April 30, 2018

      It was a beautiful day as the Fourth Graders continued to learn about the journey of the Oregon Trail this week with our trip to Fort Vancouver. The students learned that the fort is a National Park and received a National Park Pass good for free admission for the whole family to any National Park in the United States. Please find your Fourth Graders pass in the Friday Folder. 

     Our religious studies centered on the Book of Matthew's version of the Beatitudes this week. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave us guidelines for achieving happiness ~ the Beatitudes. The Fourth Graders worked in groups to dive deeply into one of the Beatitudes reading scripture and discussing the central message. The students then created a poster to represent each Beatitude. Check out the finished product on the bulletin board outside the classroom. Our class also spent time preparing for our upcoming responsibility of leading the All School Mass on May 10th celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. Please plan on joining us to celebrate at 2 pm on May 10th!

Choir practice with Dr. Manzo

Choir practice in the choir loft in the Church

     This coming week, I will support the Fourth Graders in putting the finishing touches on his/her National Park research papers. The students have been working very hard during class time to craft detailed, complete paragraphs. Each student should be an expert on their chosen park . We will end the school year in math studying fractions and decimals. In science, we have started to explore waves with experiments involving sound waves. It was a flurry of activity in the classroom as pairs of students designed and tested out many different telephones! 

God Bless, Jenn

Oregon Trail

Memories from our Oregon Trail Overnight!

April 2018

Book Club

     The 4th graders have completed their final project ending their first book club study! Each student was part of a group that chose a book from 3 choices. The book clubs met over the course of 2 weeks to discuss the book. The final project was to create a iMovie trailer first by planning and then filming and acting. The results are fabulous! When we watched the short movies in class, many students shouted out "I want to read that book now!" Music to my ears. Check out the students hard work below. 

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     The Oregon Trail Overnight is in a couple of days. When packing for our trip, please keep a close eye on the weather and pack rain gear if necessary! As a class we have begun our Oregon Trail simulation. Each student chose a pioneer name and family to make the pretend journey. The pioneers packed their wagons and joined a wagon train. Then each wagon train chose a wagon master to lead the wagons safely across the wild frontier. Interested students wrote and presented speeches to his/her train. The wagon trains then voted for a wagon master, their leader. It will take a couple of weeks to get all the way to Oregon on our in class journey. The students will be writing diary entries to, in the end, create a journal. There has been a bunch of excitement humming around our classroom this past week. I love it! Here are some photos of the wagon master speeches. 

      Our next field trip is coming up quick. We are heading by bus to visit Fort Vancouver on Tuesday, April 24th in the morning. Look for the field trip form coming home tomorrow in your 4th graders planner. Two parents have volunteered to come along and I am looking for a couple more. Let me know if you are interested. We will leave at 9:00 am and return by 11:15 am at the latest. A quick reminder that our Go West play will be performed on Friday, April 20th at 1:30 pm in the Parish Hall. On May 10th, the 4th graders will be leading the all school Mass for The Ascension of the Lord. I hope you can join us at 2 pm in the church. 

     That is all I have for now. Blessings to you and your family this rainy Sunday!

Jenn Langhus