Long meeting

Hello,

Our 4th grade team meeting went very long, so I'm going to keep this relatively short.  I definitely want to let you know that we got into a discussion about 9/11 today.  I meant to talk briefly about this on the anniversary of the attacks, but failed to do so.  We got there in a roundabout way this afternoon.  We were talking about the branches of government, which led to the role of the president as commander in chief of our armed forces.  The hands were up and the questions were flying and we jumped from Osama Bin Laden talk, to 9/11, to Pakistan's neighbors, to Iran and Iraq, to Pearl Harbor, and on and on.  It was quite a talk.  Class ended with five hands still in the air.  I told them that I loved all of their comments and questions, and that we can talk tomorrow if they still have questions, but I implored them to ask their parents these questions as well.  They are very curious which is great.

I was very honest, but not brutally so.  I told them that the president has a ridiculous amount of responsibility and that many of his/her decisions can cost lives.  I told them that we will never forget 9/11 because we were attacked and many people died.  It was shocking, but also brutally sad.  Thank you for taking some time to see if they have more questions and to give them your perspective.  Drop me a line if you want more details of our discussion.

Let's change the topic... Did you notice some marks on your child's face this afternoon?  We started our study of quotation marks today.  Since everything that comes out of a speaker's mouth must be surrounded by quotation marks, I did a little face painting.  Quotes can be tricky, so we will be returning to this topic throughout the year.  Many students had written dialogue in their latest stories, so I felt like they had to get some basics down. 

Ask your child what italics means.  Or why would a writer italicize something?  Again, just the basics.  This was a necessary lesson for their reading mainly.  Most of their writing won't be typed this year.  They definitely know what it means to emphasize a word.  My ears are still ringing. 

Open house is tomorrow night at 6:00.  If you need to come early, I'll be here. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great night. 

Mr. Shea