Hurray! Ford’s Friends filled their token jar again this week! We have been respectful, responsible, and safe all over school. They voted to have a Pajama and Stuffy Day this Friday, October 13. Kids may wear pajamas or comfy clothes. Slippers are okay for in the classroom only, so please send kids with sneakers or shoes for outside. They may also bring one stuffed animal. It must fit inside their backpack. Please do not send that one SUPER SPECIAL stuffy that they have had forever…you know the one I mean.

Big news! Ford’s Friends filled our token jar by being safe, respectful, and responsible all over school! They voted to have an Electronic Hour on Friday, September 22. They may bring in a personal device (phone, Nintendo DS, tablet, etc) on Friday with an adult’s permission. Kids can also use our classroom chrome books!

 

Ford’s Friends have had another great week back at school! This time we made it through 5 whole days! We spent a good amount of time the past few weeks continuing to review expectations both in the classroom and around the school. We all have earned so many fish tokens for showing positive behavior, we have almost reached our class goal.  We will brainstormed a list of classroom expectations for our class constitution and are finalizing it early next week.

 

As we continue to practice expectations, we are continuing to get to know each other as a community of learners. We  finished our hopes and dreams for 4th grade. You can see them posted on stars outside our classroom to remind ourselves what we are reaching for this year.

 

We began units in Math, Writing, and Reading this week. Our math unit has us focusing on place value through the hundred thousands. We are also working on launching Writer’s and Reader’s Workshops.

 

 We also will have Library book check out time on Monday afternoons. Please remind kids to bring books on Monday.  

 

I have sent home the first Scholastic Book Order!  Kids do their best reading when they get to choose books that are interesting and engaging! You can order online at:  https://clubs.scholastic.com/home 

Our class code is: ML2DM

Please order by Friday, September 29, 2017.

Greetings 4th Grader & Families!

Wow! I can’t believe we have already finished our first week at school! We have been so busy getting to know each other and reminding ourselves about the school expectations. Ford’s Friends have done an awesome job reviewing ways to be Safe, Respectful, and Responsible in the classroom, cafeteria, and the bus. We will continue to review these expectations next week. This year kids are earning fish token for demonstrating positive behaviors in all settings, ask your child about some of the tokens they have earned this week.

In addition to practicing expectations, we have spent a lot of time getting to know each other and building a community of friends and learners in our class. A few of the activities we have done this week were self portraits, puzzle pieces showing our strengths, a friend scavenger hunt,  and the human pretzel. We will continue community building next week as well as begin math, writer’s workshop, and reader’s workshop.

Here is our Unified Arts schedule for the 1st quarter. We have Unified Arts at 8:50 every morning, so it will be very important for students to be on time.  

 

Ford’s Friends – Schedule 1st Quarter
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Guidance Ms. Routsong	P.E. Mrs. Eastman	Music Mr. Mast	P.E. Mrs. Eastman	Music Mr. Mast

I hope you enjoy a relaxing 3 day weekend with your families. I am so impressed with all students already and am excited to see what this year has to offer! Please feel free to contact me at rebecca.ford@colchestersd.org , with any questions or concerns. Also, check out our class blog at fordsfriends159.edublogs.org. Finally,  follow me on Twitter @FordGoes4th.  

Your Teacher,

Mrs. Ford

I can not believe we have come to the end of the school year. This year in 4th grade at MBS has been one of my favorites. My first group of Ford’s Friends will be unforgettable.

This past week we finished up all assessments with our Unit 8 Math test and our final on-demand writing prompt. We also mixed groups with the other Lighthouse 4th graders for book clubs. We have enjoyed our author study of Roald Dahl and Judy Blume. We are excited to watch the movies from Roald Dahl books during the last week of school. We also finished up our final science unit with a Plant Web Quest.

On Friday, students received their placements for 5th grade. They were able to spend 45 minutes with their new classes and teachers. I also was able to meet my new 4th grade class! I think everyone is very excited about next year, but we also realized how much we will miss Ford’s Friends. I know I wanted to close my door and never let these friends go! Your 4th grader should have brought home a letter from Mrs. Benay informing you of their placement for next year.

Last Week of School Schedule of Events!

Monday, June 12 –

Regular day at school. We are have a Crafting Gift Grab Bag as our final whole class reward for filling our class token jar. Kids planned and began crafting a mini-gift on Friday. They will finish them up Monday and hopefully will have a fun grab bag, where everyone will get a fun gift from a friend.

Tuesday, June 13 – 

Whole 4th grade Field trip to the Shelburne Museum. I am so excited, I have never been! If you volunteered to be a chaperone, you have two choices. You may either meet us at school at 8:30, or at the museum at 9:15. We have 7 classes going on 3 buses, so we’re going to ask parents to drive to the museum. If you can’t attend the field trip, but work near the museum, we will be eating around 11:30 in the picnic area, feel free to join us for lunch. Send kids with lunch (bagged from school is an option), sun screen, water, backpack, and light jacket or sweatshirt. 

Wednesday, June 14 – 

BAYSIDE DAY! We will be walking down to Bayside Park around 10:15. We usually start on the baseball/softball fields with some relays and tag games. After that we have a super-soaker fight and a water balloon toss. If there is a parent volunteer willing to fill water balloons Monday night, please let me know (we need about 200). After the water balloon toss we will go swimming around 11:45 then have lunch around 12:30. We will come back to school around 2:20. Kids should bring: lunch, sun screen, towel, change of clothes, water bottle, and a bathing suit. Kids may bring a super-soaker to be used at the park.

We could also use some parent volunteers to bring over a few coolers full of water. If you’d be willing to help please let me know.

Thursday, June 15 – 

BBQ Day! Thursday is mostly a regular day at school, except for the BBQ. We will be eating around 12:00. Besides the BBQ we will be cleaning up our classroom, watching Roald Dahl movies, and taking things home. Please continue to send backpacks as kids will have lots of things to bring home.

Friday, June 16 – 

The last day of school! It is a half day. Friends will go to the 5th grade talent show, eat lunch, and say our good byes for the summer!

Thank you again for a wonderful first year at MBS! I am so excited/sad about the end of the year fun. I look forward to seeing our Friends as 5th graders next year. I wish you all a lovely summer break!

 

Greetings Friends and families! I cannot believe we only have 1 month left in school. This wonderful year has flown by and I am starting to feel a little sad that it is coming to an end.

We have been so busy with end of the year assessments and activities. All of Ford’s Friends finished the SBAC and I am so proud of how hard they worked! It wasn’t easy to have 4 days of testing but everyone gave their best effort and that  is all I could ask for. We are continuing with assessments this week, we are taking the NECAP science assessment and are continuing to show perseverance and a growth mindset. After this week, we will have a few more in class assessments for reading, writing, and math.

But do NOT worry! Even with all these assessments we are making time for fun at school. As a class we managed 2,179 laps on the fitness trail. That means we ran/walked 545 miles! We would have done the Long Trail almost 3 times! We had some very dedicated runners in our class. Every single kid contributed to our miles.

Last week was a very artistic one. We were able to walk over to the high school to check out all the awesome art work from the whole district. It was really great to see our classes work and other work from the middle and high schools.

In addition to the art show, our class did an awesome job in the recorder concert last Thursday! It was so cool to finally see them perform what they had been working on all year in Music.

A FEW REMINDERS:

• Field trip permission slips and money ($13) is due Friday, May 19th. 
• The Statehouse/Rock of Ages Trip is May 24th.
• The Shelburne Museum Trip is June 13th.
• Scholastic Reading Club orders are due Friday, May 19th. This might be our last order of the year so make sure you get some books for summer reading.  You can order online at: https://clubs.scholastic.com/home  Our class code is: ML2DM

Thank you again for all of your support of our classroom! This has been one of the most delightful, fun, engaged, and exciting classes I have taught in 10 years of teaching! I am excited for the last month of school and fun events to come!

 

 

Dearest Friends,

Starting tomorrow, May 2nd you will take your SBAC test for reading and math. These assessments will show me your skills in literacy and math. I know how hard you have worked this year in both those subjects, and I know you will try your best to show what you know, but there is something very important YOU must know.

The SBAC assessment does not assess all of what makes you special and unique. The people who create these tests and score them do not know each of you like I do, and certainly not the way your families do.

They do not know what great questions you ask or how you love to share your thoughts during class discussions. They do not know that some of you are amazing track runners or soccer players, or that you love to sing or dance. They do not know that you are amazing at playing the recorder or ice skating. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or how much you make me laugh. They do not know that your laughter can brighten anyone’s day. They do not know that you participate in sports, wonder about your future or that you do gymnastics. They do not know that sometimes you help with your family after school. They do not know that you are kind, trustworthy, and thoughtful. They do not know that every day you try your very best.

The scores you will get from these tests will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything about you. These tests do not define you. There are many ways of being smart. YOU are smart! You are wonderful people and the reason I am happy to come to work each day.

So, during these tests, remember that there is no way to “test” all the amazing and awesome things that make you special and unique.

All I ask is that you give your best effort and do not give up. You have been working for this since you started school and you are ready! I believe in you so just do your best!

 

Helpful Reminders

• Get a good night sleep this week & eat a healthy breakfast.
• Bring your earbuds/headphones.
• Arrive to school on time.
• There is no homework this week. Spend the extra time relaxing and playing!
• You are awesome!

 

Test Schedule

Tuesday, May 2nd  – English Language Arts

Wednesday, May 3rd – English Language Arts Performance Task

Thursday, May 4th – Math

Friday, May 5th – Math Performance Task

Hooray! Ford’s Friends filled our token jar again last week! Since we have shown such great behavior by being SAFE, RESPECTFUL, and RESPONSIBLE at school, we will celebrate on Friday, March 31st by……Building a WHOLE Class Pillow and Blanket Fort!

You might be asking yourself, “What is Mrs. Ford talking about?” or even “Is she crazy?”  Here is a link describing the benefits of building a pillow fort in our classroom.  But also…it’s going to be super fun! The kids are so excited to turn our classroom into an awesome, relaxing, reading fort.

I told the class they can bring in any materials for the fort their parents are okay with sending in. Materials can include:

• Pillows
• Blankets
• Bean Bag Chairs
• Pillow Pets
• Mini-Tents

Please do not send in anything very special or valuable. Also please make sure all building materials are cleaned before coming to school. Make sure your child’s name is written on the label as well. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

I can’t wait to post pictures of the final fort! Thank you for your support of our classroom!

Greetings Families! Just a friendly reminder to support Colchester Schools and vote for the school budget tomorrow, Tuesday, March 7th, from 7 am to 7 pm at CHS.

Here are some links to the videos from Superintendent Amy Minor:

Episode 1 – Your Vote Matters

Episode 2 – Enrollment

Episode 3 – Shaping Futures

Episode 4 – Be the Difference