We made it! 🙂

I cannot believe the year has gone by so quickly! I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching your child this year. They have all grown so much!  Thank you for sharing them with me.  I wish them all the best in 5th grade!

Thank you for the raffle donations this time and all year!  Everyone took something home Thursday. We made our “Summer Bucket List” of things we wanted to do this summer.  To get them started, I filled their buckets with a few snacks, a book to read, and a bookmark.  Happy Summer!

Here are a few more pictures from our week.  I loved hearing them sing at the 4th grade Celebration.  I was so proud of everyone walking across the stage! We gave each other “turtle compliments,” we had a dunk tank at the assembly, (good job, James, Ella, Paige, Addison, Lila and Claire),  and we had a “book tasting” to see what we would like to read this summer along with some treats to remind us of our year! 

Camp Pendalouan was great! We went on canoes, studied the pond life, and did team building games! Thank you HPC and Mrs. Smits for this day!

Introducing the class of 2026 for the first time all together:

What a great week we had! On Tuesday we worked on more ideas from the five themes of geography, took a language test, and reviewed for the math test.  On Wednesday we took the final math test, finished our animal research projects, and went to hear about joining band in 5th grade.

Thursday was a busy, fun day in Chicago!  Thank  you to the chaperones who went along and did such a great job making sure everyone had a great time!

Today was Bocce Ball/Rocket Launch Day!  Mr. Overway and Mr. Robinson put together an amazing day!  Congratulations to all the trophy winners and everyone who had fun!

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip – sack lunch needed.  See note that went home Friday

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration Night – 6:30 PM SL  Middle School auditorium (students line up by 6:25)

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

We completed a lot of testing this week!  I am proud of everyone and their perseverance!  Over the last two weeks, we did two MSTEP tests and the i-Ready Reading and math tests. We took a smaller math test and another reading test!  We have one more language test next week, and then we are finished testing! 🙂

In reading this week we are researching an animal that lives at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We are making a small report about this animal, and we can’t wait to look for it next week at the zoo!

In math this week we are looking at patterns and trying to analyze them.  Ask your child how they can find the 37th number in this pattern very quickly!  3, 2, 5, 3, 2,5   We will take the final test for this unit (and the year) next week.

In social studies we are learning about the 5 Themes of Geography.  Your child can probably sing this to you! 🙂 The first letter of the themes spell MR HELP.  Ask you child what they are.  We are looking at each one closely and have so far completed Location and Place.

There are a lot of busy, fun things happening between now and June 8!  Look below for more details.

IMPORTANT DATES

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip – 6:45 AM – 9:00 PM – see note going home next Tuesday!

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rocket Day (wear sunscreen, bring water and whatever else for snacks, books, cards but no electronics) sack lunch or school bagged lunch

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip – sack lunch needed

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration Night – 6:30 PM SL  Middle School auditorium (students line up by 6:25)

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

We joined Jeffers 4th graders and went over to the Intermediate School today for a tour.  The 5th graders took us around and showed us the rooms and introduced us to the teachers.  We are getting excited to be there in the fall!

We cheered on the graduating seniors that went to Holmes as they walked past us reminiscing about their days in elementary school.  That will be us in 2026!

We spent a lot of time this week taking the MSTEP. I am proud of everyone and the hard work they put in to doing their best on this test!   We have to take the iReady tests for the district next week.  I am in the middle of doing the reading assessments as well!

Even with all the testing we managed to learn about Poetic Justice, take a math test, and learn the 5 themes of geography.  Check out our student blogs for more information!

https://kidblog.org/class/MsVandenBosch4thGrade/posts

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday – Friday, May 21-25 – i-Ready testing

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip – IMPORTANT PERMISSION SLIP due 5/25

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day – Mr. O and Mr. R sent notes about helpers needed

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

Thank you to everyone for the notes, candy, supplies, flowers, and cards for Teacher Appreciation Week!  I feel so blessed!  I love your children, and I love coming to work every day to teach them and watch them grow!

Market Day was a success!  Thank you so much for your help, parents, with purchasing materials, making products, helping with commercials, and all around general support of this project!  We learned a lot!  We gathered the “cash registers” and will be counting our revenue, figuring our our profits, and analyzing our businesses on Monday.  We will also chose our charity that day, and you should look for the money you gave for original material costs to come home on Monday too!  Here are a few pictures from today and everyone’s commercials.  Enjoy!

We begin MSTEP testing next wee on Tuesday!  Please be sure your child is here, rested, and fed!  We have our district iReady testing and reading testing the following week.  When the testing is over we have many fun trips and events planned for the final 2 weeks of school! (Phew!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Important Dates:

Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing

Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building

Monday – Friday, May 21-25 – i-Ready testing

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

Happy spring!

This week in reading we used nonfiction to help us understand our historical fiction.  We looked at pictures from the time period of our book to help us visualize our books better.  We then researched things that were confusing to us or that we had questions about as we were reading.  One problem that tends to happen when reading historical fiction is to over generalize from our stories.  We talked about not thinking that all Germans  during that time were bad or that no one had sugar during the war, for example.  The book is one person’s perspective.  We talked about who has the power in a book, and who is the resistance.  One of the themes of Number The Stars is the family showing the power to resist hatred and violence.  Finally, we talked about how after you accomplish a big feat, like climbing to the top of a large sand dune, you do not just turn around and run back.  You stand at the top and celebrate for a bit. The same should be true for books.   When you finish, you shouldn’t close the cover and put it away.  We should look for how the problem is resolved, or if the theme becomes clear, or if they make it obvious there will be a sequel!

In writing this week we worked on the three body paragraphs for our literary essays.  We “followed the recipe” for each paragraph, then added direct quotes from the test and parallel lists to make it more interesting.

In math this week we added and subtracted angles and then went through the testing cycle.  Today we began our next unit in geography by reviewing parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting lines.

In social studies we learned what incentives are by talking about coupons, sales, etc.  We watched an episode of “I Love Lucy” in which Lucy gets the idea to sell salad dressing, but learns about marketing, expenses, earnings, and profit.  We are getting ready for Market Day by creating our posters in class.  All commercials are due by Monday!  We will be sending those to the rest of the school for viewing.

Important Dates:

Tuesday, May 8 – Front Porch Night

Friday, May 11 – Market Day  – Product commercials due May 7

Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing

Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building

Tuesday – Friday, May 22-25 – i-Ready testing

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

Congratulations to our 4 beautiful and talented song writers who did a great job at the Link Up concert!  Everyone played well, and it was a great concert. Thank you to Mrs. VanderArk for the fantastic presentation about invasive species and having us play a game to illustrate how native and invasive plants and animals compete for food. Thank you to all the families and friends who made it possible for us to go to the Earth Day movies today!

Here are a few pictures from our busy week!

Link Up Concert:

Invasive Species Presentation

Earth Day Movies

Important Dates:

Tuesday, May 8 – Front Porch Night – more info to come

Friday, May 11 – Market Day  – Product commercials due May 7

Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing

Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building

Tuesday – Friday, May 22-25 – i-Ready testing

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

Countdown to the end of the year: only 34 days!  We have a lot of learning and fun packed into those days, too!  Be sure to check out the calendar below.

In reading this week we looked for passages in our books that somehow we know are important, even though the author doesn’t write them in bold letters or say, “Look here, reader!”  We know that they connect to other parts of the book and will lead us to finding the theme.  We then talked about how authors lodge big ideas in small details and objects, such as Rob’s suitcase in Tiger Rising or the Star of David necklace in Number the Stars. The repetition of those details can then lead you to creating a theory that you use like a lens to read the book and find parts that fit your idea.  You read things differently from then on, while being open to new ideas and changing your theories. Our book clubs around our own historical fiction novels are getting really in depth!

In writing this week we read our short stories again, looking for character traits.  We pushed our thinking with prompts like: that makes me realize…, in other words…, and maybe that means…  Finally we took those thoughts and created a thesis about the main character, along with reasons and support from the story.  We begin drafting next week.

In math we learned metric units for capacity and mass. We reviewed area and perimeter formulas and put those into new situations.  We took the practice test and reviewed this week. The final paper test is on Monday.

In social studies we talked about the products we will be making for Market Day.  There was a sheet that explained everything involved in this project.  The plan for products is due on Friday.  The part that is giving students the most trouble is figuring out the price per item.  A good rule of thumb is to double what it costs to make the item, and then go up to the next quarter. For example:  if you spent $7.85 on materials to make 14 items, the cost to make each item is $0.56.  Double and go up, and the cost per item should be $1.25 or $1.50.  Your child will need help with this part.  We want to be sure to make a profit, but not price the product too high.

We also learned about the concepts of supply and demand and took a short vocabulary quiz on economic terms.

Important Dates:

Tuesday, April 24– Link Up Concert – (hot or cold lunch)

Friday, April 27 – 3D movies at Cinema Carousel (cold lunch needed) see note on 4/23/18

Tuesday, May 8 – Front Porch Night – more info to come

Friday, May 11 – Market Day  – Product plans due 04/27/18

Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing

Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building

Tuesday – Friday, May 22-25 – i-Ready testing

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school

Welcome back!  I hope you had a wonderful break! We jumped right back into learning.

In reading we are now beginning our unit on Historical Fiction.  Our mentor text is Number the Stars, and we are reading different historical fiction books in books clubs of 4 people.  The books take place in different time periods such as pioneer times, pilgrim times, and the Great Depression.  We have discussed different tools for reading historical fiction like keeping a timeline of events and thinking about the events that are happening in history at that time that affect characters’ perspectives and actions.

In writing we are beginning our unit on literary essays by diving into short stories and reading with a pencil.  We are analyzing characters to try to find what we notice.  We want to know these stories well, as we will write our essays about them.

In math we began our unit on measurement with customary units of length, capacity, and weight (or inches, feet yards, cups, pints, quarts, ounces, pounds, etc.).  We also learned about metric units of length.  Students are expected to have a few of the basic amounts memorized like 12 inches in a foot, or 16 ounces in a pound, and be able to convert from one unit to another.

In social studies we are learning the meaning of different economic terms through picture books and activities.   We talked about natural, human, and capital resources and opportunity cost.  A bright green note was sent home about the upcoming Market Day planned for May.  Students will need to make a product to sell.  See the sheet for details, and let me know if there are any questions.  Right now we are in the planning stages.  Think about what are possible products, but don’t buy any materials just yet.

I can’t believe we are looking toward the end of the year already, but here are some dates to put on your calendar.  There may be more added, so check back each week!

Important Dates:

Tuesday, April 24– Link Up Concert – (hot or cold lunch)

Friday, April 27 – 3D movies at Cinema Carousel (cold lunch needed)

Tuesday, May 8 – Front Porch Night

Friday, May 11 – Market Day

Tuesday – Thursday, May 15-17 – MSTEP testing

Friday, May 18 – tour the Intermediate building

Thursday, May 31– Chicago trip

Friday, June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rockets Day

Tuesday, June 5 – Camp Pendalouan Trip

Wednesday, June 6 – 4th Grade Celebration

Thursday and Friday, June 7 and 8 – 1/2 Days

Friday, June 8 – last day of school