Mrs. Tripepi's Fourth Grade

All I can say is “Wow!”  The diorama projects are amazing!!  Your children have surpassed my expectations in their effort, creativity, and attention to detail.  They are sharing their projects in class this week and then we will display the  dioramas in the library for the school to enjoy. 

This week marks the end of our first semester.  There is no school on Friday, so teachers can complete grading and report cards.  Your child’s report card will come home in the Wednesday folder next week.

A very Happy New Year to all!  We have been back in the classroom for over a week now, and we have a lot going on.

This week, we have been learning about Southeast Asia.  We read a story titled “Two Lands, One Heart” about a boy who travelled to visit his mother’s homeland in Vietnam.

We have also been watching a wonderful movie called “The Girl Who Spelled Freedom”.  It is the true story of 9-year-old Linn Yann who escaped with her mother and five siblings from war-torn Cambodia in 1979.  The family was relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they faced the many challenges of adapting to life in a new culture with an unfamiliar language.  Linn, who had never been to school before and was illiterate in her own language, was a determined student and excelled in school.  Four years after her arrival, she won the regional spelling bee in Chattanooga  and went on to the National Bee.  Her story is wonderful and inspiring!   It has given us much to talk about in class.

We are looking forward to our own school spelling bee next Thursday when six students from our class will compete against other fourth, fifth, and sixth graders for the chance to represent McDonald Elementary at the Inland Northwest Regional Spelling Bee in March.

We are quickly approaching the end of the first semester.  Our final story summary of the quarter is due on Tuesday, January 24.  The diorama project is also due that day.  Students have been telling me about their projects and I am looking forward to seeing them!  The dioramas will be displayed in the library after the children have shared them in class.

There is no school for students on Friday, January 27th, as this is our teacher work day to complete grading and report cards.  You will receive your child’s report card the following week in the Wednesday folder.

Wishing you a very Happy Holiday!

What an afternoon we had!  Mr. Dale Kleinert, our school district superintendent came to talk to our fourth grade classes about his visit to China earlier this year.  During his travels, he visited schools in Nanshan and arranged a sister-school connection between QiLin Primary School and the Moscow School District schools.  Our McDonald fourth grade has been fortunate to be included in a letter exchange with students from Nanshan.  Today, the children each got a letter of introduction from a Chinese student.  We began to write introductions in reply.  We will take this opportunity to learn more about the geography, culture, art, and people from this part of the world!

The days are packed, as we start our last week of 2011!  Our beautiful Andy Warhol art is nearly finished.  Check back for a picture in a few days! 

We are almost ready to mail our next batch of pen pal letters to Louisiana.  We are also working on our classroom rounds of the National Geographic Geography Bee and will soon identify our class’ representatives for the school Bee.

There are some important items on our calendar for this week:

• Wednesday, December 14: story summary due
• Thursday, December 15: sandwich book due
• Special presentation on China by Mr. Dale Kleinert
• Friday, December 16: winter party celebration

During a summer visit to my home town of Pittsburgh, I had the pleasure of visiting the AndyWarhol Museum.  I thought our fourth graders would enjoy his colorful, imaginative, pop art style, so in the coming month we will be experimenting with Warhol-inspired art. 

This week, I am asking each student to bring a can or package of food to class. Some possibilities are a can of soup, jar of peanut butter, box of cereal, or can of fruit.  Each child will choose an item to draw.  When they complete their black-line drawings, I will photocopy their designs and they will color their duplicates using different combinations, just like Andy Warhol did.  We will mount and display the finished art pieces. 

All of the food items will be given to the Moscow Food Bank to provide for our community this holiday season.  We are continuing to collect food for the Food Bank throughout this month and welcome additional contributions to this project.

A big THANK YOU to all who contributed to our “packages for soldiers” project!  On Wednesday, Mrs. Boehne and I had the pleasure of mailing six “care packages”  to soldiers serving in Afghanistanthis holiday season.  Each package contained an assortment of treats, magazines, and thoughtful cards made by our fourth grade classes.  Thank you for your generosity in making this project possible.

Thank you for coming to parent-teacher conferences last week!  I appreciated the opportunity to learn a little bit more about your child and to share some of the things we’re doing in fourth grade.  It was great to talk with each of you.

I am excited about starting our second quarter.  We have a full schedule of learning activities planned for the coming weeks.  We are still working on our Lewis and Clark unit in social studies. I am looking forward to seeing the nature journals your children have been working on over the past two weeks. 

I have posted our second quarter reading requirements on the “Independent Reading” page of this blog.  Your child also has a copy of these assignments in his/her reading packet.  We have two new reading projects for this quarter.  The first is a “Sandwich Book” which will break down the important layers of a story – the characters, setting, plot, and theme.  The second project, a diorama, will focus on the setting of the novel.  This project also gives children an opportunity to express their creative talents!

Have a good week and check back for more classroom news soon!

As our country honors our veterans today, our fourth grade classes are beginning a project to support men and women serving in the military.
We hope to send several care packages to soldiers who will be overseas during the coming holiday season. The children will be writing letters in the coming week to enclose in the packages.
We have the boxes; now we just have to fill them! If your child would like to contribute an item, we would welcome any of the following:

Beef Jerky
Pistachios
Peanuts
Cocoa (with marshmallows)
Power Bars / Protein Bars / Cliff Bars
Candy / Gum (hard candy or heat tolerant candy like tootsie rolls)
Drinks Mixes (singles) like Gatorade
Dried Fruit / Raisins
Pretzels
Tuna in cans or pouches – any type
Magazines
Crossword puzzle or Sudoku book
Playing cards
Travel-size games like chess and checkers
$1 to help with cost of shipping

We plan to collect items and write our letters and cards this week. We will mail the boxes on Wednesday, November 23. Thank you for your help with this project!

Sing, Dance, Play!

Wednesday, November 9

2:00 in the McDonald Gym

We hope you will be able to join us for this special performance by our third and fourth grade classes.  We will present a variety of songs, dances and instrumental selections.  The program should last about 40 minutes.

Please remember the costume:

• 4^th grade boys:  plain white long-sleeved shirt with no graphics or words; long dark pants; dark shoes; colorful sash or scarf tied around waist
• 4^th grade girls:  plain white long-sleeved shirt with no graphics or words; long, colorful skirt with a hemline that falls below the knee or lower; shoes with a low heel; optional flower in hair

We hope to see you there!

Mary Berthiaume, Music

Stephanie Sant, Movement