Final Week of PSSAs (04/25-04/26)

Happy Tuesday!

We are in our final week of PSSAs and the students will be tested in the subject of Science this week. Please make sure that your child continues to get a good night sleep and has a good breakfast each morning. The students will complete PSSAs tomorrow, April 27th.

Here is what is happening in our upcoming weeks of school:

Math - The students have completed their entire math curriculum. The students will be assessed on math boxes that they complete in class and any homeworks that may be sent home. Homework will not be sent home until all PSSAs are completed.

Science - This Friday we will be celebrating Arbor Day along with the launch of our STEM unit. On May 3rd, we will be starting our unit on STEM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The students will work in groups to complete a problem that is given to them. Each problem is based off a story line and in each scenario, the students will be required to build different structures. This unit will be the majority of their grade for the fourth marking period. Mrs. Lankford and myself are still collecting any of the materials from the list that we sent home last week. Thank you to the parents who have already brought stuff in!

Reading - We are experiencing texts in different forms including plays and movies. We will be comparing and contrasting these texts to the different presentations.

Writing - We are wrapping up our essays and will be writing reflection pieces on the historical facts that we have learned.

Social Studies - We are beginning a new unit on government.

Work Work - Tic-Tac-Toe Spelling will be due Monday, May 2nd.


UPCOMING DATES:

Arbor Day: April 29th

Track and Field Day: May 2nd
*Rain Date will be May 5th

Scholastic Book Order Forms Due (if you are ordering books): May 13th
Girl's Puberty Lesson: May 19th

Career Day: May 19th

No School: May 30th

Scotties Trees Rock Celebration: June 1st

Last Day of School: June 3rd

We Need Your Help With Our S.T.E.M. Unit!!!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Our PSSAs will come to an end and fourth grade will be focusing our final month of school on a culminating unit of STEM. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Education, and Math. We will be investigating different scenarios and working as teams to solve problems. These scenarios include helping scientists out at the arctic circle, being deserted on a tropical island, and venturing into a pioneer town. They will be given a storyline for each challenger and will be required to work together to imagine and build something based on that story. We are in need of some items for these projects. If you are willing/able to send supplies to school, we would greatly appreciate it. Any items can be sent into school with your student by May 2nd. This is going to be an exciting and wonderful month of intense projects and learning.

Thank you so much in advance, and if you have any more questions concerning these projects, please let me know!

Miss Harlacker :)

• magnets
• small scraps of wood
• various types of tape
• glue
• paper clips
• beads
• tissue paper
• foam
• packing “popcorn”
• toothpicks
• pipe cleaners
• any type of wheel
• buttons
• newspaper
• waxed paper
• plastic wrap
• plastic spoons
• spaghetti noodles
• plastic grocery bags
• napkins
• small dixie cups
• cotton balls
• paper towels
• fabric scraps
• sand
• play-doh
• clay
• small containers (such as yogurt or butter)
• corks
• cardboard scraps
• bubble wrap
• plastic wrap
• foil
• cardboard tubes (paper towel or toilet paper)
• popsicle (craft) sticks
• plastic bottles
• bar erasers
• index cards
• Q-tips
• clothes pins
• pom-poms
• coffee filters
• plastic cups
• small pebbles
• pretzel rods
• zip-loc bags
• yarn
• string
• ribbon
• plastic lids
• bottle caps
• rubber bands
• twist ties
• straws

First Week of PSSAs (04/11-04/15)

Hello parents and guardians! I know it has been awhile since Ms. Duke and myself have written to you, but it has been a crazy couple of weeks. As many of you know, the next three weeks the students will be taking the PSSAs. Here is the schedule for our testing:

English Language Arts PSSA: April 12th-15th

Math PSSA: April 19th-21st

Science PSSA:  April 26th-27th

During the weeks of testing, please make sure that your child is getting an adequate amount of sleep and eating a good breakfast every morning, whether that is at school or at home. This year, we will not be providing snacks for the students in the morning, but they will still be given one mint and one piece of gum to have while they are taking the test. Also, please remind your child to stay calm while taking the test. This year, we have not been making the test a big deal to ensure we are not stressing the students out. Encourage them to try and do their best.

If for any reason your child becomes ill and has to miss school, there will be days that they can take any part of the PSSAs that they have missed.

Report cards will also be distributed this Thursday. Please make sure that you sign the report card envelope and send it back to us immediately.

UPCOMING DATES:

Earth Day: April 22nd

Arbor Day: April 29th

Track and Field Day: May 2nd

No School: May 20th

Scotties Trees Rock Celebration: June 1st

Last Day of School: June 3rd

Thank you for all your help and understanding! If you have any other questions, please reach out to Ms. Duke or I at anytime.

Miss Harlacker and Ms. Duke