4th Grade News
May 19, 2010 | By Mrs. Plehal
Dear Families,
We are hard at work, trying to squeeze in the last few chapters in each subject before the end of the
month! We’ll have the chapter 12 math test this Friday. It will cover division of two-digit, three-digit,
and four-digit numbers by two digit numbers. The students have taken a few quizzes and most of them
are ready for the test. They will need to use multi-digit multiplication to check each answer,
students will benefit from practicing this at home tonight and tomorrow night.
In science and social studies, we are beginning to prepare for our trip to Mount St. Helens. Our
reading textbook has a great account of the eruption as well as the study that has happened since then
of the plant and animal survivors and colonizers. Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the
eruption and you may have seen that the local newspaper is running stories with great photos, I bought
the Sunday paper to share with the class.
Many students are asking about what to bring on the trip and for trip details. We will leave at 11am
on Wednesday and return at 3pm on Thursday, June 3rd. Our chaperones are Liz Walsh-Boyd, Deborah Ganz,
Delana Beltran-Haag, Marc Jensen, Edwin Lobo, Omar Magee, and Blanca Thomas. Students will pack two
healthy lunches, two healthy snacks, tennis shoes, a flashlight, a school backpack, water bottle, warm
layers of clothes (shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, pants, hat, socks), pajamas, toothbrush, toothpaste,
hairbrush (if needed), and sleeping bag. Please do not allow your child to bring any electronics – I
will bring a camera and take plenty of photos that I will give to the kids. I need a trip waiver from
Nick, Calvin, Travis, and Mia. Tonight I’m also sending home the school field trip permission slip.
Please return these as soon as possible.
Thank you for your prompt payment of the field trip expenses and for your willingness to chaperone on
so many spring field trips. I think it’s really valuable to expose students to different hobbies,
careers, places and ideas. I hope your child told you about the speaker we saw with the 5th grade
yesterday at Benaroya Hall. His name is Kobie Boykins and he is a young mechanical engineer for NASA.
He designed the solar panels for the Mars Rovers and gave an engaging talk about how and why NASA is
exploring Mars. He also said that NASA hopes to send a manned mission to Mars around the time the
fourth graders are young adults – maybe one of our students will be on that mission!
Upcoming Important Dates:
5/21 - Junior Achievement class with Seattle University volunteers, Ch 12 math test
5/24 – Religion ch 19 and Science unit B ch 3 tests this week
5/31 – No school
6/2-3 – Mount St Helens
6/4 – Talent Show 10am, noon dismissal
6/5 – Spring Carnival noon-4pm
6/9 – Spring Concert 1pm, 8th grade graduation
6/10 – Field day
6/11 – Last day of school, Mass, 10am dismissal – NO LAST DAY PICNIC
Sincerely,
Claire Plehal
