May 18, 2010

The weeks fly by at the end of the year! Two weeks ago (though it seems like yesterday), the class visited the Waste to Energy plant in Poughkeepsie and WKZE radio station in Red Hook. The director of the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency was very impressed with the recycling efforts of the fourth graders at Dutchess Day School. After a discussion in the board room, we toured the incinerator facility with the plant supervisor and saw the huge control panel and the garbage collection floor. We stopped for lunch at Norrie Point, with Sarah guiding the bus driver down the narrow road to the picnic spot. At WKZE, we donned our recycling jerseys and shared in the reading of our Green Tips for WKZE listeners. We also recorded a station identification piece. Both were recorded, but not aired live. If you listen to 98.1, you may just recognize the voices in our Green Tips spot. The students and I thank Lori Garofalo for accompanying us on the field trip.
Our study of ancient Greece will probably involve some participation from home. I have asked the students keep their eyes out for buildings with Greek columns (Doric, Ionic or Corinthian), often found in the façade of town halls, libraries and museums. Photographs of these finds are most welcome. You may also be asked about English words with Greek roots. In the next two weeks, we will study those roots. We’ve just begun work on short in-class skits about Greek gods and heroes. The students will be creating the props and scenery in the classroom, though you may be asked for help in making a head of a Minotaur or Medusa, or provide costume ideas. You will get a chance to see the video at the end of the year when the class will invite you to a fourth grade lunch.
You are invited to our Poetry Tea on May 28th at 8:30 a.m. You will find tea, coffee and breakfast nibbles in the library, and then you will be asked to join us in our room for the event. This month, your child has been asked to read lots of poetry and to choose one to recite at the Poetry Tea. Lots of practice will make your child more comfortable reciting the poem. Together, the children and the adults in the room will make a very supportive, understanding and appreciative audience. (If you have a favorite poem, you are welcome to share it with us.)

Thanks,
Barbara

Due dates: Friday, April 30
Friday, May 7
Friday, May 14
Friday, May 21

Over the next four weeks, choose one of these ideas to write about:

• Imagine being a doctor in surgery
• Imagine being sucked into a book
• Imagine being sucked into a video game
• Imagine your food talking back to you.
• Describe how to make a cake (you do not need to bring in a cake)
• Imagine being kidnapped by a mad scientist
• Imagine being a Greek warrior
• Imagine being a Marine in the Pacific
• Imagine you were a mythical creature
• Imagine you were Mrs. Bettigole
• Imagine you were an Olympic God
• Imagine if everyone brought their pets to school
• Imagine being shrunk to the size of an ant
• Imagine if the announcer or the organist at a big sporting event said something “inappropriate”
• Imagine living in another country

Happy New Year! Dutchess Day students left for school break in December with a half day which included community service activities. The projects and activities made us all think about people around us in need of food, warmth, or simply cheering up. While many upper school students sang carols for group homes in the area, lower school classes (and the sixth grade), chose from a broad selection of activities including sculpture, holiday crafts, knitting, baking and making a recycling awareness video. They seemed to enjoy the event and appreciated the meaningfulness of their gifts to others. Also, several boxes of new children’s books were delivered to Astor Head Start, through Ms. Dreier’s on-going effort to put Book Club bonus points to good use.
On their first day back in January, fourth graders jumped right into work, starting a poetry project, tackling mulitdigit multiplication and creating Egyptian artifacts. Thank you for helping your child in the many recent assignments that required a little family input: sharing what you know about Egypt, Haiti or famous women leaders in history, or looking through articles of clothing to find countries of origin. These kinds of shared inquiries at home lead to much excitement at the beginning of the school day. (“You wouldn’t believe where my boxers are from!”)
Ancient Egypt continues to fascinate the students in fourth grade. Over the next two months we will read about daily life and mythology in Ancient Egypt from our text, Ancient World, and from other sources. In addition to making headdresses, jewelry, and models of boats, shadufs and pyramids, students will create mock newscasts from Ancient Egypt and think about a topic for a research report. For some of the projects, students will dress in costume. I have some plain sheets stored in the classroom, but you can help by sending in any of the following embellishments: black wig, cloth collar, costume jewelry (nothing valuable), sandals, green eye shadow and black eyeliner (both men and women wore make-up). The field trip to the Metropolitan Museum will fall sometime in April, but you if you find yourself in San Francisco over the March break, you may want to consider reserving tickets for the King Tut exhibit at the de Young Museum. Check out kingtut.org or the exhibits in S.F. and Toronto, Canada.
I look forward to the book projects coming in this month. The students will share their portraits, sculptures or letters and then create a timeline of the class’s biography subjects. They will also work with the collection of famous quotations.
The cold weather will probably last for a few more months, so please help your child be prepared for snow-covered grounds and cold temperatures. (Children do not go outside when the temperature is below 20 degrees.) Children with snowboots are allowed the full range of the playground at recess, but those without waterproof footwear must stay on the blacktop area. Fourth graders who sled must have snowpants, boots, hats and gloves. Snowpants are strongly encouraged for all other play. You may want to send in an extra pair of socks and pants to store on your child’s cubby shelf.

Thanks, Barbara

(Shamelessly borrowed from Shakespeare and

then performed by fourth graders

at the Monday Morning Assembly 9/21/09))

To re, or not to re: that is the question:

Whether ’tis recycling or garbage?

The question begs the sharing of our knowledge

For in knowledge, we take arms against a sea of troubles,

and by ignoring the message of mother earth?

we bear her heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks.

To toss it, perchance to get on with the day:

Yes, that’s most convenient, but…

ay there’s the rub!

For by tossing a bottle or can,

we have shuffled off this recyclable vessel

To the great incinerator in Poughkeepsie.

But our conscience must give us pause.

Yes, take a moment; ask yourself

Can this, perchance, be reused or recycled?

And even further, did we need it in the first place?

With respect – the currents of our waste stream turn clean

And we gain the name of action.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE