Thal

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Elementary School
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Adams
Elementary School
2701 Las Positas Rd
Santa Barbara, CA, 93105
(805) 563-2515

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M. Alvarez
alvarez_mr@yahoo.com

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Ms. Thal's Web Page

Dear Students and Parents,

Welcome to the Fourth Grade! My name is Ms. Lauren Thal, and I will be teaching in room 8. I am a Philadelphia native, and earned my bachelor's and master's degrees in education at Temple University. This is my fifth year at Adams. Elementary School. However, this is my third year in fourth grade and my first time teaching GATE Language Arts. I have been living in Santa Barbara for the past seven years. I am very anxious to start a fabulous year.

Now, what you are probably wondering about the most…… What type of teacher am I? And, what can you expect in Fourth Grade? To answer the first question, I would have to say that I am fair. You can expect to be treated with kindness and respect. I believe that each day is a new day and you always have the chance to right a wrong. In return, I expect that you too will treat others with the same kindness and respect that you are shown.

Fourth grade is a wonderful grade!!! We will be learning many new and exciting things. We will study California history and ultimately publish a book on our findings. We will read new exciting books, coupled with the Open Court Anthology. Our goal is to become great readers. Back to School Night will be held on Wednesday, September 22nd, and I hope you will be able to attend. At that time I will go over the fourth grade standards and expectations. My expectations for conduct and content standards are high, and I will challenge my students' everyday. I plan to follow the state standards very closely.

I am looking forward to spending this year with you - exploring new places, reading new books, reaching new heights. I know that this year will be a fantastic year and class.

Sincerely,
Ms. Thal

Dear GATE Parents,
In my GATE class, we are reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. We should be finished the book in about two more weeks. I am reading Esperanza Rising as a read aloud. It is an exciting book about a Mexican family immigrating to the U.S. during the depression. We have been studying Japanese culture and will end the unit with a visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The artist we will study this month is Edvard Munch. Did you know his painting "The Scream" was recently stolen? We will start our California book by creating our cover with California State symbols. Our focus on Friday's will be Social Studies and writing our book. We have also created a book club. Each month the students are required to attend a book club meeting. Students will enjoy snacks while sharing information about their book. This is really fun and a great way to get kids talking about what they are reading. October is a wonderful time to get kids to write descriptive scary stories for Halloween. We will do this at the end of the month and use all five of our senses to paint a picture with words.