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