Bartholomew Bats!


Our school is located in Round Rock, Texas which is near Austin. Austin and Round Rock both have huge populations of Mexican Free Tailed Bats that live under our bridges. A colony of bats lives beneath the Ann Richards/Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and in Round Rock, another colony resides under the Interstate 35 bridge over McNeil Road. Each evening from March to about October, the bats fly out from beneath the bridge and search for insects to eat. The emergence of the bats is a wonder to watch. We are also thankful that all these millions of bats eat the bugs by our homes.

Our class mascot is the Bat to honor the mammals that live so close to us and help us. (also because Bat and Bartholomew both start with the letter B!) The bats in Central Texas live together in a group and help take care of the young. Then they migrate together as a team. Our class will also live together in our classroom, work together as a team, and help each other out. We are the Bartholomew Bats!





Sunday, October 26, 2014

Newsletter

Hi, October 26, 2014

We have a busy week ahead!
This is Red Ribbon Week. The theme is: Be Yourself * Be Healthy * Be Happy * Be DRUG FREE

Monday – “Say Peace Out to Drugs” - wear tie dye
The Cedar Ridge Football Players will sign autographs at lunch – Bring a pen or pencil to lunch.

Tuesday – “Too Cool to do Drugs” – wear sunglasses
The Cedar Ridge Cheerleaders will hand out goodies at each entrance.

Wednesday – “Say Yes to a Healthy Heart and Body” – wear anything and everything RED
The Round Rock Fire Department will present assemblies: K-2
at 8:15 a.m. & 3-5 at 9:00 a.m.

Thursday – “I Picture Myself Without Drugs” – wear your school picture clothes
The Cedar Ridge Cheerleaders will hand out goodies at each entrance.

Friday – “Sock It To Drugs” – wear crazy socks
The Cedar Ridge Football Players will hand out goodies at each entrance.

Wednesday is an Early Release day. Students will be released at 12:45 p.m. We will also have a fire safety assembly during the day.

Kona Ice will be in front of school right after dismissal on Wednesday.
______________________________________________________________
Our next PTA Family Fun Night will be from 5-8 at Austin’s Pizza on Monday night, November 3rd.

Pen Pals will be coming on Tuesday, October 28! We are so excited to see them and will be interviewing them as well as exploring some watercolors, crayons, and play dough. We will create masterpieces together while we share time talking and enjoying each other’s company. We will also share our writing-personal narratives and Reflections writing. You are welcome to come and join us from about 9:15-10:30 in the library.

Reading-We began reading and taking notes on book club books for literacy circles. We are using post-it notes to take notes of our thinking, questions, comments, and/or tricky words. Then we meet with others reading the same book and discuss. These books are being read independently in class, however, if the children aren’t able to complete their assignment for that day, they can read this book for homework and it can count on the at home reading log. They can also use this book for their summary and response homework on Wednesdays and Fridays. We are also continuing our study of expository text and compared stated or explicit headings (An article about Mayans had a stated heading. The section was called Clothes and the section was about the clothing of the ancient and modern Mayan people.) and inferential or implicit headings (An article about electricity had inferential or implicit headings. These headings required the reader to make an inference or use background knowledge and text clues to figure it out. One head was Blow Wind, Blow and was about wind power being used for electricity.) We will continue to examine expository text and begin some poetry this week.

Writing-We researched information about healthy choices regarding food, exercise, drugs (over the counter and illegal drugs), alcohol, and smoking in our health book. We used some of the information to create Healthy Choice Plate Posters for a PE contest. We also wrote for the essay contest for Red Ribbon Week. We learned about outlining a bit to help organize our expository writing with a central idea then supporting statements with examples and a strong conclusion. We will be revising, editing, and publishing our expository writing this week.

Spelling-Plurals have been our focus. We learned a letter s is added to many words to change them from singular to plural. Words ending in s, ch, tch, z, sh, x, need an es added to make them plural. Some words are irregular and change completely like foot-feet, child-children. If the word ends with a consonant then a y, the y is changed to an i and es is added. That will be on our list this week.

Vocabulary-This week’s vocabulary is on figurative language. It includes simile, metaphor, imagery, sensory words, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, idiom, and hyperbole. These words and definitions will be in their agendas on Monday and are already on quizlet.com to practice.

Social Studies-We will work hard to finish our projects by Friday. Many are getting close and some have a lot to still work on. When our region projects are complete, we will begin studying the Native people in Texas.

Dates to Remember-

Monday, October 27-Reading logs due, tutorials from 2:45-3:45- wear tie dye

Tuesday, October 28-Pen Pals from 9:15-10:30, tutorials from 2:45-3:45, wear sunglasses

Wednesday, October 29-Early Release Day at 12:45, Fire Safety Assembly, Lunch from 10:45-11:15, Kona Ice after school, Summary and Response Due- wear anything and everything RED

Thursday, October 30-Writing Club from 2:45-3:45 in library, Picture Day during the day- wear your school picture clothes

Friday, October 31- Summary and Response Due, Spelling Test, Vocabulary Test - wear crazy socks

Have a wonderful weekend! If you have any questions or concerns, let me know.

Thank you!
Sincerely,
Pam Bartholomew
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