Half Day, Long Weekend, and FREE BOOKS for the Class!

Dear Parents,

Each of you should have received a notice regarding Wednesday's early release plan. Please remember that students will be dismissed in their regular locations at 12:15 PM. Lunch will be served during the day.

Also, don't forget that this coming weekend is Columbus Day, so there will be no school on Monday, October 12. I hope that you all enjoy the weekend!

Finally, our first set of Scholastic Book Orders are due on Friday, October 9. You can send your orders with a check (no cash please) to school. Or - and this is new and exciting - you can submit your order online yourself! This saves you any worry about your check making it all the way to school with your son or daughter and you can pay by credit card. (I know that that is how I do almost all of my purchases these days).

The best part? Every online purchase this year entitles the class to a FREE BOOK from Scholastic! Check it out at www.scholastic.com/clubsordering. I sent the name and password that you'll need in a letter with students last week. If you've misplaced that letter, please send me an email or note and I'll get you the information.

Thanks!

-Mr. Gould

What to expect in 4th Grade

Dear Parents,

We've been working hard to get ready for this year's Open House. We hope that those who were able to attend enjoy our movie presentation. If you were unable to come, I would be happy to arrange a time that you could stop by to meet and see the video. I also will have copies available later in the year.

At Open House, I passed out a pamphlet entitled "What to Expect in 4th Grade." This includes an outline of some of the content we will study, the class' vision statement and rules/expectations, a description of consequences, homework policy, and ways to contact me. A .pdf copy of the pamphlet is available to download here. I hope that you find it useful as we embark on the year ahead.

Thanks for your continued support.

-Mr. Gould

Open House is coming soon!

Dear Parents,

It has been wonderful to get to meet your kids. We have a lively (!) bunch of students who are getting ready to do great things. Our work for the beginning of the year has focussed on building a community of learners. Ask your son or daughter about our class vision statement and rules that we generated together (they will be getting posted to the website soon).

It was nice to meet those of you who were able to join us for this morning's visit. I hope you enjoyed seeing how our days together begins. I would like to invite all parents to join us next Thursday for Open House. The students are working on a special project that I'm sure you won't want to miss!

See you next week!

-Mr. Gould

Welcome Back to School

Dear parents,

Welcome to a new school year! I am looking forward to getting to know you and your children as we begin 4th grade together. I do consider it a privilege that you have entrusted your child's learning and care to me for the coming months. I believe that, working together, we can create an exceptional learning experience for your child.

I foresee using this blog as one of many communication tools to support our work together this year. Our class website (http://tiny.cc/Gould) is one place that you should definitely check out. There, I will regularly provide an overview of the class curricular goals, give links to student work, upload podcasts, and provide resources to support student learning.

In this space, I hope to share information that is specifically tailored to the parents in the classroom: upcoming events or dates to mark, organizing class celebrations, etc. This is a first-year attempt at this for me, so I look forward to your suggestions as to how to make it useful. Your constructive advice is much appreciated!

I recently mailed a letter home to introduce myself and provide some information for the start of the school year. A .pdf copy of that letter is available here. In that letter, I mentioned that I will be available at school (Lowell room 229) on Monday August 31 from 10 AM until 1 Pm. If you would like to stop by and introduce yourself, I'd be happy to see you.

I am looking forward to our work together this year. Enjoy the remainder of August. I'll see you soon!