Parent Update - 6/14/2009 (Last Update)

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

Well, we've made it to the end of fourth grade with just this last week to go. It's been an honor to be your child's teacher this year and witness his and her growth academically, emotionally and in height. They really have grown since last August!

I want to thank you all for the wonderful gift of the REI gift card I received on Saturday (hand delivered at REI by Alexander Myers). I was completely stunned by your generosity. I appreciate it very much and have already used a portion of it to buy a couple of items for my family's trip to Alaska this summer. It's perfect. THANK YOU!

Here's what the week will look like:

First of all - NO HOMEWORK. (I can hear everyone cheering! - me too!)

Monday we will be finishing up the innovator's project and begin presenting the life-size posters the students have been making. We will take our last math test. This is an "End of the Year" test whose results will go to their fifth grade teacher and not be graded for the report card.

Tuesday will have our class picnic to Lover's Point. Thank you to all who have offered to drive. We will be leaving school just after recess around 10:30ish. We should return by about 1:30. Please be reminded that though the students have free dress, they will not be able to go in the water because we have no lifeguard on duty. Everyone is asked to bring food to share. Those who have not turned in their permission slips need to do so tomorrow.

Wednesday, our class will be singing at the 8th grade graduation. We have been reading buddies with both the 8th grade and Kindergarten this year and this is a way of giving a little gift to their buddies. Thanks to Lisa Wichel-Loomis for thinking of this and arranging the graduation. Ms. Porter, the music teacher, has been working with the class on the songs.

Thursday is field day. Students have free dress. I will go over with the students what they can and cannot wear. I don't have the list with me as I write but they will need to wear clothes they can get wet for the water activities. Swimsuits may be wore but 2-piece suits for girls need to be covered with a shirt. Bring a towel and a change of clothes to school. Sunscreen is a good idea too.

We will be cleaning up and packing up the classroom all week. All school books need to be checked in. Please send any ISM books or our class library books back to school. There are some students that still have library books out from the ISM library. These need to be returned right away. Please check with your child.

Friday is a half day. Dismissal is at 11:30.

I am sure you all already have great summer plans. Here are a couple of ideas to add to your summer fun:

Library Reading Program - All of the local libraries have a summer reading program which has already begun. They usually have weekly prizes and some sort of fun programs throughout the summer and festivities at the end. It's a great way to encourage your child to read over the summer.

As mentioned in a previous email, the Golden State Theater in Monterey has free movies this summer. Check the theater for times and titles. You get the tickets at stores on Alvarado Street. A great deal!

The Forest Outdoor Theater hosts outdoor movies all summer. It's great to bring a picnic dinner and dessert and watch a movie outside. They also have a few plays. Right now, a play that captures a part in our local California history is playing called Bandito. I haven't had a chance to see it yet so, I don't know if it appropriate for children, but it would be a great addition to our year-long study of California.

If you need an idea for a weekend trip, think about going to the Gold Country of California to help your child see some of the places we learned about in class this year. There is a lot of information of where to go online and AAA has some great ideas and resources as well.

Feel free to let others know of activities you know about and share the fun.

I wish you all a wonderful, restful and fun summer.
Thank you for your endless support,
Mary

Mary Cunningham-Welsh
4th Grade Teacher
International School of Monterey

Parent Update - 5/25/2009

I hope you have all enjoyed a nice long weekend this Memorial Day weekend. Although the weather was a bit chilly around here, it was nice to have an extra day of time with friends and family.

Thank you once again to our wonderful chaperone/drivers that helped out on the field trip last Friday to MBARI. It was a great day of science, fun and time together. While I was out on the beach helping students learn about currents, staying dry and looking for beach treasures, everyone had a chance to test the temperatures of the water with the "thermasters" they made and attached to the "ROVs". They recorded their calculations on a graph and also had the opportunity to drive the ROVs. It was a great experience. Thank you to Debra Istenes, Sonia Perez, Kathleen Hill, Bob Brown, Bene Millings and Barbara and Katsuhiro Okamura for helping out. If you see Geoff Wheat, (father of Ted Wheat in Ms. Arnow's class) or Claudia Paul (Joshua's mom) please thank them for all of their time, effort and knowledge they shared in putting this great trip and the class lesson to go with it. They were terrific!

We are down to our last four weeks of school. It's hard to believe how quickly it has gone from the first day your wonderful children walked into the classroom. They have accomplished so much and we have had many great experiences together. They have all grown in so many ways and it has been remarkable for me to witness this along with all of you. I am very fortunate.

This four-day week will be fairly normal. We will take the spelling test we didn't get to take on Friday because of our field trip on Tuesday. We will start the next unit (11) in math on Tuesday. I will return the math tests tomorrow (Tuesday). Most everyone did very well on the assessment. As always, students may make corrections on the test and return it to me for 1/2 credit. This needs to be completed by Thursday.

We will continue our study of electricity this week with a look at motors and how they work. Our final project will be on California Innovators. Students will be doing most of the work in class (to give you all a break). They will be making a life-sized poster of their innovator and presenting some of the major contributions and background of this person. I will be sending a description of the project home this week if students want to do some of the research at home. I hope this will be both a fun and interesting project for all. Everyone has worked so hard this year.

Homework this week:

Tuesday
Math: Study Links 11.1
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: none
Handwriting p. 87

Wednesday
Math: Study Links 11.2
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: none
Handwriting p. 88

Thursday
Math: Study Links 11.3
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: none
Handwriting p. 89

All the best to you,
Mary Welsh

Monterey Bay Aquarium Free today (5/20)

I've been meaning to make sure you all know that the aquarium is free today to Monterey County residents. It might be a nice way to spend some of the afternoon if you have the time on this early release day.

On each 20th of the month until October 20th, the aquarium is free to Monterey County residents as a gift to the community to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

Note: I still need field trip forms from Kareem, Cy, Ariana and Tanner for Friday's trip to MBARI.

Lastly, thanks to those watchful parents who have caught my typo on group C's spelling words. "neckace" should be "necklace". Sorry about the mistake.

All the best,
Mary Welsh

Parent Update - 5/18/2009

Dear Parents,

Thank you to the many parents who helped out on the field trip last Friday to the US. Geological Survey Open House. We couldn't have done it without you. Though it was a long drive, the students all found interesting things to do and learn. My group had fun playing Geopardy, Gold Panning, making their own earthquakes and other hands-on activities. Others also learned what to do in case of an earthquake, saw a bald eagle and other fun things. Please thank Claudia Paul, Leann Ruffin, Glenn Harrell, Barbara Okamura, Debra Istenes and Theresa Curatalo for their help in making the field trip happen.

There are several things going on this week for you to be aware of. Wednesday is an early dismissal day. The students will be out at 11:30 am. Afterschool care is available but you must sign up in advance. Thursday evening is the Spring Arts Festival in the evening. The program starts at 6:30 pm. Students need to meet in the classroom at 6:15. Our class will be singing the California state song as taught to them by music teacher, Sherry Porter. We are still working out what the students will wear. We will determine this tomorrow in class and I will let you know.

Friday is our field trip to MBARI to test our thermosensors made in class with Mr. Wheat and Ms. Paul. I have not received all of the field trip permission slips yet so, if you haven't sent it in, please do so tomorrow. We are still in need of drivers for the trip. At this time, we have space only for 13 students. If you can drive, please let me know. We will be back in time for SEM classes.

Homework this week will be:

Monday
Math: Study Links 10.5
Handwriting: Page 83
Reading: Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: Sort and write words

Tuesday
Math: Study Links 10.6
Handwriting: Page 84
Reading: Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: work with words

Wednesday:
Math: Study for test
Handwriting: Page 85
Reading: Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: work with words

Thursday:
Come to the Evening program
Reading: Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Spelling: Study for test

All the best,
Mary Welsh

Spanish Project (Due 5/20/2009)

Hello Parents,

The Spanish project for the 4th graders is due on Wed., May 20th. Both Spanish classes have similar projects. Mrs. Leavitt, Cameron's mom received the following information from Mrs. Wright that may help everyone have a better idea of what is expected. It is a fairly simple project unless, of course, it is left to the last minute.

Here is what Mrs. Wright said:

"The project is a family tree and they need family pictures. They will present it on a Cardboard. Below the picture the students have to write: My grandmother's name is Carmen. (in spanish) They have the family vocabulary in their notebooks and workbook. The students practice the vocabulary every day. It is very simple. I hope I answered your question.

The students have a sheet where it shows the family tree as an example."

I Hope this helps. Feel free to contact the teachers directly for more information.

Best of luck,
Mary

Two Notes

Dear Parents,

Given the Star Testing and the students' energy level, we will postpone our math assessment to Thursday. Tomorrow we will review unit 9. A copy of the study guide has been sent to you via email.

Next week the Star tests will be on Monday and Tuesday for 4th grade not Tuesday and Wednesday as I had said in my last note. Please make sure your child continues to be on time and is well rested and has eaten breakfast as usual.

Thanks,
Mary

Parent Update - 5/4/2009

Happy May! Let's hope this wet weather helps to extend the beautiful wildflower season we have been experiencing.

This week we will begin taking the Star Test, the California State assessment test. Fourth graders will take the test in the mornings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week and just Tuesday and Wednesday next week. On Monday, we will take a practice test. On Tuesday and Wednesday will be testing in Language Arts. Next week, we will test in math. Please make sure your child gets a good rest each night and eats a good breakfast as usual. The tests will take only about 1 1/2 hours each day. Please also make sure your child comes to school on time as we will be starting the tests at 8:30 each morning.

We will not have spelling this week or next week due to the Star Test. The other subjects will remain the same. There will be some adjustments with Spanish to make up for the time Spanish and the Star Test overlap. We are working out a Spanish schedule with the teachers.

Next week, on Friday, May 15th, we will be heading to the U.S. Geological Survey for their Open House for schools. If your child has not turned in their field trip form, please send it in. Thank you.

We will have an assessment of math unit 9 on Wednesday this week. I promise to not make it too painful given the Star testing overlap.

We will finish up our Migration Projects this week and begin our study of electricity and magnetism. I may be asking for some supplies you may have around as we go through the lessons. If anyone has a broken electric appliance, please let me know. We may be taking some things apart. I have a weed trimmer I will be donating to science (I guess the weeds were just too big to trim – I burned out the motor).

Homework this week:

Monday:
Math Study Links 9.8
Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting Book pg. 75

Tuesday:
Math Study Links 9.9
Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting Book pg. 76

Wednesday:
Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting Book pg. 77

Thursday:
Math Study Links 10.1
Read 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting Book pg. 78

Thank you all for your continued support.

All the best,
Mary Welsh

Migration Videos and Stories

Dear families,

We have all worked long and hard on the migration project but it appears the video editing part has come to a sudden end. It seems that although we have iMovie on all the school computers, we don't have enough processing capability in our server to manage this type of file. So the kids won't be able to edit their movies here at school after all. I am so sorry about this disappointment.

Our plan is to save every child's footage in .mov format. This is a universal video format, the same as what they saved their quick films in at the Apple store. Using these files, you should be able to edit them at home, at a video workshop at the Apple store, or next year at school once the tech issues are resolved.

Meanwhile the children's grades will be based on their migration stories, rather than on both the story and the movie. I have had a lot of families ask for more time on the story write-ups and so have extended the due date to Monday, May 4th. The stories I have read so far have been very intriguing and I hope that part of the process has been valuable to your child as well. Everyone has worked very hard to get their projects done (parents included!). We will still have a time to share these stories and maybe a few video clips from the films you all took. I will have further details on that soon.

Again, my apologies,
Mary

Parent Update - 4/25/2009 (Migration Video)♦

Hi, families,

I will not be at school on Monday, April 27th. The students will have a substitute, Mr. Josh Statton. I will be back on Tuesday.

Ms. Arnow and I have been trying to work out some of the kinks with loading the migration videos onto imovie to edit. We have run into a technical wrinkle we didn't anticipate from both of our first conversations with Laurel, our contact at the Apple store. The DVD files are not importable into iMovie, though she had thought they might be. As it turns out, iMovie only supports MPEG-4, DV, and .mov file formats. Anyway, there are a few options here.

[DEVELOPER'S NOTE: If you own a PC, you can easily convert DVD videos to MP4 using the following open source software http://www.planetdvb.net/staxrip/ ]

One, if you have the interview still stored on a cassette, please send in the cassette on Monday. I can download it using the school camera at home on Tuesday night. That is our best option of all. Please mark the cassette clearly with your name/child's name so I can keep them straight and get them back to you.

Two, if not, and if you can send in the camera itself, I can still download it at home. If the camera is a flipster, and if it is okay to send it to school and to the Apple store (on Wednesday), we can download it directly there.

Three, if all else fails, the kids will still have a great experience learning to use the movie editing tools at the Apple store. We may not be able to edit our interviews at school, since we've had a lot of technical difficulties in the tech lab recently, but the kids will understand better what they can do with movie images on a computer.

The interview component of the project will be graded based on the raw video if we are unable to do the editing. The basis of their grade is the quality of the questions and the way they are able to shape the story from the interview.

Hope this makes sense; contact me if not.

The Apple Store trip will be on Wednesday. We have plenty of drivers, actually more than are needed. You all are so awesome! If any of the drivers need to do something else on Wednesday, please let me know (not everyone, please!).

Homework will be the usual for reading and spelling this week.
Math will be Study Links 9.5 (Monday), 9.6 (Tuesday), ? Wednesday depending on our field trip timing. Thursday will be 9.7 if we don't get to it on Wed.

Handwriting will be pages 69 Monday, 72 Tuesday, 73 Wednesday and 74 Thursday.

Many thanks,

Mary

Parent Update - 4/20/2009

I hope everyone had a great weekend and were able to enjoy some of this beautiful and very warm weather. It's supposed to stay hot for the next couple of days so please make sure your child has a water bottle at school this week.

We attended a great Math Festival on Friday in the Multiuse room put on by the Lawrence Hall of Science with the help of teacher, Nikki Madden. We all enjoyed doing math in many different forms and explorations. Thanks to the parents in many grades that volunteered and to Nikki Madden for making it happen.

We have several things going on this week. Wed., Earth Day, we will have an early dismissal day. Students get out of school at 11:30am. Please make sure you pick them up on time or make arrangements for after school care. There will be an Earth Day assembly at 9:00 am in the Multiuse room.

On Thursday, we will be heading to the Monterey Symphony performance in Salinas in the morning with the other 4th grade and the fifth grade classes. Thank you to all of you who have volunteered to drive. We are in good shape with the amount of seats for students. We will be leaving school promptly at 8:30 so please make sure your child is on time. Uniforms are required.

For those of you that have begun your filming for the migration project, I hope it has gone well. The filming will need to be completed by next Monday, April 27th. If you have the filming already completed, your child can bring it to school early.

Next week, on Wed., April 29th, we will be going to the Apple Store at the Del Monte Center to work on learning how to edit our films. I will have field trip forms for this tomorrow. We will just be there for 1 hour (11:00 - 12:00) and will need drivers. We have one more field trip in the works. It is on Friday, May 15th to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park.
They will be holding an open house for schools on that day.

There will be free dress this Friday.

On Saturday, April 25th, the Just Run 3K race for kids (and adults) will be held beginning at 8:00 am. It starts on Wave Street in Cannery Row between Irving and Prescott Streets. I will be at the starting line and hope we can get as many 4th graders as possible there. Unfortunately, I will have to leave just after the start because I have a class to attend at the Monterey Bay Aquarium beginning around 8. Mr. Robby the P.E. teacher will be there and will run with our group. Here is a link to the website.

http://www.justrun.org/Just_Kids_Races_Series.htm

You can sign-up ahead of time. Students are only $5. and adults $20. All runners receive a t-shirt, a medallion and snacks. There is also a prize drawing at the end of the race. It's a ton of fun and a great way to exercise together.

Homework this week:

Monday
Math: Study Links 9.2
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 65

Tuesday
Math: Study Links 9.3
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 66

Wednesday
Do something positive for the Earth!
Math: 9.4
Spelling: Sort and write words
Handwriting: pg. 67

Thursday
Math: To be announced (field trip in morning) Spelling; Study for test
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 68

Enjoy your week,
Mary Welsh

Migration Project

Dear families,

I know that some of you may be working on the taping of the interview for the migration project soon. I have gone over all the students' questions and have returned them. Everyone should be ready to interview. In class, we talked about adding a question at the end that would allow the person to add anything more that they had not yet said.

Here are some guidelines for filming:

1. The frame should show the face of the interview subject. The children's faces may not be included in the image--this is very important.
2. Please remind the kids to do a sound check before they begin recording (just record the subject saying a few things and then play it back to be sure it is recording intelligibly.)
3. Be sure the lighting is adequate and that the subject's face can be seen. Be careful of backlighting (for example if the subject is sitting by a window or outdoors) and make sure you have enough ambient light for your camera.
4. If you have a tripod, it will help steady the picture. If not, you might find a place to rest the camera while filming.
5. I understand that it helps to stop the camera between sections of questions so one can edit more easily. These are called "clips". When editing, you can search a clip for the parts you desire to keep instead of having to go through the whole video.
6. You can send the recording to school in DV (digital video) tape format, on a CD, or, if all else fails, on your camera itself.

Please contact me with any questions by email or phone: 644-0841

Have a great weekend,
Mary Welsh

Parent Update - 4/12/2009

Dear Parents and families,

Spring seems to be upon us now with these wonderful green hills and the lupine and poppies making themselves known. I trust you all had a nice weekend and for those who celebrate Passover or Easter, a special weekend of gatherings, good food, egg hunts and such. For those who attended or helped at the ISM Gala, thank you for your support. I hope you had a wonderful time. A previous commitment I had did not allow me to attend this year but I've enjoyed attending in years past. I'm sure it was a big success and I hope our class art project brought in some needed funds.

We had fun doing some Gold Rush activities on Friday afternoon. Hopefully, everyone learned who were the ones that made money during the gold rush and know who Levi Strauss and Mr. Ghiradelli are and how they were able to get some of the gold.

This week should be a "regular" week.

The migration interview questions are due Monday. The students did most of the work in class but were to check with their parents to see how their questions looked. They need to be written neatly or typed to turn in. I do not have much of a count of video cameras yet. Please let me know( if you haven't already) if you have a camera you know will work for the project.

We will have the math assessment for unit 8 on Wednesday as we have one more lesson in Unit 8 for Monday and a day to review beforehand. I will be sending the hard copy of the review home tomorrow and am including it at the end of this note as some folks were not able to open it.

The students will get new spelling words on Monday. The test will be Friday as usual.

Everyone chose new books for the book clubs on Friday and so we are off on a new round of book club activities and seminars. Check with your child to make sure they are keeping up on their reading, roles and word studies for book club. They can certainly read their book club book for their nightly reading time.

On Friday, I sent home the permission slip for the Monterey Symphony trip for next Thursday, April 23rd. Please fill it out and return the form this week. We will need drivers for the 1/2 day trip. We will leave school around 8:30 and I assume we will return by lunch time. The field trip is a no cost trip (except for the drivers).

Homework this week:

Monday
Math; Study Links 8.8
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 60

Tuesday
Math; Study for test
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 62

Wednesday
Math; Parents read parent letter for unit 9.
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 63

Thursday
Math; Study Links 9.1
Spelling: Study for test
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: pg. 64

-------------------------------

Math Study Guide - Unit 8


1. Find the perimeter of a polygon.
2. Find the area of a polygon drawn on a grid.
3. Draw a rectangle with a given area and perimeter.
4. Solve number stories involving area.
5. Add and subtract fractions.
6. Predict the outcomes of a spinner experiment.
7. Express the probability of a block-drawing event as a fraction.
8. Use formulas to find the area of a rectangle, parallelogram, and triangle.
9. Use a scale to draw rectangles with given dimensions.


Have a great week,

Mary

Math Study Guide Plus

Thank you to our wonderful parents who chaperoned our field trip to Colton Hall and the Monterey Library. We were very lucky with the weather and had some new experiences for some like riding the city bus and getting one's first library card. The docent at Colton Hall was great and very informative, we also learned a lot about the resources at the Monterey Public Library. Those of you with Monterey Library cards can use them to tap into their numerous online resources such as World Book online, the library catalog, and even have some books read to you called "Tumblebooks". We also visited the "California Room" at the library which might be a good resource for the migration project or next year when the 5th graders work on History Day projects.

I would like to get a count of how many families have video cameras that can be used for the migration interview project. We will need to get the films on a DVD or "thumbdrive" to bring to the Apple Store - April 29th. Some digital still cameras have video capability. You might want to check that out if you have one. You can just email me your response on the cameras. I know there are several people that do not have a video camera so maybe we can work on a way to do this together.

I am attaching the study guide for the math unit we are studying now. One family suggested I get it to you all at the beginning of the unit which is a great idea so you can know what to focus on. I apologize for forgetting to do that until now. It looks like our test for Unit 8 will be on Monday. I hope this gives you a little time to look things over with your child.

Thanks all,
Mary Welsh

Weekly update - 4/5/2009

Dear Parents,

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. The weather has been beautiful.

Yesterday, I drove up to Los Altos to pick up the vases with our class artwork for the Gala auction. They are just great. The vases are quite large and the ocean artwork looks great. Some of the students' art are on each vase though inadvertently 3 of our students were missed in the application of the art. If you go to the gala next Saturday, you'll be sure to see them. They are lovely and fun.

Gala 50/50 tickets need to be in this week. Please have your child turn them in to me or you can bring them directly to the wooden mailbox near the teacher mailboxes in the office.

We have a field trip to Colton Hall and the Monterey Library this Wednesday, April 8th. We are taking the city bus. If your child has not yet turned in their field trip form or the $2.00 for the bus, please send them in on Monday. Thank you!

On Thursday, April 23rd, we have a field trip to the Monterey Symphony at Sherwood Hall in Salinas scheduled as part of music class. I will get field trip forms out at the end of the week (one trip at a time!). We will need drivers for this trip and need to arrive at Sherwood Hall by 9:15 am. I assume the program only goes an hour or so but will let you know as soon as I hear.

We have begun working on our unit on Migration. As part of the unit each student will interview someone they know who has migrated to California. The students will write up this interview and we are hoping the students will videotape each of these interviews so we can teach them to edit the film and upload the final draft onto a website called We Are California. I need to know how many families have a digital video camera that they can use to tape the interview. Please let me know as soon as possible. We may be able to partner up and film for one another if agreeable. I will send home the information on the assignment this week. Check out the website: www.weareca.org

This Friday, we will be doing some activities on the Gold Rush with both the 4th grade classes. It should be a fun learning time for all.

Homework this week:

Monday:
Math: Study Links 8,5
Spelling: Sort and write words
Handwriting pg. 54
Reading: 20 minutes and record title, pages and minutes in planner

Tuesday
Math: Study Links 8,6
Spelling: Sort and write words
Handwriting pg. 55
Reading: 20 minutes and record title, pages and minutes in planner

Math: Fact Triangle practice
Spelling: Sort and write words
Handwriting pg. 56
Reading: 20 minutes and record title, pages and minutes in planner

Math: Study Links 8.7
Spelling: Sort and write words
Handwriting pg. 57
Reading: 20 minutes and record title, pages and minutes in planner

Enjoy your week,

Mary Welsh

Parent Update - 3/23/2009

Dear 4th Grade families,

I trust you have all had a fun and restful spring break and are enjoying your last day before we start our last trimester. My family has had a nice break and had a nice driving trip to Colorado to see family. It was stunning driving through the red rock country of Arizona and Utah and lovely seeing the snow on the mountains. It was a nice visit though I am glad to be back and get to see all the fourth graders again.

Thank you all for taking the time to meet with me and your child for the conferences before the break. All of the students did a fantastic job at the conferences and it's so great for me to witness their growth and have time with all of you.

We will start right back into our work on Monday. We do have a field trip to Colton Hall and the Monterey Library scheduled for Wed., April 8th. We will be taking the Monterey Transit Bus to downtown Monterey. I have one confirmed chaperone and have room for two more if anyone else can join us. We will leave school around 8:45 and return just before 2pm. Field trip forms will be coming home Monday or Tuesday. I will also send an application for a Monterey Library card home with your child if they don't already have one. I will need the application back by Tuesday or Wednesday this week to get all of the applications to the library one week ahead of time so the cards will be ready for the students when we arrive.

The ISM Gala is coming soon. It is Saturday, April 11th at the Hyatt in Monterey. It is a fun event and a great fundraiser for the school. Our class has been part of making an art piece for the gala's silent auction. They are two ceramic pieces (vases, I believe) made by an artist in Los Altos. She took ocean images the students drew and put them on the pieces. They will be ready at the artist's studio on Tuesday. If anyone is going to the Los Altos or SF Bay Area this week and could swing by and pick up the ceramics, please let me know. It would be a great help.

In math, we will start Unit 8 this week. Please read the Parent Letter for Unit 8 in your child's Math Study Links book. Unit 8 focuses on Perimeter and Area so there will be a lot of great measuring going on.

We will have new spelling words this week which I hope you will be seeing coming home so the students can practice their words each night.

We will be beginning a social studies unit on Migration this trimester focusing on migration to California. In Science this trimester we will be learning about electricity and magnetism. If anyone has any expertise in either of these two areas please let me know.

Homework this week:

Monday: Math Study Links 8.1
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: Page 50

Tuesday: Math Study Links 8.2
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: Page 51

Wednesday: Math Study Links 8.3
Spelling: Sort and write words or your choice
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: Page 52

Thursday: Math Study Links 8.4
Spelling: Study for Spelling test
Reading: 20 minutes and record in planner
Handwriting: Page 53

Thank you for all you do to support your child.
Sincerely,
Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 3/1/2009

Dear 4th Grade Families,

We had a wonderful trip to the Seaside Dunes on Friday. The weather was perfect and we were able to plant 100 seedlings to help the dunes in their restoration process. The students did great work planting each of the plants very carefully. Now, let's hope the rain really does materialize this week for those fragile plants. Thank you to all of the parents that assisted with the trip by driving and chaperoning: Barbara Okamura, Sonia Perez, Claudia Paul, Debra Istenes, Glenn Harrell and Stefani Chaney. We could never do these trips without you.

Let me work backward this time. The week after next will be a shorten week with an early dismissal of 11:30 am on Thursday, March 12th to begin conferences. Friday, the 13th, will be a holiday for the students and conferences for parents and teachers. I am attaching my conference schedule. Please sign up for the times that will work for you. I will work on getting a finalized schedule out to you as soon as I can. Students will need to be at these conferences as they will be leading the discussion.

On that note, please check Power School to see if your child has any incomplete work due. I will accept work until March 9th (although full credit will not be available). Students do need to make up missed work during absences.

This week:
Monday is pajama day in honor of Dr. Suess' birthday. Students may wear pajamas but need to have regular shoes on for outside. Robes are helpful and slippers are okay in the classroom. If your child has a favorite Dr. Suess book, please send it in with their name on it. We will read as many as we can with the time allowed.

Tuesday will be the Star test for writing. Please make sure your child has a good breakfast as usual. The test will take from 60 to 90 minutes though it is not timed. Students will be given a prompt to write about for the test.

Wednesday is World Math Day. All of the students have been given their login and passwords and we have practiced once or twice at school. Students should try to practice at home as well so they can be as speedy as possible for Wed. We don't have an opportunity to practice in the Tech Lab before our time allotted on Wednesday. It's a fun and challenging way to practice our math skills against students from around the world.

We are nearing the end of our math unit. We will have (yet another!) math assessment on Friday this week. I will send home a study guide on Wednesday or Thursday. Because of our field trip on Friday, we were not able to have our spelling test. We will have that test on Monday and then one for our new words this week on Friday. It's a crazy end-of-the-trimester testing time!

Homework will be:

Monday: Math Study Links 7.11
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: Read at least 20 minutes, write title, minutes and pages in planner Handwriting pg. 38

Tuesday: Math Study Links 7.12
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: Read at least 20 minutes, write title, minutes and pages in planner Handwriting pg. 39

Wednesday: Math: Review for test
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: Read at least 20 minutes, write title, minutes and pages in planner Handwriting pg. 40

Thursday: Math: Review for test
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: Read at least 20 minutes, write title, minutes and pages in planner Handwriting pg. 41

Wishing you an enjoyable week ahead,
Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 2/23/2009

I hope the weekend was a relaxing one for all of you. They sure go fast, don’t they?
I had the opportunity to see and hear some of our ISM students play in the orchestra at the Sunset Center on Sunday. I have to admit, I was there for personal reasons as I have two sons and my husband playing with the Youth Music Orchestra and the Orchestra in the Schools groups. But, even so, it was a wonderful experience to see all these fine young players coming together and making a wonderful sound. Our own Alexander Myers was easily visible in the horn section on his trumpet and fifth grader, Jonathan Vu was the concert master for the youth orchestra. It was a great performance.

This week, we have our field trip to the Seaside Dunes for planting our little seedlings to help restore some of the dune areas. It looks like we do have enough drivers now. Thank you to all who have stepped up to volunteer. Let’s hope the rain stays in the clouds while we are out there. As far as I know, we will go rain or shine but I will let you all know if something changes.
There are a few students who do not have their permission slip in yet. Please send those in tomorrow.

We are still collecting money for the class gala basket. We actually have only received two donations so far. Camille’s mom, Christine, will be putting together the basket for us with the theme of “Spa Relaxation”. If you can contribute to the basket with actual items or if you can donate $10 toward the basket contents, I have an envelope in the classroom for the collection.

Next week, on March 3rd, fourth graders will be taking the writing portion of the Star Test.
Please make sure your child arrives to school on time and, as always, eats a good breakfast. I believe the test lasts about one hour.

This week is fairly straightforward. We will continue with our fraction work in math. All of the spelling groups have homophones this week. The students will need to focus on the meanings of the words as well as the spelling. Please check with your child to make sure they are staying on course with their book club roles and word studies. Everyone is doing much better with the book clubs this time around and I assume will keep getting better with practice.

Project Alert! We are starting a group project on ocean food webs. Much of the work will be done in class though you will need to support your child at home to find a picture of their animal and help find some information about them. The description of the project will go home today. The project due date is Friday, March 6th. I am looking for frozen juice can lids for the project if you can save them and send them in. (If you have a can opener that opens cans without the sharp edge, those lids would work too.) We will also need one trifold board or other large cardboard (5 total) for the groups.

Save the Date:
Ms. Arnow and I are putting together a family discovery evening for the 4th grade. There is a small gift for each family that attends. Please join us if you are able.
When: Tuesday, March 10th – Coast Discovery Night
Where: ISM Multiuse Room
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00 pm
What: 4th grade families learning about our coast and students showing their projects to their families

Homework this week:

Monday:
Math: Study Links 7.7
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 34

Tuesday
Math: Study Links 7.8
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 35

Wednesday:
Math: Study Links 7.9
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 36

Thursday
Math: Study Links 7.10
Spelling: Sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 37

Best wishes,

Ms. Mary Welsh

Parent Update - 1/8/2009

Dear Parents,

This week will be almost regular but, not quite. There is an early dismissal day on Wed. The students will be getting out of school at 11:30 am. After school care is offered for that day but, you will need to contact Lisa Wichell-Loomis to set it up ahead of time.

Next Monday, Feb. 16th, is a holiday for President's Day.

Saturday is Valentine's Day. I am not planning a party on Friday but, hope that the students might want to share Valentine cards. If your child brings cards to share, we will have a chance in the morning to distribute them.

Spelling will resume this week as normal. The four students who will be taking the written spelling bee test will do so on Wednesday with the other students who have advanced to this level. The oral test will be with the 10 top 4 and 5th graders from this test and take place on Wed. Feb. 18th in the morning.

The math assessment test will be tomorrow morning. Have your child eat a good breakfast or a snack at recess to help their brain stay nourished.

Homework this week will be:

Monday:
Math: Parents read parent letter at end of Unit 6 to prepare for Unit 7.
Spelling: sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 26

Tuesday:
Math: 7.1
Spelling: sort and write words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 27

Wednesday:
Math: 7.2
Spelling: work with words
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 28

Thursday:
Math: 7.3
Spelling: Study for test
Reading: 20 minutes
Handwriting: Page 29
Bring in Valentine's Day cards tomorrow if you want.

Best wishes,

Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 2/2/2009

Dear Parents,

Yet another beautiful weekend on the Central Coast! I suppose the sweatshirt sales on the wharf are down this week once again. All those tourists are going to think it's never foggy. I'm starting to forget myself!

This week, we are off on a field trip once again. On Wednesday, we will head to San Carlos Beach in Monterey for sandy shore studies followed by a short ride over to the tidepools in Pacific Grove to see what is hiding in the rocky shore for us to discover. Thank you to all who have already returned their field trip forms. I have all but two. Great response everyone! Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to drive and chaperone. We, once again, have a stellar bunch signed up. Now we just have to hope the weather holds for a few more days. I will contact the drivers separately to give you more details.

The list of words for the ISM Spelling Bee for 4th and 5th grade students went home last Wed. We will have the written test this Tuesday. There will not be any other spelling words from me this week. The top 20 fourth grade spellers from the test will go on to the ISM Spelling Bee the following week. I will let you know the results as soon as we have them.

Math will continue as usual. We are coming to the end of Unit 6 and will be ready for another (!) assessment either this Friday or Monday depending on how the students are feeling about their skills. I will try to get a study sheet out to you beforehand. You can let me know whether the study sheets are helping your child or not.

The poetry and art for the Coastal Commission contest made it to the post office in time. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the students. Everyone did a great job on their poems and art. I also sent out letters all of the students wrote to President Obama. We are hoping for some sort of letter back and even a visit to the classroom (it doesn't hurt to ask!). Again, we will see what happens.

Remember to check Power School and please contact me if you have any questions.

Homework this week:
Monday: Math, Study Links 6.8, Study Spelling Bee words, Read 20 minutes, Handwriting page 22
Tuesday: Math, Study Links 6.9, Read 20 minutes, Handwriting page 23 - Get things ready for field trip: lunch, water, hat, sunscreen, clothes.
Wednesday: No Study Links, work on Fact Triangles, Handwriting page 24, read 20 minutes
Thursday: Math Study Links 6.10, Handwriting page 25, read 20 minutes

Best wishes to all and thank you for your amazing support.
Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 1/28/2009

Dear Parents.

There are a few things I wanted you to know about that I didn't mention in the last update.

Yesterday, I sent home "Red and Green Hands" certificates with all of the students. We have really been trying to work on decreasing interruptions in class. When a student interrupts or blurts out when either I or another person is talking, they get a red hand and put their name and date on it. If they are attentive listeners and raise their hand to speak, they get a green hand at the end of the week. Some of the students may have brought home several red hands attached to the notice. What we are hoping for, is for the students to decrease these interruptions as a whole and as individuals. I am keeping track of their improvements here at school. We hope to have all green hands going home eventually. I am also hoping to only have
to do this for a few weeks until everyone gets the idea. It helps that they know you will be seeing these and signing the note. So, if your child didn't show you their red/green hand slip, please ask them for it, sign it and return it to school tomorrow. Thanks!

The students brought home two things in their homework folders today. One is the study list of 100 words for the County Spelling Bee. The written test for this will be next Tuesday, Feb. 3rd. I will not send home a regular spelling list next week so everyone can concentrate on the one list. The top 10 students from each of the 4th and 5th grade classes in the written test will compete in the ISM spelling bee in the morning of Feb. 18th. The top two or three students from that competition will be invited to the county spelling bee.

The other note brought home today is for an Coastal Art and Poetry contest our class would like to make entries to. The students have been working on their poems in class and we are planning to have them ready by the due date - January 31 st - this Saturday. Some are also trying to create an art piece for this contest. Some students may not want to send their pieces in and that is o.k. They will still be graded on the poem for writing class.

Thanks to all that have sent in their permission slips for the Feb. 4th field trip to the beach and tidepools. If you haven't sent it in yet, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you to those of you who have volunteered to drive and chaperone. I will be in touch with all of you on the details of our plan as we get a little closer to the date.

Thank you all,
Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 1/11/2009

Dear Grade 4 families,

I hope you all were able to enjoy the beautiful weather we had in the area this weekend. Thank you to the families who came to help with Saturday Work Day. The campus looks brighter and cleaner all around. Thank you to those of you who also helped with the Open House Saturday afternoon at ISM. There were a good number of perspective students and families touring the campus. It was great to meet some of them. Camille and Nikelle were very helpful in touring some of the visitors around our classroom too.

Field trip forms will be going home on Monday. They are all set and ready to go. I was told that the forms usually get misplaced if I send them on Fridays so, I kept them and will get them out to you all tomorrow.

Math Assessment for Unit 5 will be on Tuesday. We will be reviewing math skills on Monday for the test on Tuesday. I will send home a review sheet you can go over with your child on Monday night.

Wednesday is an early dismissal day – 11:30. Please pick up your child then or make arrangements for their care. There is an after school option for childcare at ISM. Please contact Lisa Wichel-Loomis for more information.

Next Monday (1/19) will be a school holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Homework this week:

Monday
Study for math test, Fact Triangles
Sort and write words
20 mins reading. & record in planner

Tuesday
Fact Triangles
Sort and write words
20 mins reading. & record in planner

Wednesday
Study Math Links 6.1
Write words in a sentence
20 mins reading. & record in planner

Thursday
Fact Triangles
Study for math test
20 mins reading. & record in planner
Return fieldtrip form

Have a great week,
Mary Welsh

Spanish Project

Hello, Parents,

There have been several families and students asking when the Spanish country project is due. I checked with Senora Wright this afternoon and she told me both her class and Sr. Candia's projects are due on Monday, January 12th. The students should all have the description of the project which was given to them by their Spanish teacher.

I hope this helps.
Mary Welsh

Parent Update - 1/4/2009

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful break and were able to enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

This week, we will start right where we left off. Students who have not yet presented their Earth and People project/report will be present them starting Monday. I hope to get through all of them by Tuesday so we can move on to our new unit on Coastal Ecosystems.

Book Clubs will continue with the same books the students have been working on. Math will continue in Unit 5. We will have an assessment for Unit 5 on Tuesday (1/13) of next week. Spelling will pick up again this week. Some students have changed spelling groups after our assessment before we left for winter break. Most everyone is improving in their spelling quite well.

I may have to be out for Jury Duty this Wednesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be canceled.

We are planning a field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Thursday, January 22nd. There is "no cost" for the aquarium but I am asking for $2.00 to pay for parking to help the chaperones with the parking fees. I will have the permission slips out to you before the end of the week. I am also hoping to arrange a tidepooling and beach study day on Wed. February 4th. This will also be a "no cost" field trip.

Due to the financial situation at ISM, we have been asked not to have overnight field trips at this time. We had been trying to arrange a Gold Rush study field trip and had also looked into a overnight possibility for studying the ocean and ecosystems but, have had to reverse those efforts. So, at this point and most likely for the rest of the year, there will not be overnight field trips or ones that cost much money.

Homework will be:
Math - Monday Study Links 5.8, Tuesday 5.9, Wed. 5.10, Thursday 5.11
Spelling - sort and work with words (I may add something to this during the week)
Reading - Read 20 minutes (make sure you are keeping up with your book club reading)


Best wishes to all of you,
Mary Welsh

Parent Letter - 12/11/2008

Dear Parents,

I have not received any negative responses to the Secret Santa idea so, we will go ahead with it and choose names tomorrow. A possible place to buy a small gift for the last day is at the Book Fair.

The Earth's surface and People project description is available for download (pdf). Some of the sheets might not have made it home because we are doing most of the work in class. Your child will need support at home to finish the paragraphs. I am asking for five paragraphs. There can more, of course. I have pulled together some resources for the students to use but most of them will also need a trip to the library for another reference. I realize the students are also working on a Spanish project. I don't intend for this one to be daunting. Just a way to wrap up the unit and show understanding. Let me know if you have any questions.

The field trip forms for the Gateway Center visit next Tuesday went home today. Please return them as soon as possible to help me organize the trip. Thanks for your support with this.

The Lost and Found baskets in the library are overflowing. Check for the missing items before they head to Goodwill.

Lastly, thank you to all who have been able to contribute to the ISM Foundation fund drive. Every bit helps keep the programing we have worked so hard to build. The response has been great though we still have more to go. There will be donuts and people to collect your money Thursday and Friday in front of the school.

I promise no more updates at least for another day or so!!

With appreciation,
Mary Welsh

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Hello Parents,

Just two things for you:

Tomorrow is Free Dress Friday.

The mission churches your children have been working on in art are finished. They all look great. They are drying in the classroom. Due to their fragile nature, we will not be sending them home to be put on the mission and come back. The students will place them on their mission board when they bring it on Monday. I measured the churches and they are all a little different sizes. Most are about 4" x 4" but some are 4"x 5". There are a few that are 5" x 5". If you need exact measurements, your child should measure their church tomorrow in class and bring the measurement home.

Thanks for all your support at home with this project. I know exactly what you are going through as my son has his due tomorrow - not quite complete yet!. I hope your child is having fun with it.

Best wishes,
Mary Welsh

Mission Project (Due Monday, 11/24)

Dear 4th Grade Parents,

On Thursday, 11/13/2008, your child was given the information for the mission building project they will complete for social studies. The information is below in case the paper didn't quite make it home (how does that happen?)

The due date for the project will be Monday, November 24th. This is to give you two (2) weekends to work on it as well as the weekdays. We will begin presentations on that day and hope to get all of them completed before Thanksgiving to include the grade in their report card.

I hope this will be a fun project for your child. Please let me know if you hit any big snags.

Best wishes,
Mary Welsh

---

Building a Mission (due 11/24/2008)

Your mission model project is worth 100 points. You will build a model of an imaginary mission and give an oral presentation about your design.

Imagine you have been asked to add one more mission to the mission system of 21 locations here in California. Your mission may use some ideas from existing missions, but it should have its own name, appearance, and design. You will construct your mission’s buildings using air-dry clay, beginning with the church building which you will build at school. We may construct one small building at school using brick-by-brick adobe style construction, if time allows. We will have some time to design the layout of your mission at school, but you should plan to build most of the buildings at home. You may use other building materials (cardboard, popsicle sticks, clay, Legos, or other) if you like, as long as they fit the same scale.

Your entire mission complex must fit on a 12” square cardboard so it can be displayed in the wire shelves at school. You can decide which buildings to include and how they should be laid out.

Your model itself is worth 50 points, 10 points for a well-constructed model, and 5 points for showing answers to each of the following:

1. Where do the different types of people sleep?
2. Where do they work, and what work do they do?
3. Where do they grow their food?
4. Where do they cook and eat?
5. Where do they worship?
6. Where do they place the bodies of the dead?
7. How do they defend they mission against enemies?
8. Where do they get water?

Your oral presentation (2 to 5 minutes long) is worth 50 points: 10 points for presentation skills (loud, clear, expressive voice, strong stance, eye contact with the audience) and 5 points each for answering the questions below. You may refer to written notes as long as you can maintain eye contact with the audience. Please practice at home.

1. Who lived there? (Be sure to name the native group, and tell about all the different kinds of people in the mission.)
2. What did the members of the community eat?
3. How did the mission earn money?
4. How did they worship?
5. How did they protect themselves?
6. How did they stay healthy?
7. What were the main differences faced by this mission?
8. What were the advantages of this mission?

Fieldtrip and Math Homework

Dear Parents,

My apologies for this late note. The internet was down at school today and I was unable to get this out to all of you.

Just a couple of quick bits of information:

Tomorrow is our field trip to the Monterey State Parks in downtown Monterey for the Native American program. Student need to bring a lunch. They can pack it in a regular lunch box to reduce the amount of waste. There will be some "Native American" snacks provided: nuts, seeds, berries and beef jerky. I am aware there are several students who can not or do not eat these foods. Since we will not have another opportunity to have our own snacks before lunch at 1 pm, please make sure your child has a substantial breakfast.

Math homework: I made a mistake on the parent letter list for math homework tonight. So, if your child is saying they already did 2.8 and need to do 2.9, they are correct. You'll have to field any other excuses for not doing their homework. Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks for all of your support for the classroom in so many different ways!

Mary Welsh