October 16, 2005

Dear 4B Families~

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BIRTHDAY GIFT!!! I greatly appreciated the Barnes
& Noble gift card. Stacey Horowitz brought us some greeaaaaat oatmeal and
chocolate CHUNK cookies. Thanks Stacey! Thanks Brenda for the coffee!
The kids made me some great cards, too! Thanks everybody!

The next two weeks will be short, as have the previous two. Homework
assignments are given approximately 1-2 weeks in advance, so that students
may plan to complete them on days when they are not involved in family
celebrations. A homework assignment was given out on Friday that will be due
October 28th. It involves reading a few chapters in IBD and completing
some 'checking comprehension' type assignments. These tasks include
vocabulary, cause and effect, and character traits.

The class has been studying the poetry of Diana Siebert. I believe the class
has found her style of personifying desert regions both interesting and
expressive. Our task now is to try our hand at personifying.
After choosing a region of California to focus on, students will attempt to
create a personification poem of their own.
If you have an extra minute or two today, could you ask your son or daughter
to explain what is meant by personifying and how Diana Siebert went about
personifying a desert region.

The class has finished their Georgia O’Keefe pastel and water color art
projects. Their artwork is on display in the 2nd floor
hallway adjacent to our room. Come up and see!

Fall reading benchmarking is taking place this week and next. Our 4th grade
writing benchmark will take place prior to Thanksgiving. ERBs are coming in
early November. This round of ERBs at the beginning of 4th grade, is testing
and assessing knowledge of 3rd grade curriculum.

How about those 4th graders!!??!! They did a great job performing at these
past two Kabbalat Shabbats!!! Buz Olian captured the kids in prayer, joy and
laughter with some beautiful photos!

Have a restful day!
-Steve