Dear Families,

I am overwhelmed by your generosity and kindness.  Thank you.

It has been a privilege and an honor to work with your children this year.  I'm so proud of them.  They are thoughtful, helpful and creative.  I've been amazed by their unique insights and loved watching them grow as individuals.  Although our time together was cut short, I'll treasure the memories: from their ME boxes to their wax museum costumes, from the Flipgrids of ancient civilization games to their unique puppet shows.

I look forward to seeing each of you in the future to hear about your child's adventures and journeys.  Have a wonderful summer!

With heartfelt thanks,

Dawn Porter

Good Morning.  Or, as Damian so aptly wrote on the stream last week:  Mourning.

Mourning the senseless murder of George Floyd.  Mourning the destruction of so many neighborhoods in our city.

We will do our best to take a deep breath and finish out the school year together.  I know that the concepts of non-violent protest and how to make real changes in our society will be discussed at length in the middle grades and high school.  For now we focus on feeling safe, caring for others, and knowing that what has happened is wrong and must change.

Please have your child log in to the 9:30 AM daily Meet or contribute to the stream so I know they are "present." 

The assignments this week will be posted shortly.  I have a couple of others that will pop up on Thursday and Friday. They are listed below.

Here is how I would organize the week:

Monday:

AM and PM Meets

Practice and record your puppet show Flipgrid.  The presentation can last up to 10 minutes. 

"Do the "imagine", "plan" and "create" steps of the Frog Membrane project. (Counts as math and science!). Be creative and improvise on materials!  I modeled these on the Monday flipgrid.

Read on Epic!

Tuesday:

AM and PM Meets

Watch 2 other Weather Puppet Flipgrids.  Respond in a positive way!

Literacy:  Weather Unit Week 2 Assessment.

Do the "improve" step of the Frog Membrane Project.

Read on Epic!

Wednesday:

AM and PM Meets. Note:  I have a staff meeting at 8:15 and hope to be done by 9:30.  If you cannot get in to my Meet at 9:30, please come back at 10:00 instead if you are able and we will hold our Meet at that time.  (I am not certain how long our staff gathering will last.)

Math:  Record the start and end times of the various activities you do today, from lessons to bike riding, meals and chores.  This will be used for a math activitiy tomorrow.  Watch today's Flipgrid so you know what to do with the times you record.

Literacy:  Weather unit assessment. This one includes a writing component and will take awhile.

Complete the "How can you keep a house from blowing away..." project posted last week.

Thursday:

AM and PM Meets

Continue to record the start and end times of your various activities today.  Determine how much time you spent on each activity yesterday and today.

Watch 2 other Weather Puppet Flipgrids.  Respond in a positive way!

Father's Day project, to be introduced by Flipgrid.

Begin the Bridge Engineering lesson.

Read on Epic!

Friday:

AM Meet only

Wear your class t-shirt! 

Check other students' responses to your puppet Flipgrid!

Design an imaginary machine to change the lives of everyone on earth.  Will it improve global warming?  Eliminate racism?  Prevent violence?  End hunger?  Change dangerous weather?  End COVID-19?  You get to decide!  Assignment to be posted later.

Complete the Bridge engineering lesson.

Celebrate the end of the year and "fly up" to fourth grade!

I hope you managed an enjoyable 3 day weekend!  You are doing a fabulous job juggling distance learning and everyday life.  Only 2 weeks to go...and this is the last week of spelling, Greek/Latin, and character trait sentences!

Please notice the Flipgrid series put together by the 4th grade teachers and student leaders from the Upper campus.  !t is a lovely welcome to the incoming fourth graders.  Your child does not need to respond.

Our morning and early afternoon Meets continue this week.  I'll be teaching live from our classroom on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, as that is when I'll be packing up the room. I will not be able to respond to emails on those days, so send them today or have your child ask questions after the Meets.

1.a glass or clear plastic bowl, 2 cup measuring cup, OR storage container

2. an empty plastic food container, such as a 14-16 oz. sour cream, cottage cheese, or veggie dip container.  Check your recycling to see if you have anything similar.  A plastic takeout container might work.  You need to be able to cut a hole in the bottom with a utility knife. 

3.  something that can substitute for a plastic frog.  A bottle cap works, any color.

Next week the students will have a challenge to design a model membrane.They will imagine they have a pet frog, like the character in the story I'll start reading today.  They need to find a way to make sure it gets enough water, but the water is to slowly drip through the model membrane into the frog's habitat. 

As we read more of the story your child will be on the lookout for materials that can be cut to fit into the container with the hole.  More on that later!