Field Trips

Tuesday Feb 2nd 9 – 3

Precita Eyes Mural Tour & Mission Dolores

 

Special Fourth Grade Event

Fourth Grade Assembly Friday Feb. 2nd : A Historical Pageant for African American History Month

Special Events

January

  1. ★Monday, January 4                            School resumes

  2. ★Wednesday, January  6                     Parents Education Event - “Navigating your Child’s Social World “- 6:30 Library

  3. ★Friday, January   15                           Minimum Day - Noon CLOSING

  4. ★Monday, January  18                         Martin Luther King Jr. Day - school CLOSED

  5. ★Thursday, January 22                        Diversity Committee Meeting - 7:00 to 9:00 Library

  6. ★Friday, January 22                             Fun Hair Day - all day

  7. ★Thursday, January 28                        State of School meeting - 7:00 to 9:00 Library

Current themes and supporting websites . . .

Native Californians & European Settlement


This month begins our study of the Mission Period in California. We will read Never Turn Back: Father Serra's Mission by Jim Rawls. This biography of Father Serra shows how he came to the New World and started the first mission in present-day California, at San Diego. The book presents a fair look at Father Serra as a man who achieved personal goals in the face of hardship, but also as a man who caused a great deal of destruction. As the epilogue puts it, he was a man who had "sympathy, but not understanding." Over the next couple months, we will also discuss how the missions functioned as self-contained economic units and how they led to the establishment of many of California's urban environments. We will begin reading non-fiction resources about each of the missions in preparation for a research report.


Information about Junipero Serra:


  1. ★From the PBS series "The West", a biography and discussion of his impact on California.



  1. ★Junipero Serra was and is a controversial figure. Here is a biography and discussion of his life from a religious point of view.



  1. ★This website, The California Missions Resource Center, has timelines, maps, a picture gallery, even music. Everything you would like to know about the 21 missions of California.



  1. ★Here's a fun activity we do with Menna Stern in the Computer Lab: Check out the Virtual Mission Tour!



Book Report #2 Assignment


  2. Please choose a book for your next book report. The book may be of any genre of your choice. It should be between 100 – 300 pages. Please choose the book by Tuesday, January 12th. Please see me if you need help choosing a book.


  4. The Projects will be handed out on Wednesday, January, 13th. There is a change to this assignment: students must summarize each chapter of the book and turn in those summaries with their projects. The projects will again be available on the class homepage. Students should choose a different project from their first one.


  6. The final due date for the book report, summaries and project, is February 12th. There will be some in-class book report work times but the summaries will be for homework as well.


Here are some links with recommended reading for Fourth Graders:


  1. ★Weber County Library

  2. ★Birchwood Media Center

  3. ★Fourth Grade Reading List PDF download


Please check with Ms. McNulty as well for books that would be available in the BPC library.


 

More suggested reading:


  1. ★Zia by Scott O'Dell

  2. ★Pasquala, Girl of the Missions by Gail Faber and Michele Lasagna

  3. ★The Stowaway by Kristiana Gregory


Unfortunately, there are very few good fiction books set in California during the Mission Period.


The Spanish were not the only ones to visit California. Here are websites about Francis Drake, pirate and explorer.

  1. ★CA State Parks, Tomales Bay

  2. ★Mariner's Museum, Francis Drake

  3. ★National Geographic recommendations for books about pirates


Suggested Family Excursions:


Visit any of the Missions in the Area:


  1. ★San Rafael

  2. ★San Jose (this is actually in Fremont!)

  3. ★Santa Clara

  4. ★Sonoma

  5. ★San Juan Bautista

  6. ★Santa Cruz

  7. ★Carmel