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