Hi,
Be sure that your child washes his/her hands and uses hand sanitizer. We seem to have a little stomach virus going around. Hopefully, everyone can get healthy and stay healthy this week.
We had a great week!
I am so excited that our fourth grade has started forming groups for enrichment and interventions. We have one twenty minute group time from 8:00-8:20 and another from 10:00-10:20. Many children are leaving their homeroom and going to another teacher for a more focused group in reading and math. We can group them by specific objectives that are needed to reteach and/or extend. Some of the groups meet daily and some meet two or three times a week. Ask your child about this. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you so much to the all the Dads who came to school on Wednesday. I am sorry that I missed you. I had a doctor's appointment that had been scheduled quite a long time prior. I hope you enjoyed your time in our classroom and feel free to come again anytime! (Moms can come, also :) )
Thank you for sending in your conference time requests. I will make a schedule and send it to you by Monday afternoon.
Read about our activities and our learning.
Reading: We read an online book about matter and answered some review questions to get ready for our science test. We are beginning some research on Native Americans in Texas and will continue that next week. We read an article about the first moon landing and learned about reading to gain information and answer new questions. We will be praciting this in our Native American research. We are beginning book clubs and each child has a new novel to read for their book club group. Many of the children brought their books home to read chapter 1 over the weekend. We will be reading in class and they are welcome to bring their book club book home also but NEED to have it in class. They will be reading independently, summarizing what they've read, then writing about their questions, connections, predictions, character descriptions and changes, as well as their thoughts and feelings about their book. They will be meeting in groups with me to talk about what they've read. Book clubs are so much fun and it is always wonderful to experience the children getting lost in their books! I can't wait!
Writing: We finished a draft of our first personal narratives in our draft books. We will each choose another personal narrative entry from our writer's notebook to write a draft of in another draft book. Then each child will read both of their draftbooks and decide which one they would like to publish. We will have an Author's Celebration on October 12 at 2:00 in our classroom. The children will be sharing their published work. You are invited to come and help us celebrate their wonderful progress in writing!
Math: Multiplication strategies have been our focus. We practiced multiplying by 10's and 100's a bunch this week and applied that skill to problem solving situations. We also made multiple towers using adding tape and calculators. In partners, we had a starting number and found multiples of that number by repeated adding or multiplication to create our towers. We will be examining them more on Monday and continue with input/output tables and mathematical patterns.
Science: We are learning about changes in matter from adding or taking away heat. We will finish our web surfing activity from today, review vocabulary, and read about changes from heat. We will be having a test on this topic on Wednesday, October 5. The children are welcome to explore the activities and games on this topic on Stemscopes. Go to the Forest Creek Elementary Website, then for teachers, then Stemscopes. Login-Username= bartholomew, password=bats. Click on Bartholomew Bats Fall 2011. Then click on any or all of the activities in the Changes from Heat section. Have fun! Feel free to explore with changes from heat at home. Put an ice cube in the sun (with and without an insulator), put crayons on some foil in the sun and see what happens, put a cup of water in the freezer then put it in a pan on the stove (with parent help) and watch it change. Talk about the changes that happen. Feel different parts of the inside of the car when you enter it after being parked in the sun and talk about them. Notice matter changing around you.
Social Studies: Native Americans in Texas is our topic. We just started and will be continuing researching this week and next.
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 3-Reading logs due
Wednesday, October 5-Science Test-Changes from Heat
Thursday, October 6=Writing Benchmark
Monday, October 10-Student Holiday-Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences
Tuesday, October 11-PTA meeting 11 am
Service Club Meeting-2:45-4:00pm
Wednesday, October 12-Author's Celebration-2:00 pm in our classroom
Individual Photos taken
Monday, October 17-Running Club 2:45
Thursday, October 20-Writing Club (tentative date) 2:45-4:00 in library
Monday, October 24-October 28=Book Fair, Red Ribbon Week
Tuesday, October 25-Service Club Meeting 2:45-4:00pm
Thursday, October 27=Passport to Literacy Night 5:00pm
Have a fabulous weekend! Stay safe and healthy! Hopefully it will rain.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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