St. John the Evangelist School
Mrs. Russell's Fourth Grade Class

Welcome to the fourth grade class newsletter. This will allow you to keep up to date on the variety of activities, projects, and assignments the fourth grade class of St. John School will be involved with.

Wednesday, March 5, is the beginning of the Lenten season. We will celebrate on Tuesday a combination of events. We will celebrate Mardi Gras with a few activities. We will participate in Read Across America and the birthday of Dr. Seuss on that day also. I would like to have a SLUMBER PARTY WITH BOOKS on Tuesday, March 4. I would like each child to bring in a sleeping bag, pillow, favorite book, and change of clothes. We'll be having time for silent reading in the afternoon along with sharing some favorite books. In this way we acknowledge three events on the same day before the quiet, prayerful season of Lent begins.

The new novel in reading is HARRIET TUBMAN. As we read this biography, we'll develop the skill of practicing the K-W-L comprehension strategy. This ties in with the topic of studying Women in History during the month of March. The final March Book-it project entitled, "Door to Adventure," has been sent home and is due March 31.

In the area of spelling we have finally finished the school Spelling Bee. Many of the fourth grade students are excellent spellers and it was very difficult to narrow the selection to only three representatives. However, the three students that will compete against the fifth and sixth grade students on April 9 will be: Julie Ivicic, Caitlin Ciolkosz, and Corey Ross. Our alternate representative is Karissa Thal. We wish those students the very best!

We have continued to practice writing and correcting sentences for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation daily in our English notebooks. The past two weeks we have focused on quotations marks. There will be a quiz on all these corrections on Tuesday, March 11.

Father Tomkosky will be visiting our classroom regularly on Tuesday mornings. The students have made their Lenten promises and we are using the Lenten readings and activity booklets purchased by the Home and School Association daily. I will be sending these booklets home over the Spring Break, but ask that they be returned on Monday, March 17.

We will be changing the routine of our math classes. Some of the students are progressing through the material quickly and accurately. Starting on March 17, we will be dividing the class into two groups. The first group will continue to receive instruction with one lesson taught and reviewed each evening. The second group will receive instruction on two lessons a day. They will be responsible for 50 of more problems an evening and be taking a weekly test. A great deal of this instruction will be taken on by the student and allow the child to be more responsible for his or her own learning. A contract will be sent home on Friday, March 7. It needs to be signed by myself, the student, and the parent. The contract will be in effect for one month. At that time the student's progress will be evaluated. It will be decided if changes will need to be made.

We'll begin the Challenge 24 competition after the Spring Break. Hopefully by the end of the month we'll have selected our four representatives to compete against the fifth grade students.

A live creature will be visiting our classroom on Friday, March 7. Students will need to determine which of the seven vertebrate phyla the creature belongs in narrowing their decisions based on its characteristics. A test in science on vertebrates will be Tuesday, March 11.

Finally, in social studies we will be enjoying a delicious activity dealing with the Western States. The class has been anxiously awaiting this activity for several weeks.

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 7 - APRIL 11, 2003:


Monday, April 7:
N O S C H O O L - S N O W D A Y
GOOD LUCK TO BRADLEY, SAMANTHA, COREY, AND KARISSA IN TUESDAY'S CHALLENGE 24


Tuesday, April 8:
Spelling - Pages 150 - 152
Math - Lesson 68 or Lessons 71 and 72
GOOD LUCK TO CAITLIN, JULIE, and COREY IN WEDNESDAY'S SPELLING BEE


Wednesday, April 9:
Spelling - ABC order of Unit 24 words
Math - Lesson 69 or Lessons 73 and 74
GOOD LUCK TO SAMANTHA AND KARISSA IN THURSDAY'S CHALLENGE 24 FINALS


Thursday, April 10:
Spelling - Unit 24 test and story's sloppy copy
Math - Lesson 70 or Lesson 75 and Test 13 B or Test 14 B
ALL REPORT CARD ENVELOPES DUE FRIDAY

Please send any questions regarding this newsletter to: rrussell@stjohns.ciu10.com.