December 4, 2005

Dear 4B Parents~

A very busy and wet week. The 4B class has been
working hard on their California Native American
reports. The gathering of data has been completed,
and students are beginning to synthesize and shape
this material into a rough draft. To support this, we
have been studying topic and concluding sentences.
This week we have merged the two classes for our
diorama construction. The fourth graders have been
split up into groups of 3's and 4's to create a
diorama based on specific regional and climate
conditions. The group is responsible for creating a
Native American scene using natural and self made
items. The class has done a FANTASTIC job of working
together and discussing their ideas. I'm seeing lots
of evidence of good listening and compromise by all
the students throughout this project! Please expect
your son or daughter to come home early next week with
a small list of items they will need to create their
diorama. We are strongly suggesting that the items be
found around the house and not purchased.

The class has begun their Fall writing assignment.
They are required to write on a specific prompt and
take their ideas from a web to a rough draft, and then
to a final draft. I suspect they will be done with
this paper by Tuesday. Each student has one
opportunity to peer conference with one of their
classmates. In preparation of this writing
assignment, we brainstormed and identified the best
ways to respond to a piece of writing from one of your
peers.

In Science the class has been studying and creating
the flow of electricity to create a circuit which
lights a lightbulb. The electricity source for this
circuit is a D cell battery.

December 6th is the last day of the first trimester.

Have a great week-end!
-Steve