Singing in Church Information

Fourth Grade Tuesday Times

Reminders:

Thursday, April 29 is Family Tree Day. Check the blog or last week’s note if you need reminders about lunch or what to wear.

Old World Wisconsin is Friday, May 14. Details will be coming soon, but the trip lasts all day, we take a bus, and there is no limit to the number of parents we can take.

Mother’s Day Singing in Church

Last October when we talked to you about this, it seemed like a long way off, and now it is here. Fourth grade is scheduled to sing for the 10:45 service on Sunday, May 9, which is also Mother’s Day. It is also examination day for the eighth grade.
The students are in the process of learning the song. They will then bring it home and teach it to you. We will be scheduling a few practices for those who can make it. Otherwise just come to the classroom on May 9 at about 10:15 and we will run through it together. If you come to another practice, you don’t have to be there till 10:25.
FAQ
1. Do we have to sing in front of church?
No, we sit in the balcony. In fact, we reserve the entire balcony for fourth graders and their families, so you can all sit together. It IS Mother’s Day after all.
2. Do we have to memorize the song?
No, the kids do, but the parents get to use words and music.
3. Which parents can sing?
Whatever parents want to: Mom, Dad, stepmom, stepdad.
4. What if I’m not a good singer?
God loves all singing. But if you are really concerned, you can sing very quietly or even lip sync.
Based on your answers to this question last fall, I know there will be enough parents to sing, but I also know that situations can change, so I am asking you again to commit to this. Please return the bottom of this note, indicating your intention to sing or not to sing. Or send Mrs. Johnson an email.

The paper version has a sign sheet at the bottom. Look for it in your Tuesday folder.

Family tree day and other stuff

Fourth Grade Tuesday Times

Science point sheets with grades from the last unit should be in your Tuesday folder today. The sheet for the new unit will be coming home on Friday. This will be our final unit and it is about plants and ecosystems and how animals and plants interact. In connection with this, your child needs to bring a flower on Thursday,
preferably a tulip or daffodil. We already talked about this in class, and some kids told me they don't have these. I told them to ask a neighbor or a friend from school to help them out. I offered to be a friend if they need one, since I have many of these flowers.

There is no spelling list this week. We are practicing adding endings to words, so there will be a test on Thursday in which the kids will write sentences using words we already learned. The test will be words with endings used in complete sentences.

FAMILY TREE DAY
Next Thursday, April 29, after all the social studies projects have been turned in and graded, we will finally have our family tree day. On this day we will share information we learned months ago by talking to our grandparents and filling out those forms. We will also take a trip back in time to the 1840's, just before the time Wisconsin became a state. The kids should dress as the kids back then might have, as much as possible. For the girls this means dresses or skirts and blouses, and scarves or bonnets if they have them. Aprons are also kind of fun. Boys will need to wear shirts with buttons and collars, tucked in, and pants that are not denim, if possible. No one gets to wear any type of athletic shoes, flip flops, or clogs. Wear dress shoes if you have them. I do not expect people to run out and buy things or spend a lot of time making something. Just do the best you can with what you have. At recess that day we will play games like tag and jump rope. No balls will be used. If your child chooses to wear really nice shoes and you do not want them ruined, you may bring shoes to wear at recess, even tho kids back then would not have done so. Most of them only had one pair of shoes anyway and may even have gone barefoot to school. The other thing that will be different is lunch. This is sometimes difficult because we are so used to using plastic. Your child will not be allowed to order lunch or milk that day. You need to bring a lunch from home in some sort of container that is not disposable. We will try to throw nothing away. Leftovers of some kind would be the most authentic lunch (cold meat loaf, chicken, turkey, or ham work well, as do carrot sticks, bread, and maybe a cookie), but you can bring a peanut butter sandwich IF YOU CAN'T FIGURE OUT SOMETHING ELSE. You need to bring a cup of some kind to drink water out of. The cup should not be disposable or plastic. Last year we had some very clever "lunch boxes", like baskets, brown paper wrapping tied with string, or metal buckets. Be creative, but don't make yourself crazy with this. We will be talking about this in class quite often, so if any questions come up, ask the kids. But you can also ask me because sometimes they don't quite get it right.

This note should also be in today's Tuesday folder.