Hi,
We had a fun-filled day today. We planted vegetables, herbs, and flowers in our garden box by the parking lot. We shared our extremely creative Earth Day creations. We played a math review game using plastic eggs. We did another fun reading activity in our Amazing Race! Then we also did a few practice things for math and reading. It was a great day.
Reading: This week we reviewed reading skills using our Amazing Race activities. We have one more activity on Monday. Then we will continue to read and discuss our book club books.
Writing: We have been working on persuasive letters and finishing up our poems.
Math: We have been reviewing using practice problems as well as games.
Social Studies: We learned about the effects of cattle, railroads, and oil on Texas.
Next week: We will be taking the TAKS math test on Tuesday and the TAKS reading test on Wednesday. Be sure that your child gets enough sleep and eats a good breakfast. Breakfast at school is free next week!
Our will be doing Broadcast for the next few weeks and recycling until the end of the school year.
Look for progress reports in Thursday folders today. We will be continuing to work hard and have many opportunities for grades to improve. Thank you for encouraging your child to do his/her best each day.
We will be having group conferences this spring. More information will be coming soon. This will be a time for your child to show off all the wonderful work that he/she did this year.
Thank you for sharing your children with me. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
No school tomorrow. Be safe and enjoy time with your family.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Great Day at the Museum!!!!
Hi,
We had a wonderful time at the Bob Bullock Museum today. Thank you to all the parents who came and chaperoned groups. The children seemed to have a lot of fun and hopefully learned some things as well. They were very well behaved! Ask them about the movie in the Star of Destiny theater. Ask them also about the primary sources that they saw. They should have A LOT to talk about.
Reading: Next week in reading we will be practicing skills by doing an AMAZING RACE! They will have activities to complete and then earn "money" based on how they did. At the end the person with the most money wins! They will be practicing using context clues, inferencing, determining important information from interesting details, writing summaries, and determining point of view. It will be fun! We will do an activity a day this week and next Monday. We also will be reading and responding to some books about natural disasters. We are beginning some new book club groups as well.
Writing: We are continuing to work on our persuasive letters.
Math: We will be continuing to review and do problem solving.
Social Studies: We will be learning about Texas heroes and settling in the west.
Monday, April 18-Service Club Meeting after school
Monday, April 18-Thursday, April 21-Earth Week!!!!
Thursday, April 21-Writing Club after school
Friday, April 22-No School
Pen Pal Field Trip on May 2.
Science Day on May 6.
Rising Star Night on May 10
Earth Week Activities
· MONDAY 4/18- No Trash Lunch Day. On average, during one day of lunch for all grades, our students fill 15-16 large gray trash containers! That’s 75 trash bags in just 1 week! That’s a lot of trash….let’s see which classroom can create the least amount of lunchtime trash today! The top 2 classrooms in each grade will win Go Green prizes!
· TUESDAY 4/19- 3R’s (REDUSE, REUSE, RECYCLE) Day -Bring an item to school that Forest Creek currently recycles, place into appropriate bin, and keep it out of the earth’s landfills! (juice pouch, plastic water bottle, ink cartridge, cell phone, alkaline battery, aluminum can). Look for earth friendly Forest Creek reusable water bottles for sale this week!
· WEDNESDAY 4/20- Go Green…Got Plants? – Plant Sale today… .50cents per plant, receive small informative flyer on importance of plants/trees in our world. And, be sure to check out the gardens outside of Forest Creek!
· THURSDAY 4/21 Make that change day. Wear Green! How will YOU be better to the EARTH? Pass it on to a friend. (Fill out the small Green card located in envelope on the Go Green bulletin board and post it onto the bulletin board! -HOW WILL I HELP THE EARTH?)
· FRIDAY 4/22 (Holiday) EARTH DAY Turn It Off day –Try conserving electricity, water, and reducing carbon emissions around your house (turn off water while brushing your teeth, turn off your computer, room lights, fans, walk don’t drive!)
Have a great week! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful time at the Bob Bullock Museum today. Thank you to all the parents who came and chaperoned groups. The children seemed to have a lot of fun and hopefully learned some things as well. They were very well behaved! Ask them about the movie in the Star of Destiny theater. Ask them also about the primary sources that they saw. They should have A LOT to talk about.
Reading: Next week in reading we will be practicing skills by doing an AMAZING RACE! They will have activities to complete and then earn "money" based on how they did. At the end the person with the most money wins! They will be practicing using context clues, inferencing, determining important information from interesting details, writing summaries, and determining point of view. It will be fun! We will do an activity a day this week and next Monday. We also will be reading and responding to some books about natural disasters. We are beginning some new book club groups as well.
Writing: We are continuing to work on our persuasive letters.
Math: We will be continuing to review and do problem solving.
Social Studies: We will be learning about Texas heroes and settling in the west.
Monday, April 18-Service Club Meeting after school
Monday, April 18-Thursday, April 21-Earth Week!!!!
Thursday, April 21-Writing Club after school
Friday, April 22-No School
Pen Pal Field Trip on May 2.
Science Day on May 6.
Rising Star Night on May 10
Earth Week Activities
· MONDAY 4/18- No Trash Lunch Day. On average, during one day of lunch for all grades, our students fill 15-16 large gray trash containers! That’s 75 trash bags in just 1 week! That’s a lot of trash….let’s see which classroom can create the least amount of lunchtime trash today! The top 2 classrooms in each grade will win Go Green prizes!
· TUESDAY 4/19- 3R’s (REDUSE, REUSE, RECYCLE) Day -Bring an item to school that Forest Creek currently recycles, place into appropriate bin, and keep it out of the earth’s landfills! (juice pouch, plastic water bottle, ink cartridge, cell phone, alkaline battery, aluminum can). Look for earth friendly Forest Creek reusable water bottles for sale this week!
· WEDNESDAY 4/20- Go Green…Got Plants? – Plant Sale today… .50cents per plant, receive small informative flyer on importance of plants/trees in our world. And, be sure to check out the gardens outside of Forest Creek!
· THURSDAY 4/21 Make that change day. Wear Green! How will YOU be better to the EARTH? Pass it on to a friend. (Fill out the small Green card located in envelope on the Go Green bulletin board and post it onto the bulletin board! -HOW WILL I HELP THE EARTH?)
· FRIDAY 4/22 (Holiday) EARTH DAY Turn It Off day –Try conserving electricity, water, and reducing carbon emissions around your house (turn off water while brushing your teeth, turn off your computer, room lights, fans, walk don’t drive!)
Have a great week! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Newsletter-Field trip on Friday
Hi,
We had another wonderful but busy week. Our pen pal visit on Friday was fun. We took them to our computer lab and wrote posts on our blog. Check them out! We also worked on a webquest about Antarctica. We read some books about Antarctica in reading class this week and learned even more using this cool site. Best of all, on Friday, we were able to explore with Proscopes which are very powerful microscopes that plug into a computer. We tried to look at ladybugs (they were very quick and active). We looked at our hair, skin, clothing, tissues, freckles, etc... up close! Very, very cool!!!!
We are going to visit our pen pals on Monday, May 2. We always look forward to seeing them again.
Friday was also an assembly during which we were entertained by a wonderful Jazz Band. Ask your child about it!
Reading: We read at least two books on the same topic, talked about them, and compared them. We used a lot of higher level thinking skills as we read and responded and worked on building up our reading stamina while reading non-fiction. We read about Antarctica and about the Depression. We will be continuing with this format this coming week and reading about zoos and about social situations. (getting along with others, new friends, etc...)
Writing: We finished our published books and they are being mailed on Tuesday. We also wrote interesting poems modeled after poems that we read. This week we will be learning about persuasive writing and will be writing a persuasive letter. I wonder if they will be able to convince YOU to do something after you read their letter!
Math: We have been reviewing lots of concepts like measurement, time, temperature, decimals, and place value. We had math words as vocabulary words last week and will continue to discuss math vocabulary. We will continue to play math games this week and review more with temperature, geometry, multiplication, and division.
Science and SS-We finished up learning about the moon, sun, and Earth's patterns and began some social studies. We will continue social studies this week and will have our field trip on Friday!
Rising Star- Everyone submitted either a poem or a story or both to be considered for publication in Rising Star. I was impressed that we had three of our pieces chosen for fourth grade! Congratulations to Mallory (wind poem), Jody (solo story), and Aaliyah (Mom's Closet story)! Our class is filled with awesome writers and poets. I'm so glad that three of them will be recognized in Rising Star!!!!!!
Field Trip on Friday, April 15-Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum-We are looking forward to a great day at the museum on Friday. Your child should try to wear a Forest Creek shirt or a purple or green shirt. (if possible) They will need to bring a lunch with a drink unless they ordered a sack lunch from the cafeteria. We will not be going to the gift shop so no money should be brought on the trip. We are going to see the movie The Star of Destiny and will be exploring the three floors of the museum. Each floor has a different theme-1st floor=Encounters on the Land shows the people native to Texas through European explorers, early missions, and early settlers. 2nd floor-Building the Lone Star Identity deals with the fight for independence, becoming part of the United States, then seceding to join the confederacy during the civil war. This floor continues with Juneteenth and the ways in which Texas presented itself and its identity during the 1936 World's Fair; only 100 years since its independence. 3rd floor-Creating Opportunity deals with how Texas oil impacted the state and also how Texas-led explorations in space, medicine, and technology have impacted the entire world. It is going to be a great day!
Dates to Remember:
Tuesday, April 12-PTA meeting 6:30 in library
Thursday, April 14-Poem in Your Pocket Day
Friday, April 15-Field trip to Bob Bullock Museum
Monday, April 18-Service Club Meeting after school
Monday, April 18-Thursday, April 21-Earth Week!!!!
· MONDAY 4/18- No Trash Lunch Day. On average, during one day of lunch for all grades, our students fill 15-16 large gray trash containers! That’s 75 trash bags in just 1 week! That’s a lot of trash….let’s see which classroom can create the least amount of lunchtime trash today! The top 2 classrooms in each grade will win Go Green prizes!
· TUESDAY 4/19- 3R’s (REDUSE, REUSE, RECYCLE) Day -Bring an item to school that Forest Creek currently recycles, place into appropriate bin, and keep it out of the earth’s landfills! (juice pouch, plastic water bottle, ink cartridge, cell phone, alkaline battery, aluminum can). Look for earth friendly Forest Creek reusable water bottles for sale this week!
· WEDNESDAY 4/20- Go Green…Got Plants? – Plant Sale today… .50cents per plant, receive small informative flyer on importance of plants/trees in our world. And, be sure to check out the gardens outside of Forest Creek!
· THURSDAY 4/21 Make that change day. Wear Green! How will YOU be better to the EARTH? Pass it on to a friend. (Fill out the small Green card located in envelope on the Go Green bulletin board and post it onto the bulletin board! -HOW WILL I HELP THE EARTH?)
· FRIDAY 4/22 (Holiday) EARTH DAY Turn It Off day –Try conserving electricity, water, and reducing carbon emissions around your house (turn off water while brushing your teeth, turn off your computer, room lights, fans, walk don’t drive!)
Have a great week! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had another wonderful but busy week. Our pen pal visit on Friday was fun. We took them to our computer lab and wrote posts on our blog. Check them out! We also worked on a webquest about Antarctica. We read some books about Antarctica in reading class this week and learned even more using this cool site. Best of all, on Friday, we were able to explore with Proscopes which are very powerful microscopes that plug into a computer. We tried to look at ladybugs (they were very quick and active). We looked at our hair, skin, clothing, tissues, freckles, etc... up close! Very, very cool!!!!
We are going to visit our pen pals on Monday, May 2. We always look forward to seeing them again.
Friday was also an assembly during which we were entertained by a wonderful Jazz Band. Ask your child about it!
Reading: We read at least two books on the same topic, talked about them, and compared them. We used a lot of higher level thinking skills as we read and responded and worked on building up our reading stamina while reading non-fiction. We read about Antarctica and about the Depression. We will be continuing with this format this coming week and reading about zoos and about social situations. (getting along with others, new friends, etc...)
Writing: We finished our published books and they are being mailed on Tuesday. We also wrote interesting poems modeled after poems that we read. This week we will be learning about persuasive writing and will be writing a persuasive letter. I wonder if they will be able to convince YOU to do something after you read their letter!
Math: We have been reviewing lots of concepts like measurement, time, temperature, decimals, and place value. We had math words as vocabulary words last week and will continue to discuss math vocabulary. We will continue to play math games this week and review more with temperature, geometry, multiplication, and division.
Science and SS-We finished up learning about the moon, sun, and Earth's patterns and began some social studies. We will continue social studies this week and will have our field trip on Friday!
Rising Star- Everyone submitted either a poem or a story or both to be considered for publication in Rising Star. I was impressed that we had three of our pieces chosen for fourth grade! Congratulations to Mallory (wind poem), Jody (solo story), and Aaliyah (Mom's Closet story)! Our class is filled with awesome writers and poets. I'm so glad that three of them will be recognized in Rising Star!!!!!!
Field Trip on Friday, April 15-Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum-We are looking forward to a great day at the museum on Friday. Your child should try to wear a Forest Creek shirt or a purple or green shirt. (if possible) They will need to bring a lunch with a drink unless they ordered a sack lunch from the cafeteria. We will not be going to the gift shop so no money should be brought on the trip. We are going to see the movie The Star of Destiny and will be exploring the three floors of the museum. Each floor has a different theme-1st floor=Encounters on the Land shows the people native to Texas through European explorers, early missions, and early settlers. 2nd floor-Building the Lone Star Identity deals with the fight for independence, becoming part of the United States, then seceding to join the confederacy during the civil war. This floor continues with Juneteenth and the ways in which Texas presented itself and its identity during the 1936 World's Fair; only 100 years since its independence. 3rd floor-Creating Opportunity deals with how Texas oil impacted the state and also how Texas-led explorations in space, medicine, and technology have impacted the entire world. It is going to be a great day!
Dates to Remember:
Tuesday, April 12-PTA meeting 6:30 in library
Thursday, April 14-Poem in Your Pocket Day
Friday, April 15-Field trip to Bob Bullock Museum
Monday, April 18-Service Club Meeting after school
Monday, April 18-Thursday, April 21-Earth Week!!!!
· MONDAY 4/18- No Trash Lunch Day. On average, during one day of lunch for all grades, our students fill 15-16 large gray trash containers! That’s 75 trash bags in just 1 week! That’s a lot of trash….let’s see which classroom can create the least amount of lunchtime trash today! The top 2 classrooms in each grade will win Go Green prizes!
· TUESDAY 4/19- 3R’s (REDUSE, REUSE, RECYCLE) Day -Bring an item to school that Forest Creek currently recycles, place into appropriate bin, and keep it out of the earth’s landfills! (juice pouch, plastic water bottle, ink cartridge, cell phone, alkaline battery, aluminum can). Look for earth friendly Forest Creek reusable water bottles for sale this week!
· WEDNESDAY 4/20- Go Green…Got Plants? – Plant Sale today… .50cents per plant, receive small informative flyer on importance of plants/trees in our world. And, be sure to check out the gardens outside of Forest Creek!
· THURSDAY 4/21 Make that change day. Wear Green! How will YOU be better to the EARTH? Pass it on to a friend. (Fill out the small Green card located in envelope on the Go Green bulletin board and post it onto the bulletin board! -HOW WILL I HELP THE EARTH?)
· FRIDAY 4/22 (Holiday) EARTH DAY Turn It Off day –Try conserving electricity, water, and reducing carbon emissions around your house (turn off water while brushing your teeth, turn off your computer, room lights, fans, walk don’t drive!)
Have a great week! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, April 8, 2011
Pen Pal Visit
Write about our pen pal visits. What do you like best about having pen pals? What things have we done together that you liked best? Why do you think having pen pals is important?
Write about our pen pals and comment on posts written by others.
Write about our pen pals and comment on posts written by others.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Newsletter
Hi,
We had a great week. We worked hard on our released reading and math TAKS and the children did well. Now I know what skills we need to target and in what areas we can do some extension activities.
We have some awesome mathematicians in our classroom. I got an email about a Trimathlon Competition in Round Rock on May 14. It is free and sounds fun. I think A LOT of students in our class would do great in this competition. Let me know if you are interested and/or visit this site for more information. http://www.mathnasiumtrimathlon.com/
Reading: We used a non-fiction book called How do Animals Adapt? to practice taking notes using expository text, using text features(subtitles, glossary, index, table of context, photos, captions, etc...) We also practice writing summaries. Summaries are one of those tricky things. A summary needs to tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the passage and use summary statements. It shouldn't include a bunch of details but the most important parts to get the gist or main idea of the passage. We also chose non-fiction books to use as book club books. We read and took notes. Then wrote summaries and responses to the book. We met with others who read the same book and talked about some facts from the book, what the author's purpose may have been to write the book and how the author organized the book. We created posters and shared this information with the class. They did very well. Next week each child will read at least two books on the same basic topic and compare and contrast the books and the information learned with their book groups. We will be reading about Anarctica (two different books) and then later in the week, we will read about The Depression/The Dust Bowl (two different books). We will share what we've learned with the whole class.
Writing: We are writing poems about weather (If I were a thunderstorm...., If I were a snowflake...,etc...) We are also helping each other finish our published books. We are all almost done. Next week we will be writing more poetry.
Math: We are continuing to work on different types of measurement. We will be working with time and temperature this week. We will also be solving lots of problems and reviewing some geometry.
Science: We will continue learning about the moon, the sun, and patterns of the Earth and will have a test on Tuesday. We will be finishing up an activity on phases of the moon and do a demonstration of the phases on Monday. We will also review a little for the test on Tuesday.
Social Studies: We will be working on Frontier, Urbanization, and Citizenship for the next couple of weeks.
Pen Pal Visit on Friday, April 8-Our pen pals will be coming to visit us on Friday, April 8. We are planning on using technology with them in the computer lab. Come visit with us!
Attached is a flyer for writing camp at UT this summer. It sounds wonderful!!!!! Check it out.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5-Fifth Grade TAKS test-no visitors allowed on campus
Monday, April 4-Service Learning Club in PTA portable
Tuesday, April 5-Science test
Thursday, April 7-Writing Club afterschool until 4:00
Friday, April 8-Pen Pal Visit at FCE from 10:00-11:00
Jazz Band Concert-1:45
Friday, April 15-Field Trip to Bob Bullock Museum
Friday, April 22-No school
Tuesday, April 26-Math TAKS test 3rd and 4th grade
Wednesday, April 27-Reading TAKS test 3rd and 4th grade
Have a great weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Pam
We had a great week. We worked hard on our released reading and math TAKS and the children did well. Now I know what skills we need to target and in what areas we can do some extension activities.
We have some awesome mathematicians in our classroom. I got an email about a Trimathlon Competition in Round Rock on May 14. It is free and sounds fun. I think A LOT of students in our class would do great in this competition. Let me know if you are interested and/or visit this site for more information. http://www.mathnasiumtrimathlon.com/
Reading: We used a non-fiction book called How do Animals Adapt? to practice taking notes using expository text, using text features(subtitles, glossary, index, table of context, photos, captions, etc...) We also practice writing summaries. Summaries are one of those tricky things. A summary needs to tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the passage and use summary statements. It shouldn't include a bunch of details but the most important parts to get the gist or main idea of the passage. We also chose non-fiction books to use as book club books. We read and took notes. Then wrote summaries and responses to the book. We met with others who read the same book and talked about some facts from the book, what the author's purpose may have been to write the book and how the author organized the book. We created posters and shared this information with the class. They did very well. Next week each child will read at least two books on the same basic topic and compare and contrast the books and the information learned with their book groups. We will be reading about Anarctica (two different books) and then later in the week, we will read about The Depression/The Dust Bowl (two different books). We will share what we've learned with the whole class.
Writing: We are writing poems about weather (If I were a thunderstorm...., If I were a snowflake...,etc...) We are also helping each other finish our published books. We are all almost done. Next week we will be writing more poetry.
Math: We are continuing to work on different types of measurement. We will be working with time and temperature this week. We will also be solving lots of problems and reviewing some geometry.
Science: We will continue learning about the moon, the sun, and patterns of the Earth and will have a test on Tuesday. We will be finishing up an activity on phases of the moon and do a demonstration of the phases on Monday. We will also review a little for the test on Tuesday.
Social Studies: We will be working on Frontier, Urbanization, and Citizenship for the next couple of weeks.
Pen Pal Visit on Friday, April 8-Our pen pals will be coming to visit us on Friday, April 8. We are planning on using technology with them in the computer lab. Come visit with us!
Attached is a flyer for writing camp at UT this summer. It sounds wonderful!!!!! Check it out.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5-Fifth Grade TAKS test-no visitors allowed on campus
Monday, April 4-Service Learning Club in PTA portable
Tuesday, April 5-Science test
Thursday, April 7-Writing Club afterschool until 4:00
Friday, April 8-Pen Pal Visit at FCE from 10:00-11:00
Jazz Band Concert-1:45
Friday, April 15-Field Trip to Bob Bullock Museum
Friday, April 22-No school
Tuesday, April 26-Math TAKS test 3rd and 4th grade
Wednesday, April 27-Reading TAKS test 3rd and 4th grade
Have a great weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Pam
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)