December 2017

Dear Parents,
We hope that you are all well. Christmas is quickly approaching and the grade four students are
successfully reaching the end of the first term. We are proud of all the students, as they have
worked hard and have many achievements and successes to celebrate. Please remember to
return the report card folder to your child’s teacher.
Language Arts: Author in Residence Program
The Grade 4’s have enjoyed their writing lessons with our author in residence, Mr. Glen Huser.
The students based their stories around the theme of “wishes”. They worked on their story plan,
the beginning of their stories by setting the scene and by using dialogue or letting the reader
know about the character’s feelings. They worked on revising and editing the middle of their
stories and the endings. We focused on using dialogue, descriptive language and detail to
engage the reader. Our celebration of writing took place on November 30th. It was a wonderful
event to have students and parents celebrate their written work. This has been an enriching
experience for the teachers as well as the students.
Religion: Advent Time is Here
Now is the time of preparation for the coming of the baby Jesus. An important symbol used in
the classroom for our prayer tables is the Advent Wreath, which symbolizes that God’s love for
us has no beginning and no end. The four candles of the wreath represent the four Sundays of
Advent. We can prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus through prayer. A wonderful prayer
to learn during Advent is the Magnificat of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). We can also make sure we
attend Mass, sing Sacred Hymns ( advent song such as “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”), pray
for others less fortunate than ourselves, donate to the Vancouver Food Bank or purchase a gift
for the Vancouver Christmas Bureau and place it under our Giving Tree that will be set up in the
front foyer of our school.
Parent Ideas/Resources:
These resources and books can be found at Chapters, Kids Books and Coles bookstores.
This is a list of a few more book ideas that you may want to purchase for your child for
Christmas.

1. Shiloh Season (this is the sequel), Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
2. Imagine a Day (wonderful picture book), Sharon L. Thomson
3. The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg
4. The Bone Collector’s Son, Paul Yee (this takes place in 1907 in Vancouver)

5. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
6. Reading Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
7. Writing Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
8. Non-fiction Reading Power, Adrienne Gear (parent resource)
9. The Bully, The Bullied and the Bystander (parent resource)
10. Parents Do Make a Difference: How to Raise Kids with Solid Character, Strong
Minds and Caring Hearts, Michele Borba (parent resource)
11. The Wish Tree, Katherine Applegate
12. Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Finally, a special thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered their time so willingly to
help in the classroom and with various jobs. We wish you and your family a Blessed and Joyous
Christmas season. May the New Year be filled with peace, love and happiness for all.
Merry Christmas,
Ms. S. Snyder and Ms. S. LeRose

December 5, 2017

Tuesday Homework

Math up to and including page 70

keeping doing your reading log

Think about solutions for Science project if you are having any

December 4, 2017

Monday Homework

Spelling lesson 11 and post test THURSDAY – this week we focused on silent letters eg. comb, wrecks, wrench…

Religion- Last working class for power point tomorrow from recess to lunch recess- presentations will be next week

Science- 2 more work classes- presentations will start this Thursday!

Thank you to all who came last Thursday, here are two photos of our group with Mr. Huser. I have all the stories and am marking them now and then the students can bring them home.