When I did my first field experience with students in 2014, I called my mom as I pulled out of Ledgeview Elementary School's parking lot. She asked why I was crying, and I told her I would just miss those kids so much... She replied, "Jodi, you cried every year when school ended. It's just who you are." And this year is not going to be an exception to that. I tear up each time I look at your children in these final days. I am trying to soak up every laugh, facial expression, and precious observation they make to ensure it is pressed into my memory.

Believe it or not, this is the first time as a fourth-grade teacher that I have had all twenty-four children to love on in-person all year. And being self-contained has given me additional time to get to know your children. So now, when it comes time to say goodbye on Friday, I just know my heart will break. And each of your children will take a piece of me with them. 

Hopefully, the piece they take will be a reminder to treat others respectfully. I dream that they will find joy, songs, and a love story in everything because of their time in fourth grade. And I anticipate I will see their smiling faces in the fall when they come by to remind me of our time together. 

Now, on to the academic and essential things! 😄 It is my goal to have everyone done presenting their independent study projects by Wednesday or Thursday. Students who do math with me need to turn in their Water Park packet and Math Perplexors by Wednesday. Finally, we will be completing our Tiny House investigations in science for our final lab grade around that same time.

The class is looking forward to our end-of-year celebration on June 9th. Thank you for helping me with the food! I will have my wagon with me outside at parent drop-off so that kids can leave items with me on their way to the fourth-grade hallway. Those who take the bus can just put their things in the classroom when they arrive. After we feast, we have some fun games we will be playing together. In the afternoon, we will watch the fifth-grade versus staff kickball game. That is always fun!

Friday will be a good opportunity for the class to help me with wrap-up items. For example, after viewing some memories of the year, I like to let the students grade my performance for the year as they complete a report card for me. After that, the students will help me dismantle the room and start the clean-up process that makes coming back in the Fall easy peasy. These are all important parts of our community time together; I hope everyone plans on attending straight through the end of the week. 

Thank you, Parents, for a beautiful year. Your children are a reflection of you. And you have done well. 

Dates to Know:
June 7 - MAP reports coming home with students
June 9 - End of Year Parties / Staff - Student Kickball game
June 10 - Last day of school 
August 25 - First day of Fifth Grade

Let's face it. Kickball. It's what we are all thinking about. At least, it's what your fourth graders and I are thinking about. We are in the fourth-grade championship game!!! I knew we had athletes in our class. I knew we had leaders. I even knew we were a good team. But I have never played an actual kickball game myself, so I am beyond excited and proud that this group of children got themselves here! Miss O and I have given them tips, and we will shout directions from the sidelines tomorrow, but please know this... this "season" is ALL THEM. You should be proud.

If you are able, please join us for the final game tomorrow. It begins at 2:00pm, and all are welcome. You do not need to come into the building; just head to the field. I know that seeing your faces and hearing your voices will be good for our morale. Just prepare yourself; all of the fourth-grade classes will be outside cheering our class and Mrs. Peters's class on to a victory. And a super thanks in advance to Caiden and his family for volunteering to treat us after the game. 

If you come and want to take your child home after the game, you will need to sign them out from the office. Please send a note in advance that you will be doing that so the secretarial staff can be prepared. Thank you!

As you know, we celebrated our wins and a great year with a relaxing Friday. I appreciated the time watching your children just enjoy one another's company. Thanks to Ayden and his family, we were also showered with lots of delicious food from Leonardo's Pizza. They have been so generous all year.  

On June 9th, the fifth-grade championship team will be playing the Bath Staff Kickball team in a year-end tradition that everyone looks forward to. The game is scheduled for the afternoon, so I like to use that morning for some fun and awards. This usually is my "end-of-year class party," ... so we will call this the EOY Party Part II. Last week, I asked the kids what food they would like to make that day start off right. Now I'd like to invite you to help me make that happen. ☺️ Please see the attached sign-up for bringing food and drinks in on June 9th. 
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4DA5AE2DA5FE3-june

Besides kickball and parties, this week we are wrapping up our novel, Toothpaste Millionaire, and learning about circuits. We will start our final math/science project: building tiny houses! This unit is a good mix of measurement and science. The children explore how energy can be transferred from one location to another or transformed from one form to another. It is a fun project with many areas for children to engage with one another and do some creative problem-solving. 

Dates to Know:
May 31 - Kickball at 2pm.
June 2 - Independent Study Projects due at 8:20am (homeroom) 
June 2 - Music performance (will be recorded and posted by Mrs. Marsillo)
June 3 - Clapout - Senior Graduation Walk at Bath
June 9 - End of Year Parties / Staff - Student Kickball game
June 10 - Last day of school 

I usually take notes for myself of things I want to recount for you here, and this time my post-it needed its backside! I cannot believe what a busy week it ended up being. 

I will start with our incredible, beautiful chick. Sadly, our humidity in the incubator did not stay as high as it should have. Despite adding warm water and doing what we could from the outside, only one chicken hatched for us. We named it "Richy" after Mr. Booth. The plus side of this is that our chicken is very much loved by both third and fourth grade. To help keep it socialized, it is spending time with Mrs. Lovsey's chicks. They stay with us when we have a good long block of time in our room. When the chickens finally move on to a permanent home, the better news is that they will stay with Mrs. Lovsey's crew.

When Richie joined our world, we also played our first kickball game. The kids did amazing! Isaac and Levi led like the compassionate leaders I knew they were, and Andrew S. caught every single kick that was near him. It was amazing. That led to us playing Friday again. That game was so fun to watch because our kids were communicating better, kicking nice low balls, and showing how hard they practiced. Our third game is now scheduled for Wednesday at 12:55.  

In the classroom, we are working hard, too! We are almost finished with the Toothpaste Millionaire. The students ask great questions about production and pricing and understand this great book about an entrepreneur who fills a need with an invention. We are learning that good ideas take teamwork, friends, and family. 

We did not get to our energy scavenger hunt because of our Kickball wins. I introduced the assignment to the class Friday and told them it would be due on Tuesday. If they want to get it done tonight, they can, and if they have time tomorrow night at home, that is fine too. They should wait and submit the Keynote file to Schoolwork when they get to school to avoid technical issues. 

Finally, my last topic is the Independent Study that we are doing in our IE block at the end of the day. These fourth graders are blowing me away with the information they learn about such diverse topics. Please be advised that students will have the opportunity to "Teach the Teacher" the first week of June by presenting their information. They can speak and show off a product they produce related to their topic. They can make these products at home or school, but they may be hitting you up for paints or poster boards. I am very flexible on their products, so if you don't have the resources they need, they can change directions and create something else. So far, I am hearing about 3D clay sculptures, paintings, timelines, Keynotes, and even movies. So exciting! I cannot wait to see what they create and learn from your children!

Dates to Know:
May 23 - Celebration of the Arts begins
May 24 - Bath orchestra concert
May 27- Bath Team Hero Spirit Day / Class Movie Marathon
May 30 - No School / Memorial Day
May 31 - Independent Study Projects due
June 2 - Fourth grade music performance (will be recorded and posted by Mrs. Marsillo)
June 9 - End of Year Parties / Staff - Student Kickball game

This is an exciting week! Beginning Tuesday or Wednesday, our chicken eggs will start to pip. This is the first little break in a shell from our tiny birds. We are all so excited to meet them! Right now, we are expecting ten babies. Because we are sharing this experience with Miss Sokolowski's class, we will name five of them and house them in our room 50% of the time. Don't worry... I already have homes for them all! I will post pictures on Twitter @mrsjodihetman. 

We started Toothpaste Millionaire this past week. We will get through another 6 to 7 chapters this week, and we will begin to tie it into our discussions in economics. Students will have the opportunity to compare this new novel to their book report novel (from April). Finally, we will also study cause and effect as we read this week.  

We will begin to study energy this week. This science unit allows us to get into fun activities, including labs and building snap circuits! At some point this week, students will be given a photo scavenger hunt to complete at home. I will send out a Remind when it is assigned. The students have been doing an excellent job satisfying these assignments at home. 

Kickball also starts this week. The Bath PTA sent an email; check your inbox for that. This single-elimination tournament starts Wednesday for us. The shirts should be here tomorrow. I will do my best to get names put on the back while the students are at Encore so they can go home with them at the end of the day. Worst case, though, they will come home Tuesday. Our team name is: Hetman Hamburgers, and our captains are Isaac and Levi. Go Burgers! 😉

Dates to Know:
May 18 - First kickball game for Hetman Hamburgers
May 18 - The chicks may begin hatching!
May 23 - Celebration of the Arts begins
May 24 - Bath orchestra concert
May 27- Bath Team Hero Spirit Day / Class Movie Marathon ?
May 30 - No School / Memorial Day
May 31 - Independent Study Projects due
June 9 - End of Year Parties / Staff - Student Kickball game

I know for sure that Bath Elementary School has the best parents and PTA. This past week was a fantastic show of love and appreciation. Every staff member felt showered with the affirmations and goodies we love. Thank you, All, for taking such good care of us. 

We got a lot done in the classroom this week, too. The students worked hard to research iPad options for the school district. They collaboratively wrote persuasive reports for Mr. Schinker, our director of technology. He will get a chance to read them tomorrow to give us his feedback. I will grade them for the mechanics and everyone's ability to work together. It was probably the best project I have witnessed in research and sharing. The students really feel passionate about their ideas. 

This week we are starting a new novel, The Toothpaste Millionaire. It is an excellent fit with our economics unit. As we read about an ambitious entrepreneur, we will be learning about supply and demand and so much more! I was already beyond impressed with how much your fourth graders know about money. You've done a great job of talking to your kids about saving, budgeting, and even investments!

Next, I need to warn you of our last big testing week. Tomorrow is the MAP ELA test for reading and language arts. Wednesday is the MAP Math test. I cannot wait to see the scores and share how much they have grown this year with you (and the children). Because these are the internal tests that the teachers use to guide instruction, we want the students to get a good night's rest and a good breakfast. Thank you for your support with that!

Finally, our field trip is Thursday. Students need to pack a lunch, bring a cinch sak, and wear their BATH Team Hero shirts. We will be taking the bus to the Bath Nature Preserve around 9am for a fun-filled day in nature. Children must wear long pants and shoes that can get muddy. We will be hiking and exploring outside all day!

Dates to Know:
May 9 - MAP ELA Testing
May 11 - MAP Math Testing
May 12 - Fourth grade Field Trip 
May 16 - Kickball tournament during Encore begins
May 16 - The chicks will begin hatching!
May 23 - Celebration of the Arts begins
May 27- Bath Team Hero Spirit Day
May 30 - No School / Memorial Day

You may have heard this from your fourth grader, but May is bringing chicks in Rooms 112 and 111! We got the eggs and put them in an incubator last week. By my calculations, that means we will have some pipping and cuteness around Monday, May 16th! We will learn more about the life cycle of the egg and get to do some fun experiments with non-fertilized eggs in the classroom. I enjoy this special mini unit from ChickQuest a great deal! 

In language arts, we will be doing some persuasive writing and discussing mythology this week. We will focus on allusions in literature. I know the children will do great; the class did really well with the figurative language in those exaggerated stories. I will be sending home the graded stories they wrote this week. Make sure you take a moment to enjoy them! I have such strong, creative writers!

We started studying matter in science last week. We will discuss mixtures and solutions this week and how matter changes. This will be a short unit, and then we will begin with economics. I want to make sure we start that social studies unit before starting our last novel, Toothpaste Millionaire. 

Lastly, I wanted to share a couple of housekeeping items. First, I need to mention that only water is allowed as a beverage in the classroom. Sparkling water, soda, and milk are not friends with iPads, so we save those for the lunchroom. Second, our field trip is on May 12th at the Bath Nature Preserve. We are lucky to have such a fantastic resource in our backyard! The permission slips are due this week! Children need their Bath Team Hero shirt for the day, so please email me if you need a replacement. They are $15. 

Dates to Know:
May 4 - Stress Less Day with Mrs. Kerrigan
May 6 - Farmer's Market
May 9 - MAP ELA Testing
May 11 - MAP Math Testing
May 12 - Fourth grade Field Trip (permission slips due this week)
May 23 - Celebration of the Arts begins
May 30 - No School / Memorial Day