Hi,
We are taking STAAR Ready tests on Thursday and Friday. These tests are made by our district and are similar to the actual test that we will take in April. We are taking them now as a way to check on the skills and concepts that the children have and which ones are still difficult. We will be reteaching and extending as necessary based on the data from the tests. Several of the children in our class have had trouble bubbling in the answer document so this also gives us another chance to practice our test taking strategies. Be sure your child is going to bed early on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Be sure that he/she eats a good breakfast on Thursday and Friday morning and brings a healthy (and neat) snack for each day. Thank you!
Because of the STAAR ready tests this week, we will not have convention sentences this week. We will be reading 150 minutes this week (log due on 3/4) but won't have math homework on Wednesday or Thursday. We will have a reading and writing packet that will be due on Friday instead of any reading responses or writing entries due. So homework this week is:
read 150 minutes due on Monday, March 4, 2013
reading/writing packet due on Friday, March 1, 2013
math papers on Monday, Tuesday
Our pen pals are coming on Wednesday during our art time to paint our bowls for the Empty Bowl Project! Yeah! Feel free to come and join us!
Be sure to volunteer at our Spring Carnival on March 1. The link for volunteers to sign up is https://www.ptavenue.com/volunteerr.asp?sc=FCEPTA&v=26615.
Look for Bartholomew to sign up to help with the booths. If all those slots are filled, you can sign up to help with "Food Set Up", "Games Set Up", "Ticket Sales" and "Clean Up Crew". Thank you!
Don't forget also to bring in items for our class basket! Thank you so much!
Read about our week:
Reading: We read non-fiction articles and books this week and looked at text structures or the ways that authors organize texts. A book or selection may have several different text structures or may be organized in just one way. Some common structures are cause/effect, compare/contrast, description, and sequence. We read some books and articles and talked about the text structures and why the author organized the information in those ways. We will begin studying about WWII using historical fiction and nonfiction texts this week.
Writing: We worked on our published books and began revising our STARR Ready narratives. The children finished revising and editing their narratives for homework. Thank you for your help! We will continue to work on our published books this week and hopefully complete them! Order forms are coming home on Monday! Each child will receive a free copy of their individual published book. Please return your order form with either payment and an order or a signature and a check by the sentence stating that you don't want any extra copies. Thank you and let me know if you have any questions.
Math: We will be working this week on a quick review of some geometry concepts from third grade and continue with volume, and more problem solving using measurement, multiplication, division, etc... We will be doing lots of multi-step problems using lots of strategies. Continue to practice math facts at home.
Science: We watched some movies, played games, and listened to songs about weathering, erosion, and deposition. We also read about caves. We will be doing a webquest on Monday and visit some sites with cool weathering, erosion, and deposition activities.
Social Studies: We will celebrate Texas Independence Day on Friday. March 2 is Texas Independence Day!
Reminders:
Monday, February 25-Reading Logs due
Wednesday, February 27- Pen Pal Visit at 1:00 to paint bowls
Thursday, February 28-Service Club 2:45-3:45
Friday, March 1-Spring Carnival-sign up to volunteer
Wednesday, March 6-Early Release 12:45, Kona Ice at FCE (Anniversary of Battle of Alamo)
Thursday, March 7-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Monday, March 11-15-Spring Break
Tuesday, March 19-Friday, March 22-Writing Camp
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Newsletter, Sign up for Spring Carnival
We had a busy week! We had a fun Valentine's Day Party. Thank you to all
the parents who donated items and/or came to the party to help.
Thank you, especially, to Mrs. McCulloch for planning and facilitating our
party. Everyone had a great time!
Thank you also for sending in items for our class basket for the Spring
Carnival! Keep them coming!
Changes in homework this week. Read below!
Homework this week:
Read 150 min. per week-due Monday, February 25 One (1) reading response and
summary Writing-Revise and edit narrative writing(they will bring it home on
Tuesday)-return by Thursday Reading/Writing packet Convention Sentences test
on Friday Try I-Station at home this week for at least 30 minutes-(can count
as reading minutes) Math paper daily
Sister Teresita, the nun who founded and runs the Copprome Orphanage in
Honduras, came to speak to our Service Club on Thursday. The meeting was
after the Valentine's Day party. The children had just eaten lots of sweets
and were very excited. I was a bit concerned about the behavior during our
meeting. Well, Sister Teresita quietly asked if the children had any
questions. Sage asked to tell her about Wendy, one of the children who Sage
had chosen to write a letter. Sister told a very bittersweet story about Wendy and her situation.
The children listened so attentively and were totally engaged in each and
every one of Sister's stories about the children. It was so wonderful to
watch their faces and hear them comment later about how lucky they are and
how hard it must be for the children in Honduras but how lucky they are to
have Sister to care for them.
Sister Teresita enjoyed the children at our Service Club meeting very much
and was able to come back to talk to the children in our classroom on Friday
morning! More stories were shared as the children silently listened. It
was amazing and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet Sister
and hear about her life and the lives of the children. Each of our children
chose one of the children from the orphanage and they wrote a letter to
them. We typed the letter in English then translated the letter into Spanish
using an online site. They also drew pictures for the kids. Sister was so excited to have these
papers for the children that she wanted to hold them on the airplane rather
than put them in her suitcase so that they were safe. Be proud of the generosity and caring attitude of your child.
Read about the rest of our week:
Reading: We read more traditional tales and some plays this week. We
compared drama writing and narrative writing. We noticed that in dramatic
writing, the character's name and a colon are used rather than quotation
marks when showing dialogue. We also noticed that there is a list of
characters and sometimes a narrator. There are stage directions which tell
how the characters will act and/or speak and where. The directions are from
the perspective of the actor rather than the audience. Stage left means the
actor's left and the audience's right. We will be reading non-fiction
articles and books this week and looking at text structure.
Writing: We wrote letters for the children in Honduras, we wrote animal
haikus for the Haiku Contest in the library, and we worked on our published
books. We will continue to work on our published books as well as working
on some revising and editing at home for homework.
Math: Overall, we did well on our Decimals/fractions test and began working
with measurement. We made a cool chart which included the types of
measurement, tools used, as well as customary/standard and metric units.
We played a game called Race to a Gallon during which the team tries to fill
a gallon container with beans in the fewest number of turns. The team spins
a spinner to figure out the unit used. For example, the player spins quart. Then he/she spins the quart spinner to find out the number of quarts of beans to add. This
continues until the the gallon container is filled with beans. This
game is a hands-on way to work with conversion and measurements of capacity.
We will continue with measurement and problem solving this week.
MEASUREMENT VOCABULARY TEST ON FRIDAY. USE QUIA.COM TO PRACTICE. ( quia
web, user name: lisabrannan, password: dominic, then look for Measurement
Vocabulary-Mrs. Bartholomew's class.)
Science: Weathering, Erosion, Deposition-Oh My!!!! With our first grade
friends, we shook a limestone rock in water in a baby food jar.
We observed the rock before shaking then shook for a total of 9 minutes and
took notes throughout. We will continue to learn more about weathering,
erosion, and deposition. There is also a quia game ready for Rocks, Soil,
and Landforms vocabulary.
Social Studies: Performing the Voices of the Alamo play was fun to perform.
We tried the performance for the video camera but ran out of time (mostly
because I forgot to push the button to begin recording and didn't realize it
until the play was almost over. ) We will finish up the recording this week.
Maturation Video-OPT out form attached. This form was also sent home in
Thursday folders.
Be sure to volunteer at our Spring Carnival on March 1. The link for
volunteers to sign up is
https://www.ptavenue.com/volunteerr.asp?sc=FCEPTA&v=26615.
Look for Bartholomew to sign up to help with the booths. If all those slots
are filled, you can sign up to help with "Food Set Up", "Games Set Up",
"Ticket Sales" and "Clean Up Crew". Thank you!
Reminders:
Monday, February 18-No school for students
Tuesday,February 19-Reading Logs due, Measurement Vocabulary Test on Friday, go to Quia.com to study
Thursday, February 21-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Thursday, February 28-Service Club 2:45-3:45
Friday, March 1-Spring Carnival-sign up to volunteer
Wednesday, March 6-Early Release 12:45, Kona Ice at FCE
Thursday, March 7-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Monday, March 11-15-Spring Break
Tuesday, March 19-Friday, March 22-Writing Camp
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
the parents who donated items and/or came to the party to help.
Thank you, especially, to Mrs. McCulloch for planning and facilitating our
party. Everyone had a great time!
Thank you also for sending in items for our class basket for the Spring
Carnival! Keep them coming!
Changes in homework this week. Read below!
Homework this week:
Read 150 min. per week-due Monday, February 25 One (1) reading response and
summary Writing-Revise and edit narrative writing(they will bring it home on
Tuesday)-return by Thursday Reading/Writing packet Convention Sentences test
on Friday Try I-Station at home this week for at least 30 minutes-(can count
as reading minutes) Math paper daily
Sister Teresita, the nun who founded and runs the Copprome Orphanage in
Honduras, came to speak to our Service Club on Thursday. The meeting was
after the Valentine's Day party. The children had just eaten lots of sweets
and were very excited. I was a bit concerned about the behavior during our
meeting. Well, Sister Teresita quietly asked if the children had any
questions. Sage asked to tell her about Wendy, one of the children who Sage
had chosen to write a letter. Sister told a very bittersweet story about Wendy and her situation.
The children listened so attentively and were totally engaged in each and
every one of Sister's stories about the children. It was so wonderful to
watch their faces and hear them comment later about how lucky they are and
how hard it must be for the children in Honduras but how lucky they are to
have Sister to care for them.
Sister Teresita enjoyed the children at our Service Club meeting very much
and was able to come back to talk to the children in our classroom on Friday
morning! More stories were shared as the children silently listened. It
was amazing and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet Sister
and hear about her life and the lives of the children. Each of our children
chose one of the children from the orphanage and they wrote a letter to
them. We typed the letter in English then translated the letter into Spanish
using an online site. They also drew pictures for the kids. Sister was so excited to have these
papers for the children that she wanted to hold them on the airplane rather
than put them in her suitcase so that they were safe. Be proud of the generosity and caring attitude of your child.
Read about the rest of our week:
Reading: We read more traditional tales and some plays this week. We
compared drama writing and narrative writing. We noticed that in dramatic
writing, the character's name and a colon are used rather than quotation
marks when showing dialogue. We also noticed that there is a list of
characters and sometimes a narrator. There are stage directions which tell
how the characters will act and/or speak and where. The directions are from
the perspective of the actor rather than the audience. Stage left means the
actor's left and the audience's right. We will be reading non-fiction
articles and books this week and looking at text structure.
Writing: We wrote letters for the children in Honduras, we wrote animal
haikus for the Haiku Contest in the library, and we worked on our published
books. We will continue to work on our published books as well as working
on some revising and editing at home for homework.
Math: Overall, we did well on our Decimals/fractions test and began working
with measurement. We made a cool chart which included the types of
measurement, tools used, as well as customary/standard and metric units.
We played a game called Race to a Gallon during which the team tries to fill
a gallon container with beans in the fewest number of turns. The team spins
a spinner to figure out the unit used. For example, the player spins quart. Then he/she spins the quart spinner to find out the number of quarts of beans to add. This
continues until the the gallon container is filled with beans. This
game is a hands-on way to work with conversion and measurements of capacity.
We will continue with measurement and problem solving this week.
MEASUREMENT VOCABULARY TEST ON FRIDAY. USE QUIA.COM TO PRACTICE. ( quia
web, user name: lisabrannan, password: dominic, then look for Measurement
Vocabulary-Mrs. Bartholomew's class.)
Science: Weathering, Erosion, Deposition-Oh My!!!! With our first grade
friends, we shook a limestone rock in water in a baby food jar.
We observed the rock before shaking then shook for a total of 9 minutes and
took notes throughout. We will continue to learn more about weathering,
erosion, and deposition. There is also a quia game ready for Rocks, Soil,
and Landforms vocabulary.
Social Studies: Performing the Voices of the Alamo play was fun to perform.
We tried the performance for the video camera but ran out of time (mostly
because I forgot to push the button to begin recording and didn't realize it
until the play was almost over. ) We will finish up the recording this week.
Maturation Video-OPT out form attached. This form was also sent home in
Thursday folders.
Be sure to volunteer at our Spring Carnival on March 1. The link for
volunteers to sign up is
https://www.ptavenue.com/volunteerr.asp?sc=FCEPTA&v=26615.
Look for Bartholomew to sign up to help with the booths. If all those slots
are filled, you can sign up to help with "Food Set Up", "Games Set Up",
"Ticket Sales" and "Clean Up Crew". Thank you!
Reminders:
Monday, February 18-No school for students
Tuesday,February 19-Reading Logs due, Measurement Vocabulary Test on Friday, go to Quia.com to study
Thursday, February 21-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Thursday, February 28-Service Club 2:45-3:45
Friday, March 1-Spring Carnival-sign up to volunteer
Wednesday, March 6-Early Release 12:45, Kona Ice at FCE
Thursday, March 7-Writing Club 2:45-3:45
Monday, March 11-15-Spring Break
Tuesday, March 19-Friday, March 22-Writing Camp
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Newsletter-Happy Valentine's Day! Sister Teresita from Honduras comes to Service Club on Thursday after school!
Hi,
Valentine’s Day is coming up! If you didn’t receive the email with Sign-Up Genius for our party on Thursday, let me know and I will get it to you. Bring the Valentines to school on Thursday to pass out. Also, decorate a box or bag to use as your Valentine mailbox for receiving Valentines. Bring that in on Thursday, as well. Here again is a list of the children in our classroom for Valentines. We have 22 children in our class.
Kyra, Brianna, Braden, Jackson, Peyton, Sage, Todd, Amelia, Ethan, Trevor, Andrew, Abigail, Marley, Collin, Riya, Jared, Joaquin, Lauren, Dev, Rebecca, Tristan, Gabe
Read about our week:
Reading-We examined the genre of traditional tales this week. We began with fairy tales. We read and compared several Cinderella stories. We also read and discussed other fairy tales including fractured fairy tales. Pourquoi stories or stories that explain why or how things in nature occurred were another form of traditional tales that we read. We learned why frog and snake aren’t friends from an African tale. We will continue studying traditional tales next week and also plays. We will compare the format of a play with a narrative and the role of the narrator, stage directions, setting, etc…
Writing-We took a STAAR Ready Writing test last week. We looked at the types of revising and editing situations that are easy for us and ones that are trickier, so that we can improve in revising and editing in testing situations as well as our own writing. We will examine our planning, revising, editing, and final copies of our narrative writing and see what areas are strong for each of us and what improvements we can make. We will also continue to revise, edit, and illustrate our stories, poems, and essays for our individual published books.
Math-Decimals and fractions in problem solving situations has been our focus lately. We will be beginning measurement this week and will be tested on the vocabulary of measurement next Tuesday, February 19. We will measure length, mass, capacity, temperature, time, and volume using customary/standard and metric units. This concept has lots of hands-on activities and is very fun. Measure things at home and talk about measurement this week as well.
Social Studies-The Texas Revolution and the people involved in the revolution have been exciting and interesting for us to study. We have been practicing a Reader’s Theater about the Texas Revolution and will be video taping our performance on Wednesday afternoon. If your child would like to wear a costume or have props, they can do so. Bring in any necessary items on Wednesday.
Science-We will begin learning about weathering, erosion, and deposition on Friday with an experiment with our reading buddies from Mrs. Garcia’s class.
Reminders:
Jump Rope for Heart continues!
Tuesday, February 12-Math Club-Anyone invited to come play cool math strategy games in TAG portable until 3:45
Thursday, February 14-Valentine’s Day Party-Bring in Valentines and bag or box
Service Club meeting afterschool-Sister Teresita from Honduras will be here to talk with us. Feel free to join us and meet this amazing lady!
Monday, February 18-Student Holiday
Tuesday, February 19-Measurement vocabulary test
Thursday, February 21-Writing Club 2:45-3:45pm
Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew
Valentine’s Day is coming up! If you didn’t receive the email with Sign-Up Genius for our party on Thursday, let me know and I will get it to you. Bring the Valentines to school on Thursday to pass out. Also, decorate a box or bag to use as your Valentine mailbox for receiving Valentines. Bring that in on Thursday, as well. Here again is a list of the children in our classroom for Valentines. We have 22 children in our class.
Kyra, Brianna, Braden, Jackson, Peyton, Sage, Todd, Amelia, Ethan, Trevor, Andrew, Abigail, Marley, Collin, Riya, Jared, Joaquin, Lauren, Dev, Rebecca, Tristan, Gabe
Read about our week:
Reading-We examined the genre of traditional tales this week. We began with fairy tales. We read and compared several Cinderella stories. We also read and discussed other fairy tales including fractured fairy tales. Pourquoi stories or stories that explain why or how things in nature occurred were another form of traditional tales that we read. We learned why frog and snake aren’t friends from an African tale. We will continue studying traditional tales next week and also plays. We will compare the format of a play with a narrative and the role of the narrator, stage directions, setting, etc…
Writing-We took a STAAR Ready Writing test last week. We looked at the types of revising and editing situations that are easy for us and ones that are trickier, so that we can improve in revising and editing in testing situations as well as our own writing. We will examine our planning, revising, editing, and final copies of our narrative writing and see what areas are strong for each of us and what improvements we can make. We will also continue to revise, edit, and illustrate our stories, poems, and essays for our individual published books.
Math-Decimals and fractions in problem solving situations has been our focus lately. We will be beginning measurement this week and will be tested on the vocabulary of measurement next Tuesday, February 19. We will measure length, mass, capacity, temperature, time, and volume using customary/standard and metric units. This concept has lots of hands-on activities and is very fun. Measure things at home and talk about measurement this week as well.
Social Studies-The Texas Revolution and the people involved in the revolution have been exciting and interesting for us to study. We have been practicing a Reader’s Theater about the Texas Revolution and will be video taping our performance on Wednesday afternoon. If your child would like to wear a costume or have props, they can do so. Bring in any necessary items on Wednesday.
Science-We will begin learning about weathering, erosion, and deposition on Friday with an experiment with our reading buddies from Mrs. Garcia’s class.
Reminders:
Jump Rope for Heart continues!
Tuesday, February 12-Math Club-Anyone invited to come play cool math strategy games in TAG portable until 3:45
Thursday, February 14-Valentine’s Day Party-Bring in Valentines and bag or box
Service Club meeting afterschool-Sister Teresita from Honduras will be here to talk with us. Feel free to join us and meet this amazing lady!
Monday, February 18-Student Holiday
Tuesday, February 19-Measurement vocabulary test
Thursday, February 21-Writing Club 2:45-3:45pm
Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks,
Pam Bartholomew
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