June 2023 Newsletter: Grade 4 Room 116

Dear Families,
Well, we’ve just about made it to the end. Phew! I think we are all ready for a
nice, relaxing summer after working so hard this past year. I want to congratulate all of
the students for a super year. The children have learned a LOT this year and they are
well prepared for fifth grade. I hope that everyone has enjoyed their year together.
We’ve completed all our major work for the year. Wahoo! Since this is the last
newsletter, I would like to make some suggestions for the summer. Parents often ask
me to give a few ideas to help their child maintain their reading, writing and math skills
for next year. I always encourage students to read as much as possible. Research
shows that students who don’t read over the summer lose quite a bit of the progress
they made in the previous school year, so please keep your child reading! Join the JV
Fletcher summer reading program too!
Have your child write in a journal, maybe once a week, over the summer. They
can use their writer's notebook as there should be plenty of room in the back section.
Check it over and remind them about using creative language and to check for
conventions. Let them choose the topics to write about and occasionally go back
through the writing together to edit & revise it.
For math, I encourage students to practice multiplication and division facts over
the summer. The more automatically children can recall these facts, the easier it will be
for them in fifth grade. Feel free to have your child continue to use the sites that we
used until late summer. I don’t think they shut down access to things like Lexia, iReady,
etc… until August.
A special thank you for being the other teacher(s) on the homefront. I appreciate
all that you did to support your child from the home side of things. We couldn’t do it
without your help. Thanks again!

Important Reminders:
● Returning items- If your child still has items that belong to the school (library
books, class books, math SRBs, etc…), please return them by Thursday.
● Students will find out their placement for fifth grade in mid to late August. You can
expect a welcome letter with a list of requested supplies so I would wait until you
get the letter before running out to buy school supplies.
● Report cards will be out on the last day of school via the PowerSchool portal.

We’ve had a lot of learning and fun take place in Room 116 this year. I’ve
enjoyed working with each and every student and their family. Please know that I am
always around if you have a question or concern regarding your child’s education. I
hope that each student looks back fondly on fourth grade as a year when school was
interesting and learning was exciting. Have a fun and restful summer!

Sincerely,

Nicole Keefe

PS- Please find attached some information that you may find helpful for the summer.
I know that summer is a time for relaxing, but it’s also a time when kids can lose 3-6
months of instruction & progress if they don’t do some practice and skill work. At the
very least, I encourage kids to read each day to keep up those skills. Additional practice
in math facts, specific skill areas, and challenge activities are also encouraged. You can
use the math journal from fourth grade to review topics from this year. I will leave up all
the enrichment opportunities on our Google Classroom until later in the summer.
Most importantly, don’t forget to have the kids get outside, away from devices.
Fresh air and physical activity is a must!

Suggested Summer Activities

*Have your child write in a journal, especially if you go on vacation. Focus on writing 3
good paragraphs (topic sentence, at least 3 detail sentences, & closing sentence per
paragraph).
*If planning a vacation, have your child look at the map of where you are going. Have
them figure out how many miles away from home they will be. They can predict how
much money each family member will spend on vacation, and then keep track of the
money spent throughout the vacation. They can also research things to do in that part of
the country.
*If you are cooking with your child, have him/her measure out the amounts needed for
the recipe. See if they can find equivalent measures.
*Use sports games to practice math. For example, if you’re playing basketball, try
multiplying the total points (6 two-point baskets = 12 points).
*When going grocery shopping, have your child estimate the total bill as you put things
into the cart.
*Measure things around your house on a rainy day.
*Use various math online programs to keep up on math skills.
 Cool websites to check out for fun skills practice

*Any sites that are linked to the Day School Curriculum Links page such as Typing Club,
Lexia, iReady, etc...
*Prodigy
www.prodigygame.com
*Fun Brain
www.funbrain.com
*Greg Tang Math
https://gregtangmath.com/
*Ology (Stories, games, and activities for kids ages 8-12)
www.amnh.org/ology/
*Customized word lists, puzzles, searches, math puzzles, etc…
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
*National Geographic Kids
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/