Q3 Week 1

"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all."

-George Washington

The new year is here and it is sure to bring fresh challenge and adventure for our students. Our own nation seems to be in a time of uncertainty, and it seems appropriate that this semester we will dive into the history of its founding, which was itself fraught with uncertainty and danger. We will also meet a brave little Princess who must defeat an army of nasty goblins, and new and fantastic parts of the English language.

Students, parents, and teachers should all be committed to discover something new this year. There is so much out there, it would be a shame to miss the opportunity.

In class this week:

1) In History we take a first look at the motivations and means that led to the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the Americas by Europeans. Ask your students why anyone thought to look on that blank part of the map in the first place, and what nations were involved in the race to create colonies.

2) In Writing we will be doing a review of all of our parts of speech. Ask your students to identify which words are which in everyday sentences. Is that a noun or an adjective? What role does this noun play in the sentence, the subject or the object? Are we using an action verb or a being verb? These are the kinds of questions that will give your student familiarity with grammar.

3) In Literature we are going to start reading the Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald on Tuesday! So make sure your student has it and brings it to school. It is my favorite story that we read during the year and is sure to enchant both you and your student.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Project Week

Dear Parents,

Welcome back from vacation. I hope each of you had a wonderful two weeks enjoying the holidays with your students. It's project week! This week we will be working almost exclusively on our projects which are going to be presented next Wednesday night (the 11th).

The project is in the style of a "live wax museum" where the students will dress up as and pretend to be their assignment historical person. When approached, the students will 'turn on' and give a speech about who they are and their historical significance. The criteria for this project will come home tomorrow so be looking for it!

Other than the project students should be making sure they have a solid grasp on the first six stanzas of Paul Revere's Ride. We are moving on to the next two stanzas next week, so make sure they are working diligently on it.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 7

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” ~Babe Ruth

Dear Parents,

We often strike out, even when we try our hardest. Nobody is perfect, and one of the hardest lessons for a 4th grader to learn is that learning isn't always easy. Our aim at Archway Trivium East is to give your students access to ideas that will allow them to grow into lovers of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. These ideas are big, and often difficult. Do not be discouraged if you find they sometimes struggle with them, the struggle itself is an excellent lesson. Keep encouraging them to do and be their best, and let us know if you have any thoughts or questions!

This Week

1) In History we will be learning about Muhammed's flight from Mecca to Medina and how he preserved and grew the religion of Islam in its infancy. If you have any questions about the goals or methods regarding our lessons about Islam, please feel free to email me and ask them.

2) We will be spending most of our Writing and Literature classes in the next three weeks working on our Twelfth Night Reader's theater play, which will be performed on the last day of school (Dec 16th)! The performance will be open to parents and further details are coming soon!

3) We are going to be introducing Paul Revere's Ride this week! This is one of those hard challenges I mentioned. The poem is long and intimidating, but 4th graders have managed to memorize the whole thing every year that I have taught it. We will work to get the first several paragraphs memorized before Christmas break, and students will finish it during project week.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 6

Dear Parents,

Happy Thanksgiving! It is exciting to have a long weekend ahead of us, but we have a lot of exciting things to learn this shorter week as well.

Deficiency notices were sent out over the weekend, so make sure you double check for them. If you received a deficiency notice for your student and have any questions please feel free to email me. There is still a lot of time to bring up grades in this quarter.

Here is a snapshot of what we will be doing this week:

In History we will be learning about the founding of the religion of Islam. We will learn how the prophet Muhammad organized a religion in the face of great resistance, and how he established traditions and Pillars of the Muslim faith that would endure to the modern day. We will have an open note quiz on Wednesday.

In Literature  we will be having a seminar on King Arthur this Monday. The question we will be discussing is "Who was the best Knight in the book and why?" Ask your students how the conversation went and if they learned anything new from their peers! We will then be introducing William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night which the student's will be performing as a reader's theater in December.

In Writing we will be practicing writing persuasive sentences and analyzing what types of sentences we use to be persuasive. Ask your students what they think persuasion is and how we can be persuasive in a virtuous way.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 3

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." -Ellen Parr

Dear Parents,

Never forget to encourage your students to keep asking questions. Even though they can some times be frustratingly abundant, a child's questions are key to opening their minds to engage and understand new ideas. Ask them your own questions: "How do you think that works?", "Why do you think he made that choice?" Always keep them thinking and never discourage their natural desire to know.

This Week

1) In History we will be learning about the Magna Carta and the first Parliamentary government in England. The principles set down in the Magna Carta would become the cornerstones of the American Constitution 500 years later. Be sure to talk to your students about ideas such as trial by jury and no taxation without proper approval of those being taxed!

There will be a quiz this Friday on what we learned this week.

2) In Writing we are going to be reviewing proper punctuation and practicing our diagramming skills. You can help your students by asking them to identify what the subject noun and verb are in everyday sentences that they encounter. There will be a spelling test and a grammar quiz on Friday. The spelling quiz should be fairly easy for the students, the words we are going over in Spalding are mostly to get them back in the groove and rhythm of doing Spalding.

3) In Literature we are nearing the end of King Arthur. I must warn you, the ending is rather depressing in places, though with promises of greater victory to come. If you haven't been reading to your student so far, now would be a great time to start!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 2

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." -Teddy Roosevelt

Dear Parents,

We are beginning to encounter assignments that are more difficult than what your fourth graders have been asked to accomplish previously. You may be seeing some frustration at home, but a little frustration is actually part of our goal. Learning is frustrating. One lesson we want our fourth graders to walk away from this year is that sometimes, in order to learn, you have to struggle. To that end we sometimes ask our students to reach for goals that are not easily accomplished. If you feel the workload is becoming too stressful on your scholar, please contact me and we can figure out a way to continue to challenge them without creating unhealthy levels of anxiety.

This Week

1. In History we will be working on our Medieval Persons project this week. This project requires students to ask questions and research a famous Medieval figure and gather information to share with their group. They will then present this information to the whole class. This is one of those difficult projects, especially the research. Do not think of this as a full on research project, but rather a foray into world of research. It can be really challenging for students to know where to start, but I have been very pleased with the results and experiences that students have had with this project in previous years.

2. In Writing we will be learning how to use Being verbs. Students will will be parsing and diagramming sentences using the verbs Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been. If you want to challenge your students at home, ask them to stop and tell you whether the sentences you have been using use Being or Action verbs.

3. In Literature we are continuing with King Arthur. This week we are reading the story of Gawain and Lady Ragnell. This is a story of the power of sacrifice and service. Feel free to read with your students and enjoy the story!

4. In Spalding we will be taking our first spelling test! The 20 spelling words this week have gone home as Spalding HW assignments #2 and #3. I do not expect these spelling words to be especially challenging for our students, but it is good for them to get into the routine of Spalding homework and spelling tests.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 1

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"

Walt Disney

Dear Parents,

This quarter is a new beginning for us and our scholars. It will bring new challenges and new joys, and we don't know where we will be when we come to the end of it. Last quarter was a period of learning and adjustment. Now that we have our feet under us a bit more solidly, we will start seeing precisely what we can do. The rigor and expectations are going up, but don't panic if your student comes home frustrated once or twice. We will be working to help them rise to their potential here at school, just let us know if things seem to be getting too much for them and we will figure out a way to help.

This Week

1, In History we will be learning about the earliest European cities that began to grow in the Middle Ages. What was it like to live in a city? Why might a serf leave his home on a manor and move to live in a place like London or Paris? 

We will have an open note quiz on Friday.

2. In Writing we will be doing a myriad of activities this week. Because it is a week of half-days we will be switching from subject to subject in ELA. On Monday we will be learning our new poem, "Rhinoceros" by Ogden Nash and reciting it on Wednesday. On Tuesday we will learn how to write a personal letter and practice it with a homework assignment. On Thursday we will be doing Spalding and our first Spalding homework assignment! Look for an explanatory note coming home on that. Friday we will get back to reading King Arthur with reading homework.



Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi