October 25, 2013
Hi,
What an exciting day! Learning about writing from Phil Bildner was amazing! He inspired us to put more details in our writing and to work hard to revise, then revise, then revise some more to get our writing to be the best it can be.
The Fire Safety Assembly for the last day of Red Ribbon Week was fun, also! We learned a lot about staying safe, crawling under smoke, and checking our smoke alarms. Congratulations to our essay contest winners! Liam, Jilian, and Matthew all won prizes in our school’s Red Ribbon Week Essay Contest! Yeah!
It was nice to see all of you at conferences. Thank you again for your flexibility.
Read about our week:
Reading: We read Twenty-One Elephants by Phil Bildner and made a story mountain to show the characters, setting, plot, climax, resolution, and theme of the book. New book club books were started and we read about an illness that is killing some bats in our country in our Time for Kids magazine. Next week we will read poetry and learn many poetic terms. We will also continue with our book club reading.
Writing: We took our first writing curriculum based assessment. The children had to practice writing to a personal narrative prompt with a two hour limit. They had to independently plan, draft, revise, edit, and write a final copy. They worked hard. The teachers will use a rubric to score the compositions and we will use the information to plan mini-lessons and make goals to improve writing. Next week we will continue working on writing expository essays and poetry.
Math: Patterns and Algebraic Reasoning has been our focus and the children are doing well looking for patterns and figuring our a rule or equation that supports the pattern. We will continue working with these concepts and will learn about elapsed time, measuring temperature, and bar graphs this week. Practice telling time with an analog clock. This is difficult for many students because there are more digital clocks around then analog, so the children get less practice. Thank you for continuing to work on automaticity of math facts as well.
Science: Our test on Matter was on Thursday. We will review this test on Monday and begin working with forms of energy.
Social Studies: We will continue to learn about the tribes of Texas.
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Friday, October 25, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Red Ribbon Week Oct. 21-25, Wear Tie Dye on Monday, Reading/Math Log and Homework Packet due on Monday, Writing Assessment on Wednesday, Science Test on Thursday, Word Study/Spelling test on Friday,Phil Bildner Visit on Friday
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 21-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Monday, October 21-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Wednesday, October 23-Writing Assessment
Thursday, October 24-Science Test
Friday, October 25-Word Study/Spelling test
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Thursday, October 31-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45 in Ms. Arnold's Room
Friday, November 1-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
October 19, 2013
Hi,
We have a new student! We are excited to welcome Madison to our bat cave! She comes to us from Oklahoma and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom!
Thank you for your flexibility with the rescheduling of our conferences. The kids also did well, overall, with two different substitutes. I was very excited to be back with everyone!
Next week is Red Ribbon Week! We have a theme for each day.
Monday-Say Peace Out to Drugs-wear tie dye
Tuesday-I Picture Myself Without Drugs-wear your school picture clothes
Wednesday-Say Yes to a Healthy Heart and Body-wear anything and everything RED
Thursday-Too Cool for Drugs-wear sunglasses
Friday-Sock it to Drugs-wear crazy socks
Also on Friday, we will have a Red Ribbon Week assembly. We will be working on essays for the Red Ribbon Week Essay contest on Monday and Tuesday.
Phil Bildner will be at our school! He is the author of several picture books including The Hallelujah Flight, Twenty-One Elephants, Turkey Bowl, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. He will be conducting a writing workshop with all of our fourth grade classes. He is a very dynamic and interesting speaker and the children will learn a lot from him while having a great time. Order forms for his books will be coming home on Monday. He will sign the books bought as well. You can learn more about Phil Bildner by going to his site: http://philbildner.com
Service Club will be meeting on Monday, October 21, 2013 from 2:45-3:45 in our classroom. We will have a guest speaker come to teach us about a childhood illness called OMS and how we can help with a toy drive to support research.
Writing Assessment on Wednesday. All of the fourth graders will be writing to a prompt provided by our district. The children will be independently drafting, revising, editing, and writing their final composition on lined paper. This is to help prepare them for the STAAR testing that will be done in the spring and help us determine strengths and things to work on to improve their writing. Please be sure that your child is in school on time on Wednesday for testing from about 8:00-10:00.
Read about our week:
Reading-We are reading expository text. We ask questions, make inferences, make predictions, make connections, and summarize. We use evidence from the text to prove our answers and support our thinking. We read about the government shutdown in our Time For Kids magazine this week. We will be reading about smoking, drugs, and alcohol from our health book this week to coordinate with Red Ribbon Week. We will also begin new book club books.
Writing-We learned about truisms and how we can use them to inspire and/or conclude our writing. A truism is a statement that is true or the author believes to be true. Friends are an important part of my life. After a storm, a rainbow appears. Life can be unfair. Winter is the best season. All of these sentences are examples of truisms and we practiced putting truisms into our writing. We will work on essays for Red Ribbon Week, finish up our Reflections writing, and gather more entries for essays this week. We will also practice using were/where correctly and words and learn about words with the following word parts- therm (thermometer, thermal), cent (centimeter, centennial), sci (science, scientist), and meter (millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, meter stick) and continue to use correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing in all subjects.
Math-We are continuing looking for patterns and using algebraic reasoning. The class is doing very well looking at a pattern and determining a rule for that pattern. We will be applying these concepts into some challenging word problems this week. As always we will continue to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Science-We are finishing up learning about matter, changes in matter, and mixtures and solutions. We will have a test on Thursday on these concepts. I will send a study guide by email this week end and also suggest encouraging your child to go to Stemscopes to practice the concepts covered. Stemscopes includes websites, games, interactive virtual investigations, vocabulary, and science rock songs. Go to stemscopes from the Forest Creek website. Go to the For Students link on the right side. Then to stemscopes. User name: Bartholomew. Password: bats. Review the activities related to Classifying Matter, Changes from Heat, and Mixtures and Solutions.
Social Studies-We will continue learning about the tribes of Texas this week.
Have a wonderful weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Monday, October 21-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Monday, October 21-Service Club Meeting from 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Wednesday, October 23-Writing Assessment
Thursday, October 24-Science Test
Friday, October 25-Word Study/Spelling test
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Thursday, October 31-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45 in Ms. Arnold's Room
Friday, November 1-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
October 19, 2013
Hi,
We have a new student! We are excited to welcome Madison to our bat cave! She comes to us from Oklahoma and has been a wonderful addition to our classroom!
Thank you for your flexibility with the rescheduling of our conferences. The kids also did well, overall, with two different substitutes. I was very excited to be back with everyone!
Next week is Red Ribbon Week! We have a theme for each day.
Monday-Say Peace Out to Drugs-wear tie dye
Tuesday-I Picture Myself Without Drugs-wear your school picture clothes
Wednesday-Say Yes to a Healthy Heart and Body-wear anything and everything RED
Thursday-Too Cool for Drugs-wear sunglasses
Friday-Sock it to Drugs-wear crazy socks
Also on Friday, we will have a Red Ribbon Week assembly. We will be working on essays for the Red Ribbon Week Essay contest on Monday and Tuesday.
Phil Bildner will be at our school! He is the author of several picture books including The Hallelujah Flight, Twenty-One Elephants, Turkey Bowl, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. He will be conducting a writing workshop with all of our fourth grade classes. He is a very dynamic and interesting speaker and the children will learn a lot from him while having a great time. Order forms for his books will be coming home on Monday. He will sign the books bought as well. You can learn more about Phil Bildner by going to his site: http://philbildner.com
Service Club will be meeting on Monday, October 21, 2013 from 2:45-3:45 in our classroom. We will have a guest speaker come to teach us about a childhood illness called OMS and how we can help with a toy drive to support research.
Writing Assessment on Wednesday. All of the fourth graders will be writing to a prompt provided by our district. The children will be independently drafting, revising, editing, and writing their final composition on lined paper. This is to help prepare them for the STAAR testing that will be done in the spring and help us determine strengths and things to work on to improve their writing. Please be sure that your child is in school on time on Wednesday for testing from about 8:00-10:00.
Read about our week:
Reading-We are reading expository text. We ask questions, make inferences, make predictions, make connections, and summarize. We use evidence from the text to prove our answers and support our thinking. We read about the government shutdown in our Time For Kids magazine this week. We will be reading about smoking, drugs, and alcohol from our health book this week to coordinate with Red Ribbon Week. We will also begin new book club books.
Writing-We learned about truisms and how we can use them to inspire and/or conclude our writing. A truism is a statement that is true or the author believes to be true. Friends are an important part of my life. After a storm, a rainbow appears. Life can be unfair. Winter is the best season. All of these sentences are examples of truisms and we practiced putting truisms into our writing. We will work on essays for Red Ribbon Week, finish up our Reflections writing, and gather more entries for essays this week. We will also practice using were/where correctly and words and learn about words with the following word parts- therm (thermometer, thermal), cent (centimeter, centennial), sci (science, scientist), and meter (millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, meter stick) and continue to use correct capitalization and punctuation in all of our writing in all subjects.
Math-We are continuing looking for patterns and using algebraic reasoning. The class is doing very well looking at a pattern and determining a rule for that pattern. We will be applying these concepts into some challenging word problems this week. As always we will continue to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Science-We are finishing up learning about matter, changes in matter, and mixtures and solutions. We will have a test on Thursday on these concepts. I will send a study guide by email this week end and also suggest encouraging your child to go to Stemscopes to practice the concepts covered. Stemscopes includes websites, games, interactive virtual investigations, vocabulary, and science rock songs. Go to stemscopes from the Forest Creek website. Go to the For Students link on the right side. Then to stemscopes. User name: Bartholomew. Password: bats. Review the activities related to Classifying Matter, Changes from Heat, and Mixtures and Solutions.
Social Studies-We will continue learning about the tribes of Texas this week.
Have a wonderful weekend. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Newsletter-October 13, Read about our week!
Hi,
We had a wonderful visit on Friday with our pen pals. We went to the science lab and examined a gourd in depth. We measured, described, drew, touched, and weighed the gourd using the triple beam balance. We also determined if the gourd would sink or float. Then we interviewed our pen pals about their childhoods and Halloween, played Halloween Bingo, played with playdough, and worked on some tricky Halloween crossword puzzles and word searches. We will be meeting with our pen pals again on December 6 and will have more holiday fun.
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 14-No school for students
Tuesday, October 15-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Tuesday, October 15-Friday, October 18-Book Fair in the library 7:30-4:30-late hours on Friday
Friday, October 18-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Read about our week:
Reading-We finished our book club books! Each child is writing a letter to me telling me all about the book and its story elements as well as the favorite and least favorite parts. They are also creating story mountains to show the story elements. We also read non-fiction or expository text and are writing responses to them which include our connections, questions, predictions, thoughts and feelings about the topic. We will continue with more non-fiction this week.
Writing-We read the poem, Dreams, by Langston Hughes and discussed the metaphors and the deeper meaning that dreams, goals, and hopes for the future help make our lives meaningful and help direct us. Then the children wrote poems, stories, plays, essays, etc… that exemplified the theme, Dream, Believe, Inspire for the Reflections contest. We also used photos of special places to write descriptive paragraphs and help add specific details to our writing.
Math-Patterns and algebraic equations has been our focus this week. We are looking for repeating patterns in rows of shapes and determining a formula or algebraic equation to figure out the 10th, 20th, or 100th repeat in the pattern without drawing the pattern 100 times. It can be tricky but they are getting it! We are also using input/output charts and determining the rule. For example, if the CD cost $4 , how would you figure out the cost of 1,2,5,10, 25, etc… CD’s. Putting the data on an input/output chart helps us to see the patterns and figure out those higher numbers.
Science-We are working with matter and states of matter and also how increasing or decreasing heat changes the state of matter. We are working on writing an essay to explain the information about matter and this week will be working with solutions and mixtures.
Social Studies-The Native Tribes of Texas was our topic of discussion this week. We were in groups and researched a tribe and made a chart showing that information. We determined if the tribe was nomadic or non-nomadic, if they farmed or hunted, the region where they lived, and how that region affected their lives. We shared the charts and will learning more about Native Groups this week.
Thank you for your support and flexibility with the changes to conferences. I appreciate your understanding.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a wonderful visit on Friday with our pen pals. We went to the science lab and examined a gourd in depth. We measured, described, drew, touched, and weighed the gourd using the triple beam balance. We also determined if the gourd would sink or float. Then we interviewed our pen pals about their childhoods and Halloween, played Halloween Bingo, played with playdough, and worked on some tricky Halloween crossword puzzles and word searches. We will be meeting with our pen pals again on December 6 and will have more holiday fun.
Dates to remember:
Monday, October 14-No school for students
Tuesday, October 15-Reading/Math logs due, homework packets due
Tuesday, October 15-Friday, October 18-Book Fair in the library 7:30-4:30-late hours on Friday
Friday, October 18-Movie Night, The Croods, at 7:30-bring canned food
Tuesday, October 22-Picture Day
Friday, October 25-Visit with author, Phil Bildner
Read about our week:
Reading-We finished our book club books! Each child is writing a letter to me telling me all about the book and its story elements as well as the favorite and least favorite parts. They are also creating story mountains to show the story elements. We also read non-fiction or expository text and are writing responses to them which include our connections, questions, predictions, thoughts and feelings about the topic. We will continue with more non-fiction this week.
Writing-We read the poem, Dreams, by Langston Hughes and discussed the metaphors and the deeper meaning that dreams, goals, and hopes for the future help make our lives meaningful and help direct us. Then the children wrote poems, stories, plays, essays, etc… that exemplified the theme, Dream, Believe, Inspire for the Reflections contest. We also used photos of special places to write descriptive paragraphs and help add specific details to our writing.
Math-Patterns and algebraic equations has been our focus this week. We are looking for repeating patterns in rows of shapes and determining a formula or algebraic equation to figure out the 10th, 20th, or 100th repeat in the pattern without drawing the pattern 100 times. It can be tricky but they are getting it! We are also using input/output charts and determining the rule. For example, if the CD cost $4 , how would you figure out the cost of 1,2,5,10, 25, etc… CD’s. Putting the data on an input/output chart helps us to see the patterns and figure out those higher numbers.
Science-We are working with matter and states of matter and also how increasing or decreasing heat changes the state of matter. We are working on writing an essay to explain the information about matter and this week will be working with solutions and mixtures.
Social Studies-The Native Tribes of Texas was our topic of discussion this week. We were in groups and researched a tribe and made a chart showing that information. We determined if the tribe was nomadic or non-nomadic, if they farmed or hunted, the region where they lived, and how that region affected their lives. We shared the charts and will learning more about Native Groups this week.
Thank you for your support and flexibility with the changes to conferences. I appreciate your understanding.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Great Week!
Hi,
We had a great week!
Reminders: Turn in fundraiser forms. Donate clothing and books. Sign up for conferences, if you haven’t already. Pen Pals will come on Friday, October 11.
Reading: We are working on reading expository text, looking for text features, and writing summaries and responses about what we read. Our responses include connections, predictions, questions, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. We don’t just say that we like or dislike something but give reasons to support our opinions. We are also finishing up our book club books and will begin new books and new groups by the end of next week.
Writing: Gathering entries for personal essays is our focus. One difference between personal narratives and personal essays is that narratives are about small moments and essays are about a big idea. We observed in a 2nd grade PE class and the PreK class at recess. We wrote what we saw and heard with details then tried to stretch our thinking by writing a big idea. This makes me realize… was a common sentence starter for us. We also read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting which is a realistic fiction story of a boy and his father living in an airport. We discussed homelessness and wrote some things we noticed and our opinions about that. Our Time for Kids newspaper had an article about chimps being retired to a sanctuary after being used to test medicines for humans. Many children felt strongly about this and wrote their thoughts and opinions. We had a severe weather drill this week and some of the kids wrote their observations and big ideas about that drill. We will continue noticing things and stretching our thinking as we gather more entries then will choose one to take through the writing process and write as an essay.
Math: We finished up our review of multiplication and division strategies but will revisit them often throughout the year. We took an assessment on Thursday and finished it on Friday. This assessment will help me focus some small groups for math and begin more reteaching and extension groups as needed. Next week, we will begin looking at patterns and algebraic reasoning. Continue to practice math facts and use Think through Math at home. Most of the kids know many of their facts and all of them can use a strategy to figure out the answer to a fact but we need the kids to be more automatic with their fact recall. This makes working with higher numbers much easier. Talk to your child about their strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.
Science: Changes in matter from heat has been our topic of discussion this week. We visited some websites that simulated melting, boiling, and freezing. We made online diagrams of the effects of increasing and decreasing heat in solids, liquids, and gases. We also did some fun experiments with insulators. We put ice in several bags then wrapped each of the bags with a different insulator like flannel, denim, bubble wrap, paper towels, dishtowels, sponges, and a sock. Then we put the items outside in the sun for about 15 minutes. We determined that the sock was the best insulator. We also put ice and salt in half of a soda can. The outside of the can became freezing cold and a thin layer of ice formed on the outside of the can. We realized that the cold can decreased the heat energy around the can and turned the water vapor back into liquid which then began to freeze because the can was so cold. Next week we will continue talking about matter and also mixtures and solutions.
Social Studies: The characteristics of the regions of Texas were reviewed using the textbook. We will apply the characteristics of the regions to our study of the Native Americans who lived in each region. What resources did the tribe use? How did they adapt to their environment?
Thank you for sharing your child with me and let me know if you have any comments or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
We had a great week!
Reminders: Turn in fundraiser forms. Donate clothing and books. Sign up for conferences, if you haven’t already. Pen Pals will come on Friday, October 11.
Reading: We are working on reading expository text, looking for text features, and writing summaries and responses about what we read. Our responses include connections, predictions, questions, thoughts, feelings, and opinions. We don’t just say that we like or dislike something but give reasons to support our opinions. We are also finishing up our book club books and will begin new books and new groups by the end of next week.
Writing: Gathering entries for personal essays is our focus. One difference between personal narratives and personal essays is that narratives are about small moments and essays are about a big idea. We observed in a 2nd grade PE class and the PreK class at recess. We wrote what we saw and heard with details then tried to stretch our thinking by writing a big idea. This makes me realize… was a common sentence starter for us. We also read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting which is a realistic fiction story of a boy and his father living in an airport. We discussed homelessness and wrote some things we noticed and our opinions about that. Our Time for Kids newspaper had an article about chimps being retired to a sanctuary after being used to test medicines for humans. Many children felt strongly about this and wrote their thoughts and opinions. We had a severe weather drill this week and some of the kids wrote their observations and big ideas about that drill. We will continue noticing things and stretching our thinking as we gather more entries then will choose one to take through the writing process and write as an essay.
Math: We finished up our review of multiplication and division strategies but will revisit them often throughout the year. We took an assessment on Thursday and finished it on Friday. This assessment will help me focus some small groups for math and begin more reteaching and extension groups as needed. Next week, we will begin looking at patterns and algebraic reasoning. Continue to practice math facts and use Think through Math at home. Most of the kids know many of their facts and all of them can use a strategy to figure out the answer to a fact but we need the kids to be more automatic with their fact recall. This makes working with higher numbers much easier. Talk to your child about their strategies for solving multiplication and division problems.
Science: Changes in matter from heat has been our topic of discussion this week. We visited some websites that simulated melting, boiling, and freezing. We made online diagrams of the effects of increasing and decreasing heat in solids, liquids, and gases. We also did some fun experiments with insulators. We put ice in several bags then wrapped each of the bags with a different insulator like flannel, denim, bubble wrap, paper towels, dishtowels, sponges, and a sock. Then we put the items outside in the sun for about 15 minutes. We determined that the sock was the best insulator. We also put ice and salt in half of a soda can. The outside of the can became freezing cold and a thin layer of ice formed on the outside of the can. We realized that the cold can decreased the heat energy around the can and turned the water vapor back into liquid which then began to freeze because the can was so cold. Next week we will continue talking about matter and also mixtures and solutions.
Social Studies: The characteristics of the regions of Texas were reviewed using the textbook. We will apply the characteristics of the regions to our study of the Native Americans who lived in each region. What resources did the tribe use? How did they adapt to their environment?
Thank you for sharing your child with me and let me know if you have any comments or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam
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