Charlemagne 4th Grade

Upcoming Dates

• OBOB battles at lunch this week. See below to volunteer
• Friday, February 9 – Mardi Gras evening celebration at school, begins at 5h30
• Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day – Please do not send individual cards to school with your children. We have a tradition in 4th grade. Each student makes his/her own large, glittery card prior to Valentine’s Day in Mme Jana’s soon-to-be very glittery room. (We’ll do that on February 12 & 13.) At the end of Valentine’s Day, we take about half an hour, we open up the doors between the two rooms, and everyone signs everyone else’s cards. It’s always a good time and a nice souvenir.
• Monday, February 19 – NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day (This may turn out to be a make-up snow day.)

Mardi Gras

This Friday (2/9)  is our annual school carnival, Mardi Gras. There will be many fun activities for your family. Volunteers are needed to make the event possible. Sign up here if you can help for part of the time. Also, each class has a basket to be raffled off at the event. If you have time, consider donating to our class baskets by bringing items to our classrooms this week, preferably by Thursday so the baskets can be wrapped and ready. Red Class: Art activities Blue Class: Outdoor activities. Here’s a list of ideas of items to bring.

What’s up! Quoi de neuf? 

Please send your child to school in proper footwear and a WARM water-repellent jacket with a hood or a hat when the weather is rainy. It’s getting cold, too, so please have your child wear warmer layers and weather-appropriate shoes. Thank you!

If your child is ill or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep your child home. If your child will be absent, please email both teachers (kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu) and please call in and leave a message on the school attendance line (541) 790-7080 or email Eliza at drummond_e@4j.lane.edu.

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us.

Le français:

We have a full five days of school this week! First semester report cards will come home with students this Friday. Post evaluations, I am happy to see how much most students had improved in all areas.

French homework this week on lavender paper. We will work on expressions with the verb avoir (to have) on our next homework. As I often tell students, French is not a translation of English, and some French expressions are worded differently. We’ll be working on those expressions. Here is an example:  In English, we say, “I am hungry,” but in French, the direct translation for the same expression is actually, “I have hunger,” or in French, “J’ai faim.” There are only a handful of expressions that use avoir when we would normally use the verb “to be” in English, but they are very common expressions, so we need to master them. Each expression is used in conjugation. Here is a copy of the homework for this week:  le vocab expressions avec avoir fév 2024

Also, here I am pronouncing and spelling the words in French:

Here, I am just saying the words, making this suitable to give the quiz on Thursday night. This also includes an English translation of each expression: 

Student goal:  I am applying myself to my school work. I am actively seeking learning.

Student goal:  I can correct grammatical and punctuation errors in sentences in French.

Student goal:  I can form and connect all the lowercase and uppercase letters correctly in cursive.

Student goal:  I am expanding my vocabulary by incorporating new words into my speaking and writing.

Les sciences:

We have completed the rocks and soils portion of sciences, and we’re moving into experiments with erosion and deposition, which involves lots of soil and running water.  We have one more pamphlet to do for our journals as well. Then, we’ll move into our Energy unit.

Les copains/Buddies:

Both classes had buddies this week past week, like every week, and fourth graders helped their first-grade buddies work on another SEL (Social Emotional Learning) project. We are going to change some buddies this week, respecting those students who do not want to change.

Mme Shelli hopper_s@4j.lane.edu English & Math teacher

Math

Upcoming Dates

• Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 – NO SCHOOL, Teacher grading & training days 
• Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day (We will make our own cards at school. Please do not send children to school with individual cards.)
• Monday, February 19 – NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day (This may turn out to be a make-up snow day.)

What’s up! Quoi de neuf? 

Please send your child to school in proper footwear and a WARM water-repellent jacket with a hood or a hat when the weather is rainy. It’s getting cold, too, so please have your child wear warmer layers and weather-appropriate shoes. Thank you!

If your child is ill or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep your child home. If your child will be absent, please email both teachers (kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu) and please call in and leave a message on the school attendance line (541) 790-7080 or email Eliza at drummond_e@4j.lane.edu.

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us.

Le français:

We are still catching up from the unexpected ice and snow days, and Ludivine has been out sick all week, and will be out all next week also, so I’m really trying to catch up on things. So, in case I don’t get everything done, just remember that I didn’t have any assistance at all last week, or much this week.

We only have three days of school this week, and I will be gone on Wednesday to (hopefully!) finalize my dental work. My sub will be Hannah, Mme Shelli’s student teacher, & she knows the students well. I will be having either another intern or another French speaker coming into the room to work on French activities, but it’s a short day, and both groups have buddies for about 20 minutes each, so there will be only a short amount of time without a fluent French teacher with them.

NO French homework this week. We had our quiz on landform vocabulary last Friday, and the average score was 100%! There were three possible bonus points if students remembered to capitalize at the beginning of the sentences, so the most a student could get is 115%. If your child did far below 100%, especially if he/she/they had the yellow version of the quiz with the bank of words at the bottom, your child is not adequately preparing for quizzes. As I told the students all week, the sentences on the sentence matching activity on Wednesday night were exactly the same sentences that would be on the quiz. And, as I’ve made clear, I’m much more concerned about the students getting the right vocabulary word in the right sentence than I am about spelling because the goal is to build vocabulary. On the next set of vocabulary words, I’m going to have a small group of students work with me on how to prepare for the quiz, beginning on Monday. We’ll see if that makes a difference.

We will work on expressions with the verb avoir (to have) on our next homework. As I often tell people, French is not a translation of English, and some French expressions are worded differently. We’ll be working on those expressions. Here is an example:  In English, we say, “I am hungry,” but in French, the direct translation for the same expression is actually, “I have hunger,” or in French, “J’ai faim.” There are only a handful of expressions that use avoir when we would normally use the verb “to be” in English, but they are very common expressions, so we need to master them.

We will continue to correct two horrible sentences on all full days, and alphabetize on our short day. The alphabetizing includes vocabulary words.We’ll begin our next new “J’observe…” writing project the first week of school in February. Most students have completed several versions of tracing their first and last names, and now everyone should be on the culminating project of writing all the uppercase letters and names, including their name, their family names, their addresses, and their city, state and country in cursive. That is a yellow packet and will come home once completed.

Student goal:  I am applying myself to my school work. I am actively seeking learning.

Student goal:  I can correct grammatical and punctuation errors in sentences in French.

Student goal:  I can form and connect all the lowercase and uppercase letters correctly in cursive.

Student goal:  I am expanding my vocabulary by incorporating new words into my speaking and writing.

Les sciences:

We have nearly completed the rocks and soils portion of sciences, and we’re moving into the landforms portion. We still have one thing to complete with chemical weathering, but we’ve already moved into naming landforms, and we finished our landforms packet which is in students’ Oregon Geography Book project (see below). Hopefully, next week, we’ll move into some experiments with erosion and deposition, which involves lots of soil and running water.  

Les copains/Buddies:

Both classes had buddies this week past week, and fourth graders helped their first-grade buddies color and glue together a poster where they each wrote about something they could do to help someone else that very day.

Mme Shelli hopper_s@4j.lane.edu English & Math teacher

Math

Le français:

Upcoming Dates

• Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 – NO SCHOOL, Teacher grading days 
• Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day (We will make our own cards at school. Please do not send children to school with individual cards.)
• Monday, February 19 – NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day (This may turn out to be a make-up snow day.)

What’s up! Quoi de neuf? 

Please send your child to school in proper footwear and a WARM water-repellent jacket with a hood or a hat when the weather is rainy. It’s getting cold, too, so please have your child wear warmer layers and weather-appropriate shoes. Thank you!

If your child is ill or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep your child home. If your child will be absent, please email both teachers (kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu) and please call in and leave a message on the school attendance line (541) 790-7080 or email Eliza at drummond_e@4j.lane.edu.

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us.

Le français:

What a crazy time we’re having weather-wise. I hope you’ve all been well and heated. I’ve had to rewrite this blog entry twice now, since we now don’t have school on Thursday. We’ll see, when we physically get back into the classroom what the energy levels and attendance are like before finalizing the day’s plan. Probably, the kids will do art with me on the first day back, likely the watercolor project of a snow scene that we began in December. Hopefully, we’ll have time for some movement also. 

Next week we’ll hopefully be back to normal and then, we will continue to correct two horrible sentences on all full days, and alphabetize on our short day. The alphabetizing includes vocabulary words, and we’re also sorting by vowel sounds. We’ll begin our next new “J’observe…” writing project next week. Most students have completed several versions of tracing their first and last names, and now everyone should be on the culminating project of writing all the uppercase letters and names, including their name, their family names, their addresses, and their city, state and country in cursive. That is a yellow packet and will come home once completed. 

Last week, we got to discuss Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave the famous speech, “I Have A Dream.” . (I just discovered that MLK Jr. gave his speech the day before my birthday!) We also discussed, in French, why we celebrate this amazing human, his role in the civil rights movement, his role in history, why he won the Nobel Peace prize, along with the difference between human rights and civil rights, and many other aspects of MLK Jr. and his impact on the world. We also talked about segregation, and I told them some examples of my mom’s experiences as nurse in the south in the 1950s & 60s.

Student goal:  I am applying myself to my school work. I am actively seeking learning.

Student goal:  I can correct grammatical and punctuation errors in sentences in French.

Student goal:  I can form and connect all the lowercase and uppercase letters correctly in cursive.

Student goal:  I am expanding my vocabulary by incorporating new words into my speaking and writing.

Les sciences:

We have nearly completed the rocks and soils portion of sciences, and we’re moving into the landforms portion. We still have one thing to complete with chemical weathering, but we’ve already moved into naming landforms, and we’re also working on a landforms packet that will go into students’ Oregon state studies project. Hopefully, next week, we’ll move into some experiments with erosion and deposition, which involves lots of soil and running water.  We will work in our rock collections before the end of January. I had my guest teacher work on reading about erosion and deposition in the district science book with the kids, which is only in English, during my absence. In February, we’ll begin a new science unit, Energy!

Mme Shelli hopper_s@4j.lane.edu English & Math teacher

Math

Upcoming Dates

• Monday, January 15 – NO SCHOOL, Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday
• Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 – NO SCHOOL, Teacher grading days 
• Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day (We will make our own cards at school. Please do not send children to school with individual cards.)
• Monday, February 19 – NO SCHOOL, Presidents Day

What’s up! Quoi de neuf? 

Please send your child to school in proper footwear and a WARM water-repellent jacket with a hood or a hat when the weather is rainy. It’s getting cold, too, so please have your child wear warmer layers and weather-appropriate shoes. Thank you!

If your child is ill or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep your child home. If your child will be absent, please email both teachers (kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu) and please call in and leave a message on the school attendance line (541) 790-7080 or email Eliza at drummond_e@4j.lane.edu.

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us.

Le français:

I hope everyone had a glorious winter break and had a chance to relax. I was sick for ten of the fourteen days, but now I am feeling very well, almost back to my “normal” self. Thank you so much for the generous teacher gifts and notes, and if your child gave me a gift, he/she/they should have received a postcard thank-you note in the mail from me. If your child gave me a gift and did not receive a note, please let me know and I will correct the oversight!

I was planning to do French homework this week, but I will be absent from school on Monday, January 8 because my 91-yr-old mom had hernia surgery on January 5 (She is doing well.), and I’m missing January 11 & 12 because of a major dental procedure for me. My guest teacher on January 5 & 8 is Mya Keartes, who is not a francophone, but is a lovely person, and Ludivine will do all of the French with the kids. My guest teacher on January 11 & 12 will be Elisha Hocking, who does speak French. I’m sorry for the absences, that’s just how things worked out, and I didn’t want to do homework during a week that I would be predominantly absent!

We continue to correct two horrible sentences on all full days, and alphabetize on our short day. The alphabetizing includes vocabulary words, and we’re also sorting by vowel sounds. We’ll begin our next new “J’observe…” writing project next week. Most students have completed several versions of tracing their first and last names, and now everyone should be on the culminating project of writing all the uppercase letters and names, including their name, their family names, their addresses, and their city, state and country in cursive. That is a yellow packet and will come home once completed. Students will rewrite their first and last names for the third time in January, and there is generally much hilarity as we (with the child’s permission) look back at our September signatures. 

We will also watch a short video in French about Martin Luther King Jr. and why he is so significant in American and world history that we celebrate his birth. We will use some new vocabulary in French like civil rights (les droits civiques), the civil rights movement (le mouvement des droits civiques), equality (l’égalité), “I Have A Dream” (“J’ai un rêve”), dignity (la dignité), a leader (un chef /un leader), discrimination (la discrimnation), human rights (les droits de l’homme) which in French is directly translated as “the rights of man.” (Things are a little different in countries where all nouns are masculine or feminine.) etc., some of which we will also learn for our vocabulary words next week so we can talk about the topics intelligently.

A retired French immersion teacher from Roosevelt, Rebecca Harlan, has volunteered to come and work in the classroom, so she will help with French reading once a week, starting in two weeks. I have one other French-speaking volunteer who may also be helping us with reading.

We have begun a winter art project, where we painted with liquid watercolors to create a snowy background with white crayons to make wax-resist wind, blue watercolor in various densities to create a snowy background, and we sprinkled salt to create a falling snow effect. We also painted a small piece of watercolor paper with gradations of blue and green and will be cutting those into trees that we will work into our landscapes. We’ll be adding a bit more, then writing a winter story about our scene. After that, we’ll begin our next big art project which is filling in the other half of a photo from a magazine. I have a lot of variety, and the kids get to choose their own photo to complete.

Many students got industrious and completed their “Tubes” art over winter break. If your child’s art is not up on the wall, feel free to ask your child where he/she/they is/are in the project.

Student goal:  I am applying myself to my school work. I am actively seeking learning.

Student goal:  I can correct grammatical and punctuation errors in sentences in French.

Student goal:  I can form and connect all the lowercase and uppercase letters correctly in cursive.

Student goal:  I am expanding my vocabulary by incorporating new words into my speaking and writing.

Buddies!

This past week, we got together with our buddies and they talked about new year resolutions (and what in the world those are), and they set goals for both at school and at home.

Les sciences:

We have nearly completed the rocks and soils portion of sciences, and we’re moving into the landforms portion. We still have one thing to complete with chemical weathering, but we’ve already moved into naming landforms, and we’re also working on a landforms packet that will go into students Oregon state studies project. The week of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday celebration, we’ll move into some experiments with erosion and deposition, which involves lots of soil and running water.  Hopefully, we will work in our rock collections in the next two weeks. I had my guest teacher work on reading about erosion and deposition in the district science book with the kids, which is only in English, during my absence. In February, we’ll begin a new science unit, Energy!

Mme Shelli hopper_s@4j.lane.edu English & Math teacher

Math