Raindrops, Bonnets & Bunny Hops: A Colorful Week in Preschool!
Upcoming Dates and Announcements:
- CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
- Spring Long Weekend. April 18th-April 21st. Classes resume on Tuesday, April 22nd at 10:00am
- SAVE THE DATE! EARLY CHILDHOOD SHOWCASE – Thursday, May 8th @ 5:30 p.m
- Weekly Snack List
- Beforecare is available in the gym from 7:30- 8:20 and aftercare from 3:30-5:00.
- Teacher Email: mshah@wcdsedu.com, awolle@wcdsedu.com, aschultz@wcdsedu.com
A Look at Our Week:
Inspired by Couple Under One Umbrella by the colorful artist Leonid Afremov—and a perfectly timed rainy Tuesday!—we explored the beauty of rain and self-expression through our April self-portraits. After a fun “trip” to our classroom museum to admire the painting, the children got to work on their own self-portraits in the rain. First, they used black Sharpie Flair pens to draw themselves walking in the rain, just like the couple in Afremov’s painting. Then came the most exciting part—adding bright pops of color by gluing vibrant tissue paper squares to create a dazzling, rainy background. It was wonderful to see how each child brought their own personality into their artwork! To bring the whole project to life, we snapped photos of each kiddo outside, smiling under a big umbrella—true little rays of sunshine in the drizzle! We added their pictures and drawings to their colorful creations, and the final pieces turned out absolutely adorable. You can now see these masterpieces proudly displayed in our classroom.
Following our rainy-day art adventure, we turned our attention to a beloved spring tradition—Easter bonnets! After reading Easter Parade by Irving Berlin, the children were full of excitement and creativity. Inspired by the festive spirit of the story, they each designed their very own Easter bonnets using paper plates as the base. With a colorful selection of loose parts like soft tulle, fluffy pom poms, colorful foam flowers, ribbon, tissue squares, and sparkly beads, each child crafted a unique and joyful creation. The process was filled with laughter, imagination, and a wonderful display of fine motor skills as they carefully arranged and glued their chosen materials. The finished bonnets were as bright and cheerful as the kids themselves—perfectly capturing the whimsy of springtime!
With their handmade Easter bonnets perched proudly on their heads, the kiddos were beyond excited to parade down to the playground for a special egg hunt organized just for them by our amazing 5th-grade students on Thursday. It was such a joyful sight—our little ones marching in their festive hats, giggling and waving as they made their way outside. Once the hunt began, they eagerly dashed around, scooping up colorful eggs tucked into every nook and cranny. The squeals of delight as they opened their treasures were absolutely priceless! Back in the classroom, the fun continued with a creative activity led by our wonderful student teacher, Miss Payton. Using squishy eggs, paint, and lots of fun stickers, the children decorated their very own Easter eggs. It was a fantastic way to wind down after all the excitement. The smiles on their faces said it all—what a magical day!
Thank you, as always, for sharing your amazing children with us. Wishing you a beautiful, bright, and joyful spring season!
-Meredith, Arden, and Airry
April Self-Portraits:
Easter Bonnets:
Egg Hunt and Decorating Eggs:
Daily Discovery and Explorations:
The Winter Wardrobe Returns…
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
From a week of summer to a week of winter. If you ceremoniously put your clothes away to mark the turning of the year, it’s time to drag the boxes back out. What a cold and brutal week. As always, a little bad weather can’t stop our kids from making the most of it! See details above about important dates. Remember, midterms are going to go out next week. The 8th Graders are going to get a placeholder grade for their Research Paper and some feedback about how it’s been going. It won’t be long before we are done!
English w/ Mr. Rouse – Upcoming Tests/Quizzes-none.
- We continued our writing and review of our research papers.
- This week, I had the students turn in a midpoint draft. I’m very happy with where the papers are, and few students are nearly complete!
- I had a few students share their paper with the class to model the actual workshop format,
Math w/ Mrs. Howells
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
- Everyone worked hard this week in math class!
- The students applied many pre-requisite skills to adding and subtracting positive and negative fractions and mixed numbers.
- It was a relief to switch gears and move into multiplying fractions which require less steps and a simpler process.
- Next week we will continue multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers.
Science w/ Mrs. Farris –
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled
- We learned about Rube Goldberg and his unique impact on STEM education. Students enjoyed discovering how he combined his passion for cartooning with his engineering background to create humorously complex machines.
- His imaginative style still shows up today—in music videos, commercials, and marketing campaigns!
- Let the creativity begin – 8th graders have been challenged to design and build their own Rube Goldberg contraptions to include a minimum of 2 simple machines and 5 steps.
The JK Bakery is Open for Business!
- CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
- Early Dismissal Thursday, April 17th @11:30
- Spring Long Weekend. April 18th-April 21st. Classes resume on Tuesday, April 22nd at 10:00am
- SAVE THE DATE! EARLY CHILDHOOD SHOWCASE – Thursday, May 8th @ 5:30 p.m.
- On April 17th, the fifth-grade class will be hosting a Spring Egg Hunt for our PS-4th grade students on main campus. We have lots of plastic eggs from previous years but we need your help in gathering items to fill the eggs. If you are able to donate a dozen small toys, trinkets, stickers, or candy for the school, we would love to have them by Monday, April 14. Thank you in advance for your help in making this a special event for our students!
Hello JK families,
Some events leave lasting memories for both the children and adults. The day we brought our cake designs to life will likely be one of those moments. Last week each group, made up of 5 or 6 children collaborated to create a single cake design. Here is what each group came up with and their final product in pictures!
Butterfly Spring Cake: Noah, Lola, Bria, Emma, Scarlett, Heidi
Lola- “How about we make a Spring cake?”
Bria- “Yeah!”
“It can be a stacked cake.” -Bria
“I want it square.” -Lola
“I like circle.” -Noah
“How about a circle on a square?” -Lola
“One can be chocolate.” -Scarlett
“And one can be vanilla.” -Heidi
“I am going to do rainbows.” -Noah
“I can do a bee.” -Emma
“And butterflies.” -Bria
“This part looks like a duck.” -Emma
“It is a flying cake.” Emma
“This part is the cake stand.” Scarlett
What is this part at the top? (Miss Claire)
“That is the head.” Noah
Okay, maybe that can be made out of something else, like rice crispie treats. (Miss Claire)
“Yeah!” -Whole group
Now the cake is 4 layers. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and funfetti.
“We need different kinds of sprinkles.” Scarlett
“Gold” -Heidi
“Silver” -Noah
Confetti Cake: Mylah, Kipton, Hailey, Stylee, Bradford, Ollie
“It’s going to be a confetti cake!” – Stylee
“Confetti needs to be coming out of the side and down.” -Kipton
“Oh so ‘confetti’ like a celebration not the flavor!” – Miss Liz
“I want to make a castle cake.” – Hailey
“It needs to have layers. 5!” – Mylah
“We want it to be rainbow.” -Kipton
“What flavors?” -Miss Liz
“We want it to be chocolate and vanilla.” -Kipton
“Did we add anything else?” -Miss Liz
“I added a confetti storm!” -Bradford
What color icings do we need? -Miss Liz
“Rainbow, blue, pink, red, yellow and orange.” – Kipton
“And what should we make the confetti out of that we can eat?” -Miss Liz
“Sprinkles and different colorful chocolates, red, pink, and blue.” – Mylah
“And we added flowers to it.” – Mylah
“I added a rainbow to the side of the cake.” -Stylee
Hulk Cake: Bodhi, Izaak, Dax, Hunter, Rory
“We want to make a Hulk cake.” -Rory
Is it just the face or his whole body? (Miss Claire)
“His whole body.” -Bodhi
What flavor? (Miss Claire)
“Chocolate!” -Izaak
“Yeah!”- Rory
“I like chocolate.” -Hunter
“I don’t like chocolate. Can it be vanilla?” -Dax
“It could be swirled.” -Rory
“I like vanilla too.” -Hunter
“Me too.” -Bodhi
“His mouth should be open.” -Dax
“We should use green and purple for his pants and black for his hair.” -Bodhi
“Oh, and he has green eyes.” -Bodhi
“I want to add some red too.” -Izaak
Rainbow Favorite Things Cake: Leonardo, Henry, Wendell, Sophia, Forrest, Lucas
“Rainbow.” -Leonardo
“4 layers of a rainbow. That would make it this tall.” (gestures above the table top) – Henry
“I want it to be Pokemon and 6 layers. That way, there’s one for every kid on our team.” -Wendell
“Rainbow and 6 layers so we each can have one!” -Sophia
“I want my layer to be green and have sports balls.” -Forrest
“I want mine to be light blue and to be Paw Patrol.” -Henry
“What flavor do you want it to be?” -Miss Liz
“Strawberry cake! With rainbow sprinkles!” -Lucas
“So is the cake rainbow because it’s iced in a variety of colors or does it have actual rainbows on it?” – Miss Liz
“It has all the colors and sprinkles!” – Sophia
“Red, yellow, blue, green, and black with cars.” – Leonardo
We kicked off the week by measuring ingredients, mixing, and baking 15 round cakes, and one sheet cake! Once the cakes had properly cooled they were ready to ice and decorate. With the help of a few other teachers, all 23 children gathered around our classroom tables and spread on icing in the color of their choice. The hulk group had help carving their character based on their drawing, and the butterfly group shaped the head out of rice krispie treats and pink fondant. The confetti cake group used colorful candy melts to decorate the sides of the cake and the favorite things group decorated each of their layers separately based on their individual theme and then stacked them carefully together. When the creations were complete, it was time to taste! The kiddos were so excited to finally eat a slice of their delicious creations.
Not only did we bake actual gigantic cakes, we also officially opened the bakeshop! The walls of our sweet eatery were secured around the treehouse space in our middle part of the classroom. We cut out a door just the size of the children and a large window for them deliver orders. When the children arrived on Thursday morning they were thrilled to step inside and begin playing!
In Literacy the children began studying the letter Jj. As a class, they came up with 26 words that begin with the /j/ sound, and practiced the formation of the upper and lower case versions. They also did lots of fun letter and name practice. In Math the children absolutely loved practicing AB, ABB, and ABC patterns using a variety of loose parts and unifix cubes. We also learned all about the number 11 as we have officially entered the wonderful world of teen numbers. Lastly, the children began creating paper money and coins for our bakery!
Next week, Easter fun awaits! Have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Liz and Miss Claire
The Bakeshop is Open!
Making the Cakes
Butterfly Spring Cake
Confetti Cake
Hulk Cake
Rainbow Favorite Things Cake
Patterns, Letters and Name Practice, Money Making and More!
Dancing into Something New
Important Dates
- Thursday, April 17 – 4th Grade Annual Pancake Breakfast
- Thursday, April 17 – Spring Egg Hunt and 11:30 AM Early Dismissal
- Friday, April 17 – Monday, April 21 – Spring Long Weekend
- Tuesday, April 22nd – 10:00 AM Start Time
- Friday, April 25 – International Day
- Thursday, May 15 – 4th Grade Attack Theatre Final Presentation
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
On Wednesday, we welcomed our Attack Theatre friends for our first in-person session with them. What a blast! The students learned different ways to show their movements by adjusting the levels of tempo, size, level, quality, and repetition. They concentrated on “name dances” that they choreographed themselves. For our next seven sessions, our Attack Theatre instructors will teach remotely from their studio in Pittsburgh. We’ll see them again in person on May 14 for our dress rehearsal, and on May 15 for our final presentation. All parents are invited to attend our final presentation, please mark your calendars. The students were all smiles as they started learning how to express themselves through movement. We feel so FORTUNATE to have this opportunity to work with them. If you would like to know more about our Attack Theatre learning opportunity, please click here for a video on their website – Attack Theatre Imagination Station
4th Grade also visited Wheeling Park on Monday, April 7th to listen to the Wheeling Symphony. This year’s theme was a passport around the world where students listened to various pieces from Brazil, Alabama, Hawaii, and more! A piece from Hamilton seemed to be a crowd favorite from our class! Exposing them to various composers and genres gives them a great foundation of music and its history. Thank you to Ms. Dena for setting up this great experience!
4th Grade CELEBRATE Pottery
We are still accepting donations towards your child’s pottery piece. We think this is a great way to raise money for WCDS Celebrate in a collaborative effort – and everyone wins their child’s piece! We are asking for a minimum donation of $50 – a special thank you to those who donated above and beyond! Please email Mimi Parsons to make arrangements for payment – mparsons@wcdsedu.com
In ELA:
- We started our novel study of Holes this week! The emphasis on this novel study is to learn new vocabulary and what skills (context clues, inferences, and how to use a dictionary) are needed to help students.
- Students are continuing their practice of grammar and spelling skills with their daily ELA spiral.
- We are also trying something new for the last trimester! Homework will more frequently require the use of Google Classroom and/or their laptop in general. We want to make sure they can use Google Classroom on their own to prepare them for 5th grade!
In Math:
- We are finishing up with our long division unit – but that doesn’t mean they are done with long division! This is a skill they will need throughout their math academics and we’ll continue practicing it.
- Next week, we will work on a long division project before moving on to fractions and geometry.
In Castle Rock by Matthew Upton:
- This week, countries and tribes had the opportunity to put money into the stock market.
- One crises was solved this week.
In Creative Writing by Amira Kalcum:
- We started our Odes to something or someone we admire.
- My Ode is about my stuffed animal. I am currently answering questions to complete my first draft.
Important Reminders:
- On Thursday morning, April 17, we will have our annual 4th-grade pancake breakfast. The 4th-grade teachers will prepare a delicious pancake breakfast for all of the 4th-grade students, and we also share it with the faculty of WCDS. Please send your child in hungry and ready to eat some delicious pancakes!
- On April 17th, the fifth-grade class will be hosting a Spring Egg Hunt for our PS-4th-grade students on main campus. We have lots of plastic eggs from previous years but we need your help in gathering items to fill the eggs. If you are able to donate a dozen small toys, trinkets, stickers, or candy for the school, we would love to have them by Monday. April 14. Thank you in advance for your help in making this a special event for our students!
- The weather is cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again – welcome to spring! Please make sure your child’s coats, raincoats, sweatshirts, etc. are labled with their name. As the kids shed their layers, we find clothing everywhere! Labeled items are a HUGE help! Thank you!
Attack Theatre!
A IS FOR ALPHABET, ANDY WARHOL & ARTISTS
Upcoming Dates and Announcements:
- CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
- Early Dismissal Thursday, April 17th @11:30
- Spring Long Weekend. April 18th-April 21st. Classes resume on Tuesday, April 22nd at 10:00am
- SAVE THE DATE! EARLY CHILDHOOD SHOWCASE – Thursday, May 8th @ 5:30 p.m.
- Weekly Snack List
- Beforecare is available in the gym from 7:30- 8:20 and aftercare from 3:30-5:00.
- Teacher Email: mshah@wcdsedu.com, awolle@wcdsedu.com, aschultz@wcdsedu.com
On April 17th, the fifth-grade class will be hosting a Spring Egg Hunt for our PS-4th grade students on main campus. We have lots of plastic eggs from previous years but we need your help in gathering items to fill the eggs. If you are able to donate a dozen small toys, trinkets, stickers, or candy for the school, we would love to have them by Monday, April 14. Thank you in advance for your help in making this a special event for our students!
Hello Preschool Families!
Pablo Picasso once said “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.”
Preschool is now in the beginning phase of bringing each of their museums to life and just like Pablo Picasso, give us a museum and we will fill it! Last week the children journaled “If I had a museum”. As we like to say “it’s possible here” … so at 3 and 4 years old it’s possible here to create your own museum.
These were there ideas:
Avery – “I will have a Science Museum. I will have science toys in there, we will learn about space and maybe Nerf Guns”
Isla -“This is a Rainbow Museum. You just do like rainbow things”
Archie -“Mine will be The Museum of Letters. They will go on a letter hunt! You have to climb the letters, they will be different things”
Khy- “This is my Museum of Spiderman because I like him. People will look at Spiderman art and people can build webs.
Levi – “It will be a Museum of Toys, You can with with toy rainbows”
Emma – “A Monster museum, just because I like monsters”
Hunter -“It will be a Sonic Museum. Look I made a sad face. The Sonic Museum is just a sad face, It’s not Sonic, it’s actually a sad museum”
Romeo -“My museum will be the Museum of Elephants. My museum will have lots of elephants, it will have mom elephants and dad elephants. It will have lots of baby elephants because they are cute, People will learn about what they eat and what their snacks are.”
Lennon – “The Museum of Letters, the people will play with letters and it will be colorful”
Brody – “My Museum of Rainbows. We will go on a rainbow hunt and look for colors . They can build with rainbows.”
Lincoln – “The Museum of Monster Trucks. They will play with monster trucks and build lego trucks, you can play in tires.”
Ben – “My Museum of Rainbows, there will be a Sonic”
Evelyn – “This is a Happy Museum and a Dress Museum. It’s both. I work there and. clean it. All the girls pick which dress”
Roman – “This is a Hiding Place Museum. I’m making a dinosaur piled high so I can sleep in it with a pillow and a blanket. and there’s games.”
Lily – “So there’s planets in my museum. They can eat sandwiches in there and people will look at planets.”
Clara -“The Museum of Princess’s. You can play with them and look at them and there will be dresses!”
Audrey -“It is a Minnie Museum. You rude around on a penguin. There’s a bug, huge butter there too!”
Atticus- “This is a Monster Museum. You stop around like a dinosaur, you roll like a grasshopper, and then you chop things with a knife and there’s mowing and a spaceship.
The first step to filling a museum though, is to build one! We read the story The Museum by Susan Verde & Peter H. Reynolds. A little girl ventures to a museum and as she skips and whirls from room to room the exhibits evoke joy, wonder, curiosity and inspiration, her inner artist unleashed! When presented with an empty canvas she is invigorated to create and express herself, the greatest thing that art allows us to do! We then revisited the children’s blue prints for their museum ideas this week, feeling inspired, the children used air dry clay, loose parts and acrylic paint markers, to create their mini museum structures!
On Wednesday we began to work on our pieces for our first museum … The Museum of Letters and explore our first artist in our artist study, Andy Warhol. We read the ABC’s of Andy Warhol, admiring the beautiful penmanship of letters from Andy Warhols mother and the whimsical illustrations created by Andy Warhol himself of images representing each letter. The children then learned about the King of Pop Art and his most notable style -Screen Printing. Focusing on the letter A the students were invited to create their very own screen prints of the letter A to display in our museum. The kiddos were given little pencils to write their letter A’s on to a foam tray. Next, they chose their choice of paint color to add on to their tray, then using a new art tool, brayers, they rolled the paint onto the trays, allowing it to soak into their A’s, lastly they pressed their paper onto the painted trays and pressed down, then giggled in excitement as we pulled them up and their A’s were magically transferred to the paper!
The beauty of a museum is that it’s a place where everyone feels like they belong, a place where anything can be beautiful. We are so excited to continue our study of museums and artists and share the beauty of belonging through the eyes of your children.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend, with the faces so adorable that they belong in a museum!
Miss Arden, Miss Meredith & Miss Airry
MUSEUM ARCHITECTS
ANDY WARHOL SCREEN PRINTING
DAILY DISCOVERY & EXPLORATIONS
Bring on the May Flowers…
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
Well, I think we can confidently say winter is behind us; however, April came in with what I would say is its adage. Which is to say, there were plenty of showers this week. Still, as you guys can probably guess, the rain doesn’t stop us from appreciating this beautiful campus, and we look forward to those eventual (May) flowers! Thank you to all who came to Celebrate and showed your support!
English w/ Mr. Rouse –
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
- Continued peer review and individual conferencing.
- We revised and turned in our midpoint drafts.
Math w/ Mrs. Howells
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
- This week began with a continuation of prime factorization.
- This led into finding Greatest Common Factors (GCF) and Least Common Multiples (LCM).
- These foundational skills were then applied to the process of adding fractions, including both positive and negative fractions, which necessitated a review of integer operations.
- We also revisited the concepts of proper and improper fractions, as well as mixed numbers.
- Next week we continue with fraction and mixed number operations.
Science w/ Mrs. Farris –
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled
- This week, students were introduced to simple machines—and many were surprised to learn that a machine does not need a motor to do work!
- We defined key concepts such as work, force, power, and the differences between simple and complex machines.
- To reinforce their learning, students completed a digital review on simple machines and prepared for their energy unit test.
Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey –
- 8th grade will now be in sculpting for the remainder of the year, but I will continue to edit our song and once it’s ready, I will share it!! You will all get to hear it at graduation! Thank you for a great year of music making together!!
Let There Be Cake 🍰🎂
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
- On April 17th, the fifth-grade class will be hosting a Spring Egg Hunt for our PS-4th-grade students on main campus. We have lots of plastic eggs from previous years but we need your help in gathering items to fill the eggs. If you are able to donate a dozen small toys, trinkets, stickers, or candy for the school, we would love to have them by Monday, April 14. Thank you in advance for your help in making this a special event for our students!
Dear JK Families,
There is no such thing as too much cake! The JK Bakeshop is still in the works, even with all of the things that have popped up in the last few weeks. To help us get back in baking mode, we took inspiration from our latest journal entry and invited the students to design a cake of their choice. Working in groups of 5 or 6, the students first took some time to talk about what their ideal cake would be. Shape, theme, color, flavor, decorations, and tiers were all brought up, as well as lots of compromising and negotiating. Once their ideas were put to large pieces of paper with pencil, color was then added with a variety of marking tools. The best part is that next week we are going to bring their ideas to life with real ingredients. Yes, that’s right, we are baking cakes and look forward to tackling some of the intricate designs. Stay tuned!
This week also brought a fun surprise to the school…a play by some of the members of the Towngate Theatre here in Wheeling. Mr. Tim and the other actors put on Aesop’s Fables, a collection of 6 small plays that all had a moral to them. The children laughed and chuckled at the voices and characters and presented themselves as respectful audience members. We thank the actors for coming to our school and sharing their art with us.
If you haven’t noticed yet, we love providing the kiddos with ample opportunities to follow their passions. Lately, we have noticed a love of accessories…belts, phones, collars, watches, etc. The students took a few days to explore all things dress-up. We had a collection of fun items including ties, purses, shoes, glasses/sunglasses, jewelry, hats, and scarves. There were old ladies, rich men, robbers, fancy ladies, Pool Moms, tap dancers, boat drivers…oh my! When we weren’t accessorizing, the students were making their own items using paper, tape, and color. There were the classic fancy crowns, necklaces, bracelets, and watches, as well as fanny packs and a birthday sash. Don’t forget the essential tech items, including cell phones and computers. We just loved seeing the creativity of the students come to life and how proud they were to parade around campus with the adornments.
What better way to end a rainy week than with a pajama, popsicle, dance party, wear blue kind of day! It was a great way to shake off some energy!
We hope you all have a great weekend and you on Monday!
Miss Claire and Miss Liz
Cake Designing
Classroom Fun and Daily Discoveries
Let’s Accessorize!
Aesop’s Fables
Pajamas, Dancing, and Popsicles
The Great Pie Bake-Off!
Important Dates
- Monday, April 7 – 4th & 5th Young People’s Concert, 9:10 AM departure, by bus
- Friday, April 17 – Spring Egg Hunt and 11:30 AM Early Dismissal
- Friday, April 17 – Monday, April 21 – Spring Long Weekend
- Tuesday, April 22nd – 10:00 AM Start Time
- Friday, April 25 – International Day
- Thursday, May 15 – 4th Grade Attack Theatre Final Presentation
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
The highlight of our week was the 4th Grade Pie Baking Contest. Wow! What terrific creations they made! They spent a week researching and planning. They were responsible for dividing up responsibilities and supplies and were required to bring everything they needed to make their pie. We saw mixers and pots, and pans, peanut butter, marshmallows, and lots of chocolate! We are proud of the problem solving and resourcefulness we saw and applaud the teamwork and willingness to lend a helping hand. It was a great learning experience in so many ways – math, health, organization, communication, critical thinking, social-emotional learning, and so much more! Thanks to you parents for sending in supplies and allowing your child to experience hands-on learning!
Have a great weekend!
Grace and Stella
4th Grade CELEBRATE Pottery
We sent out a text regarding donating money to get your child’s pottery piece. We think this is a great way to raise money for WCDS Celebrate in a collaborative effort – and everyone wins their child’s piece! We are asking for a minimum donation of $50 – a special thank you to those who donated above and beyond! Please email Mimi Parsons to make arrangements for payment – mparsons@wcdsedu.com
In ELA:
- Students worked on homophones and showed of their knowledge through dictating sentences. Being able to hear the homophone, use context clues, and then spell it correctly is no small feat! They have been doing great with this. Be on the lookout for the same format for next week as well!
- We also continued to review and learn some new skills with our daily ELA spiral. These four questions per day are a great way to review certain skills as well as expose them to new ones!
- Students are now working on a poem about themselves. Their poems consist of favorite foods, sports, pets, and more! As they work through these they are also working on their cursive handwriting for their final drafts.
In Math:
- The students continued to practice the long division algorithm using a two and three digit dividend.
- We are gradually moving them away from the “box” template and having them write the problem without prompts.
- We practiced writing and solving division problems on whiteboards and then moved to writing with chalk on their desks. They loved practicing this way!
In Castle Rock by Palmer Wolle:
- This week, the Sabator did not cause any chaos.
- 1-2 crises were solved this week which involved Lochlan losing their position.
- The United Nations reported a loss of 10 million.
In STEAM by Audrey Ilovar:
- This week, our class went out to the field to test how far different athletic balls would travel.
- We watched about a falcon who could dive over 200 mph. I liked this video because it taught me a lot about momentum and speed.
Important Reminders:
- MONDAY, April 7 – The 4th and 5 Grade classes will be attending the Young People’s Concert at Wheeling Park High School. We will depart from WCDS at 9:10 AM and return before lunch. We’ll be transported by an Ohio County School Bus.
- The weather is cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again – welcome to spring! Please make sure your child’s coats, raincoats, sweatshirts, etc. are labled with their name. As the kids shed their layers, we find clothing everywhere! Labled items is a HUGE help! Thank you!
- On April 17th, the fifth-grade class will be hosting a Spring Egg Hunt for our PS-4th-grade students on main campus. We have lots of plastic eggs from previous years but we need your help in gathering items to fill the eggs. If you are able to donate a dozen small toys, trinkets, stickers, or candy for the school, we would love to have them by Monday. April 14. Thank you in advance for your help in making this a special event for our students!
Writing long division – “On our desks?!”
STEAM
Wander Into a… Wondrous Celebrate(tion)?
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
Well, it’s about that time! We get to see what the mad scientist and his apprentices (students) were able to come up with! The art looks terrific, and we are excited to see, speak, and bid with you guys at Celebrate! Please check out the online auctions we have set up for the art pieces, the students put a lot of creativity and hard work into the pieces! Outside of Celebrate, 7th toured the WV State Capitol on Thursday, and we had a special visitor for our Deep Dive! Please check the link for different details about upcoming events.
English w/ Mr. Rouse –
Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
- We covered MLA format and broke it down using Purdue Owl. We used the knowledge and website to make revisions where needed regarding format.
- We peer reviewed, and I personally met with most of the students.
- We continued writing for the research paper.
Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
- Students were introduced to solving inequalities this week. This is closely related to solving equations – except that they need to understand greater than and less than.
- We’ll continue solving one, two, and multi-step inequalities next week.
- All work is posted in Google Classroom. I encourage them to check their assignments daily, as well as use their planners for any assignments and the due dates.
Science w/ Mrs. Farris –
- Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Energy Unit Test Friday, April 4th
- This week, we explored how kinetic energy depends on mass and velocity by calculating it with a formula.
- To see it in action, we compared the impact of a 12-gram vs. 24-gram plastic egg dropped into flour, then graphed our results.
- We wrapped up the week by building spool cars and applying our understanding of energy types, conversion, and troubleshooting skills!
Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey –
- This week students continued perfecting the “cup song” rhythm at different speeds, which was fun! They also broke off into small groups and created their own 30 second rhythm routine using whatever props they wanted – they came up with some great beats!!
- Our music journal entry this week was “How can music help us learn about different cultures?”
Serving up a Wonderland Celebration
Important Dates
- Saturday, March 29 – CELEBRATE!
- Friday, April 17 – 11:30 AM Early Dismissal
- Friday, April 17 – Monday, April 21 – Spring Long Weekend
- Tuesday, April 22nd – 10:00 AM Start Time
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
Your students have put in an incredible amount of effort and dedication into creating their Celebrate pieces, and we couldn’t be more proud of their hard work! We are eagerly anticipating this Saturday, when we’ll come together in a whimsical, “Wonderland”-inspired event to highlight not only the impressive work of our 4th graders but also the diversity and richness of the entire WCDS community. From the art to the stories, every contribution reflects the spirit of our school, as if we’ve fallen down a rabbit hole and found ourselves in a world where creativity knows no bounds. Whether you’re bidding for your child’s piece or simply joining in the festivities, we can’t wait to share in this “curiouser and curiouser” celebration of the many ways WCDS makes our community so special. So, don’t be late—join us as we “celebrate” all the wonderful and unique ways WCDS contributes to our magical world.
See you there!
Grace and Stella
In ELA:
- Students reviewed action verbs, subject, and predicate. They will continue to brush up on their grammar while we take a short break from novel studies. Be on the lookout for weekly knowledge checks for these as they will be noted in your student’s agenda!
- PIE has been completed! Your 4th graders worked independently and hard on this novel study. They grew from Chapter 1 to the Epilogue in summarizing, comprehension, restating the question in their answer, and reviewing their own work and their peers before turning it in.
- Students have chosen their favorite nature poem to display! They have written their final copy in cursive and are working on their displays.
In Math:
- The students continue to work on the long division process. They are becoming very proficient with the process.
- As they learn and remember what step is next, we are moving them away from the “boxes” and having them write their steps without the prompts. This encourages them to learn what to do next.
- Next week, we’ll write long division equations on their own – maybe some writing on their desk will happen! Please continue to help them practice their multiplcation/division facts!
- We introduced the 4th Grade Pie Baking Contest this week. This is a long-standing tradition that we are bringing back this year. Please see the more details below in our “Reminders” section.
In Castle Rock:
- A war took place on Monday. The country of North Macalsia initiated againist Locken. They lost resulting in a hefty fine of 20 million dollars.
- Learning that war is not the quickest or the best way to come to a resolution.
- The sabator has made contact and sent a missle to South Macalsia. Alex was put on trial and the results concluded that he was NOT the sabator.
In STEAM (Written by Vinny Caruso):
- On Tuesday, we learned about aerodynamics. Mr. Rouse chose four objects (cushion, Powerade bottle, 1kg weight, and a ruler). We made a hypothesis about how far the object would go if someone threw it. Then we counted how many steps it took to get to the object. Then, we compared our results.
- On Thursday, Mrs. Rutherford taught us about how our brains react to different things, such as catching a ruler when someone drops it. I enjoyed testing my brain to see how fast it can react to things!
Important Reminders:
- As the third trimester begins, our 4th graders are now close to becoming 5th graders. Please help us in pushing your student to not only be the best student they can be but leader as well. We look forward to watching them grow into campus leaders next year but we have to make sure they are well prepared first!
- Our 4th grade pie baking contest will be held next Wednesday, 4/2! Students have been split into six different teams to bake the best pie. They have divided their responsibilities amongst themselves and should have brought their list of needed ingredients home. Giovanni’s mom, *, has graciously offered to donate flour for our contest. If you see her or Giovanni, please thank them for their generous donation!
CELEBRATE 🐛🐰
4th Grade was responsible for the Monday announcements!
