Fourth & Fifth Grade: November 3 - 7, 2025
Dear Fourth and Fifth Grade Families,
This week, the class began their fourth Main Lesson block: North American Geography II. In this edition of the block, we will expand further and learn more about the other countries in North America, including Central America and the Caribbean.
After recalling the “Turtle Island” story from August, we began to dive into learning about how the continent looked in some of its earliest days, starting with the days of the Ice Age, when the Bering Strait was once an ice bridge, called Beringia, that connected Alaska and Siberia. It is believed that some of the continent's first populations crossed using that route. We began to imagine what life was like during that time and how people navigated the land to survive, and why many continued to migrate south for a warmer climate and living conditions. Coming off the previous Botany block, where we talked about food preservation, many students already had an idea of how the people of this era might have nourished themselves in a landscape with limited vegetation.
Modern geography and global connections were also part of our discussion this week. With the help of a parent in our Garden School community, we have connected with the Fourth Grade class at Imhoff Waldorf School in Cape Town, South Africa. The children spent time drafting and writing information to share about our school, themselves, and things they would like to learn about South Africa. Their pen pal letters are now complete and ready to journey across the Atlantic! This is a wonderful opportunity for the class to connect with peers from another country who share a similar educational experience. We hope to hear back from them sometime next month.
In our math studies, the class is now learning about negative numbers and how to add and subtract them. This topic was introduced through the imaginative story of the “Number Line Neighborhood,” where a delivery person must stop at different houses along the number line. Students calculated how many “houses” it would take to reach the next delivery, then created their own colorful number line neighborhoods in their math books. We’ll continue another week of practice with addition and subtraction before moving on to multiplication and division with negative numbers.
Announcements & Reminders:
We are looking forward to seeing families at the Thanksgiving Luncheon! Please RSVP to Ki Nicole by Wednesday, November 19th, via email with the names of the guests attending. Please also attend the Grade Presentation at 10:30 am to hear some lovely music and see our Grade program in action. When you arrive for the luncheon, your child will be signed out to your care for the remainder of the morning.
November 21: Grades Presentation in Sanctuary at 10:30 am
November 21: Thanksgiving Luncheon at 11 am (All families and students are invited)
November 24 - 28: Thanksgiving Break (No School)
December 11: Winter Spiral (First - Fifth Grade)
December 19: Last Day of Fall Semester/Grades Assembly 11:00 am (Half Day)
December 22 - January 2: Winter Break (No School)
January 5: Teacher In-service (No School)
Warm Regards,
Ki Nicole
