Bartholomew Bats!


Our school is located in Round Rock, Texas which is near Austin. Austin and Round Rock both have huge populations of Mexican Free Tailed Bats that live under our bridges. A colony of bats lives beneath the Ann Richards/Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and in Round Rock, another colony resides under the Interstate 35 bridge over McNeil Road. Each evening from March to about October, the bats fly out from beneath the bridge and search for insects to eat. The emergence of the bats is a wonder to watch. We are also thankful that all these millions of bats eat the bugs by our homes.

Our class mascot is the Bat to honor the mammals that live so close to us and help us. (also because Bat and Bartholomew both start with the letter B!) The bats in Central Texas live together in a group and help take care of the young. Then they migrate together as a team. Our class will also live together in our classroom, work together as a team, and help each other out. We are the Bartholomew Bats!





Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Science test on Tuesday, April 5

Hi,

I attached the study guide for next Tuesday's science test. We haven't covered all of the topics yet but I wanted you to have enough time to go over the material with your child. I pasted some websites on the study guide so eventhough your child will receive a hard copy tomorrow, you may want to use this attached version so that you can get to the websites easily.

We are finishing up our published books! Every child will receive a free hard cover copy of their book. If you would like to order another copy, you need to fill out the form and send it in by Friday. If you didn't turn in a form yet (you need to check that you don't want another copy and sign it) then please do so by Friday.

I also attached a flyer about a service project that one of our staff's high schooler is doing. She is collected gently used coloring books, etc... for children at Dell's Children's Hospital. These items are due on Friday.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a great day!!!!


Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew

Friday, March 25, 2011

Newsletter March 25, 2011

Hi,

We had a talkative but productive week. Spring fever may have hit a few kids a little early. We have a wonderful class but many like to socialize A LOT. We will be having fun in the weeks to come but do still have a lot of work to do for the end of fourth grade. I will give them time to chat but we need to keep working and learning as well.

Our pen pal visit went very well today! We were able to glaze bowls together for the Empty Bowl Project. Reminder-The Empty Bowl project will be on Saturday, April 2 from 11-3 at the First United Methodist Church on Mays St. The Empty Bowl Project will benefit the Round Rock Area Serving Center. We will be having another pen pal visit at our school on Friday, April 8. We will be doing something in the computer lab with them. Many of our pen pals commented to me today about how much they love meeting with your children. They look forward to our visits very much and love interacting with them. You are welcome to join us.

We also visited with our 1st grade reading buddies today and helped them research frogs. Then we read together. Mrs. Garcia told me that her students told their Junior Achievement Teacher who much our class helps them with their reading and how much they appreciate us.

We talked a little today about how much of a positive impact they are having on others (young and old) by working together, being kind and helpful, and basically being themselves. It was nice to hear such positive comments about our class today! You should be proud of your child!

Reading-We discussed media literacy this week and played lots of games to see how producers and advertisers try to persuade us. We also learned that even when reading non-fiction we have to be aware of the author's point of view because the author decides what facts to put in or leave out based on what he/she thinks is important. Someone who loved sharks would write an article with a different feeling and possibly different information than someone who was terrifed of sharks.

Writing-We worked on our published books. A few of us are finished with the writing and illustrating of their books! They go to the publisher soon, so we will be finishing them up this week. We will also do some poetry.

Math-Measurement is still our topic. We will continue to think about appropriate units to use when measuring and solve some problems dealing with measurement. We will also continue to work on area, perimeter, and volume. Transformations (reflections, rotations, and translations) will be coming our way this week as well.

Science-We learned about weather this week and took our test today. (They did well) We will be talking about the sun and moon next week.

We are taking a released math TAKS test on Tuesday and a released reading TAKS test on Wednesday. This will give us information about specific skills that our students are mastering and which ones still need some review.

Thank you for sharing your child with me.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew

Monday, March 21, 2011

Great Day!

Hi,

We had a wonderful first day of the fourth marking period in fourth grade! We played a game using a balloon, teamwork, and focus to remind us that we need to continue to work hard, work together, and pay attention to our goals so that we can continue to learn everyday from now until the end of the school year and for the rest of our lives.

Everyone was excited to see each other and we talked a lot but worked hard as well.

We are working on measurement in math. Talk to your child about measuring at home whenever possible. Practicing measuring in real-life situations helps in many ways. We have created this chart and refer to it to help us as we measure in class.

Units Tools Types
Inches, feet, miles, Ruler, yard stick, meter stick LENGTH
yards, meters, centimeters, odometer, tape measure, pedometer
kilometers, millimeters


Pounds, ton, ounces, gram, Triple beam balance, scale, WEIGHT or MASS
kilogram, metric ton pan balance



Liter, milliliter, pint, Eye dropper/pipette, CAPACITY/VOLUME
fluid ounces, gallon, quart, graduated cylinder,cup
measuring cups


months, days, weeks, Stop watch, clocks, calendar TIME

minutes, hour, seconds,
years

Fahrenheit, Celsius Thermometer TEMPERATURE


We will be having a science test on Friday. It will be on weather and study guides came home before spring break. Try to watch weather reports on the news this week and discuss some of the terms used.

The students brought home a TV Diary today. They need to record at least one show that they watch and rate it. They also should be describing some commercials. A peper with questions about commercials will be coming home tomorrow. We will be using a PBS website to discuss media literacy and reading information critically.

Our pen pals are coming to school on Friday to glaze their bowls for the Empty Bowl project on April 2. Feel free to come and visit with our wonderful pen pals.

Rising Star Entries are due on April 1. Artwork, poetry, and narratives can be submitted. Three pieces from each category will be selected by each grade level. We will be having a Rising Star Night in May. Encourage your student to submit some of their great pieces.

Writing Club-on Thursday afterschool in the library!

Have a great week and I'm glad that everyone had a nice spring break.

Sincerely,
Pam

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Reminders-Cereal Box Biography due Wednesday, Early Release on Wednesday, SS test on Friday, then Spring Break

Hi,

Our cereal box biographies are due tomorrow. The websites that we used in class are on our webpage under the reading/writing links section. There is also a website that helps with making bibliographies called citation maker.

The project can be typed but doesn't have to be typed. Neatly handwritten is completely fine.

Three sources should have been used to find information. If you need to find a library book that your child used, you can find the bibliographical information can be found on I-Bistro which is the online catalog for our library. Look on the library webpage.

Because the each person in class researched one of four people, we will be breaking into small groups and sharing projects. We will rotate groups at least two times. We will try to start tomorrow but due to early release and a reading benchmark, we may not get many done.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Happy Texas Independence Day!!!!!

Hi,

Happy Texas Independence Day! Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In Social Studies we are learning about The Republic of Texas and Statehood. We will be having a test on this material on Friday, March 11. Look for papers about these topics coming home to use to study. I will send a study guide home this Friday.

We have been researching at school for our cereal box biography projects. Many of the students are taking great notes looking in books, at websites that I bookmarked, and even using some info. from Brainpop.com. We will continue researching in school on Thursday and Friday. They need to have information from at least three sources. Most of the students will finish their research at school and many have already begun working on their timelines, summaries, etc... for their finished cereal box project. After Friday, we will not be using school time to work on this project. They are due on Wed. March 9. Each student will be presenting their project to the class.

We are beginning to work on our individual published books. The children are creating anthologies using their writing from this year. They will be sent to the publisher and created into hard bound books. Thursday folders will have order forms if you would like to order extra copies of your child's book. The pages that he/she makes in school will be bound into a FREE book for you but you are welcome to order extra copies as well. Please return the form, signed whether you want to purchase a copy or not. Remember each child will receive one FREE copy.

Dates to remember:
Saturday, March 5-Explore UT in Austin-http://www.utexas.edu/features/2011/02/28/explore_ut2011/

Wednesday, March 9-Cereal Box Biographies are due-Early Release Day

Friday, March 11-Hoe Down for k-2, Cookout at lunch time (not eating outdoors), SS test on The Republic of Texas and Statehood, Beginning of Spring Break

Friday, March 25-Pen Pals coming to Forest Creek to glaze our bowls for the Empty Bowl Project

Saturday, April 2-Empty Bowl Project

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew