Pen Pal Visit was Wonderful! Fundraiser due Monday. Book orders due online today. Sign up for conferences.

Hi,

We had a wonderful visit with our pen pals on Friday. Everyone was excited and it was amazing to see everyone sharing stories and so engaged! Using photos from the playground and foam shapes, the children each made a present for their pen pal. They also each wrote them a card. We interviewed the pen pals using questions generated by the kids. Then the kids shared their Texas maps and played games. Everyone had a fun time. (One of the pen pals kept talking and didn't want to get on the bus!) Thank you to those parents who were able to stop by and interact with the pen pals as well. The pen pals will be coming again on October 17 from 9:30-10:45.

We had fun with our dads this morning. The kids measured a 25 cm by 25 cm square and made aluminum foil boats. Their task was to create a boat that would float and hold as many pennies as possible. We had fun and some frustration making the boats and then testing and revising them as we tried floating them and piling on the pennies. We discussed the models of boats that held the most and the surface area of the boats. We all had a great time.

Education Go Get It Week has been amazing! We colored pennants representing our favorite college, we dressed in college t-shirts and dressed up to represent our future profession. We wrote resumes and talked a lot about the importance of effort in all that they do. Being smart is important, but even the smartest people need to put effort into their learning to succeed.

Our class Moodle page is up and running. The kids can go on line on the Moodle at home and at school to participate in discussions with others in our class, write in a journal, link to websites, etc... Go to our school web site, for students, Moodle, then the log in using their 126/lastname/first initial and their id number (used in the cafeteria etc...) Then click on Bartholomew 4th grade and get started.

We had a great turn out for our first FCE Service Club meeting! We will be meeting at the Round Rock Serving Center tomorrow from 9-10 to volunteer. Everyone is inviting to come and join us! (You don't have to be a service club member.)

Read about our week:

Reading-We used post-it notes to leave tracks of our thinking as we read. On the post-its we wrote our questions (and included answers when possible), predictions, connections, as well as our thoughts and feelings about what we read.

Writing-We are finishing up our personal narratives by adding more details using "show, not tell". We aren't just telling what is happening or how we are feeling, we are showing it using our senses, slowing down the action, and zooming into the details.
We also worked on revising our endings to include the reasons why this event was important or meaningful to us and what we learned from it.

Math-We worked on more multi-step problem solving using multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. We also worked on strategies to use when subtracting with regrouping especially using larger numbers with several zeros. We also always add to check when subtracting. Keep practicing facts at home as well as finding math in everyday situations.

Social Studies-We worked in groups to make a large map of Texas which shows the regions, major cities and rivers, as well as products and resources and where they are found or produced around our state.

Science-We are beginning our unit on matter this week.


Dates to Remember:
Friday, September 29-Book orders due online
Saturday, September 30-Volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center
Monday, October 1-Fundraiser money and orders due. Chick Fil A Family Night-Pflugerville
Wednesday, October 3-Walk to School Day
Monday, October 8-No school for students-Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, October 17-Pen Pals come to FCE

FYI:
Explore UT: Save the Date



Mark your calendar for “Explore UT: The Biggest Open House in Texas!"



When: Saturday, March 2, 2013, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: The University of Texas at Austin

Who's invited: Students K-12, teachers, and families. Everyone is welcome

Cost: Free, no sign-up for activities. Lunch is NOT included

Web site: www.utexas.edu/events/exploreut Look for an updated website by mid-December.

Thank you for sharing your child with me. Be sure to read, write,and do math each day. Have a safe and fun weekend!

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew

Freedom Week was Celebrated this week!

Hi,

This week is Freedom Week and September 17 is Constitution Day so we celebrated by singing the Preamble (Schoolhouse Rock) and reciting part of the Declaration of Independence. We also compared the Pledge of Allegiance to the Pledge to the Texas Flag and made a venn diagram to show similarities and differences. Brainpop is a fun way to learn new things and we used it to learn about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Read about our week:

Reading-We talked about recommending books that we love to others and trying out books that friends recommend. We also worked on leaving tracks of our thinking during a fiction book called Dear Al and discussed ways that the characters changed and possible themes of the story. We worked in small groups on summarizing, asking questions, and character descriptions. We brainstormed words with a -ly suffix and a -ish suffix and tried using them in sentences. We have been reading a lot at school. Be sure your child is reading a lot at home and talk to him/her about what he/she read.

Writing-We gathered more small moment entries and then chose one to take through revisions and editing and then possibly to publishing. We drafted leads and discovered that putting a few leads together seems to work best. (action, setting, dialogue leads) Ask your child about his or her draft and ask him/her to retell the story to you like a storyteller. You don't want a summary of the story, but you want to feel like you are part of the story because of the descriptions and details used.

Math-Arrays and multiplication strategies with problem solving has been our focus. We will continue working with multiplication and division. We will work on computational fluency as well as multi-step problems. Thanks for practicing facts at home and working on strategies.

Social Studies-We did Freedom Week activities and we took a virtual bus trip through Texas. We stopped in each region and looked at photos and took notes. We will write about our favorite regions and then will be working on a group project. Each group will create a poster-sized map of Texas with important things highlighter. Be sure and come and see them.

Science-We will be learning about classifying matter next week.

Dates to Remember:
Education Go Get It Week
Monday- Wear College Shirt
Tuesday-Hats off to College! Wear a hat.
Wednesday-Slip into College! Wear slippers
Thursday-Dress for Success! Wear an outfit that represents your future profession
Friday-I Promise to Graduate! Wear FCE, green, or purple pockets.

Thursday, September 27-PEN PAL VISIT!!!!!! You are welcome to join us! Library 9:30-10:45ish.
Thursday, September 27-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45 for 4th and 5th graders. Meet in my room and email or call with concerns.

Keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew

Great Week! Early Release on Wed. Sept. 19 at 12:45, Cool Jazz Concert Friday PM

Hi,

We had another busy but wonderful week. It was quite emotional due to our discussions of the events of September 11, 2001 as well as the unity and hope felt after the tragedies. We also finished reading Stone Fox which has an unexpected and sad ending. Because the children were so engaged and in tune with the main character as I read, many of them began crying. We then talked about how well the author wrote so that we all felt as if we were right there in the story experiencing the entire thing firsthand. Ask your child about the book and how we are all striving to encourage an emotional response from the readers of our writing. We also want to get lost in our books when we read independently like we did with Stone Fox.

Here is a look at our week:

Reading-We read many articles from Scholastic about 9/11. We read and discussed a book about a Fireboat that helped control the fires when the water pipes were unable to be accessed and part of a biography of Fire Chief Peter Ganci. We then wrote Thank You cards for police officers and fire fighters. Senior Officer Schmidt, Sergeant Bazzle (Kyra's Dad!) and Detective Tines from the Austin Police Department made an appearance on broadcast on Friday. They came to accept the Thank You cards written by the students at our school. We also read a book about being accepting and not judgmental called Elmer the Dog then used sentences from the book to practice complete and incomplete sentences and capitals and punctuation. Writing about characters and character changes was a focus this week. Next week we will be working in small groups for reading.

Writing-We are collecting entries for our first personal narratives. So far we have written small moment stories about some special people, favorite places, and memorable things. We will continue collecting entries, choose one to publish, then will begin revising and editing.

Math-Mastering place value has been successful for most of us. We are now working on multiplication and division strategies. We will be using arrays, drawings, objects, and computational strategies to help us master the concept of multiplication and division and then will use that knowledge in real-life problem solving.

Science-Famous scientists was our focus for the week. We researched and discussed the contributions of Marie Curie, Sir Isaac Newton, Nicolas Copernicus, and Carl Linneaus. We also talked about the possibilities for science careers.

Social Studies-Next week is Celebrate Freedom Week and Monday is Constitution Day. We will be learning about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We will also be going on a virtual bus trip of Texas while we learn about the regions of our state.


Be sure that your child is reading everyday, writing often, and practicing math facts each day. Go to the math links on our class web site as well as links the site of other FCE teachers for some practice ideas.

Have a great weekend! Thank you for sharing your child with me!

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew

Another Great Week!

Hi,

We had another great week! Last week we earned the Spirit Stick because we had the most children wearing green, purple or FCE shirts. The kids have had a great time carrying it with us whenever we left the classroom. :)

Thank you to all the parents who were able to make it last night for Back to School Night. The power point that Mrs. Lehnick shared should be linked to the FCE website and I attached the Fourth Grade power point to this email. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you also for your amazing letters about your child. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them and learned a lot about your children. I feel like we have been together as a group for a long time and am VERY happy with the way they help each other and the amount of risk taking that is taking place so far. They all seem to feel comfortable and safe with each other and are excited about sharing their work and their ideas even if they may have made a mistake or if others don't agree with them. A trusted classroom environment is very conducive to learning and growing. I am so excited that we are well on our way to being that type of place for all of our class.

If you were here last night, you heard about an exciting research study. Texas I-CAN is a active learning project created by The University of Texas at Austin. All of our fourth graders will be playing active games to practice math skills. Your consent is needed so that your child can wear an accelerometer (step counter) for two weeks this year. One week in November and one in May. With your consent, the researchers will access your child's FitnessGram score, a few academic scores, and take part in some classroom observations. All the student information will be kept confidential, names removed, and will never be shared with anyone outside of the project staff. This project was created by my husband, who is a professor at UT and head of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. If you have any concerns or questions, let me know. All students who return the consent form (checked yes or no) will receive a very cool I-CAN pencil! If you didn't get a form on Thursday night, one will be sent home on Monday.

Our class will be interacting with pen pals from The Court Retirement Facility. I have worked with The Court and their residents for 6 years. Our class will write letters introducing themselves on Monday and Tuesday. I will take them to the residents and we will match residents with fourth graders. Depending on the number of residents who will take part in our pen pal program this year, some of the children will share a pen pal with another child and other children will have a pen pal to him/herself. We will practice our writing skills by writing letters to our new friends about once or twice a month and our pen pals will come here to visit us at school each month beginning in Sept. You are welcome to come to take part in our visits. The children will be interviewing their pen pals about their childhoods and their life. Then making a class book about our pen pals later in the year. They will play games together, make bowls in art together for the Empty Bowl project, play PE games, and other fun activities. I find this program beneficial to all those involved. The children learn so much about the past as well as ways to be accepting and caring for others. The residents tell me often how important our visits are to them and how happy they are to be with the children. Some children today were asking if they could make pictures over the weekend for their pen pal or begin writing their letter. That would be wonderful and they are always welcome to make extra letters, drawings, origami, or whatever for our wonderful friends. I will let you know details of the first visit soon.

Here's what we did this week:

Reading-We are working on building our stamina and engagement during independent reading. We don't want to read books like curmudgeons but we want to read them as if they were as precious as gold. (ask your child about curmudgeons!) We are reading Stone Fox aloud and discussing elements of realistic fiction as well as character changes, plot, imagery, etc... We are also writing responses about the events and dilemmas in the story. Be sure that your child is in school on time. We are also reading The Ranger's Apprentice and begin each morning at about 7:35. This is a challenging and exciting book that we are reading and discussing as well.

Writing-Important poems were taken through the writing process this week. They brainstormed, made rough drafts, revised in an individual conference with me, edited with me also, then rewrote for publication. We worked hard on including similes, metaphors, and strong descriptions in these poems. Many of us practiced using a thesaurus and found very interesting words. We will be working on gathering ideas for personal narratives next week as well as writing letters to our pen pals.

Math-Place value, numeration, and problem solving has been our focus so far this year. We will be doing lots of multi-step problems throughout the year. Next week we will be using estimation to plan a Dream Vacation. We will also be working on multiplication concepts and strategies.

Social Studies-We began talking a bit about the regions of Texas through the use of our Texas photos. We will be learning more about Texas regions in the next few weeks.

Science-Safety and tools has been our focus. We will finish up our exploration of match box cars using the tools (measuring the distance traveled on a ramp, measuring the car and using a triple beam balance to determine mass, using a hand lens to see details, etc...) We will then be researching four famous scientists and talking about science careers.

Dates to remember:
Tuesday, September 11-Day of Remembrance and Service-We will be talking about the events of September 11. We will be writing and responding to some age-appropriate nonfiction articles and books.

Tuesday, September 11-PTA meeting and Watch DOGS kickoff

Friday, September 14-Kona Ice after school

Wednesday, September 19-Early Release Day

Thanks for sharing your child with me. Have a great weekend. Encourage your child to read and practice math facts. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew