Orchestra

Orchestra for 4th graders begins tomorrow morning.  Every Friday, 4th graders in the orchestra will have lessons from 8-8:40am in the band and orchestra room (first floor near the upper playground entry). 

On Fridays, children in the orchestra will miss most of Morning Meeting.

Outdoor Day Tomorrow: Dress for the Weather

Remember that tomorrow is our first outdoor day!  We will head to Harrison Field around 10:30am and return to school around 2pm.

It MAY RAIN TOMORROW, so please send your child to school in clothes that will keep him/her dry and warm all day.  Wool, fleece, and waterproof layers are highly recommended.  Also, don't forget to send your child in comfortable sneakers or supportive boots.

THANK YOU, and please contact me with any questions or if you need to borrow clothing. 

-Wendy
 225-8238
wendym@mpsvt.org

Tunbridge World's Fair

At the fair we saw old machines, tools, and modes of transportation including this cart.

Here is a piece of farming equipment that's no longer used, but is still interesting for us to observe.

We experienced Vermont's culture through farm animals like this cow.

Scholastic Book Clubs

Check out the link on the sidebar to order books through Scholastic Book Clubs!  Every online order earns coupons for free books for you and for the class.  I will place the next order on Friday, October 12.  They generally take less than a full week to ship.  You can still select books from September's and October's catalogs. 

Class Meeting

We had our first class meeting on Friday, a weekly tradition in which the class discusses issues that are affecting us all, and together we brainstorm solutions.  The kids are really empowered to take the lead and develop discussion skills, problem-solving abilities, cooperation, and critical-thinking skills in the process.

This week the class discussed two problems:  we get distracted by the loud noises coming from the playground outside our windows, and also, it's too hot in our room.  The students came up with one solution to solve both issues, and we need help carrying out their idea.  The decided that a few fans throughout the room would mask sounds, and at the same time, cool us off.  If you have an extra floor fan or one that can go on a table, please consider donating or loaning it to our classroom.

I was so impressed with how well the children conducted their first class meeting, the first of many to come.

Picture Day

Picture Day will be on September 21st.  Ordering information will come home as soon as I receive it.

Field Trip Next Week!

The 4th grade will head to Tunbridge's World Fair on Thursday, September 13 for the Agricultural Education Day.  Permission slips went home today and are due no later than Monday.  Thank you for returning them promptly!

Cooperation

This week we focused on COOPERATION!  We read Swimmy by Leo Lionni, A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, and tomorrow we will read The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants by Priscilla Turner to discuss the theme of cooperation in literature.  We played several cooperative games and focused on how to work successfully with a partner.

Next week we will focus on ASSERTION.

Our Class Rules

After forming goals to work on this year, we created class rules to help us all achieve our hopes.  The class came up with these four rules:

Follow C.A.R.E.S. (cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, self-control)
Listen
Try Your Best
Have Fun!