21^st  March, 2011

Dear Parents,

Spring is still thinking of arriving and we go out whenever we can; we have an active bunch of kids this year! Please make sure your child has good footwear and a coat, in case it turns cold during the day.

            In Math the students took a quiz on Fractions last week. Once this is graded I will help those kids who are still struggling, but this week I plan to largely work on metric and non-metric units of measurement. The Math benchmark will probably be taken next week. Please remember that it is essential that students know their math facts, which will be practiced weekly in class; please add 5 minutes daily practice on multiplication and division facts at home, up to X12; I am happy with most students progress on this.

In Language Arts, Spelling this week will focus on the igh letter cluster. The students have completed their first Jean Fritz biographical reports. We will start the second biography this week and I expect most will be able to work more independently; I will monitor progress carefully and I also hope to start a new minibook on using details to predict outcomes.

In Social Studies students will continue their studies of the American Revolution by learning about women with an important role, and will start to learn about the important documents.

The current topic in Science is Earth, Moon, and Sun studies. This week we will finish rotation and revolution, and learn about the phases of the moon. This is a very tough concept for 4^th grade, unless I reduce it to rote memorization, which I am unwilling to do. However, there are some neat demonstrations and, hopefully, the daily Moon observations will help too. I hope these are going well; some kids see the Moon when I don’t! Saturday was a beautiful Full Moon and lunar perigee, a time when the Moon’s orbit brings it somewhat closer to Earth. There is a project on Earth, Moon, Sun due Thursday.

In addition to our classroom studies, each 4^th grade class will be having a program presented by the NASA Space Science Student Ambassadors, students from Va. Tech. My class will do this April 1^st and Ms Peterson’s April 8^th.

Thursday March 31^st sees the first Beeks Science Expo. This is for 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders; even if your child does not wish to take part, please come to the event if you can and see what our kids can do! An invitation will go home late this week.

Important Dates:

                  23^rd Mar.                Early release.

                  29^th Mar.                Guest author program.

                  31^st Mar.                Beeks Science Expo. 5:00-6:30pm.

                  1^st Apr.                   NASA Space Science Student Ambassador program.

Sincerely,

Clare Law

Contact information:

            School phone number: 951 5700

            School web address: www.mcps.org/mbeeks

            My email address: claw@mcps.org