I am so excited to be teaching fourth grade this year!

We started right off with geometry, measuring radius, diameter and using a compass to draw inscribed regular, polygons in circles. We also brainstormed a mystery play and mocked up a couple of scripts for it in an afternoon. The possibilities of this year seem limitless!

A central focus of our studies this year will be California history. We are already planning field trips to the Oakland Museum, the Sonoma Mission Museum and to San Francisco (to take Daniel Bacon's famed Barbary Coast tour!). We are also going to do more with science, starting off with a study of magnetism and electricity and two fall field trips to the Academy of the Sciences and the Exploratorium. Hands-on learning rocks!

It's great to have so many students continuing on with me from third grade. We have formed a cohesive unit which is including new members nicely and sharing the positive, productive norms of our class (which allow us to get our work done efficiently and leave time for creative endeavors!).

2011-2012 is going to be our best school year ever!

See you all soon,

J Flanagan