Newsletter

September 3, 2017

Hi,

I hope that you are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend and that you are enjoying time relaxing with your family and friends.

Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our Open House on Thursday, Aug. 31. It was nice to see so many of you. Let us know if you have any questions.

Parent Information Night 2017-2018 Slide Show-see below

We worked hard last week on writing poems about ourselves, getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. We did lots of reading in our independent books and writing entries in our beautifully decorated writer's notebooks. Your children are working hard and showing excitement and stamina in their reading and writing. I am impressed!

Read about our week:

• Reading-We will read and analyze fiction which will include realistic fiction and fantasy. Story elements, theme, and character changes will be our focus. I will also work on individual reading assessments with the children to test their fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. We will write about our reading by writing response letters as well.
• Writing-The gathering and writing of a variety of entries will continue. Then personal narratives will be planned, drafted, and revised this week. Our goal is to paint a picture in our reader's mind using our words. We want the readers to experience the events in our personal narratives as they read. We will do this by focusing on specific details especially in the most important part of the story and writing like a storyteller instead of summarizing the story. We will read mentor texts to get ideas for topics as well as style of writing.
• Spelling-We took a spelling inventory to figure out our strengths and challenges with words. We will have our first spelling test on Friday, September 8. Each child will receive their individual spelling list on Tuesday in their agenda. This week, we will practice using the homophones their, there, they're and it's, its correctly and will have five more words based on the results of our inventory.
• Grammar-Complete sentences with a subject and predicate is our topic for this week. We will continue to examine nouns and verbs as well.
• Social Studies-We are continuing our study of maps and the regions of Texas. We will have an assessment next week and a study guide will be sent home by Thursday.

Dates to Remember:

• Monday, September 4-No school-Labor Day
• Tuesday, September 5-Reading Logs due-Your child should read everyday and have at least 120 minutes by Friday. 60 minutes is due for the weekend.
• Tuesday, September 5, 2017-Interest Meeting for Choir-email me or send a note if your child is attending-Be sure to include how he/she will get home.
• Tuesday, September 5-Walk and Bike to School Day
• Friday, September 8-Grandparents' Day. Our lunch time is at 11:25.

Have a wonderful weekend and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your child with me.

Sincerely,

Pam Bartholomew

Decorated Writer's Notebooks due on Tuesday

Hi,

I hope that you were able to stay dry over the weekend and that your friends and family around Texas are safe.

Because of the 2 Hour Delay, our day was a little mixed up.  The kids did an amazing job being flexible and working hard.  

Decorated Writer's Notebooks are due tomorrow (8/29).  The decorations should include:

            First name on the front

            Photos, drawings, stickers, etc.. of important people to student

            Photos, drawings, stickers, etc.. of important places to student

            Photos, drawings, stickers, etc.. of important things to student

RRISD has a motto this year that is "We are ONE Family".  We will include photos of the students' families, my family, our classroom family, our school family, etc.. They will be hung on the wall, so they may get lost or accidentally ruined, so please send us copies, not originals.  Thank you in advance!

Tomorrow, the students will receive a paper to fill out with your help.  It is about cultural awareness and family traditions.  We will use the information to display countries that our ancestors are from as well as to use later in the year for poetry, writing, and social studies. It will also help us to get to know each other better.  Please return the paper by Wednesday, if possible, so that we can create our map/bulletin board.

Be sure that your child is reading everyday and is recording reading on his/her reading logs in the homework folder.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. 

Thanks,

Pam

Back to School Soon! Keep Reading and Writing!

Hi,

I hope everyone is enjoying a summer filled with fun adventures with friends and family as well as many learning opportunities.  Take the time each day to observe things around you.  Notice things, wonder about things, ask lots of questions, and think deeply about these observations.  Talk about them and write about them. Learn new things everyday.  Be sure to read lots of great books, draw, play games inside and out, be kind to others, help others, laugh and smile a lot, be creative and use your imagination!  Have fun and enjoy each day.

School will start soon and that fun and love of learning will continue and grow as the year begins.

I can't wait to see all my former students and wish them luck in their new learning environments, and I am excited to meet my new students and begin our fourth grade adventures!

2017-2018 is going to be great!!!!!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Bartholomew

Thank you for a wonderful year! Read and write this summer!

Hi 5th Graders and Families,

Thank you everyone for such an amazing year.  We learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

We took the 40 Book Challenge and read more than ever!  Keep reading everyday and write about your summer and your books on our Google Classrooms (reading or social studies).  Give book recommendations, tell about your summer adventures, tell us anything you'd like to share.

We wrote lots of essays, poems, fantasy stories, personal narratives, opinion/expository pieces, letters, etc... Keep writing this summer!  Write emails to me and I will happily write back to you. Write on google docs and share your writing with me.  I would love to read it!  Be observant and creative and keep writing!

We did lots of projects like the Texas Hero Project, created battle flags for Texas, explorer projects, and tribe projects.  We had fun visiting the Bob Bullock Museum. We researched Asian countries and customs, and we read traditional tales from Asia. We made projects, plays, and art using information learned about an Asian country. Create things this summer.  Research and learn about something that is interesting to you and share your new knowledge with others.

We helped lots of people this year.  We enjoyed time with our mentors and wrote letters and a book for them.  We collected toys for kids at Dell Children's Hospital and raised awareness of OMS.  We collected money and books for Libraries of Love and organized the Walk to Read Event.  We wrote from the point of view of a child receiving a library and books from Libraries of Love. We researched and learned about Africa and schools around the world and completed iMovie trailers, slide shows, and posters to share what we learned and we even met Trudy Marshall, who created over 36 libraries in Africa.  We raised money and had fun in our Kids Kicking Hunger Kickball Tournament and collected almost 400 flip flops for Honduras.  We also wrote letters using Google Translate to some of the children at Copprome Children's home in Honduras.  Find ways to help others this summer.   Give and share your talents and time with others in need.

Go to iStation and do some reading work on the computer to keep your skills sharp.

Keep reading this summer.  We read aloud Stone Fox, I Survived the Attacks of 911, most of Nightmares, and Number the Stars.  We read in book club groups and discussed books together. Talk to your friends and family about books, characters, themes, etc... Read fiction, non-fiction, poems, magazines, etc... Participate in a reading program. Have fun and travel to new times and places with your books.

Have a wonderful summer.  Enjoy each day.  Spend time with your family playing games and talking together. Learn something new everyday and use your imagination.  I will miss seeing you everyday, but look forward to hearing about your summer on Google Classroom and on my emails.

See you next year, 5th Graders!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Bartholomew

Newsletter

Hi,

I can't believe we only have three days left of fourth grade!  We will have some fun, but will continue learning.  

Teacher Appreciation Week:  Teacher Appreciation Week was amazing and you all went above and beyond to make me feel so special. Thank you for the flowers, notes, gift cards, candy, presents, and especially the notes.  I love working with your children and I appreciate all of your support.  Thank you everyone.  It has been a wonderful year!

End of the Year Party-Our end of the year party will be on June 1, 2017 at 9:15 am-10:15 am.  We will have brunch/breakfast type snacks and have some fun activities.  We will do autographs in the afternoon on Wednesday. It will be a great wrap up to a wonderful year of learning together.  Thank you to everyone who signed up to help or donate.  It is going to be a great party!  Here is the sign up genius: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b054ea4a923aa8-endofyear

Thank you, Mrs. Alexander: Thank you to our homeroom mom, Mrs. Alexander, for your help with this party as well as all of our homeroom needs this year.  Thank you for organizing the Teacher Appreciation Week activities. The carnival basket was wonderful and the parties have been so much fun!   Thank you for all your hard work.

Autograph Signing on Wednesday-Bring in your yearbooks.  If you don't have a yearbook, don't worry.  We will provide paper autographs books to anyone who needs one or who doesn't want to write in his/her yearbook.

40 Book Challenge-We are wrapping up our 40 Book Challenge.  Lillian, Jaida, Gage, and Divya have passed the 40 Book Mark!  Many students are very close.  Continue to read and turn in notecards!  We will have a celebration on Wednesday during lunch for everyone who read an award winning book in April or May and will have a special celebration for everyone who read 40 Books!  I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this year and tried some new genres.  Even if you didn't read 40 books, hopefully everyone read a few more than they may have in the past and found some new favorites.  Keep reading all summer.  I will set up a chat in our Google Classroom, so that everyone can share and comment on great books that they read during the break.  Happy Reading!

Read about our week:

Reading and Writing-We are working on the 40 Book Challenge and sharing our favorite books with each other. A video of the book, Tuesday, was enjoyed and then we wrote our own stories inspired by the  We will continue to read and discuss Chris Van Allsburg's books and will write creative stories based on some of Chris Van Allsburg's illustrations.  On Tuesday, we will watch the movie based on the book, Watson's Go to Birmingham.  Many of the students read this book and we will use it to continue to talk about acceptance and understanding others. 

Social Studies-We will continue to learn about the Republic of Texas.  We will also use Google Translate to continue to write letters in Spanish and English to children in an orphanage in Honduras.  

FYI-Your child will bring home a white grammar book this week.  In class we use mentor sentences from books that we've read to teach grammar in an authentic way, so we don't use this book very often.  Your child will enjoy using this book this summer to practice many of the skills taught this year.  

Dates to remember:

Monday, May 29-No school-Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 31-Reading Challenge Lunch Treat-Award Winning Book and Students who met the 40 Challenge Goal-Autograph signing at 1:00 pm

Thursday, June 1-Last Day of School- End of the year party 9:15 am-10:15 am, Report cards will be in Thursday Folders

Thank you for a wonderful year!  Read everyday all summer! Work on Think Through Math and Istation.  Practice reading, writing, and math in different ways and keep talking to others about your learning and your questions.Thank you for sharing your child with me.  Let me know if you have any concerns.

Sincerely,

Pam

Newsletter

Hi,

We had a busy, but great week!  

Field Day was today and it was so much fun.  The water relays are always fun!  The new Star Wars water game was exciting!  The slides and all the other relays are also amazing.  The tug of war is great for many and frustrating at the same time.  The class played hard and are probably exhausted.  Thanks to all of our volunteers and helpers.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Mentor Meeting on Tuesday-We had our last mentor meeting of the year on Tuesday.  We gave them each a copy of the book written by the students and played lots of fun games together.  The mentors live at The Court in Round Rock Assistive Living Center.  If you want to write to them or go visit, just give a call and let them know and stop by. Randi is the activities director there and she can set a visit up for you.  Address: 2700 Sunrise Rd, Round Rock, TX 78665 Phone: (512) 640-5053 I am sure that they would love to see you.  

Skyping with students in Africa-We attempted to skype with Trudy Marshall in Africa. Trudy Marshall is the founder of Libraries of Love and we collected books and money for them in January.  Our plan was to skype with some students in Uganda and we created lots of questions to ask them.  Technology was not cooperative and we are hoping to try again.  We loved learning about Africa and Libraries of Love would love to extend that with personal contact with some of the students.

Texas Hero Projects-The kids worked hard on their Texas Hero Projects and did a great job presenting.  Researching can be challenging and writing information without just copying it can be tricky.  Bibliographies are another area to continue to work on.  The kids had a lot of fun using Quizletlive.com to practice facts about the heroes and did well on our Texas Heroes test!  Overall, we learned about lots of interesting figures in Texas History and will continue to study more about Texas in the next few weeks.

End of the Year Party-Our end of the year party will be on June 1, 2017 at 9:15 am-10:15 am.  We will have brunch/breakfast type snacks and have some fun activities.  We will do autographs in the afternoon.  It will be a great wrap up to a wonderful year of learning together.  Look for a sign up genius soon.

40 Book Challenge-We are wrapping up our 40 Book Challenge.  Lillian, Jaida, Gage, and Divya have passed the 40 Book Mark!  Many students are very close.  Continue to read and turn in notecards!  We will have a celebration on Wednesday during lunch for everyone who read an award winning book in April or May and will have a special celebration for everyone who read 40 Books!  I hope that everyone enjoyed reading this year and tried some new genres.  Even if you didn't read 40 books, hopefully everyone read a few more than they may have in the past and found some new favorites.  Keep reading all summer.  I will set up a chat in our Google Classroom, so that everyone can share and comment on great books that they read during the break.  Happy Reading!

Student-led Conferences- Thank you to everyone who attended conferences.  

Read about our week:

Reading-We are working on the 40 Book Challenge and sharing our favorite books with each other.  We also did an interactive read aloud with Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, which is a picture book about Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt.  We will read and discuss Chris Van Allsburg's books next week.

Writing-We enjoyed writing some fantasy stories and wrote a personal narrative this week for our DCA.  We will work on some persuasive pieces next week.

Social Studies-We will continue to learn about the Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas.  We will also use Google Translate to write letters in Spanish and English to children in an orphanage in Honduras.  

Dates to remember:

Monday, May 22-Wear College Shirts, Last Writing Club of the year from 2:50-3:50, Spelling Test

Thursday, May 25-Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast-7:30, PTA General Meeting at 8:00

Friday, May 26- Be sure to turn in completed reading logs. Wear FCE shirts or purple or green

Monday, May 29-No school-Memorial Day

Wednesday, May 31-Reading Challenge Lunch Treat-Award Winning Book and Students who met the 40 Challenge Goal

Thursday, June 1-Last Day of School- End of the year party 9:15 am-10:15 am

Thank you for sharing your child with me.  Let me know if you have any concerns.

Sincerely,

Pam

Newsletter

Hi,

We had a great week.  Our field trip to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum was a success, even though we had some bus issues early on.  The students did a great job being patient while waiting for the extra bus and then did an amazing job learning about Texas.  One of the highlights was the 4D Star of Destiny Movie.  Ask your child about the snake bites. Thank you to all of our chaperones also.  The chaperones definitely helped make our trip go smoothly.

STAAR Testing this week:  The third and fourth grade students will take the math test on Monday and the reading test on Tuesday. Fifth grade students will take the science test on Wednesday and make-ups will be on Thursday and possibly Friday.  Visitors will not be allowed on campus during testing.  Free breakfast will be served on testing days.  

Thank you for encouraging your children to do their best during the tests. Remind them to reread the questions, reread the passages, prove answers, and think carefully. Taking notes, underlining, highlighting, and drawing pictures can help understanding. Taking breaks is important.  They can put their head down, go to the bathroom, or have a healthy snack  to help them refocus and re-energize to keep working hard.  Be sure that the students go to bed early and are prepared to put forth their best effort and show what they know.  They are going to do well.

Parent Teacher Student Conferences-You will receive a sign up genius soon for conferences.  Your child will lead the conference and will discuss his/her progress this year.

Kickball Tournament on Sunday, May 7 at Gattis Elementary at 12:00.  Don't forget to bring a canned food item for the Round Rock Serving Center.  Remember your donation for registration will go to help children in Honduras.

Flip Flop Drive-The FCE Service Club is leading a Flip Flop Drive for people in Honduras.  My daughter, Emma, and I will travel to Honduras in August to deliver the flip flops and help the children in the Copprome Children's Home and the surrounding villages.  We are very excited to go, but we need your help.  Please donate flip flops. All sizes are needed.  Our goal is to collect 300 pairs of flip flops.  Thank you in advance for your donations.

Dates to Remember:

Sunday, May 7-Kids Kicking Out Hunger Kickball Tournament 12-4pm at Gattis Elementary School

Monday, May 8-STAAR Testing-4th grade Math-No Writing Club

Tuesday, May 9-STAAR Testing-4th grade Reading

Wednesday, May 10-Parent Teacher Student Conferences begin-See Sign up soon.

Thursday, May 11-Rising Star Night-6:00 pm

Friday, May 12-No Reading Response Letters Due, No SpellingTest, Be sure to turn in completed reading logs. Wear FCE shirts or purple or green

Monday, May 15-Wear College Shirts, Last Service Club of the year from 2:50-3:50

Tuesday, May 16-Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Wednesday, May 17-Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Friday, May 19-Reading Response Letters Due, SpellingTest, Be sure to turn in completed reading logs. Wear FCE shirts or purple or green-Field Day 4th Grade-12:30-2:30

Monday, May 22-Wear College Shirts, Last Writing Club of the year from 2:50-3:50

Thursday, May 25-Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast-7:30, PTA General Meeting at 8:00

Friday, May 26-Reading Response Letters Due, SpellingTest, Be sure to turn in completed reading logs. Wear FCE shirts or purple or green

Monday, May 29-No school-Memorial Day

Thursday, June 1-Last Day of School- End of the year party TBA

Thank you for sharing your child with me.  Let me know if you have any concerns.

Sincerely,

Pam