Hi, November 15, 2013
We finished our read aloud, Wonder! Ask your child about it. If you haven’t read Wonder, you should. It is a Bluebonnet Book and Round Rock ISD adopted this book as a focus book for the entire district! It is the story of a Auggie, a boy with facial deformities who goes to school for the first time. Each section of the book is told from a different character’s point of view. It deals with the challenges of school, friends, family, bullies, etc… for all the characters but with an emphasis on Auggie and his struggles with his appearance and the way others judge him. The motto of the book is Choose Kind. We had so many good discussions about tolerance, life, choices, and actions while reading this book. It was very powerful and I highly recommend it. Read this quote, which was mentioned at the end of the book.
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” John Wesley
We will begin a new read aloud next week.
Science test on Forms of Energy and Forces will be on Monday. Practice the vocabulary and visit Stemscopes to study. Discuss forms of energy that are used everyday. Discuss forces used in daily life.
Mechanical energy-bike riding, throwing a ball, windmills, anything that moves
Light energy-TV, video games, sun, lamps, computers, anything with light
Heat energy-stove, oven, microwave, sun, lamps, fire, anything that gives heat
Sound energy- musical instruments, radio, TV, anything that uses sound vibrations
Electrical energy-lamp, TV, video games, computer, anything that uses electricity
Push on a swing in an arc, friction makes you slow down on the slide, pull on a rope to climb, etc….
Service Club meets on Monday afterschool. All 4th and 5th graders are welcome! We are still collecting toys for the OMS Toy Drive. We have about 39 new toys so far and our goal is 200. Please consider a new toy donation to give to a child at Dell Children’s Hospital. Crafts, puzzles, figures, legos, Barbies, cars, games, or any new toy would be so appreciated! Thank you!!!!!!!
Literacy Night is on Thursday, November 21 from 5-7. Come and buy Promise Pizza, and enjoy activities from each continent as well as other writing and computer activities. 4th Grade will be hosting Australia! Come see some items from Sydney, read some books, and make a craft. Ballet Folklorico will also perform. Donate a book (or more) and trade it for a New-to-You book to take home. Extra books will be donated to the Round Rock Serving Center.
Thanksgiving Dinner will be served in the cafeteria on Thursday. Our typical lunchtime is 11:55. You are welcome to come and eat with your child.
Green cups all week in the cafeteria! Hooray! We plan on continuing with this behavior!
Read about our week:
Reading-Poetry was our focus. We listened to The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and used context clues to figure out some tricky words, imagery to visualize the poem, and discussed the mood of this narrative poem. While learning about poetry, we learned about stanzas, line breaks, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, hyperbole, metaphors, similes, and onomatopoeia. We will begin reading biographies this week.
Writing-We wrote poems about Native Texans and experimented writing poems. Shape poems and other poem sites linked to our website were also fun to explore. We will continue writing poems and writing about our biographies.
Math-Multiplication and division strategies are our focus. We will continue to work on graphs, elapsed time, and algebra. We will soon be working on an introduction to fractions.
Science-As mentioned earlier, we are finishing up our study of forms of energy. For the rest of this week, we will explore more with circuits, insulators, and conductors.
Social Studies-We will learn about European explorers in Texas this week.
Have a wonderful weekend! Please let me know of any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Great week! Homework packet and reading/math log due on Monday. Toy Drive-Bring in NEW toys. TAG information metkn
Hi, November 2, 2013
We had a week filled with some Halloween fun and learning. We topped it off with more fun at Movie Night. Thanks PTA!
Reading-We read a lyrical poem called “Enter This Deserted House” by Shel Silverstein. We discussed tricky words and used the context clues to help figure them out. We noticed the rhyme and rhythm, the stanzas, and the line breaks. We wrote about the mood of the poem and the images that the poet created with his words. Then we watched a video with the poem being read and various nature images being shown. We discussed the images used and the way the speaker used his voice to create different moods and emotions. Then…. we watched another video of this poem with different images. This time the images were clips from the movie, Psycho, and there is one surprising part that made the kids scream! We wrote about how the two videos were different even though the poem read was exactly the same and talked about how different people interpret poems (and other things) in completely different ways. Here are the links to the videos. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x587PpF-J1Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1I4uaRt6bM
We will continue reading and analyzing poems this week and reading/discussing our book club books.
Writing-We read a model of an personal essay or expository essay and discussed the structure. An essay has a central idea, supporting details, and a conclusion. We brainstormed, planned, and wrote a rough draft about our favorite place. We worked hard to make our introductory paragraph interesting and inviting to the reader. Lots of specific details with sensory words were used in our supporting details paragraphs. We worked hard to be sure that our conclusions tied up the ideas and thoughts, were reflective, and left the author with something on which to think. I met with the children to talk about the strengths of their essay rough draft, and we talked about changes to make to improve their piece. Many are now revising and editing on their own and some kids already finished their final copy. We will finish up our essays at the beginning of the week, then we will work on writing poetry.
Math-Telling time, elapsed time, reading thermometers, figuring out changes in temperatures, and analyzing graphs were all practiced in math this week. We will continue to spiral these concepts all year. Try to work on these skills at home often. We will begin working on multiplication and division with larger numbers this week.
Science-We will be learning about forms of energy this week.
Social Studies-We read about bartering and discussed items that specific tribes from Texas traded and why. We will continue to learn about Native Texans.
Toy Drive
Service Club is having a Toy Drive for children at Dell’s Children’s Hospital and to bring awareness to OMS, a childhood disease that affects the brain and nervous system. A child in our community has this disease and his mother came to talk to us about it at our last Service Club meeting. Please help us help others. Bring in new toys to donate. Our goal is 200 new toys for the hospital.
Honoring Veterans
We are honored to invite and serve current and former military personnel on Monday, November 11, 2013 to celebrate Veterans’ Day. The cafeteria will serve breakfast from 7:15-7:45 to veterans. After, veterans are invited to stay and walk through campus to be greeted by students. Please RSVP to this event to help us as we prepare food and gather visitor badge information. We look forward to seeing you!
If you are a Boy or Girl Scout, please wear your uniform to school on November 11 to help honor the Veterans visiting our campus,
TAG Parent Information Meeting
Learn more about the TAG Program and the referral process. This meeting will be held in the Forest Creek Elementary Library on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 from 5:30-6:00pm. Referrals for students in grades K-5 will be accepted from November 18 through December 6. Please contact Deanna Jezisek (deanna_jezisek@roundrockisd.org) or Julie Washburn (julie_washburn@roundrockisd.org) for additional information or with questions.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, November 4-Reading/Math Log and homework packet due
Monday, November 4-Service Club Meeting 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, November 5-Reflections Gallery Night-6:00
Wednesday, November 6-Walk to School Day
Thursday, November 7-Family Fun Night at Austin Pizza
Friday, November 8-Spelling/word study test on plurals
Monday, November 11-7:15 Veteran’s Day Breakfast
Thursday, November 14-Fundraiser Pick up 2:00pm
Thursday, November 14-Writing Club 2:45-3:45 in Mrs. Arnold’s Room
Thursday, November 21-Thanksgiving Lunch and Literacy Night
Tuesday, November 26-Groovy-O-Rama at 10:05 for Fourth grade
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
We had a week filled with some Halloween fun and learning. We topped it off with more fun at Movie Night. Thanks PTA!
Reading-We read a lyrical poem called “Enter This Deserted House” by Shel Silverstein. We discussed tricky words and used the context clues to help figure them out. We noticed the rhyme and rhythm, the stanzas, and the line breaks. We wrote about the mood of the poem and the images that the poet created with his words. Then we watched a video with the poem being read and various nature images being shown. We discussed the images used and the way the speaker used his voice to create different moods and emotions. Then…. we watched another video of this poem with different images. This time the images were clips from the movie, Psycho, and there is one surprising part that made the kids scream! We wrote about how the two videos were different even though the poem read was exactly the same and talked about how different people interpret poems (and other things) in completely different ways. Here are the links to the videos. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x587PpF-J1Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1I4uaRt6bM
We will continue reading and analyzing poems this week and reading/discussing our book club books.
Writing-We read a model of an personal essay or expository essay and discussed the structure. An essay has a central idea, supporting details, and a conclusion. We brainstormed, planned, and wrote a rough draft about our favorite place. We worked hard to make our introductory paragraph interesting and inviting to the reader. Lots of specific details with sensory words were used in our supporting details paragraphs. We worked hard to be sure that our conclusions tied up the ideas and thoughts, were reflective, and left the author with something on which to think. I met with the children to talk about the strengths of their essay rough draft, and we talked about changes to make to improve their piece. Many are now revising and editing on their own and some kids already finished their final copy. We will finish up our essays at the beginning of the week, then we will work on writing poetry.
Math-Telling time, elapsed time, reading thermometers, figuring out changes in temperatures, and analyzing graphs were all practiced in math this week. We will continue to spiral these concepts all year. Try to work on these skills at home often. We will begin working on multiplication and division with larger numbers this week.
Science-We will be learning about forms of energy this week.
Social Studies-We read about bartering and discussed items that specific tribes from Texas traded and why. We will continue to learn about Native Texans.
Toy Drive
Service Club is having a Toy Drive for children at Dell’s Children’s Hospital and to bring awareness to OMS, a childhood disease that affects the brain and nervous system. A child in our community has this disease and his mother came to talk to us about it at our last Service Club meeting. Please help us help others. Bring in new toys to donate. Our goal is 200 new toys for the hospital.
Honoring Veterans
We are honored to invite and serve current and former military personnel on Monday, November 11, 2013 to celebrate Veterans’ Day. The cafeteria will serve breakfast from 7:15-7:45 to veterans. After, veterans are invited to stay and walk through campus to be greeted by students. Please RSVP to this event to help us as we prepare food and gather visitor badge information. We look forward to seeing you!
If you are a Boy or Girl Scout, please wear your uniform to school on November 11 to help honor the Veterans visiting our campus,
TAG Parent Information Meeting
Learn more about the TAG Program and the referral process. This meeting will be held in the Forest Creek Elementary Library on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 from 5:30-6:00pm. Referrals for students in grades K-5 will be accepted from November 18 through December 6. Please contact Deanna Jezisek (deanna_jezisek@roundrockisd.org) or Julie Washburn (julie_washburn@roundrockisd.org) for additional information or with questions.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, November 4-Reading/Math Log and homework packet due
Monday, November 4-Service Club Meeting 2:45-3:45
Tuesday, November 5-Reflections Gallery Night-6:00
Wednesday, November 6-Walk to School Day
Thursday, November 7-Family Fun Night at Austin Pizza
Friday, November 8-Spelling/word study test on plurals
Monday, November 11-7:15 Veteran’s Day Breakfast
Thursday, November 14-Fundraiser Pick up 2:00pm
Thursday, November 14-Writing Club 2:45-3:45 in Mrs. Arnold’s Room
Thursday, November 21-Thanksgiving Lunch and Literacy Night
Tuesday, November 26-Groovy-O-Rama at 10:05 for Fourth grade
Have a wonderful weekend! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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