Video Link: Chapters 5 & 6 |
Dear Families,
I hope this third full week away from school went well for you. Were you able to engage in some of the activities we sent out for this week? Listed at the bottom of this email are links to our third week of Stay Engaged Plans, which I have also linked in Clever and sent to the students’ Google Drives. It was wonderful visiting with so many students this week via video! An invitation for a small-group video call next Tuesday should be in every student’s Google Drive. To accept, they need to type “yes” into the box next to their name. If the time doesn’t work, they should type “no” and we’ll try to have them join at a different time. :-) Students should try to check the “Shared with Me” section of their Drive every day. Next week I’ll be sending morning video greetings, a Google Form to request a Thursday video call, and an invitation for a whole-class video event. We are continuing to check out Chromebooks for many families. If you do not have individual devices for each of your children to access our weekly Stay Engaged Plans, please email Mr. Frazier at [email protected] and he will arrange a time for you to pick up a Chromebook from our school. As we move forward with our learning, I will continue to find ways to connect and engage with each student. Next week, you can expect a Monday message from me to say hello and introduce some of the learnings for the week outlined in the Stay Engaged Plans. I will also continue checking in on each of you individually via email and video calls, and we will have a whole class “hello” meeting via Teams. Furthermore, you can expect your child to receive individualized feedback on the learnings that I talk about during the Monday video. I look forward to these upcoming opportunities to engage with your child. Please know I am also available during the school day via email should you have any questions or need support. A few helpful tips moving into next week:
Emily Larson Stay Engaged Plans for Week of April 6th-April 10th Kindergarten Week 3 Stay Engaged 1st Grade Week 3 Stay Engaged 2nd Grade Week 3 Stay Engaged 3rd Grade Week 3 Stay Engaged 4th Grade Week 3 Stay Engaged 5th Grade Week 3 Stay Engaged Online Supplemental Online Resource Login
Dear 4th Grade Families,
To avoid swamping you with emails, I'm trying to limit whole-class updates to the Engagement Plan email on Fridays and the Newsletter on Tuesdays. To communicate the same information with students, I'm posting these on the class website, sharing to their Google Drives, and posting in Clever - all of which students can access independently, allowing them to complete as many activities as possible without having to ask a parent for email access. Please let me know if you have any other ideas to make this smoother for families! Stay Engaged Week 2: If students are working on this week's optional Stay Engaged Plan (4th Grade Stay Engaged Plan Week 2) please don't hesitate to reach out to ask for help or clarification! Video update for Students from Ms. L: Video Link In this update for 4th Graders: Signing up for Student Video Calls, upcoming Read-Alouds, Weekly Achievement Certificates, and a tour of my "office"! Sign Up for a Video Call with Ms. Larson! The sign-up page is shared in your Google Drive and there's a link in the emailed and Google Doc versions of this newsletter. I miss you and I'm so excited to see all of your smiling faces in a video call! Weekly Achievement Certificates: Students have been doing great work on their Engagement plans, and I want them to know that I notice! At the end of each week, I'm sending students Achievement Certificates in their Google Drives to celebrate completion of Zearn lessons, pushing through those really challenging math lessons (way to show perseverance, 4th Graders!), completing and turning in Stemscopes activities, practicing math facts with Reflex, and (coming this week) finishing the assignments with Raz Kids! I know there are also a great variety of learning activities that I don't get to see from here, and I hope students are hearing that their parents and teacher are proud of them for being flexible, doing their best, and keeping the learning going! Read Alouds: We're almost finished with the 9 parts of Kneeknock Rise (video links on the class website and shared to student Google Drives). Next up I'll be reading Sarah, Plain and Tall, a short, Newbery award-winning historical fiction book. After that we'll start a longer story with Ghost Canoe, an Edgar-award-winning mystery/adventure set on the Washington coast in 1874. Collision Machine Challenge: Yesterday I got an outstanding video of a student's completed collision machine in action! Great work, WC! I posted it (with permission) on the password-protected Students in Action Page. Send me your collision machine photo, video, diagram, or description and I'll post yours, too! Stemscopes Online Activities: If students answer the questions that go with any of the activities and they click Turn In afterward, I can give them feedback! I'll be checking all of the assignments on Fridays, and they can find this feedback in their Grades tab. I've attached a PDF with directions on how to navigate the STEMscopes Science Curriculum for students, and I will also continue to assign the suggested activities so students will be able to quickly find them in their Assignments tab. Note on the Stemscopedia: this would be a great family read-together, as this is the science text that gives a lot of the background for students to understand the topic in more depth. We usually read the Stemscopedia as a whole class and discuss, so reading with a parent or older sibling would be better if possible. :-) Wax Museum Biography Project: This year the Wax Museum will be an optional, at-home project. I'm tentatively planning for a mid-May Wax Museum for students to share their learning in the classroom and/or virtually on the password-protected Students in Action page. Completion of some or all of the components would be a great learning experience, and there's still plenty of time to start the project! Students who participate will carry out a research project using a combination of print and online sources (this year the combination of sources will be extra flexible!). King County Libraries have closed, but eBooks from the library are still a great option: https://kcls.org/ Let me know if you're having trouble finding resources, and I'll do my best to help! Student researchers will communicate their information with their choice of:
School Counselor: I know these are troubling times and scary for children (and adults). Our school counselor, Heather Kern, is standing by (remotely: [email protected]) with resources which may be of support to families whose children are experiencing anxiety. Google Drive is the easiest way for students to reach me if they need help with an assignment, want to share their work, or just want to say hi. Each time students share an item in their Drive with me, I automatically get an email. If you or your student is having trouble accessing their student Drive account, please let me know and I can reset their password. Important Dates: 4/27 Tentative Return to School Date - fingers crossed! 6/25 Last day of school (revised date due to snow days) With thanks, Emily Larson 4th Grade, CVES [email protected] www.cves4.weebly.com |
Ms. LarsonWeekly Specialist Rotation
Mon. - PE Tues. - Coding Wed. - Library Thurs. - Music Fri. - Rotating Specialists Art 11:20-12:05: Sept 30 & Oct 1; Nov 18 & 19; Jan 13 & 14; March 23 & 24; April 27 & 28 To volunteer, use the class Signup Contact: In our partnership to ensure success for your child, good communication is critical. Email ([email protected]) is the best way to reach me. I am also happy to make an appointment for a meeting or a phone call.
At-Home Reading: Students should be reading 20 minutes a night. Monthly reading logs should stay in students' binders, and will be checked every Tuesday. Two nights a week students may use Lexia as their 20 minutes of reading. Archives
April 2020
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