DSL assignment. Instead, we are asking students to begin work on a Shoebox Speech. This is a great assignment that gives us an opportunity to learn a little more about the lives of our learners outside of the classroom. We have attached the assignment here so you can look over the expectations with your child. We will help students begin the outline and write the introduction and conclusion in class, but the practicing and refining of the speech will need to be done at home over the next two weeks. We will begin presenting speeches the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, December 1^st.

Shoebox Speech Assignment

Fun in the Fourth Grade

After nearly two months of hard work, last week was a great opportunity to have some fun in the fourth grade.

For the last two weeks our students have been mastering the art of the array. These handy models help students learn the processes behind multi-digit multiplication. If you look carefully at the pic collage above, you will notice the students carefully creating the arrays with our base-ten pieces. This week's focus will be on using sketches of the models to quickly solve two-digit by two-digit algorithms.

In addition to new learning in math, we also completed our second independently written persuasive paper. The students were asked to describe the perfect pet and defend why they thought it was a good choice. We are already seeing huge gains in the writing abilities of our students. It will be fun to share their work at our upcoming conferences.

In Language Arts we have been focused on informational text and learning about climates from around the world. This has tied in nicely to our new ELD unit, which is a series of lessons on the geographical features of Oregon. We will end our studies with a writing piece where students must defend living in either a desert or tropical climate.

And, finally, the fun! On Friday, rather than having a traditional harvest party, our students headed to the computer lab for an afternoon of code.org. This fantastic site is dedicated to helping kids learn the fundamentals of computer coding. While it at first seems like all fun and games, we believe our students will attest to the thinking skills they had to use in order to complete the coding challenges. You could feel the energy in the lab as the kids worked through some pretty tricky puzzles. We want to encourage all our students to visit the code.org website and continue the course two activities.

Friday was wrapped up with one of our favorite art projects. Students used crayon, Sharpie, water colors, and a straw to create the masterpieces shown above. If you are in the building, be sure to take a closer look in the fourth grade hallway.

We were lucky to have two of our moms donate time to come in and cut apples and scoop caramel for our special "harvest" snack. A special thank you from Mrs. Harrington and Ms. Kinsman for not only providing the help in getting the food ready, but also cleaning up the classroom after the art and eating!

October 31st is Sneaking Up!

We are preparing for a bit of fun in the afternoon on Friday, October 31st!  We are actually going to be doing a bit of computer "code" writing.  The students have really enjoyed this in the past, and it is highly engaging and great for critical thinking.  We would also like to enjoy a little treat on this day.  Are you willing to send in a few fresh, crunchy apples or a container of soft-serve dipping caramel?  After doing our last health unit on eating more fruits and vegetables, apples seem like a good compromise. :)  Please send us an e-mail if you can help with sending in these items.  You are appreciated.

Routines

Routines

In the fourth grade, we take a lot of pride in helping our students learn and maintain routines that lead to ongoing success. This is why we spend a lot of time working on establishing and practicing day-to-day organization skills. Below, we have included our Back-to-School night presentation, which discusses some of our routines.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Harrington or Ms. Kinsman. We are here to help!

And in the Classroom...

We had another busy week. With school pictures, our first spelling tests, and technology class, there was not a dull moment to be had!

Math

We are nearly to the end of our first unit on multiplication. The students have been learning about different strategies they can use to solve simple multiplication problems. Many of these skills will be transferred into more complicated equations in the coming months. 

In addition, we have continued using our longer math block to provide daily math fact fluency quizzes. For students that need the practice, we will continue to focus on subtraction fluency through the end of the month. About eight of our students have started their multiplication facts; in November, all of our kids will be practicing multiplication facts.

Language Arts

We are wrapping up our study of My Name is Maria Isabel and will be assessing the students ability to identify the main idea, characters, and theme of a story by reading Tómas and the Library Lady next week. 

In addition, we started reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing aloud. Next quarter we are going to look at how the story has been adapted into different formats, like plays and films. Plus, it is a great read.

Our students also finished their family writing essays. These pieces of writing will be ready for you to read at conferences next month. For many of our learners, this is their first "five paragraph essay". We have been very impressed with their hard work and dedication in making these great pieces of writing.

Technology

We also had our monthly technology class last week. The students reviewed the logging in process, opening Word documents, and practiced using a search engine. Our hope is to provide students with enough exposure and education to technology that they can use it with ease and responsibility. Our new state tests are computer-based and will require a good deal of typing. We are very fortunate to be able to offer this class to our students to help them prepare for the spring!

Back to School Night Presentation 2014-2015

Back to School Spanish2