Exciting Week!

Hi, February 28, 2014

It is hard to believe that February is over and tomorrow will be March! This year is flying by!

We had another exciting week! The Longhorn Network was here on Thursday and filmed us playing active academic games, working at our seats, and playing on the playground. They will be using the footage of your children during an interview segment with my husband, John Bartholomew, who is a professor at UT. His line of research deals with health promotion and integrating learning and fitness in schools. The segment will be aired multiple times during the first week of April. I will let you know more details as it gets closer. They will also give us a DVD, so everyone in class can see it even if they don't have The Longhorn Network at home. The kids were thrilled to have the cameras around them and can't wait to see themselves on TV!

The Empty Bowl Project is tomorrow at Cedar Ridge High School from 11-2 pm. The Fun Run is at the same location at 10 am. Hope you can make it there to see all of our beautiful bowls and possibly even buy one! Thank you for supporting the Round Rock Serving Center!

UT Explore is also on Saturday, March 1 from 11-5pm. There will be over 400 activities for kids and adults to explore on campus. Here is the link for more information. http://www.utexas.edu/news/2014/02/20/explore-ut-welcomes-visitors/

Activities at Explore UT are organized into six realms of discovery:

Arts Adventures – Embrace a culture of innovation found in the arts, architecture and communication.

Cultural Crossroads – Harness the creativity and critical thinking found in business, information, education and the liberal arts.

Engineering Expeditions – Embark on a journey to solve global problems and improve lives through engineering.

Public Service Passageway – Learn how your world is enriched through the law, social work and public service.

Science Safari – Experience the sciences and see the innovative fun in pharmacy, nursing and geosciences.

Longhorn Trail – Discover our Longhorn community and see firsthand the many ways we are changing the world.Some of the activities will give students an opportunity to design and create paper flying machines, learn about robotics and automation, create a magazine cover, and learn how tiny worms are helping to solve mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome.

While the students are exploring activities on campus, dozens of their teachers will participate in free continuing education courses, which will count toward their required professional development credit hours.

For a complete schedule of activities, visit the Explore UT website at http://www.utexas.edu/events/exploreut/.

The Kite Festival is at Zilker Park on Sunday and the Heart of Texas Regatta is also downtown on Ladybird Lake. The Austin Rodeo begins this weekend as well! So many options!!!!!! Have a wonderful weekend!



Our Pen Pals are coming to Forest Creek on Tuesday, March 4 and will be participating in PE activities with us. We will be in the gym from about 10:00 until 11:00 then we may go to the library for a little bit more fun before they head home. It will be a lot of fun and you are welcome to join us!

Read about our week:

Reading-We are reading away with our book club books. We read independently, summarize the chapter, and write our responses to that chapter. Then we discuss each chapter as a group. The kids ask questions and answer each others questions by looking back in the book and rereading. They talk about the character changes, tricky words, themes, and the events in the story. We are hoping to finish the book club books before spring break but we will see how that goes. Drama has also been a focus this week and we got into groups to do some historical fiction readers theaters.

Writing-Revising and editing is a focus and will continue to be something we work on often. We will be playing games to practice and applying the strategies to our own writing. We will finish up the photograph pages and the writing of our pen pal expository pieces and work on some poetry next week.

Math-We took a very challenging, multistep Curriculum Based Assessment this week. We will be going over these problems and strategies a lot next week. We had fun with measurement, fraction, and decimal games and activities. Using rulers as foot long fence pieces to practice area and perimeter of dog runs has been fun this week and has helped us understand the concepts a little better. Keep working on multiplication and division facts at home. Going on First in Math daily at home is a great way to practice.

Science-We finished up our study of Natural Resources this week with our reading buddies. Sunday is Dr. Seuss' birthday so we celebrated with our buddies by exploring The Lorax Project with them. It is website that has information and games about forest and animals from around the world and ways to conserve to help our planet. We will begin learning about weather next week.

Social Studies-Sunday, March 2 is Texas Independence Day! It was the day of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. We talked about that a bit today and began reading a historical fiction novel about the events leading up to the Battle of the Alamo (which is on March 6).

Next week our daily schedule will change due to Hoe Down practice. Our specials will be from 10:05-10:55 from Mon-Thurs. and 9:10-10:00 on Friday. Our recess will be 12:25-12:45 from Mon-Thurs. and 1:15-1:35 on Friday.

Be sure to sign up to volunteer at the Spring Carnival on March 28.

Dates to Remember:
Monday, March 3-Reading/Math Log and Homework packets due
Tuesday, March 4-Pen Pal Visit from 10-11 am, PTA mtg at 6:30 pm
Wednesday, March 5-Kindergarten Round up
Thursday, March 6-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45, Family Fun Night at Scholotsky's
Friday, March 7-Word Study test, Hoe Down for K-2
Saturday, March 8-Sunday, March 16-Spring Break-
Monday, March 17-Spring Break Reading Log due
Tuesday, March 18-Friday, March 21-Writing Camp!!!!!
Wednesday, March 19-Early Release Day at 12:45, Kona Ice will be here.
Friday, March 28-Spring Carnival at 5 pm. Sign up to Volunteer!
Tuesday, April 1-4th grade STAAR Writing test/5th Grade STAAR Math
Wednesday, April 2-4th grade STAAR Writing test/5th Grade STAAR Reading

Have a wonderful weekend! Contact me with any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew

Newsletter-Great Visit with Pen Pals on Tuesday, Wonder Author comes to Round Rock ISD on Monday, Science Test on Wednesday, Service Club on Monday, Reading/Math Logs due on Monday, Homework packets due on Monday

Hi,

We had a wonderful visit with our pen pals on Tuesday. We made bowls for the Empty Bowl Project and they look beautiful! Come and see them on March 1 at Cedar Ridge High School for the Empty Bowl Festival.

We will also make Valentines this week to give to the children at the Emergency Shelter at Starry.

Be sure to sign up to help with our Valentine's Day Party on Friday. Every child who chooses to share Valentines needs to bring one for each child in class. Your child can bring in a decorated box or bag to hold their valentines on Friday for the party.

Read about our week:

Reading-We are continuing reading our book club books. We read a chapter, write a summary and response to the chapter and we meet with our book club to discuss the chapter. We will also read expository articles next week and work on context clues, summarizing, and making inferences.

Writing-We are finishing revising and editing our personal narratives and will begin planning expository pieces about our pen pals.

Math-Decimals and fractions will continue to be a focus. We will also work with measurement vocabulary and playing games to practice all math concepts. Continue to work on multiplication and division at home.

Science-Weathering,erosion, and deposition and the ways that these forces change the land is our topic.We will continue learning about these concepts with vocabulary practice and some cool videos as well as a relay game and will have an assessment on Wednesday, February 12. Go to Stemscopes to practice.

Dates to Remember:
Monday, February 10-Reading/Math logs and homework packets due, Word Study test, Multiplication quiz, Service Club from 2:45-3:45 pm
Wednesday, February 12-Science Assessment
Friday, February 14-Word Study test, Multiplication quiz, Valentine's Day Party
Saturday, February 15-Volunteer at the Round Rock Serving Center

Have a great rest of the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew