DECEMBER UPDATE (Sent via email on 12/7/25)
Hello Everyone,
The sneezy season is upon us! While we have a good supply of paper towels, we are in serious need of tissues. If you have a box to spare, that class would greatly appreciate it!
Recently, we've had a few small incidents with Smart Watches in class. Smart Watches are an immense distraction in the classroom and I want to remind everyone that they are not allowed in school. I appreciate your help in making sure your son or daughter sticks to this.
We are wrapping up our reading of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing! We have seen varying success with this little project and have definitely seen a need to continue with our fiction reading group. We are trying to increase comprehension and your help in discussing the book with your child would help immensely! Asking them what it is about, their favorite part, their favorite character...any discussion you can offer helps them. It increases engagement and gets them thinking which is the goal. We will begin our next round in January.
The unit 2 math test has been ready to go home for a bit. I will send it home this week. If you could kindly review with your child and send it back with a signature, it'd be appreciated.
Last week, your student brought home a fabric swatch that he or she wove on a hand loom during our field trip to the Tsongas Industrial Historical Museum. If you haven't seen it yet, they are in backpacks! Pictures of that activity and the field trip can be found here. Coming home this week are free passes for all National Parks for the students and their families. There's a federal program called Every Kid Outdoors that gives U.S. 4th graders (and their families) free access to over 2,000 federal lands, including National Parks, from September to August. The Tsongas Museum is part. of the park system so made sure to give us the passes for the kids.
A quick reminder that parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of this week. If you have specific questions or concerns you'd like to discuss, you can certainly feel free to email me beforehand. Conferences are scheduled to be 15 minutes long, which does go by quickly. Please note that I will do my best to stay on time, but sometimes clicking between virtual meetings especially, does require a moment to transition. Additionally, I appreciate your help in staying on time. If you have not yet scheduled a conference and would like to, I do have a few appointments left: Virtual or In Person.
Have a great week and I will see many of you on Weds or Thurs!
NOVEMBER UPDATE (Sent via email 11/7/25)
Hello Parents!
November already! We are entering a very busy time of year and this is doubly true at school, it would seem. Here are few things happening now that I am hoping you will keep on your mind and at the forefront:
Food Drive - We spent a good deal of time on Wednesday speaking about food insecurity, what causes it, who is affected, and what we can do about it. The students asked great questions and genuinely seemed surprised at who may use a food pantry. We furthered our discussion by talking about the Day School Food Drive, and planning ways to help. Students can ask mom and dad--or better yet--ask mom and dad for ways to earn food items or money for the food drive. If your family is able to contribute, I know it would be greatly appreciated. In these turbulent and unsure times, we have a growing number of Day School families who may use the Westford Food Pantry to make sure their household has enough food to eat. Please have a conversation with your child about our chat here; developing empathy and motivated citizens is a group effort!
Field Trip - We are going on a field trip to the Tsongas Industrial Historical Center in Lowell on Tuesday 11/18. I thank you for reaching out, but we do not require parent chaperones for this trip. We stay together as a class in a couple of museum spaces. We will: "Weave on hand looms, examine cotton and a cotton gin, visit an 1840s boardinghouse, and analyze how technological changes of the Industrial Revolution affected life and work for Americans - enslaved and free." As the office email (11/7) mentioned, because of the government shutdown this museum (part of the National Park designation in Lowell), is currently closed. We are hoping that things turn around and the trip will be greenlit, but are keeping an eye on the situation. Because the trip is (potentially) so close, our administration needs the permission slip and associated fees submitted by Monday 11/10. Thank you for your help with this.
Reading Homework - Beginning next Wednesday, we will begin sending home reading homework with each student. We will be reading a class book together and students will be assigned a chapter to read over the course of a week. They will also be required to write a one sentence "gist" of what they read. We'd appreciate your help in making sure your son or daughter gets to this. The reading shouldn't take more than 20 minutes over the whole week and for those that need it, we will have reading assistance pieces in place to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible. Please let me know if you have questions.
Odds and Ends
The PTO is sponsoring a FREE Movie Night for families next Friday, 11/14. A flier went home today with all the information and methods to reserve your free tickets. (The Movie Night is free to all Day School families to celebrate the Boosterthon success!)
Mrs. Cardena, our COMPASS program teacher, is beginning a Day School Pen Pal program. Many students in our class opted to take a "Pen Pal" slip home to fill out. If they turn it in on Monday, they will be connected to another Day School student with whom they may exchange notes and letters throughout the school year through our "mail service." If your child is interested, please encourage them to fill this out for Monday.
Tuesday is Veteran's Day, thus there is no school in Westford. To all the service members, I thank you for your service.
Have a lovely weekend,
Beth Poirier
SEPTEMBER UPDATE (Sent via email 9/21/25)
Hi Everyone,
It was wonderful to meet so many of you on curriculum night! It was also lovely to see some of you again. I thank you for listening to my ramblings and for your support in making this a great year for the students in 115. If you were unable to make it, I have attached my rather random slideshow to our class website.
Tomorrow is the big kick-off to our massive, bi-annual fundraiser, the Boosterthon! For the next 10 days or so, there will be a huge push from the school to raise money for this fundraiser. In each of the last two times we held this fundraiser, we raised $20,000+. This money is spent on supplies and student programs for the Day School. Please consider allowing your child to sign up. Information came home on Thursday. This fundraiser culminates in a color run, where parents and families are invited to come celebrate. And folks on the PTO, get to throw the color on the students, which is a ball! Here's the official message, without my editorial:
The next few days are going to be filled with fun as we discover new worlds and work together to raise $20,000 for enrichment programs and classroom grants
at Day School! Every student will participate in the fun through a character-building program, event day, and school incentives. Here are a few things you can do to help us reach our big goals!
In science, we've been learning about plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes. On Friday afternoon, we were able to get outside, in the lovely weather, to erupt our volcanoes! This is always a favorite for the students and the pictures below do not disappoint!