3/4-News for August 30, 2007

The class met last Friday and selected their class name.  We see the beautiful Manoa valley from the windows of the classroom every day, so they decided to name the class the Manoa Mountains.  We had many names from which to choose, but the final voting gave Manoa Mountains a majority of the votes.

The class would like to thank several families for recent donations.  The Chungs treated the class to delicious chocolate cupcakes, strawberries, and grapes.  Everyone enjoyed the treats on two Fridays.  BK and his family donated some Judy Blume books for the classroom library and also bought some games for the after-school program.  The students will enjoy playing with marbles, pick-up-sticks, and jacks.  IK's family donated thirteen books to the classroom library.  We now have many new books to select for reading.  Many thanks to all of the families for their generous donations.

Our first project presentations will be book reports on September 10.  We reviewed the project requirements, and I sent home information sheets to help the Manoa Mountains prepare their projects thoroughly.  Please review the information with your child in the weeks ahead.  The speeches and visual aids have very specific requirements.  Of course, parents are invited to the project presentations, which will begin at 10:00 AM because we have Chapel as the first activity on Monday mornings this year.
   

The Open House for grades 3-5 will be held on September 5 beginning at 6:00 PM in the Dining Room.  Then we will meet in our classroom.  I will explain our curriculum, make suggestions as to how parents can help, and give you some information sheets to help you support your child's learning this year.

The forms for flu shots were sent home in the weekly packets, and the signed forms are due in the school office by August 31.  It's a great opportunity to provide your child some protection from the flu.

School photos will be taken on Friday, August 31, and all students are required to wear their MPI polo shirts for this.  We will also take an all-school picture after lunch.  If you did not send in your photo orders, please do so on Friday.

The Moon Over Manoa Committee has sent home some information about this fundraising event.  The goal is to have 100% family participation  The classes which achieve this goal will be treated to a pizza party.

Posted at 6:04 AM| Permalink

3/4-F News for August 23, 2007

    The third and fourth graders are proud to announce the new class officers, who were elected last Friday.  They are President Isaac Kimura, Vice-President Shayna Chung, and Secretary Kaitlyn Rosenberry.  We would like to thank all of the candidates for their fine speeches and congratulate the winners.  They will be conducting the class meetings every Friday afternoon.
    Our students have begun to prepare posters and speeches about the new recycling program, which the third and fourth grade classes will manage this year.  We will be responsible for collecting recycled materials from all of the classrooms on the elementary school campus, sorting them, and taking them to the recycling center on Friday afternoons.   Mr. Louie will transport the students and recycled materials to the recycling center on the school bus.  We will set up a schedule so that each class is responsible for taking the materials to the recycling center on a different week.  We will also determine which classes will do informational presentations about the recycling program to the other grades.
     Our math program is well underway with the new Investigations materials.  The third graders from Mrs. Holzman's class and our class are taught by me, while the fourth graders from the two classes are taught by Mrs. Holzman.  The students have a workbook which they work in daily.  So far, everyone is doing a great job!  The students work with manipulatives to help them solve problems and play games with partners to help reinforce concepts and skills.
    Every student took home a schedule of project presentations for the year.  Book reports and math adventures will be prepared and shared on the assigned dates.  I will explain the project requirements at the Open House.
    I had the opportunity to meet with the parents of the third graders to receive information about each child's strengths, interests, areas which need more work, and special activities.  The information will be helpful to me in providing support for each child's learning.  I also received parent questionnaires from the third grade families.  Many thanks to all parents who met with me and completed the questionnaires.  I did not ask the fourth grade parents to complete the questionnaires or meet with me because I think I know those students quite well.
    We have been enjoying writing about ourselves and our families.  We have also begun to do some creative writing and have completed one rough draft of a story.  We will be doing a variety of writing activities and will have mini-lessons to help us improve our writing skills.
    I have assessed everyone's oral reading and comprehension, and I am pleased to know that each student reads fluently and understands what has been read.  The Reading Log entries have been detailed and also show the students' level of reading comprehension.    

Posted at 6:19 AM| Permalink