AFSA 3rd & 4th Grade Newsletter
Week 3: September 21-25
Overview
- Newsletter Information
- What We Are Learning This Week
- Schedule & How Class is Run
- Grading and Attendance Policy
- Teach Contact Info
Newsletter
Welcome to AFSA Elementary's 3rd & 4th grade newsletter! Mr. Melling, Ms. Veldhuizen, and Mr. Hertz are so glad you stopped by. Here you will find information for the week ahead, the assignments for next week, detailed schedules and more! This newsletter will be updated every week on Friday. Bookmark this tab on your computer & check for all things AFSA 3rd & 4th grade!
What Are We Learning About?
Science Fair
This week, we will dive deeper into researching germs, bacteria, and microscopic organisms that live on our bodies and household surfaces. Students will use non-fiction articles and other readings to aid in this research. They will also make their first observation of their science experiments. This won't be until Friday, so keep their bread somewhere off to the side until then.
We will continue working on the Science Fair projects for weeks 3-7. We will practice being scientists, learn to carefully observe the world around us, and record our observations through pictures, words, charts, and graphs. The science fair unit will focus heavily on cross-curricular content.
Theatre Class
This week in Theatre class we will be learning more about diaphragmatic (belly) breathing. This technique is used by actors and singers to expand their voices and fill the room with their sound. We will also read the play, “Fred the Skunk” and discuss the characters in the play, and what characterization is all about in theatre.
Week 3 Assignments
Class Schedules
Ms. Veldhuizen - 3rd & 4th Grade
Mr. Mellings - 4th Grade
Daily Choice Activities
Class Information
Thank you to everyone who reached out this week with clarifying questions. Here is an updated, in-deepth description of how class is run. If you have any questions, please email, call, or text Mr. Mellings, Ms. Veldhuizen or Mr. Hertz. We are dedicated to making this online educational experience as stressfree as possible for you and your student.
Live Meetings:
The morning meetings are daily from 8:30-9:00 am. You can find the Google Meet link to these in the morning announcements that I post every day at 8:25 am. On Wednesday and Thursday right after the morning meeting, I will conduct a live lesson. These are mandatory. If you can get on at 8:30 am on Wednesday and Thursdays, you will be all set up for the morning meeting and live lesson! They will be on that same morning meeting link from the morning announcements. Again, every day I will post morning announcements at 8:25 am.
Recorded Lessons/ Classwork:
Apart from the live lessons on Wednesdays and Thursdays, there will also daily recorded lessons. These can be found in the classwork tab. There will be 2 lessons posted each day for their classwork. Mr. Hertz posts one, and I post one. If one of us has a live lesson that day, such as today, that teacher will post a video of their live lesson. For example, I had a live lesson the week, therefore I posted a youtube link to the activity we did. It is under Week 1 and called Live Lesson: Masked Selfie. Students can rewatch this as many times as they would like! The materials you need for it are in your brown bag in a folder called "Materials".
I will accept these assignments at any time, so do not stress on getting all work done by 3pm the day it is posted. However, if your child falls too far behind it will only hurt their educational progress and 4th or 5th grade readiness. Each lesson will be called "date: lesson #". For example, today's lesson is "September 10th: Lesson 1". These will include a video and then an activity to follow. If you ever have issues opening or accessing the video, reach out! We'll get it figured out.
Office Hours:
I will hold office hours for 2 hours daily. These are on the schedule that I have attached. These are for any questions you or your student has. I will post a link for these and only come if you want to. You can pop in and ask a 1-minute question, or stay awhile and get help with an assignment.
Attendance and Grading
Grading will be done based on their effort and progress on assignments.
Ms. Veldhuizen - 3rd & 4th Grade
Email: cveldhuizen@afsahighschool.com
Website: https://classroom.google.com/u/0/c/MTMwNzU1Nzk1OTg2
Phone: (612)888-3015
Mr. Mellings - 4th Grade
I am a long time educator who has worked with elementary students in various educational settings. Bringing real-world applications and skills into our classroom is one of my biggest passions as a teacher. My other biggest passion is my family, my wife, five boys, and pooch, Benny.
Email: mmelling@afsahighschool.com
Website: mn50000145.schoolwires.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=5971
Location: 2925 Country Drive, Little Canada, MN, USA
Phone: (612) 424-1690
Mr. Hertz - Theatre Specialist
Email: mhertz@afsahighschool.com